Twitter101 for InterTrend "Lunch 'n Learn"

wanted to share my twitter intro preso that my agency, InterTrend asked me to take the staffers through. this is a quick overview of twitter, that led into a hands on demo. this was written for an audience of all 1st and generation 1.5 Asians/Asian-Americans.

Twitter101 for InterTrend "Lunch 'n Learn"

View more presentations from Nguyen Duong.

making the most out of our surroundings

First off, I want to apologize for the shaky-cam. i don't have a tripod for this FLIP MinoHD yet.

I finally got around to attending a pecha kucha night recently with @buddingculture If you're not familiar with pecha kucha have a quick look here basically, it's a preso-style where you are limited to 20images x 20seconds to tell your story. i think it's a great way to train yourself to be present with purpose.


Gil and I both wanted to scope out the action, as we are looking to start a pecha kucha night here behind the Orange Curtain.

this particular preso connected with me the most. the presenter, Megan Willis, shares her thoughts on how to get functional use out of "residual spaces" in an urban area, specifically, downtown San Diego. she sees opportunities in these spaces to create more function, practicality and community in an urban setting.

more here from Megan Willis and here observations on residual spaces

i think companies and brands have something to learn from Megan's proposed thoughts here. have a look for yourself. do you see potential to make the most out of our neighborhood?

bs our way into a strategy

and perhaps a job or a dept that perhaps isn't needed?

this is probably a topic that has been debated before, so forgive me if this sounds like a broken record.

what is the role of planning in advertising? (i'm looking to you creative folks). Planners, we can bullshit our way into an answer (either for ourselves or the client). ;)

a few weeks ago, i overhead this convo between an art director and a planner: "you guys (planners) are only telling me what i already know, but just make it more complicated"

then a recent post from the Ad Contrarian: "I'm tired of strategists" had me thinking a bit about the value and purpose for planners. read the comments, good debate.

a fellow planner in sweden posted this analogy of the role of planning

a lot of agencies like to talk a mean game about "turning insights into action" and great creative. before planning came around, where did these insights come from? who did the work to uncover them? who provided the inspiration? was it just some BS to get clients to feel better about the work we were gonna sell them?

or is planning suppose to help create? collaborate w/our creative partners? are we to find truths and opportunities that the creative team may not have realized or observed on their own? or should we just get the hell out of the way? do i find myself struggling with my recent decision to move into planning from account service? no. i've found my home. this is what gets my ass out of bed everyday.

are we necessary to the process? I'd like to think that we are. We are partners to our creative friends. we all in it to help solve our client's business problems. and today, more than ever, our clients are looking to us for more than just that :30second piece of film or page 4/C ad. we all need to be in the business of creative problem solving. in addition, as planners we should challenge not only our account folks but also our clients into solving for the right problems. we need to work closely w/our clients to define the business strategy, ask the right questions, observe, uncover, ask more questions and eventually inspire and create a launching off point for our idea creation folks. this is the role and the value that i see planning provides. it's the real deal insights, ideas, inspiration, or strategy that will help us connect w/relevance and a point of difference. sure there's probably a few exceptions out there w/the types of planners and what they bring to the table, however, like anything else, it all depends on how much the client and agency embrace planning and how much value you deliver, no matter what the title on your business card says. am i full of it? off base? i open the floor to you.

peace.

photo via: The Planning Lab