Buy Local...Writer's Edition

Let me preface this post by saying that I am a big fan of the Business Journal. There is a rule in my office that I get first glance at the issue that comes in the mail every Friday. I look forward to my Daily Update in my inbox every afternoon. I follow them and RT them on twitter. But the March 25, 2011 issue caused me to pause and write a few words.

Now, I have been outspoken about Buy Local in the past (which caused a little trouble at work...another story). I fully support buy local efforts and I think the column by John Crabtree is good. Not great, but good. It's a good "Guest View" and I feel like my post might not provide the most hospitable welcome.

My problem is that Mr. Crabtree is from Nebraska. We have a column telling us to be loyal and buy local. Last time I checked, there are local people who are writers. They actually do writing as a type of businessy thing. They are a flight risk if their vocation is not supported locally. At a quick glance, the column appears to be about 100 to 150 words long. I think we might have a local writer or two or three who would appreciate the opportunity (especially if they get paid) to offer a guest view.

I had the privilege of writing a recurring column for the Business Journal for a period of time. It was fun and, while I did not get paid, it provided me with an opportunity to publish some stuff and share my perspective with the larger community.

I just hope the talented writers in Fresno | Kings | Madera | Tulare counties have the chance to offer their perspective and sell local.

If you are looking for other other local talent (beyond writers), I did profile a few cool peeps about a year ago (some of them have since left the area).

Pecha Kucha: Connections or Commercials

There are 333 cities around the globe that hold Pecha Kucha Night events. I am involved in the Fresno group and have attended all 8 volumes so far. The presenters are "encouraged" to align to the night's theme, but that is only successful about 40% of the time. Today, Famous Whitewater asked about the purpose of Pecha Kucha as part of his gig review. I was going to offer my answer on Fresno Famous, but I think this might require a little more space.

Sometimes a presenter will use the 6:40 for self-promotion or to launch a product/service/website. I am guilty of doing that. On Feb 20 at the volume 6 event, I used my 6:40 to talk about Smartagious.com. The theme for the night was Re:Build and I attempted to share the philosophical premise behind Smartagious: rebuild the value we can find from connections on the web.

After each event, the presenters that have the most

positive buzz are those that seek to make a

connection over presenting a commercial. The term designer is left up to interpretation. When I describe a perfect Pecha Kucha presentation, I often discuss those presentation in which the designer brings the audience into his or her world--a photographer shows you how they see, an architect redefines space, a developer exposes behind-the-scenes secrets that are generally only discussed on forums and message boards.

In my opinion, you have to know two very important things to put together a powerful Pecha Kucha presentation:

1) Know yourself

2) Know your audience

Use the 20 slides to create a greater overlap between the field of experience of the presenter and that of the audience. The goal is not to persuade the audience that you are right, cool, or have an amazing product that will change their life. The goal is to connect.

Again, this might just be my opinion. Like Famous mentioned,

It's actually a smart move if you have something to sell. Here's a large, captive audience of people who are interested in moving Fresno forward in a positive way. And it can be good for the audience, no doubt.

So maybe a little self-promotion is okay. I still challenge the presenters to make a connection first. Try, try, try to follow the theme. Challenge yourself.

Boozestorming: Drinking Outside the Box

Two things are best when flowing freely: Ideas & Liquor.

Recently, I was sitting in my backyard with some buddies enjoying some whiskey and talking about the changes we have seen in the world of creative shops (aka Ad Agencies). It was a fun discussion and we highlighted such things as smaller shops' ability to remain nimble and the security some clients have with larger agencies. There was a lot of back and forth, and in the end we came to some conclusions:

1. The market no longer sees the same value in the $200+ billable rate charged by many larger agencies.
2. The market expects the right team for the right project, but that does not mean they have to work together on every project.
3. Smaller shops need to learn how to communicate stability and train clients to be comfortable with change.
4. The next generation of creative shops is still under development.

This conversation was the genesis for Boozestorming. Thanks to my buddy Justin Bradley for providing the perfect tag line: Drinking Outside the Box.

Boozestorming is an opportunity for creative people to get together to solve problems or discuss topics. Think of it as Mad Men 2.0. Last week we met (first official meeting) and the topics ranged from Mel Gibson, Dealing with Crazy People, Insane Chicks, Fulton Mall, and Co-working. They process was not 100% refined, but it will get better. We even have a little structure now in how topics are discussed.

Topic

In the middle is the topic to be discussed. Easy enough.

Helpful Information

This section is used to list things that are known about the topic. Here you can also list resources that can help generate the best solution(s). Key facts or myths that exist.

