Podcamp Boston 3 Day 1

Yesterday I made the trek to Boston for PodCamp Boston 3 for a first day of gettin' social with people and the media that they're creating.

Socializing

Unlike past conferences where I learned to be comfortable by myself, this time around I was comfortable approaching people and saying "hi". PodCamp Boston 3 is the first real-world test of my insight about personas vs core identity and allowing myself to be. At conferences like SXSWi, I'd tried to figure out where I fit into the social picture, and tried to come up with a way to describe myself accordingly: "I'm a designer that specializes in personal productivity and information graphic design." This time, I have the benefit of knowing what I fundamentally am driven to do--my passion, in other words. Which is, as anyone who has struggled to get through my lengthy articles will tell you, is writing stuff down. For the past year I've been chasing myself down a different path, trying to figure out how to describe the sum of my skills and interests in some snappy way that could be readily dropped casually into a creative business conversation and explode into intrigue followed by deep understanding. This week, I realized that it was not the sum, but the core that was important. And that is writing about what catches my eye. In the process of writing, I relate what I see with what I find interesting, and along the way I synthesize a few nuggets of insight that people find useful. It's very tempting to call that something snazzy, for the purposes of monetization, but at PodCamp I'm just telling people that I'm a writer/designer that writes about whatever catches my eye, and that I am best known for designing tools for personal productivity. And then things go from there.

One nice thing about PodCamp is that everyone is friendly, and generally willing to sit and talk. The pace is much less hurried than SXSW, with plenty of time and space to collide with someone and have a 15 minute conversation. Yesterday we rustled up a posse of random people to have sushi at Uni down the street, and it was a fine time despite getting back to the conference later than expected. Some people don't feel like chatting, and so you can smile and just move on. One of the other insights I had this week is that I am indeed innately curious about people, and that this curiosity had been blocked by a sense of wanting to know how I "fit in" before I spoke. Now that I've identified this mental barrier and rerouted my expectations, it's a lot easier to just sit and listen, and interject as curiosity raises its fluffy tail and starts to wag. Personally, I'm finding it rather remarkable a change in myself. Day 2, which is about to start for me in an hour when I get ready to drive into Boston, will provide a second day of data. I'm such a nerd.

The Panels

I wandered in and out of the various panels. The one that I started with was NeoVictorian, Nobitic, and Narrative by the rather fascinating Mark Bernstein, the chief scientist for a company called Eastgate with a hypertext note product called Tinderbox. The presentation, established Bernstein in his opening remarks, was to be a kind of "sermon" that took a tour through topics of...actually, I don't remember specifically what it was about without my notes---and I didn't take any other than a few pictures of interesting slides. What I remembered was that there was a lot of audience participation, and that the word "Nobitic" was very very important to what I'm trying to do. Since it is a made-up word, I'll have to find my notes on this later.

I caught a bit of the Using a live podcast to allow your readers to "become part of the conversation" by Nikki Starr, who works for Blog Talk Radio. This is apparently a service that allows bloggers to create live podcasts, take calls from readers, and archive the material online. It's a co-ownership arrangement with regards to the recorded performance, and it sounds pretty cool. Nikki mentioned that The Fly Lady, one of the giants of the domestic productivity scene on the net, uses the service to reach out to her 500,000 loyal followers.

I missed the next panel block due to the late-running lunch, and afterwards popped into Solo Podcasting by Greg Demetrick. My real agenda was to take a nap, and I successfully dozed off for a few minutes, but I kept waking up because Greg kept talking about interesting things. It was an excellent presentation on both the gear and philosophy that drives a successful podcast. I'll have to check out what else this guy has written.

I only caught a little bit of Down and Dirty (and free!) ways to put your Mac to Work by Jeff Berg, a highly-knowledgable Mac consultant that I liked immediately for his personable yet direct demeanor. At that point it as time to head home, but Sunday will be a full day for me and I'm looking forward to several sessions. This time I'm leaving all the fancy camera stuff at home and packing much lighter. My ideal note-taking setup for a conference like this would be a digital audio recorder that could take periodic stills: a slideshow recorder as opposed to a video recorder :-) I wonder if such a thing exists? It would be more memory-efficient, certainly.

