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March 30, 2009

The price you pay when you spend a couple of days out of the office attending a conference

Filed under: Mentus Water Cooler — clarissa @ 9:47 am

I had the great pleasure of attending the 14th Annual Y-Conference (http://y-conference.com) last week here in beautifully sunny San Diego. “The Y”, as it’s many followers/fans like to call it, is a conference geared towards inspiring designers and sympathizers on “WHY” one designs or should design. This year’s Y theme was “Energy.”

Today is Monday and well… the conference worked! I feel “energYzed”! I even worked out this morning!

As I powered up my brand new Mac this morning, thank you Mentus, I couldn’t wait to transform all the energy I received last week into energy that my clients could benefit from.

As my emails started coming in, I quickly realized that spending a couple of days out of the office came at a very high price! That price being… a BLOG! That’s right! My lovely, and now “ex-friend” and “co-worker” Karen, is spearheading a company wide effort to get each one of us Mentoids to write entries for our company blog.

Unfortunately one of my biggest shortcomings in life is not being able to express myself verbally – I’m much more successful in communicating with lines, colors, shapes and value – that’s why I became a “graphic” designer. So you can only imagine the HORROR that took over my body when I found out about this brilliant blog idea!

So let this be a lesson for all of you who are thinking about spending a couple of days out of the office. When you’re gone, people around you come up with brilliant ideas that always involve you! And since you’re not around to rebut, you’ll end up like me… here… writing my first blog entry ever! I hope you enjoyed!

March 24, 2009

Proof is in the… Proof

Filed under: Social Media — john @ 4:36 pm

Trying to quickly convey the essence of social networking is similar to making reference to a crazy relative. As soon as you mention your wacky Uncle George, heads nod in universal recognition as if we all know him, but when explaining his quirkiness it takes a while. So I found a recent blog posting from the head of social media at Ford Motor Company, Scott Monty, to be particularly pithy. In his “Social Network Shorthand” post (http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/03/social-network-shorthand.html), Monty points to the “triumverate of social networks – Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.” In describing the uniqueness of each platform, Monty states: “LinkedIn is the business meeting; Facebook is the hallway conversation; Twitter is the cocktail party.” This is a colorful characterization and an apt suggestion of how each of the social media Big 3 plays a distinct, yet complementary, role.

One of the implied messages in Monty’s assertion is that there is an undeniable and overwhelming need for all of us to be heard in every facet of our lives – at work, in the lunchroom, at home and certainly among friends. The inherent value of social media is not that it gives us license to talk. Mankind has been capable of communicating since those GEICO guys starting etching out messages on rock walls way back when. But unless somebody meandered past those walls after a long night out at Cro-Magnon Bar, the communication was left unattended. No, the ultimate gift that social media bequeaths is the chance to truly connect (i.e., be heard). Many of us have witnessed this phenomenon first hand as we reconnect with high school and college classmates that we haven’t seen for years. While the process may bring bad memories of the dozen girls that were all coincidentally “busy already” when you asked them to the Prom, it is a rather remarkable feeling to knock on the door of old friends in such an unimposing manner AND then have them invite you to cross their digital doormat.

It is with this notion of connecting – and reconnecting – that Mentus happily introduces Proof. With Proof, we are not simply trying to further populate the blogosphere. Our objective, rather, is to provide our clients, colleagues, associates and friends with a means to be heard. We are pretty good at the talking thing (some would say, too good)… now we want to create and stimulate a meaningful dialogue with you. We’re here to listen, to learn, and, yes, to laugh with you. So while we like to think that Proof is a different kind of Blog, that difference will only be manifested if we can persuade you to play a substantial role in shaping it with your feedback, input and perspective.

We’re eager to hear from you. And in advance, thanks much for giving Proof a closer look.

Enjoy…