Things to Try

What are some crazy (and not so crazy) solutions...specifically what are some behaviors that one can try? This part is important, because most solution require action. Lack of action generally lead to more of the same. Boo.

New Reality

Paint the picture. In this box folks should list what the situation looks like if solutions are implemented. How is the outcome better than the status quo? This will help sell the solution and generate greater buy-in.

Beverages Consumed

Is there a recipe for success that should me memorialized? Folks that participate can list the beverages consumed during the discussion of a particular topic. Same problem in the future? Pour me another glass of Maker's.

So important things to remember:

• Please drink responsibly.
• Revisit the solutions during a state of sobriety.
• This is as much about getting to know others as it is about discussing issues. So make friends.

It was neat to see how many people left the Boozestorming session and friended or started following people they met at Boozestorming.

Connection were made.

Drink were shared.

Problems were solved.

Cheers!

Action Items:

Follow @boozestorming on Twitter

Join the Boozestorming Group on Facebook

Bookmark boozestorming.com

Submit a topic for discussion

Montage: what's your soundtrack?

My buddy, Mike Oz of the FresnoBeehive.com, recently shared his summer playlist and asked others to share their songs of the summer. The playlist Mike assembled is pretty dope. It's been my soundtrack at work for most of the week. I encourage you to check it out.

Not trying to intentionally ride the wave of Mike's theme, I was curious about music in another fashion. What is the one song you would select to play while a montage of your life was being viewed? A lot of the best movies have that one montage scene.

For example: Rocky III training montage is awesome.

I know that whenever I hear "Dream On" by Aerosmith, my mind immediately starts running through significant moments in which this song would fit. I can picture graduations, summiting peaks, climbing spires, landing on the spoil of a foreign country or just finishing a Rogue performance.

So, what say you? What is your personal montage song? I want to create a life's soundtrack playlist.

A Lengthy Post About Brevity

While sitting in a business meeting, the following line came to mind:

"People's credibility is always weakened with every generalized statement they make." It was funny, so I tweeted it.

I am currently reading "Stand Up: A Professional Guide to Comedy Magic" and in the text it talks about writing jokes and lines. The particular nugget I appreciated most was the focus on brevity. They explained that the best way to achieve brevity is to take a line you've written and start systematically removing words (while attempting to maintain the integrity of the original line).

The exercise:

People's credibility is always weakened with every generalized statement they make. (11 words)

Credibility is always weakened with every generalized statement. (8 words)

Generalized statements always weaken credibility. (5 words)

Stupid people generalize. (3 words)

Now the "line" may not carry the same comedic value (huge assumption that it possessed comedic value in the first place), but the message is relatively intact.

I bring this up because I spend most of my day--and at time a good portion of my evening--listening to entrepreneurs tell me about their idea. In my mind I call it the bitch of the pitch. It's a bitch, because it is sometimes agonizing and difficult to sit through for all parties involved. However, it is a necessary part of getting an idea out there.

Time is not a consideration for me. I do not hold to a one-minute elevator pitch or a thirty-second commercial. I do not want to turn their idea into a tag line or cheesy jingle. I want them to distill it down to the basics. Here is a three-step process I often use. It is a formula. Some of you (two of the three readers of my blog) will say that formulas do not work or stripping away too much of the narrative exposes too many holes in the mind of the listener. To that I say, "Give people some credit." You can still be creative and a skilled communicator without dumbing down your business idea.

The formula (warning: I like sets of three):

Behavior (what does your business allow me (the user) to do?)

Analytic (how do you know that what it is I'm doing is actually working?)

New Reality (what do I look like now that I've consumed the product or service?)

For example, I worked with an unnamed business, listened to the description of their business and together we distilled everything down to three *core elements:

Exchange [blank]

Track [blank]

Increase [blank]

*Core elements removed to maintain anonymity

This business has a service it is selling and it is pretty feature-rich. I do not need to discuss the feature/benefit argument. This is more about talking about your business in a manner that isn't full of secret sauce and jargon. In fact, this description does not even tell me how they do it. I really don't care. The customer and investor doesn't really care that much either. Not initially. Not in the first discussion. Let the other party ask, "how" or "tell me more" or "I don't believe you" or "sounds too good to be true" or "where to I sign up"...

Take a look at your website, your essay, your wedding vows, your screenplay. Take a look and try the brevity experiment. Try to overcome the bitch of the pitch and slim it down.

Feel free to rewrite my tweet?

People's credibility is always weakened with every generalized statement they make.

What's Next?

Next. When that is, who knows, but it's an interesting idea to think about what comes next in life. Sure, I have my ideas. And people often talk about God's plan or God's will. However, what about the value of the opinions of those from cyberspace? What if I genuinely sought the counsel of the internets?