Ok, time to shower. See youse at Podcamp Boston!

Little Birds

Every once in a while I like to check out a store online called See Jane Work. I have an irrational love of paper and office supplies, and I enjoy the cheerful upbeat nature of the site. Everything is so cute! If this website were a gal, I'd marry her :-)

Today I ordered my first product, a magnetic chirping bird for holding paper clips. This is probably the least necessary thing I need in my office, but its role is more symbolic than functional. There are these little birds that I see every day at Starbucks in the morning; I believe they are some kind of common swallow. I usually sit outside if it's not raining, taking in the morning air, and observe these birds almost every day. There's something about the way these birds approach us that I find fascinating. They're tiny, fluffy, and pretty cute. They're also diligent, bold, and industrious. I realized a couple weeks ago that they do a very good job of "just being themselves", and that I could learn a thing or two from them. I sometimes get wrapped up in thinking I should be "more professional" or "building my career", and though I've definitely chosen a more non-traditional path to life-work I still get caught up in thinking about "success" and how people perceive me. Those little birds have no such pretensions, and every day they remind me that my OWN little bird inside of me needs to come out and "just be". That realization has become one of my moral compass points.

That my moral compass point is now available in shiny magnetic bird form is just a bonus. Woot!

Seeing What’s Inside

I've got a friend, J, who is studying to become a doctor in the Washington D.C. area. Since she works almost all the time and we haven't talked much recently, we started trading snippets of everyday stories for fun. So yesterday, J is working at a senior living facility, where she is volunteering while school is out, and she had a personal epiphany that moved me to tears while I was sitting here at Starbucks. She's graciously allowed me to share her words here:

So, I have a story to tell you. Yesterday I went to volunteer in this senior living facility. I do a free blood pressure check-up for the residents there once a week there. Because the facility is an apartment for the seniors with the amenities geared towards senior living rather than a nursing home, the residents are pretty in good shape. However, one of the patients obviously did not look normal but rather disabled. He had a disproportionately large head compared to his torso, even more so when compared to his legs. His torso was so hunched over forward, he reminded me of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. On top of that, he couldn't walk well even with the walker. His lips were open constantly and he drooled. His hands were permanently deformed due to the neurological damage which caused contractures. Hope you get the picture.

I glimpsed him walking (rather, dragging himself) into the room and felt a little bit of repulsion in my gut because he just didn't look like a human to be honest. He walked in and sat down on a chair next to me while I was checking other residents' BP which took a good 10 minutes. When it was his turn to take BP, he mumbled something and showed me his note book. He couldn't even speak right so I had a hard time understanding him. He kept saying the same thing repeatedly, and finally I figured it out. It was that he drew a profile of me in his note book while he was waiting and he wanted to give it to me when he was finished. It was so touching that I almost had teary eyes. In the drawing, there were crude outlines of me which occupied half of the page. The lines were so zig-zag that it was hard to tell what it was at first glance. Yet, when I looked more closely, there was the eye, the nose, the lips and even the glasses I was wearing. The face was colored with red and yellow crayon which were the only color in the drawing. It might be just my own imagination but I could tell this person in the drawing surely is an Asian. When I looked at the drawing I could feel my heart wringing in my chest and ache. Here was this person, who didn't even look like a human to me, who had the talent and the kind heart to draw me and give it to me!

It turned out that he used to be a painter and he still enjoys it. I asked him whether he could show me some more drawings in the notebook. When he flipped through his notebook, there were pages after pages full of peoples faces all with the familiar zig-zag lines, yet with well-captured features. A chubby-faced boy with lots of freckles, a middle aged African-American lady, the security guard of the apartment, and so on. And he told me who these people were in his notebook. Some he saw in the emergency room a couple weeks ago, some were fellow residents, some were visitors, etc... He made me realize how shallow, calculating, judgmental I was. I failed to see past the person's outside. I forgot that there is a soul in every human being no matter what kind of physical state he is in. It was amazing how one little drawing could change me so much and so deeply. It was amazing.

