Get Shouty

Some of the best ideas happen over a drink, perhaps not including me doing video posts but here you go anyways…

Beers n Ideas is an hour of inspiration during which experienced idealists present snippets of work over a schooner. This month Craig Allchin from Six Degrees Architects opened our eyes to the potential of laneways and cheap rent to transform a city into a cultural hub.

Six Degrees isn’t a design principle. It came about as a result of having six young graduate architects working in a shared studio environment in the early 90’s. None were registered architects, they were also interested in the power of a group being greater than the sum of the individuals. The Beers ‘n’ Ideas team are also responsible for Raise the Bar.

The Hope Street Markets are a joy. Fantastic new designers supporting urban compassion. A better life for the less fortunate and hip lucky dips? Bring it on!

Watch this space for news on Sydney’s newest Interesting node….

After following along with Interesting2007 from over here on this side of the world, Emily from Conformists Unite and the Sydney coffee morning gang thought why should London have all the joy? So we’re putting on an Interesting South here in Sydney at the end of November. The evening of November 22nd actually.

This is a marketing conference for marketing people but none of the speeches will be directly about marketing.

Not about brands, advertising, blogging or twitter but interesting, unexpected, original things.

We’re hoping to find fascinating people and have speak about something they care about. We want to replicate the experience of clicking from one really good blog to another, ranging across sciences, arts, musics, jokes and whatever.

There will be 10 minute slots and 3 minute slots to speak. And some people who can’t be there will send in three minute videos. The idea is to be informal and fast paced.

Interesting South is sponsored by Open Intelligence Agency but overall is very much a collaborative, not-for-profit project.

So we’re deliberately keeping the price low enough so anyone can rock up.

First batch of tickets available at: http://interestingsouth.eventbrite.com

We’re currently looking for speakers! If you know someone who would be good or have any idea yourself, just jot down a brief description (25 -100 words or so) you can submit them via our Facebook Group Interesting South by October 25th.

YouTube has launched a program that enables non-profit organizations to setup their own channels free of charge. The channels enable non-profits to upload public service announcements, footage of their work, and calls to action. Additionally, the channels allow non-profits to use Google Checkout to collect donations without being charged any fees.

YouTube also plans to launch a central location where users will be able to browse all of the non-profit channels. For the moment, you can browse some of the channels that have been created so far on the YouTube NonProfit Program page.

On a similar note, Pure Digital (makers of the Flip video camera) are offering a million camcorders for non-profits. Combine the two and you have a great platform to show people why you matter to your community.

At under $200, Pure Digital’s recently announced Flip Video camcorders are already pretty inexpensive, but the company now looks to be trying to make them even cheaper for non-profit organizations — as in free. That’s the goal of the company’s just announced Flip Video Spotlight program, which aims to give up to one million of the camcorders to non-profits and other non-governmental organizations over the next five years.

Apparently, the initiative (which is set to get underway this December) will operate as a donor matching program, with donors (or the organizations themselves) able to purchase so-called Flip Video Spotlight Kits, which Flip Video will match one-to-one. Much like the OLPC program, Flip Video sees virtually no end to the benefits of its camcorders, with Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan saying the company believes “video can help change the world.”

In addition Current TV offer a pretty comprehensive online producer training course

Thanks for the head up Matt!

The lovely Ann Handley asked attendees at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Chicago were asked what interesting things they’ve found when they Google themselves.

 It’s great to see fellow Age of Conversation authors C.B. Whittlemore, David Armano and Matt Dickman in full flight.

Comfortable is just boredom with good PR.

The only people who say they have all the answers don’t have all the questions.

I’m a big fan of Continuous Learning and I need to feed the fire of my insatiable curiosity with great regularity or I get anxious (or bored, same-same).

One of the many things I’ve learned is that one of the best ways to really clarify knowledge is to try to bring it to life for someone else, which also brings to life this little gem I found on the tiny public school in Bourke St:

• Teaching is the greatest form of optimism.

Matt has recently commented: ” increasingly, being a professional will be less about doing the work yourself (although that should never go away) and more about showing amateurs how to do it good themselves. In effect, we all have to become teachers“.

I love the teaching part of my role- it’s tremendously rewarding to see the lights go on and I’m committed to creating pathways to understanding (it’s not so ronely then). I’m optimistic that I’m not actually speaking martian to marketers and that I have the ability to create a common language, and I learn more with each success I have in creating comprehension.

For me learning and teaching are the warp and the weft  that allow you to see the cloth of the future.

 
In the depths of a couple of fairly significant international pitches this week and I found a lovely piece of research that made sure any chip that might have been trying to take up residence on my shoulder was firmly given the flick.

