CONFERENCE RECAPS

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of tuning into a webinar called “How to Crush Your Internship,” hosted by Emily Miethner.   She also happens to be the CEO and founder of FindSpark – a dedicated community filled with resources and opportunities that are aimed at connecting young talent with industry leaders.   Emily explained how FindSpark redefines networking, by creating fun ways to connect with mentors.   She encouraged all of us who tuned in to introduce ourselves before we began – this gave each of us an idea of how we weren’t all that different in terms of being in the early stages of our careers and wanting to take that next step.   But more importantly, this opened the “floor” for conversation and made the webinar feel the opposite of one-sided, which can be the norm when you’re hiding behind a computer screen. In a nutshell, one of the most important things to focus on during an internship is people.   Emily explained how be...

Last year I had the pleasure to attend a brief conversation about experiential marketing at a TEDx Talks, that was held in Fulton Street. I happened to have had a break from work and decided why not. I can grab a pizza on my way back. The best part about hearing from Layne Braunstein Chief Creative Officer at Fake Love. Is his carefully outlined step by step program to creating effective experiential campaigns. Based on his definition, your birthday party was an experiential campaign if you had tried to sell something haha. Seriously. Having focused on digital media for so long, it feels like this is the only communication venue that exists sometimes. After learning about what experiential is, I realized that when I was at FAO Schwartz in my childhood days, I was really just taking part in an experiential campaign. What makes experiential campaigns so special is that deep down inside all of us are seeking to replicate the feeling of that first experience. It is essentially what ...

On April 13, 2018, National Geographic hosted a PR event at NYIT to celebrate the launch of its latest socio-political docu-series, America Inside Out. At the premiere, Katie Couric presented her personal motivations leading her to reveal the new identity of American society. In America Inside Out , Couric travels around the country to explore the factors shaping the most pivotal and confusing topics in American culture today. She tackles some of the most pressing issues in today's society head-on – from the march in Charlottesville to Anti-Muslim sentiment to the #MeToo movement. Throughout the series, we hear from young female Muslim entrepreneurs in Brooklyn as well as America’s white working class. Couric appointed cultural icons as well as everyday Americans to help her look past politics and individual discomfort to understand the complicated truth about the complexities of religion, race and cultural norms, while bringing up the humanity beneath the surface. “To...

On May 11, 2017, The One Club for Creativity hosted the Creative Week, one of the industry's leading conferences attracting designers, producers, creatives and marketing executives from all over the world. George Lois, who many call the “original MadMan”, was the 2017 Creative Summit Main Speaker.  Lois, a pioneer of advertising’s Creative Revolution in the 1960s, is most known for being an art director of a number of controversial Esquire covers that sparked conversation on topics ranging from pop art to college students dodging the Vietnam War draft.  Some of the covers include Muhammed Ali as San Sebastian and Andy Warhol drowning in the Campbell’s soup can that he is most famous for.  Many of the covers were on display along the hotel’s hallways to promote Lois’ new archives that he so generously donated to The City College of New York.  It was through the George Lois “Big Ideas” Archive that I was able to attend this conference. During his hour...

Over the course of the last two years I had a privilege to attend and volunteer at 99U , a conference envisioned by parent company Adobe for creative innovators which brings together 1000 creative leaders every year for 3 full days of insightful talks, workshops and connections. Having volunteered and attended talks and workshops for both 2017 and 2018 editions, I would completely recommend every current and future BICster to not miss this conference since its open for volunteers and worth every bit of the efforts. Here’s a recap of the 2017 edition This was a special year since it was their 9th edition , and while the other conferences wait until the 10th for a grand celebration , it was fitting that they celebrate the 9th year to celebrate the theme and brand of 99U. Being associated with adobe there was a strong visual language for the use of 9 for branding.It flowed all through the tactile elements including the swag bags for the speakers an...