I reflected on this story for many long minutes, sniffling quietly, and was newly amazed at how every small interaction with another person can lead to...well, I don't know what to call it. A connection? A change? Maybe it's a reminder that so long we have the capacity to recognize a genuine gesture from someone's heart, or to have the ability to express in that same way, we create the opportunity for something amazing? I have myself been going through an identity crisis of late, and have been hyper-aware of my barriers and preconceptions. I've been more self-conscious than usual---or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I've reverted to an old self-consciousness---as I've tried to work out what it is that's been bothering me and define a course of action to correct it. J's story reminds me that this is all in my head, and that if I can be open to what is out there, I'll find amazing people and experiences just like this, hidden behind doors I wouldn't ordinarily open. It could be that simple.

But there I go, introspecting again about myself. Thank you, J, for sharing that special moment with those of us who needed to hear it and didn't even know it.

Podcamp Boston July 19-20

I've signed up for Podcamp Boston this-coming weekend, July 19-20. I don't really know that much about it, but I'm sort of craving another SXSW-style experience and this sounds like it just might be it. I convinced a good friend of mine, Erin, to tag along so she can learn about the mysterious world of social media and apply it to her nascent blog over at Living Vicariously. I'm really looking forward to meeting other people in the area who are doing the same thing. The following panel titles have caught my eye:

• Turning Buzz into Business - Christopher Penn ... I feel I should know more about how business people think so I can use this with my own design practice.
• NeoVictorian, Nobitic, and Narrative - Mark Bernstein ... I have no idea what this is about, but the combination of "NeoVictorian" and "Narrative" piqued my curiosity. Maybe it is my soft spot for Jane Austen.
• Using a live podcast to allow your readers to "become part of the conversation" - Nikki Starr ... Until I can afford to travel freely around the world, telepresence may just be the way to do it in the meantime.
• Is the 2.0 Generation Prepared to Inherit the Earth? - Alexa Scordato and Maria Thurrell ... This is a fascinating idea, and as someone who is participating more in "the world", I might pick up some hints on what I might be looking forward to.
• All I Really Need to Know I Learned From Knitting - Guido Stein ... What? I must know!!!!
• Marketing Over Coffee with David Meerman Scott, John Wall, and Christopher Penn ... I like coffee. And I like the human puzzle solving that goes behind advertising and marketing. Might be an interesting panel!
• Audio vs. Video Podcasting: Panel Discussion - Jeff Hinz with Mignon Fogarty, Michael Gaines, Steve Garfield, Dana Hawco ... I'm interesting in knowing the pros and cons of either media approach, though I think I could guess.
• Common Audio Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them - David Fisher ... This may save me some time in the future. Mostly I am hoping for software and gear recommendations ;-)
• PR 101 - the Basics - Sharon Davis ... I have a very general view of how PR works from a systems perspective (agencies, news outlets, etc), so I could use some instruction here
• Building Your Brand Through Passion & Community - C.C. Chapman ... This is TOTALLY what I want to do.
• The Authentic Enterprise - Jacqueline Prescott ... You had me at "authentic".
• Sustain the Fun - Business Models & You - David Cutler ... I want a fun business model, one that I will find motivating AND make money to fund all the various enterprises that I think would be awesome and empowering.
• How People & Organizations Make Decisions - Dave Wieneke ... I am interested in comparing my own understanding with that of the panelists.
• Breaking Into the Conversation, Busting the Cliques - Leslie Poston ... Although I'm far less shy than I used to be, I find it difficult to bust into a conversation where I haven't been invited. Teach me!
• How Social Media is like High School - Adam Zand ... This just sounds like it could be fun :-)

I just read that PodCamp Boston Registration ends tomorrow (July 16) at NOON, so if you're planning on going now is the time to sign up. Looking forward to meeting some new people to possibly scheme with :-)

Freelance Referral Network Building

Today I got an email from someone looking for a referral if I was still booked through November (I am, on that museum interactive project). It highly irritates me that I don't have a good referral network of deserving people who share my values. Almost two years ago, I wrote about a different kind of freelance network that would be powered by circles of personal recommendation of the work, from which the nature of the person can be inferred. My theory is that as freelancers, we really have no idea what clients respond to, so we put together a portfolio of our "best work" and hope for the best. Frankly, it all starts to look the same after a while, and it's impossible to see the person behind the work because we assume that he/she is the same. I say show your most "you" stuff, and let people form their own impressions. If they like what you see (and this is hard to predict), they will act if it's convenient relative to their need.

