Recently, I was introduced to the viral new movement of Pecha Kucha Night. In essence, Pecha Kucha is based on delivering a presentation of 20 slides for no more then 20 seconds a slide for a total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The quick pace keeps viewers interested, alert and engaged; a far cry from typical presentations. I love the conecpt, the energy and the simplicity of Pecha Kucha and if anyone is interested in starting a Denver / Boulder Pecha Kucha group I’d be happy to take that lead.

Recently there has been a debate around the office concerning social networking sites, specifically Facebook. These days it is becoming a sad fact that people would rather send you and e-mail or a text message rather than call you on the phone or (gasp!) talk to you in person. Social networking sites have become enablers to this new trend of social phobic socializing. So, being the adapting person that I am, instead of rejecting this brave new world of internet and cell phones, I have decided to embrace it. The question now is: what are the new unspoken social rules of this new social game?

The debate in the office started when my co-worker Bruce pointed out that having too many facebook friends is pointless. Whenever someone tried to add him as a friend whom Bruce didn’t deem worthy of his friend list, he would sweetly deny the friend request. I promptly disagreed with him. My reasoning is the fact that facebook is not the only socializing that you will have with your friends, and I believe that facebook is only a tool to look someone up or keep in touch with someone you may have not been able to keep in touch with on a normal basis (for example it’s a little difficult/expensive to talk to my Canadian friends on the phone let alone in person).

I personally feel that if someone is picky about what friends they add they are saying that facebook isn’t “social networking,” it’s socializing with the people that you would socialize with anyway. What’s wrong with a childhood friend looking you up years later to see how your life turned out? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that people should be completely lax with their friend list… there are some weirdoes out there.

All I am saying is there is nothing wrong with accepting a friend even if you haven’t talked to them for ten years. They might even shoot you a message letting you know they are still in the area and the two of you should meet up for coffee. Look at that! I real life friend! That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Over the years I’ve become part of the trend which relies more on email then the good ol’ telephone. I’ve also noticed that business and personal calls alike have become more like emails; short, terse and to the point, especially when I’m busy. Lately however I’ve begun to shift; back to using the telephone and connecting with people on a deeper level. It allows me to get to know our customers and vendors on a more intimate level.

Email does a great job at removing or miscommunicating emotion. I can think of several instances where the intention of the email was VERY different then how it was read. Either I took the sender too seriously or I blew off their comments when I should have paid closer attention. Even worse, in the flurry of emails I’ve sometimes have lost track of important emails which really need my attention. I’ve begun to make it a point to call contacts more often during the day. I’m trying to keep email to a minimal and return to the lost art of talking on the phone.

Since the term was first coined back in 2005, Cyber Monday has been drawing attention. For those unfamiliar, Cyber Monday pertains to the Monday after Thanksgiving when employees go back to work and shop online during “break time”. Many have dismissed Cyber Monday as a marketing buzz word with no real factual standing; which will ultimately fade away; I disagree. Professional marketers for large retail have managed to co-opt almost every major holiday and turn it into a sales event and in my opinion Cyber Monday is just an extension of Black Friday, another day for retailers to offer deep discounts and great bargains. Give it a few more years and Cyber Monday will stick.

As an employer however; I don’t like the idea of marketing to the workforce to spend their working hours shopping online. I’d like to see Cyber Monday change to Cyber Saturday, although it would be even better if the word Cyber was replaced with a more telling term such as eComm Saturday. Cyber is just far to geeky for me. Strike while the iron is hot and offer your online discounts the day after the brick-and-mortar offered their Friday discounts, or pick a day when online sales is actually at it’s peak for the year. In 2005, that was Tuesday, December 13th. I’m still trying to determine the busiest day in 2006, but I haven’t been able to pin that down just yet.

Anyhow, enjoy your Cyber Monday and it you find a nice discount on a 47″ Sharp HD LCD, let me know.

One of my favorite aspects of doing this job is the proposal process. That moment of introduction where the client is feeling us out and we are doing the same. It’s sort of like the interview process with a new hire, both parties are usually amicable and share their vision of the future which usually reveals their level of understanding about the project. For us, this initial meeting and the discussions immediately after are the basis by which we develop our proposals by using the following 6 factors.

1. Are We a Match: I don’t believe in doing work for the sake of generating revenue. We want to work on projects we can get excited about. If the project isn’t exciting then it’s going to be a real drag to work on. I shouldn’t have to motivate the team to work on the project, rather the work should excite and invigorate the team to get the very best results and creativity.

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