CONFERENCE RECAPS

October 7-8, 2015 If you ever wondered what the future of storytelling might be like, The Future of StoryTelling Summit begins to show you through some of the most advanced technology in the world. And, who’s to think that it would ever take place in Staten Island—a borough that appears to be eons away from the epicenter of the world. My day two volunteer schedule was lighter than on the first day, and so I had the opportunity to explore and see why FoST was such a big deal. The day began with a wicked cool opening ceremony, which consisted of William Close , an installation artist who played a harp with strings the width of the theater; and Miwa Matreyek who incorporated shadow performance with moving animation. It was interesting that sound and visual performances were selected and utilized to begin the day’s multi-sensory war on the audience’s senses. Al Gore followed these artistic performances with a discussion of his “ Climate Reality Project ,” a nonprofit organizat...

Brian Mortensen Conference Summary - Advertising Week XII, 2015 The first session I attended at New York’s Advertising Week XII was titled “The Power of Sports: The How and Why of Fan Passion” , hosted by Octagon. First up on stage was John Shaw, Octagon’s President of Marketing, Americas, and Ryan Eckel, Dick’s Sporting Goods VP of Brand Marketing. After showing a video extolling the impressions and publicity gained by Dick’s new non-profit campaign, Sports Matter , Shaw and Eckel opened a discussion on the power of sports at the community and individual level. Eckel explained how schools across the country continue to lose funding for sports programs, giving Sports Matter the opportunity to step in and offer ancillary financial support or donations of sports equipment for all different types of teams. The program raised approximately $4 million dollars for 184 youth teams in 2014. For 2015-16, Dick’s has partnered with donorschoose.org , which Eckel believes will aid in sp...