Well, here is goes. Okay people, what's next?

Based on what you know of me and about me, I will take your input seriously and see what comes out of it. Other than the postings on my blog, here are some other tools to help you get to know Travis A. Sheridan:

Facebook Profile (gotta be my "friend" to view)

Twitter Feed

LinkedIn Profile

Smartagious Profile

BipolarityOfLife (old blog)

I'll even Google myself for you.

Here's what I'm looking for:

1) Where should I live?

2) What should somebody (or you) hire me to do?

3) With what type of people should I surround myself?

4) If advice consists of burn in hell, I recommend deeper analysis.

Buy Local (Talent): Hank Delcore

Look at your iPhone. Look at your TV remote. Look at how you take out the trash, wash your clothes, or fold your shirts. Look at how you sit when you read versus how you sit when watching a sporting event versus how you sit when eating dinner. Ever watch that much stuff? Hank does. He is s professional voyeur. Hank specializes in Design Anthropology. Ya, you may think that he should be trekking through the jungle to see how apes pick lice off their babies (not at all what he does, btw), but Hank would rather concern himself with your grooming habits and how you use specific products.

I met Hank about a year ago (maybe longer) and was instantly impressed. He helps lead a team at Fresno State, the Institute of Public Anthropology. In that role (along with his teaching), he helps designers and entrepreneurs understand how the market actually using products and services to meet their needs...even if the market creates a secondary use for a product (do you hear me Twitter?).

Here is why you call Hank. You want to take a product to market. In your brilliance, you designed it so that you will like it. You hire an engineer to materialize you dream. Now back up and engage Hank in the very beginning. You are not your customer.

TalentLocal

Below is more information about Hank Delcore.

Who:

Hank Delcore -- Professor of Anthropology at Fresno State and Director of the Institute of Public Anthropology on campus. Also a user experience/usability professional.

What:

Hank's specialty is using strategic information about human behavior to improve the user experience and usability of products and services. Much of what he does falls under the heading of product design. However, his specific approach is participatory design, which means Hank treats users of products and services as co-designers. The idea is: if you want to field a product, and you want it to make it in the market, you should consult its users during the design process. A product designed in collaboration with users will better meet their needs and desires, deliver a rich user experience, and more likely out-do the competition.

How:

As far as I know, Hank is the only user experience professional in town focused on translating data about human behavior into design insights for products and services. Other organizations are doing some great market research, but no one is focused on the front-end: product design from earliest inception to the point of being market ready. Hank leverages over twenty years of his own experience, plus resources from the knowledge base at the university (colleagues and students) to make products ready for success.

Why:

If we’re going to have a vibrant local economy, locally-based businesses need to excel at delivering the best user experience to their customers at the best value. If you have a new product or you want to keep ahead of the competition by improving an existing one, Hank can help.

hdelcore@csufresno.edu

theanthroguys.com

follow Hank on Twiter: @anthroguy

TalentLocal Archive

Day 1: Ryan C. Jones, photographing genius

Day 2: Layne Lev, webtastically awesome

Day 3: Ryan Corrigan, entrepreneurial lawyer

Day 4: Kengi, Miles & Eric, 3Ding Dudes

Day 5: Brenda Carrasco, consumption engineer

Day 6: Robert Schultz, Techie McGeekerson

Day 7: Hank Delcore, design voyeur

Day 8: Bradley Fitzhenry, hey mister DJ

Day 9: Marc Lutz, inky & the brain

Buy Local (Talent): Kengi, Miles & Eric

Today it's a trifecta of coolness...a threesome with swagger. The fellas at Spline Motion Studios are funny, talented and appropriately geeky. What is better than working with 3D masters who enjoy a good beer, watch cartoons and refuse to tuck in their shirts?

From 3D renderings to crazy animation to interactive websites, Kengi, Miles and Eric can make your dreams a (virtual) reality. They are currently looking to break into the feature animation department. Spline Motion can be Fresno's very own Pixar. I'm sure the guys would enjoy that. So stop sending your 3D work to India and Canada, and give these guys a holla.

TalentLocal

Below is more information about Kengi, Miles & Eric.

Who:

Kengi Her, Miles Wilhelm, Eric Spikes - Partners, Spline Motion Studios

What:

3D Animation, Interactive Web Apps, Product Visuals

How:

These guys visualize what can’t be seen, hasn’t been created or you wish existed.

