I remember a few years ago working on the formidable Nike account with a small boutique advertising agency in Toronto Canada. The president of said agency had just seen my latest version of a client presentation for hockey, and he looked over at me quite seriously and asked, 'Francesca, where is the orgasm?'. Luckily I wasn't drinking or eating anything as I would have choked, at the time it struck me as the type of think you would only hear an ad exec utter aloud in the company of others. Brother, I remember thinking to myself, what am I doing here. I don't do orgasms or titillation during presentations. I just present the core ideas.
It is somewhat ironic to find myself today working within the foresight unit of a large engineering and design company, and to some extent be relied on to deliver against this same expectation. An engineer, let alone an English one, would never ask you point-blank to deliver an orgasm in your presentation, but they might replace such shock-factor words with 'buzz' or excitement, maybe even inspiration.
So while I would like to distance myself from the advertising community I left behind, I have to admit I am still peddling some of the same tricks. The mystique of what we do remains important to promote with our clients. To some extent clients don't want to believe they are only buying a steel bridge in Kansas, what they want to buy is a vital connection between the small farming communities and the thriving metropolis to the north.
On Sunday the BBC aired the official Olympic hand off between Beijing and London. But before I can go into any brief recap of the closing ceremonies, let me begin with the tediousness of having to watch London Mayor, Boris Johnson, the IOC President Rogge, and his Chinese compatriot, Liu Qi's attempts to wave the flag without having the material wrap itself impotently and lifelessly around the staff.
And what of Liu Qi's speech, which I was very keen to get my hands on. The 2008 motto 'One dream one world' seems such a farce when we consider the source. Or perhaps it makes a lot of sense coming from a communist regime; when the Chinese government says one dream, then all of its’ people, and the rest of the world, should take note and line up to its' credo.
I had a very hard time not screeching every time I saw the official Olympic tag over the last two weeks. How can a country with so many human rights violations stand dead center on the global stage and proclaim with deadpan sincerity 'one dream one world'. Should China not get its own domestic affairs in order, before asking the global audience over for tea, let alone the Olympics.
A particular favorite passage in Liu Qi's speech was when he uttered that "The Beijing Olympic Games is a testimony of the fact that the world has its trust rested upon China". I am sorry, but I think this would be an oversimplification of the truth, or rather a gross misjudgement of individual sentiment. China should not misjudge the fact that Americans watched the 2008 Olympics in record numbers. Watching does not suggest an awareness of the host's political and social actions. Watching does not equate support, let alone trust. At this point in time, I would rather invest my trust in a dog than the Chinese governmen. China still has a lot more work to do, beyond Pyrotechics, cheerleaders, and lip synch to convince me that they are worthy of my trust.
So much of my social calendar this week will have been dictated by the six degrees of Facebook. In less than a week I have already racked up (pardon my French) 5 different meetings with many more friends via Facebook. I feel like a kid on sugar speed wondering which wormhole I will fall into next.
Just last week I met up with Katie K. one of my best friends from Brown. We walked through the park and to the Met accompanied by her lovely three-month old ball of joy. I had not seen her since her wedding five years ago. At least one divorce or too have transpired since amongst our acquaintances. On Sunday I met up with a theatre compadre also from Brown. We met at Blossom for vegetarian eats and she brought me up to speed on many of the thespians I have not seen in over ten years. Frightening. They included such eccentrics as Becky who now goes by the name of Lavender Diamond. Her story alone on the origin of the name is worth hearing on YouTube, as well as Katie Eastbourne who once sang with indie-rockers Young People and has since struck out on her own and can be heard on myspace.
Tonight I am meeting up with a former boarding schooler to catch a little round robyn of digital culture talks at the first ever Ignite NYC. It starts off with an NYC soldiering championship, but I think we will make it just in time for the talks. We will hopefully be joined by artist-collaborator-at-arms Milena (gmail and not Facebook coordinated), as she just happens to be in NYC tonight, and hopefully my colleague Karin. Phew. It starts to sound like a towering social pisa delicately orchestrated and held up by the invisible mesh cables of the internet.
My last night will be dinner with another Brunonian and his wife in Brooklyn. The last time I saw them was when I was applying to MBA school in Chicago and they kindly hosted me on their couch. How time flies. The offer eventually came from another windy city, Toronto.
It is worth noting that my need for social speed is also met with some weariness (and the need to focus on work, my real reason (?) for being here) which strikes me as quite normal for any backpacking traveler of the web. Meetings with friends and acquaintances needs to be tempered with time for just myself and conversations with the person I live with on a day to day basis in London.
My question is, does Facebook increase the chances that individuals will meet up with long lost friends? And when I say Facebook, I am really talking about the Twitter feature and the live updates, which seem to capture more attention than any of my emails. There is something about updates which draws attention in such a way to illicit a response. I am just not sure why...
This morning as I went to fetch a coffee with Rob in anticipation of my flight to Copenhagen later this afternoon to attend and speak at Reboot10 (don't ask me why I thought it was a perfectly good idea until now), I noticed a father ordering his two boys to toss something in the waste bin and couldn't help but think some folks should have just joined the military instead of the parenting order.
It's been three weeks in the making (first conversation with Thomas M while I was still in Tanzania trying to get a steady internet heartbeat) and lead-up to doing a talk on 'structure vs freedom'. I barely just finished early this morning/last night after recording a podcast with Nicole Simon yesterday.
Here's hoping I can bring something worthwhile to an already crowded and dynamic table at Reboot10. Other speakers include Joshua Kauffman & Gwendolyn Floyd of Regional, Pedro Custodio, and many others...
I have just arrived in Tanzania or more accurately the Lodge where we will be staying for the duration of our workshop. It was a 30 km ride from Kilimanjaro International Airport, which we rode along the main rode underneath a charcoal sky punctuated by a starry constellation I rarely see in the grimy skies of London.
We were led to our rooms by two porters. I was shown a large room with a canopy bed of mosquito netting. Unfortunately the lovely bed had no sheets. I went to reception to inquire after a fresh set and was assured with a smile that they would arrive. After sharing a laugh and a beer with my traveling companion Amy, I returned to my room to find no sheets. Hopefully I will rectify the situation this morning, although I have been warned to take things more slowly in Tanzania.
Traveling always makes me see things a little differently. New smells, sounds and cultural differences emerge when you shift countries and continents.
Today is the last day of prep before we head to Tanzania for our eco-resorts of the future workshop. Heading to that corner of the world always fills me fear and excitement. As the French intern Charlotte remarked of her trip to Tanzania last summer, you often get mistaken for a walking wallet. I just hope in the rush of work, there will be time to take in the lush landscape of Tanzania and to get to know some of the fantastic people that will be coming from as far as San Francisco and as near as down the road.
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