(last edited on April 29, 2014 at 1:28 am)
I forgot to order new bizcards far enough in advance to have for SXSW, so I’m prototyping special SXSW only ones to print at home.
I figure that people might recognize me from two things: The Printable CEO™ and possibly for being part of the 9rules Network, so I’m putting those things on the front of the card (not shown) so people can “place me in context” should they not know who the hell I am. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll have to start making stuff up real fast :-)
The basic design premise is to parody the PCEO with a handy point-laden chart on the back of the card, and then provide a place to fill out your bubble chart on the front. Alas, finding two-sided business card stock for inkjets is proving to be a pain in the butt, so I am just going to print two cards and hand ’em out that way. Maybe people will have a preference for one or the other.
Also note the photo of myself. I admit it feels weird to have my photo on the card because no one does it except for real estate agents, but I have a theory based in experience. About 12 years ago I had to interview 6 or 7 artists at a time over the course of a long day. By the end of the day I found it difficult to remember who was who; since we were thinking of hiring a few of them, that was a big problem. What I started doing was have them doodle something on their resume so I could remember who was interesting and who was not. The next time we did this, we asked the recruiting office to tell the interviewees to bring something they could leave behind, so we could remember who was who later. I was sorely tempted to take polaroids too, but that seemed a little too intrusive :-)
The lesson I got from the experience: It’s sometimes hard to be remembered; I figure a photo might help in this regard, and help people I meet remake the mental connection after the conference: “oh yeah, that’s the Printable CEO paper guy. He was cool, I should give him a call and score me some points!”
9 Comments
It sure is a good idea to put a photo of you on the card. I have the same problem as you; I remember a name but I can’t give it a face.
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You did it? Nice one. Look great, i shall steal one and stalk you :D
I had meant to get some SXSW-specific cards put together, but just didn’t get around to it (and not enough time left given my tasks).
I do agree with you on the picture thing. That’s the main reason I started doing the “cartoon branding” thing on my site and why I did my new business cards a few months ago with that as a critical part of the design.
http://www.wynia.org/images/jwynia_buscard_personal1.jpg
Everyone I give one to takes a look at the card and then at me and I see that connection click in their mind.
That’s pretty much why the real estate folks do it. Their market is saturated with tons of people who, to their customers, all seem the same. They need to distinguish themselves in any way they can to get an edge.
Thanks for the reminder…I was down to 25!
I ordered some and had them shipped to my hotel. Hopefully they arrive in time…
Uh oh, I wonder how many I need. Do people hand ‘em out like candy?
I completely forgot about busicards. :( Alas. Guess I need to figure out something. I’ll prob have to do it on the plane, then find a Kinko’s or something.
Thanks for reminding me – I stayed up till 1am last night putting something together and trying to get them to print properly on the damn Avery template. No picture on mine – I’m not quite as pretty as you, Dave. ;-)
Hey btw – does anyone know what the general dress code is at this thing?
You can probably get a good idea of dress code/convention if you look at Flickr snapshots from previous events:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/sxsw/clusters/austin-sxswi-texas/