This post is considered PR

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the latest CT AIGA event, 25 Questions with Pam Williams:

25 Questions [Public Relations for Creatives] Compiled + Answered by Pam Williams of Williams & House.
After a multitude of conversations and surveys, Pam has amassed the most pressing questions about public relations from individuals and firms at varying stages in their promotional efforts. She will share her responses and send us off with solid, proven P.R. strategies we can all start to use as early as Friday, June 26th.

It was long--very long (clocking in at just over 2 hours). But I walked away with 2 hours worth of great PR information, including:

--Public Relations is really connecting with people.

--You should strive to connect with one new person a week.

--There are a multitude of ways to get your name out there, even when you have no news to share (utilizing tools such as Twitter, YouTube, blogs, etc).

--Be nice. Be genuine. Don't lie.

--And finally, Peonies is located 3 miles right outside of Essex village. (For those not in the know, Peonies is Pam's resale shop. Now that I know where it is, I think I need to pay it a visit).

Of course, I took much, much more away; this is just a snippet. The other really, really cool aspect of the night was the great turnout. Our little CT AIGA chapter is young--barely a year old, and the turnout was great. I'm thrilled to be a part of the CT AIGA, and look forward to many more great events like this! Thanks to everyone (Chelsea and Amy--and everyone else) who put it together!

Oh what a night, is right!

Wednesday night was kind of surreal for me: I took our oldest and her friend (who are occasional readers--Hi girls! I'm blogging about you!) to see Fall Out Boy (and about 5 opening acts). I like Fall Out Boy--they put on a really great show, and I had a good time--but it was hard for me to make the transition from concert attendee to chaperone of the concert attendees. Now I know how my friend's father felt when he took us to see Depeche Mode.

But Wednesday night was also the night that Patrick Coyne, of Communication Arts, was going to be speaking at a Connecticut AIGA event. And since I haven't perfected being in 2 places at the same time (although I am getting close!), I had to miss it. Bummer, too; as I hear it was a great presentation. From my pal Amy, of Elements fame:

It was illuminating to learn of the sheer volume of work CA receives, organizes and reviews. Out of the hundreds of thousands of submissions, there is such a small percentage of work that actually appears in their publication - only 2% of design competition entries make the cut! Patrick explained the status of inclusion into CA the best when he said - and I'm paraphrasing here - "If you are a musician, you know you have arrived if you appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. If you are a designer, it is when your work appears in Communication Arts."

I can't. even. imagine.

Read about the rest of this amazing event over at Hello, Elements. And when you stop by, tell them I said hi!

Hanging with my creative peeps

I made this mental note to start blogging more... and then I get bogged down with work. I'm sorry I've temporarily fallen out of the blogosphere--I'm certainly not complaining about the work at all (quite the contrary, I'm happy to have it!), but it does take away from time I can devote to the blog.

The good news is, hopefully soon I'll have a fresh new crop of work to show off!

In the meantime, I did have some downtime last night, and made my way up to New Haven to hang out with some of other AIGA | CT peeps (including my pals from Elements, and my new friend Dave from ConnCreatives, among others) in an AIGA sponsored event, XTown (there was a simultaneous event up in Hartford for the northern half of the state). It was nice to get out, let loose, and mingle with other creatives. There's photographic evidence over at Elements--and by photographic, I mean, "Hold very still, my iphone doesn't have a flash." Hee hee.

Higher Learning (or what I was doing in Hartford last night)

The AIGA is the professional association for graphic designers; and just recently, a Connecticut chapter was started. As their inaugural event, the CT AIGA hosted Sean Adams, the National AIGA president, as well as partner in AdamsMorioka, in a presentation called "Lessons in Fear."

Over the last 10 years at AdamsMorioka, they've made mistakes. Big design mistakes. Some were a collision of events that hit like a train wreck. Some were self-produced. All of the mistakes were motivated by fear. When is fear appropriate in design? Are we on the Love Boat, or a voyage of the damned? How do we know the difference? Where are the lifeboats?

I attended the presentation last night, and it was great. Sean Adams is a wonderful speaker; engaging, witty... the kind of guy you'd so sit down for a cup of coffee--or, say, 10 cups of coffee--with, and not just for the cool factor. I also got to hang with my fine friends from Elements (Amy's the VP of the CT chapter--Holla!)--you can read Chelsea's description of the event and see pics on their blog here.

Here's a couple of things I walked away with:

--Designers wear a lot of black. A lot (I know, who knew?).

--Even though in the back of my mind, I knew this, but it was still nice to hear: other designers don't have all the ideas--or answers for that matter--either. It's especially nice to hear that someone of Sean Adams stature sometimes gets "stuck."

--Change is not always bad; and while some change is scary, other change is good. And sometimes, that scary change, is really good change in disguise.

--Hartford could really use some street signs. And building signs, while we're at it. Hello? A whole room full of graphic designers, and yet no environmental graphics? Oh, the irony.

All kidding aside, the lecture was really inspiring and refreshing. I'm glad I took the time to go (it was either that, or work. I figured both would help my career... but something like this doesn't happen all that often, and work is always there). I'm looking forward to the next event, on November 19th, when William Drentel (co-founder of DesignObserver!) talks about "My So-Called Public Life."