This poll sought to determine what prompts brand spenders to search for a new agency, the most effective ways for agencies to engage with clients, and the reasons they choose one agency over another. Among the studys findings:

• In general, clients don’t feel that size matters, but agencies tend to believe it does.
• The majority of clients (83%) don’t feel geographical location is an issue, but many agencies think it is.
• 85% of clients say agencies don’t prepare  enough.
• Most clients (75%) are seeking to buy actual solutions to business problems – whereas most agencies think the client is looking for advertising, PR, design or some other silo-fit.
• Clients want agencies to be far more proactive, whereas most agencies like to sit in the bunker.

Examining the reasons for choosing one agency over another, the study (pdf) found that though “chemistry” and “strength of creative work” scored highly, as might be expected, so did “quality customer insights.” Respondents ranked the various factors as follows:

1. Quality customer insights
2. Chemistry
3. Creative work
4.  Service level / response to needs ongoing
5. Cost control
6. Innovative / strategic thinking
7. Case for ROI
8. Client list
9. Strict adherence to brief
10. Seniority of account team
11. Location
12. Size

I’m refreshed  and invigorated that it is the ability of an agency to see connection between the brand and their audience and the passion that they bring to their work (which is what I take to mean chemistry) that are the fundamental drivers for client agency lerve. Vive L’Amour! 

I’m a big fan of Facebook- I’m mad about the open source nature of its apps. I’m a champion of random encounters with past acquaintances and silly exchanges with people you’ve just met and I love the instantaneous social clusters it generates…

Like this one by the clever clogs team here in the middle of some blog jousting on innovation:

• Name: kick a campbell  
  Description: if you see rob campbell he needs to be kicked

Or this one formed to support my favourite local coffee guys:

• Name: The Single Origin Roasters Appreciation Club
  Description: This group is for all that share the same love of Single Origin Roasters coffee! Please feel free to share your story/experience of this amazing coffee roasting house in Reservoir Surry Hills, who in our opinion serve the BEST coffee in Sydney! 

And in response to the research that has widely reported that the site is costing Australian businesses $5 billion I’ve heartily subscribed to this one:

• Name: The Church of FaceBook
  Description: Hell is other people – Jean Paul Satre
  Beliefs:
  This is religion ‘lite’, you get all the benefits of belief without the guilt and worship is as simple as logging into Facebook
  Here’s a summary:
  1. No more guilt.
  2. Idiots should not be running things.
  3. No restrictions on Facebook in the workplace

I was up for a very shouty piece on what total bollocks this article was but Matt, as usual, has said it first and much better than I could in his post How Facebook will kidnap your children and 3 trillion dollar ransom:

Using their rigorous scientific methodology, I can predict that coffee will cost Australian businesses $20 billion. Seriously, if 3.2 million Australian workers (say 4 from each of the 800,000 workplaces in Australia) spend approximately one hour a day drinking coffee with each other (about the same time the Facebook obsessives are on there, degrading themselves) then that means that coffee is four times as damaging to the Australian economy as Facebook.

It’s great to know that the generation that is leading our country to economic ruin isn’t that pesky GenY group of layabouts but, as Businessweek says, Fogeys Flock to Facebook:

 ” older users are behind the recent traffic surge. In June, 11.5 million of the individual visitors to the site were 35 or older, more than double the number a year before, according to market researcher ComScore Media Metrix. The 35-and-up crowd now accounts for more than 41% of all Facebook visitors.

I’m a big believer that the more rounded the individual, the more connected they are to the community at large, the more interests they have,  the better the perspective they can bring to their work.

I think what’s going on is that we have a pretty dedicated work culture where eating lunch at your desk is the norm and the notion of a watercooler conversation, or a tea break has gone by the wayside. Australians work longer and longer hours and face increasing commuting times, all which lead to social isolation. It could be that the more mature you are, the more you might manage your time and productivity with micro breaks throughout the day to feel connected and replenish your energy.

I was reading Rob Campbell’s post The Difference Between Science Fiction And Fiction Is Time, and, well it made me really quite shouty….

I’m a huge fan of having a rant, standing on imaginary soapboxes and not holding back from either fear or favour from sharing my opinions, so I’m going to jump in with both feet on this one. He says

“creativity seems to have been pigeon holed into the ‘output’ of certain industries or arts – as opposed to being associated with anything  where the aim is to create something new/better thanks to brains and imagination and skill.
……..resulting in a World where dramatic innovation is…becoming less frequent

I call shenanigans! Does ‘the World’ think that, or just ad-wankers?

I am interested in where you would get the data supporting the statement that we live in a ‘World where dramatic innovation is…becoming less frequent’, and that young people are failing to flourish as a result.

