To finish up my HOW experience…

Tuesday sessions started at 9am, and my notes say “Too d@mn early”.

My first session was Storytelling where we were taught to be bold and unexpected. Embrace, but twist, cliches. Change expectations, understand the audience, use images as words. Keep the audience entertained, engaged emotionally. In advertising, tackle common arguments up front. Everyone loves animals. Look at fine art for motivation and inspiration. Entertain while you educate. Link things to history. Little details are important.

He spoke about a spread they were doing on loggers and there was a lot of info research can’t teach you until you go out with the loggers in the woods on a 20 degree day and just listen. They eat a 10,000 calorie breakfast to get through the day. Find out about the 10,000 calorie breakfast.

Pique curiosity. Engage the audience in a way that uses their mind. Let them take quizzes and “see how smart they think they are.”

Kelly and I went together to “Rule the web with Flash and humor” and then recommended it to Brian. It was presented by the guys at the Choppingblock, who got into web back when I did – only they were using Flash to make sites that were completely unexpected. They suggested giving everyone in the office aluminum foil to play with. Create a mood board for the client to determine the elements that will be used for a project. They also suggested checking into swfpbject, droople and wordpress (which I am using here and now). And the OReilly books on Flash. Don’t be afraid to use the mechanical actionscript of Flash combined with the organic timeline of Flash.

Then the R-Design team and HOWies attended the 3Dogz 12 step program of Designers Anonymous. Dave and Chris love art, love illustration and love design. They video taped other design greats and played their comments, like Chip Kidd saying “work on the weaknesses.” How does DOMINIC AYRE of Hambly & Woolley refresh his creativity? “coffee, fresh air, playtime, leave the office and see street typography.”

James Victore dealing with client issues: ”I care, but not that much”. “Advertisers think you’re stupid.”

And last – but not least – remember that some clients do not want design, they want SOAP. and the 3 Dogz aren’t afraid to give them SOAP. (email me if you need to know what that means.)

At 3:45 we were still awake and headed to Can you Hunt while you Farm? Sheree Clark talking about building business while minding the store. Her formula is

Maintain what you’ve developed

PLUS

Put new things in the pipeline

EQUALS

SUCCESS!

Find time for new business development and put it on your calendar, or it will never seem immediate and urgent, she warns. Establish specific goals, such as: I will have 10 future meetings on my calendar at all times. Research 5 new contacts each month. Her steps include: 1. send a letter for prospecting, 2. phone call follow up, 3. set appt with portfolio, 4. follow up again.

Get employees involved in sales prospecting. Help them to recognize new opptys for your business, identify potential leads.

Then she spoke about creating networking opportunities and media pitches for yourself. And touched on having a continued tradition of nonprofit work.

Tuesday night was the big final party for HOW. We had the Georgia Aquarium to ourselves and were able to wander through exhibits, eat, drink, and dance to the band. The party did not quite rival last year because the food was bad, the band was just OK and the party ended much too early. However the venue was beautiful! From there we partied in a few hotel rooms and then off to bed.

Just in time for Wed 9:45 session: Give Clients What they really want…and that is? from Terri Edelman of Edelman Group. She gave step by step info about conducting client meetings and lead generation. She gave tips on being client-centric. She says it is important to note a few personal tidbits at each meeting, and then review those notes before meeting with the person again so you can bring up those personal tidbits and establish better rapport – because no one remembers everything about everyone they talk to. Ask clients “How can I make your life easier?” Try to find their problem points and help solve or fix them. Actually, I have a ton of notes from this session and have been back to her web site a few times and think I learned the most practical info from her. People stayed to ask questions after her talk until they had to shut the room down, and that was the only session I saw that happen in. They respected her opinion as an expert.

I liked her idea on presenting comps: make 1 that is safe, 1 that has a few more bells and whistles and a third that is the designer dream version. She also sends a thank-you note 3 weeks after each job.

The closing session was about Work Life Balance. Sheila Campbell said we live in a period that is rich in choices but poor in time. Find one or 2 things you are passionate about and focus your time and energy on them or your life will have too much cr@p going on. Unfortunately, cleaning house and doing laundry seem to be my 2 without my choosing as such. But I find time to play with the kids and rent movies, which I really enjoy. When things come up that don’t seem like they fit in for you, learn to say no. “I’m overcommitted” you can tell the 4th person who asks you to dinner.

She said, “Your work has meaning, lucky you!” That was kind of  theme through the whole week – how lucky we are to be designers and find work doing something we’re passionate about.

Wednesday night was a great time! We hooked up with our friend Dave in Atlanta – along with some HOW friends we had met along the way. We went for a dinner at a restaurant I had overhead someone talking about: 2 Urban Licks. The food was great, the band was great, the building was awesome and the atmosphere was incredible. They also have Jack Daniels ice cream. I got brisket hot off the pit.

With full tummies and no bed time, we continued the party at The Clermont Lounge. It was kitchy emo punk with a campy Rocky Horror twist. Everyone was part of the show, and the show included booze, more smoke than you can see through, PBR beer, strippers crushing beer cans in their cheeks (butt, not face), dancers, men in pleather pants and much more.

When we had enough of the craziness we went across the street for Dan to introduce us to Washington Apple shots and then off to a large shiny diner until closing for greasy calories we did not need and a server we convinced should audition for Broadway. We stumbled home and slept till 10:30am when we realized we better load the minivan so we could check out on time.

It’s hard to put fun in to words – but it is much easier to capture it with photos. You can see the trip at www.rdesignonline.com/how2007.php.

Enjoy!

My next session was with Kevin McConkey. If you take the letter ‘c’ out of his name, his last name is Monkey. He spoke about dealing with burnout. “A career in design is a gift from the gods,” says Kevin McConkey, principal and co-founder of Grip in Chicago.

He says to really get out of a burnout situation you need to change both your physical and mental state. This usually includes sleep, sex, and/or exercise.

He taught us how to Find our Inner Bullshit.

Also, when you have an angry client, stop and do these 3 things:

1. Validate their feelings; say ”I understand.”

3. Remove yourself by citing company policy. Then give the client choices of how they would like to proceed next. This frees you from blame and decision making.

Remember – graphic designers are commercial artists, not fine artists. We need to make our clients money.

And he also made a point to stress helping others and doing things that make your heart feel better at the end of the day.

My 3rd session was Staying Creative with Shelley Armstrong. She leads the MicroSoft XBox creative team. She also paints watercolors. She did not use a lot of creativity or vocal expression in her talk, but made many strong points if you kept your eyes and ears open. Some of what I took away included:

Xbox green is PMS376.

And most importantly: This is the best job in the world, enjoy it!

But the day was not over… I still had Logo Notion with Steph Geissbuhler. He spoke about logo design – being precise, functional, emotional, etc…

He gave theory to use when designing and presenting logos. He also showed real life samples of work his company did and how/why they developed the logos they did. I enjoyed the Case Studies because of the great explanations and visuals that accompanied them. They were not just a portfolio, like some presenters do.

Monday night lead us to the Yupo Paper Party. It was supposed to be a rooftop party, but it started to rain. So it was in a small bar filled with 3 large 4-poster beds. There was free food, 2 open bars and a DJ spinning.  The mood was light and everyone had a great time. We took lots of pictures – please email me if you need the link to them.

Following the party, a pub crawl began around 9:30pm. We went to 3 bars till 3am. There was heavy metal Karaoke with a live band, some How Chyx and Cabana Boy initiations (http://howchyx.com/) and lots of friends and fun. I lost count of the 60+ people who were there. It was fun to see some of the session presenters out with the gang. And for some, the party continued on until 6:45am.