Why:

Kengi fought hard to come to Fresno from Laos, Eric left Hawaii for Fresno and Miles has no place else to go. But they all have faith in this city. While most other animation studios are in the big cities getting lost in the mix, Spline Motion is rocking downtown Fresno trying to make a big noise and having fun while doing it.

splinemotionstudios.com

559.486.1691

follow Spline Motion on Twitter: @splinemotion

TalentLocal Archive

Day 1: Ryan C. Jones, photographing genius

Day 2: Layne Lev, webtastically awesome

Day 3: Ryan Corrigan, entrepreneurial lawyer

Day 4: Kengi, Miles & Eric, 3Ding Dudes

Day 5: Brenda Carrasco, consumption engineer

Day 6: Robert Schultz, Techie McGeekerson

Day 7: Hank Delcore, design voyeur

Day 8: Bradley Fitzhenry, hey mister DJ

Day 9: Marc Lutz, inky & the brain

Buy Local (Talent): Layne Lev

Layne can pose with arms crossed in a smug fashion, because he is a stud. Actually, he is not smug at all. Layne is a killer designer and a pretty kick-ass wordsmith (try challenging him on Words with Friends user: LayneLev).

Layne's company, Hundred10 Design, does quality work for quality clients. He does a lot of work for some big brands (local and out-of-town). I guess you should only work with Layne if you want things done right. If you are lazy, dumb, or boring, have your nephew "design" your website.

TalentLocal

Below is more information about Layne Lev.

Who:

Layne Lev––partner in Hundred10, Fresno boomerang, and Words with Friends Specialist

What:

Hundred10 tackles all types of graphic design projects but the firm's main specialty is web site design and development.

How:

Layne has amazing attention to the "design" part of web design. He puts a tremendous amount of thought into user interaction and how to properly advance the brand in the web space.

Why:

Layne has been lucky enough to work with some pretty big names on the web - Netflix, Monster.com, Keynote Systems - in addition to some great local companies like EYE-Q Vision Care, Granville Homes, and Fresno State University. Last year, the firm were recognized with a national Addy for its work on the Pangea Restaurant web site.

Layne admitted that he is proud that Hundred can get some of those companies to look in Fresno's direction for that kind of work now. Ten years ago, that probably wouldn't have happened.

Hundred10.com

559.230.0110

follow Layne on Twitter: @LayneLev

TalentLocal Archive

Day 1: Ryan C. Jones, photographing genius

Day 2: Layne Lev, webtastically awesome

Day 3: Ryan Corrigan, entrepreneurial lawyer

Day 4: Kengi, Miles & Eric, 3Ding Dudes

Day 5: Brenda Carrasco, consumption engineer

Day 6: Robert Schultz, Techie McGeekerson

Day 7: Hank Delcore, design voyeur

Day 8: Bradley Fitzhenry, hey mister DJ

Day 9: Marc Lutz, inky & the brain

Buy Local (Talent): Ryan C. Jones

This guy does good great work. Ryan is one part philosopher, one part visual architect, and one part artist. He shoots a lot of weddings (gotta pay the bills, right) but is going to make a big splash on the music scene with the way he can capture sound, movement and experience with his lens.

I've had the pleasure to know Ryan for about 6 months. In that time, he has proven to be a great asset to the community, a lover of local music and supporter of most things local. He pours himself into his work and says that he has a nasty habit of becoming friends with his clients (not really a bad thing, right?).

TalentLocal

Below is more information about Ryan C. Jones.

Who:

Ryan C. Jones, owner and primary photographer, RCJones Photography

What:

Commericial, Creative Portrait, Wedding Photography, Music Industry Photography

How:

He aims to do more than merely take a picture. Ryan will tell a story that is meaningful, creative and just a little different than what you might expect.

Why:

He is a boomerang. Ryan moved to Southern California with the intention of never coming back, but after seeing the progress of the artistic and photographic community in Fresno, he made the decision to move back after three years away and hopefully help raise the bar for what's considered good art in the Central Valley. He's been back for a little over a year and a half now and, in his words, "it was hands-down the best decision I've ever made."

rcjonesphotography.com

rcjonesphotographyblog.com

559.593.5073

follow Ryan on Twitter: @rcjonesphoto

TalentLocal Archive

Day 1: Ryan C. Jones, photographing genius

Day 2: Layne Lev, webtastically awesome

Day 3: Ryan Corrigan, entrepreneurial lawyer

Day 4: Kengi, Miles & Eric, 3Ding Dudes

Day 5: Brenda Carrasco, consumption engineer

Day 6: Robert Schultz, Techie McGeekerson

Day 7: Hank Delcore, design voyeur

Day 8: Bradley Fitzhenry, hey mister DJ

Day 9: Marc Lutz, inky & the brain