if you didnt need it then..

Kudos to all those people fighting against"no budget" and winning!

These true leaders who've chosen long term over short term thinking have taken matters into their own hands and I applaud them for making it happen. These people get it - they recognize the need to participate in business conferences to jumpstart innovation. These events arent boondogles - they're brain food - you get to exchange ideas and dos and donts with like minded people you cant meet online. I'm inspired that they fought to be inspired and won!

For those still saying "if you did without it last year you can do without it this year "... I have this to say... If you did without your asthma medicine last year can you do without it this year? Even if you cant breathe now and you'll be worse off tomorrow if you ignore it?

NOW is the time you need innovation and new ideas - its a new world with new rules and fyi for those PLU (people like us) TED groupies who can't get in to hear Adrian van Hooydonk, Director of BMW Group Design keynote - FEI Europe http://www.frontendofinnovation.com/ just added him - concept car and all to the already astonishing line-up of groundbreaking doers.

Deep breaths......it's about time to change the playbook.

Caution: Do NOT try this at home... "Pie Genius"

I recently watched the movie Waitress with my family. In the movie, Kerri Russell is referred to by one of the other waitresses as a "pie genius". She has an uncanny ability to dream up and concoct the most interesting and delicious pies from the most unlikely combinations of ingredients. Fact is, she's remarkably talented and was trained by her mother (the original pie genius) for years to be able to deliver.

In the age of DIY with an abundance of tools, it's easy to think you can do everything yourself because technology has made it so easy for everyone, even the least technical folks to jump right in. Take market research - there's a ton of survey programs out there - anyone and everyone can field a study. But what about the analysis? Even more importantly - the translation of the analysis and the actioning of the results. That's where the genius part comes in. This years "The Market Research event" http://www.themarketresearchevent.com/ is the place where all the geniuses and genius hopefuls gather to exchange perspectives and ideas on anything and everything that is market research. For those dead set on DIY, theres sessions on that too - noone says not to do it - we're just saying get trained so you can make smarter decisions. Who knows - we might even serve some pie for dessert.

Secret anyone?

I've never been much into magic. Although in our business, I do think that a perfect conference is a bit of science, art and intuition all wrapped up in an experience - driven of course by a web (not that web!) of relationships - all spanning networks and time. If i had a crystal ball, i'd say things across the board are about to be reinvented - the strong will survive - persevere and end up even better than before - and the weak will disappear. Where will you be? One decision can change a person and a business' future forever. Now then, the stars aligning never hurt the conference business either if anyone out there is listening or can pull some strings...

Reboot.

Reboot. One of my esteemed colleagues and producers Krista Vazquez used that term as a theme for next years FUSE event. After speaking with hundreds of people from branding, marketing, design - it's a common thread. It's a way of thinking about where we are and where we want to be. No doubt with Krista on it, Debbie Millman and Cheryl Swanson collaboring and chairing that's exactly what will happen. Together we will all begin our uphill climb with new boots (it is fall afterall) and new rules. Love it - there's a lot of things I'd like to reboot. I bet i'm not alone.

The New Business Abnormal

No matter what industry, which company, title, function everyone is saying the same thing. We're in a state of flux - uncertainty - all is BEING rewritten but nothing has actually "been published". We know there are new rules, but noone knows exactly what those rules are. Hurry up let's get this going - we all have business to do.