IABC Atlanta Reciprocal Judging: Doing Our Part

What started out as an occasional thing for us is fast turning into culture. I'm talking about serving as a reciprocal judge for other marketing associations. In a past life, I used to do this every year - help out with the sorting in my local ad club chapter and help out as a judge for our Jersey sister group. When I came to Atlanta, I lost touch with this part of my professional life.

Luckily, the IABC of Atlanta asked for volunteers to help out and I jumped at the chance. For me, judging is like getting to view the director's cut of an ad campaign. You get to really understand the hows and whys from the author's point of view - all in a nice neat package. And there are usually pictures for those of us who have challenged attention spans.

This round, we have expanded the circle to include Mike and Jeff in the office. We each get our handy packet to read at our leisure. Turn it in when we are done. Voila! We get a little smarter and, hopefully, someone wins a new office decoration.

So... the entries are due back today. Hope you did your homework guys!

Events Around Town: Week 6/23

We had the pleasure of attending three trade events last week: One for the IABC and two as a guest of Earth Share of Georgia.

IABC: Exploring the Newest Frontiers of Social Media
This month, the IABC gathered a panel of three pros in the social media space: Chris Klaus, founder and CEO of Kaneva, Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue and Dean Trevelino of Trevelino/Keller. It was an interesting discussion about where social media is hitting corporations and brands.

What made this lunch engaging was that the speakers strayed off-script occasionally. At times, the panel became conversational a bit. What I would have really enjoyed would have been some good debate and exchange between the panelists themselves. The moderator was excellent, as always, but the questions tend to be too general and not very challenging.

Conclusions? Not a lot.
Points made? Social media is a big deal and marketers are wrestling with how to deal with them and not lose control of their brand. Not news, really. I would rather hear more examples of good and bad experiences.

What would really make these panel discussions engaging would be to get rid of the white table and make it more collaborative. Tell a few stories and then just discuss them. Focus on very few points but drive them deeper.


Type A Environmental Awareness Event
Jacoby Energy and MogulPR have started putting on these green-network events at Dolce in Atlantic Station. The event is well attended and well organized. Both groups have really done a good job at providing a forum for the orgs and companies to come together.

In addition to food and drinks, there is also a forum for speakers to address the audience. This was short, to the point and supported with widescreens for those of us in the back.

I had the chance to spend some time with Park Pride, Partnership for a Sustainable Georgia. and Jocoby Energy. Jacoby is worth looking at as they have another solution for the waste-to-energy conundrum.

Your Groove Goes Green
Held at Opera in midtown, this event was big. Like really big. When i thought it was big, I wandered onto the outside deck and marveled at how much bigger this event actually was. The food was also exceptional. Add that to the third floor open bar, and the event was a hit with me!

On a serious side, there was a good representation of organization staff as well as corporate responsibility professionals too. I had a chance to sit with Jessica and Elizabeth from Cox for a little while and talk green. They've both been great supporters of Realm as well as organizations in and around Atlanta. I'm pretty sure the green shirts were just coincidence... but who knows.