Referring

When I refer someone, I insist on qualifying what I know about that person's work and character. I don't refer someone who I don't trust, and if there are areas that I think are important to the business prospect that I can not speak to from personal experience, I say that. Here are some of the things that I like to see in the people I refer, adapted from my original post:

• Defines tangible, concrete results.
• Is candid, real, and honest in establishing expectations right from the get-go.
• Tells you how much something will cost before the work is done, to the best of their ability. Sets the expectation that this may change under specific conditions without being a jerk about it.
• Acknowledges the sending and receipt of critical work and related dependencies (e.g. receipt of asset photographs, etc)
• Strives to understands the nature of your work and the context in which you operate.
• Is willing to learn how to speak your own language (business, art, etc).
• Teaches how his/her profession works as necessary or as asked...no secrets! Good clients hire for the person doing the service, not the service itself.
• Actively collaborates to deliver tangible results at every stage of the project
• Keeps your best interest as the priority, not maximizing revenue at your expense, at fair compensation.
• Takes appropriate protective measures in terms of contractual scope that are mutually beneficial, and/or requires mutual commitment through tangible action.
• Looks out for other's relevant interests in day-to-day operation.
• Delivers great product on time.
• Is a source of good ideas and brainstorming.
• Enjoys the process of communication through regular dialog.
• Accepts criticism and disagreement, and works with that to help bring the project back into alignment (any feedback is good :-)

I don't expect to see every one of these line items in the same individual, and goodness knows that I am not perfect in this regard either. However, these values are what I aspire to professionally.

Building

The original initiative petered out as I got involved in other projects, and I figured that the energy it would take to build the network exceeded my available energy. This is still the case, but I'm now thinking of a relatively lower level of commitment. Ask people for resumes. I just posted this on Twitter:

I need to expand my referral network: If you kick ass at whatever you do and have 3 examples of ass kickery to back you up, contact me!

I'm going to keep everyone's information on file and start the positive critical review process myself on the information provided. This is useful for me because I'll start to rebuild my rolodex of people to go-to for work. Secondly, I will make the review process public by posting my positive impressions of the work I get to see. This means I focus on possibility, not expectation. It's up to the hiring client to make a determination whether a given freelance is reliable enough to do the work; I merely want to see what people are doing so I can connect the right gigs with the right people. This is something I like to do anyway, so it will be fun. This is a sort of variation on word-of-mouth, designed to create short lists of qualified candidates as opposed to filtering through hundreds of people.

So if you're an ass kicker of any stripe, send me your information or post it in the comment area. I am not sure how this will all play out, but I think it will be informative in some way. Here's what you should do in the email:

• Provide your name and public contact information
• Provide links to your three best examples of your work, as you see it. And that means you pick three links instead of throwing the whole portfolio at my head. It'll be hard, perhaps, but this is about what YOU think is important, not some abstract demographic. Three means three.
• Tell me what you think you do. If you don't know, that's OK, so long as you picked what you think your three strongest bits of work are.
• Tell me the story of how you got into what you're doing. This is very important context for me.

What I will do is spend about 30 minutes on each set of links, and then I'll spend another 30 minutes doing my informal analysis of how I can imagine your work being used in a given situation. I'll then post it on the public wiki for my reference, based on when I can get to it and what people are asking me for. It will be visible to the public, but as I said I will be only posting the positive reactions I have. This is not a recommendation I'm making; I'm merely documenting possibilities. As I said, it's up to the hiring party to do their own due diligence.

The benefit to you is that you'll get my perspective on your strengths and how I imagine it might fit with other people. People who have gone through this process with me have told me I should charge a lot of money for this service, but in this case you'll be doing me a favor by helping me expand my Rolodex. I can't promise that I'll get to everyone in a timely manner, but I will try my best to help people make connections.