What I’ve learned from the recent groups we’ve done with University students is that they are (in the main) exited about the dramatically changing world they live in- they talk about technology as a connecting and equalising force, that social entrepreneurship will save the world where governments can’t and that they are confident that they have the skills to navigate a world that doesn’t exist now but that they will create. They’re not waiting for anyone to facilitate their future.

Watch out. Stand back. It just doesn’t get more innovative or creative than that.

Does the Internet not count as a dramatic change and as a catalyst for dramatic change? Like social networks valued in the billions created by people under 25? Isn’t that an example of engineering , innovation and creativity?

 Today a teacher taught her first lesson in zero gravity, answering questions from school children hundreds of miles above Earth.

Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan was also asked how being a teacher compared to being an astronaut.:

“Astronauts and teachers actually do the same thing,” she answered. “We explore, we discover and we share. And the great thing about being a teacher is you get to do that with students, and the great thing about being an astronaut is you get to do it in space, and those are absolutely wonderful jobs.”

There are so many amazing things happening. So many wonderful fields of endeavour. Science. Medicine. Policy. Literature. Technology. Social Justice. Awesomeness is happening everywhere under our noses. Check out TED. 

As advertisers and professional storytellers we have so many inspirational stories that we can draw on to inspire, inform and engage. We needn’t be limited to rock stars and rich girls.

We have the power to encourage and inspire. We can be heroes. Not ‘them’. Us.

This is the sign on the soon to be hairdresser’s shop window just next to my favourite coffee shop downstairs from the office.

I’d never heard the term SOGO before-but I do love a made up word to create a sense of community. It is a buzzy little triangle of a suburbette undergoing rapid poshification. There’s so many creative agencies here that there’s a weekly soccer league. You can get everything from organic coffee to an espresso martini and you can have Facebook experiences of old colleagues and ex-boyfriends bumping into you as you cross the street or wait for the lift.

There’s still dark and deeply sad shadows to the place though. A couple of weeks ago I lost a wrestling match with a young fellow over my bag when I was walking home. His face did not register my presence at all. Recently I was waiting downstairs for a cab when an old duffer shuffled up to me in slippers in quite a state of distress whispering: “Where is it? I’ve lost it. Where has it gone?” It nearly broke my heart.

I see SOGO is fresh and vibrant and successful, and I know Surry Hills is old and rank and broken. They live side by side.

Light and shade are part of the whole and might be embraced equally. It’s so much more pleasant to live in rarefied towers than it is to live on the street, so much so that sometimes we forget that not everyone has the same choices, the same access to resources, or the incredible privileges of energy and ability that the creative class afford themselves.

What did you see today? What did you do about it?

Market research, manufactured stimulus, groups- when I think of all the money that is spent to get people to tell us who they are….

 …..and all you need to do is look in Flickr: search under ‘what’s in my bag’

I love Sydney coffee mornings for the great conversations. It being Friday the 13th the natural question was:

Is being unusual lucky or unlucky?

Wikipedia says:

A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe. Similar superstitions exist in some other traditions. In Greece or Spain, for example, Tuesday the 13th takes the same role.

And as for black cats: 

Some countries, such as Britain, believe it is lucky to see a black cat. An alleged cause for this would be that Emperor Napoleon saw a black cat just before he lost a battle against the British. This would explain the cat being seen as a bad sign in Italy and Bermuda (and Continental Europe) and as a good one in Great Britain.

In China “may you live in interesting times” is a curse.

Interesting and unusual- I say bring it on! May this Friday the 13th bring you luck and interesting adventures.

I’m always interested to find out the pathways that people have used to find my site.

Today I met a new member of the Sydney coffee morning blogger crew who had read my site before meeting me. She said that it felt a little voyeuristic. All very interesting stuff.

Interesting and voyeuristic is one of the search terms that continually pops up as an indicator of what people are looking for in Google before they land on Get Shouty. I’ve checked and I’m the third or fourth listing for this search term (ew!)….and it just doesn’t seem to be going away.

The reference point is this post about being featured on the Z-list, and it’s a reference to the line in Sally Field’s Oscar acceptance speech: You like me, you really like me. Innocently enough in that post was a reference to one of my biggest referrers at the time- a  naughty cowgirl site.

I’m sure we all have these strange anomalies. Gavin? I’m sure you get them! Sean? How about you? I’m sure fabulous 1st birthday blogger Mack has some interesting ones too.

 And the rest of you- what’s the weirdest way you’ve drawn in a new reader?

Friday night gold:

If anyone can prove me wrong…..
I’d really appreciate it.