thestoryofjory.com

Way back in September, I joined the leadership team for IgniteOKC. Tanner and I had just attended the first Ignite event in Oklahoma at the Blue Dome Diner in Tulsa. We had so much fun, and met oh-so-many interesting people (like @yoyology and Emily Campbell). I was super-excited to get to work with a diverse group of people on a similar event in Oklahoma City, and tomorrow is the big day!

We’ve been planning for months, and throughout the process I’ve really thought about how important this event will be for OKC. Ignite is really about building your community and sharing ideas with others in a way that is open-minded, enthusiastic, and original.

The gist is this:
1) people from the community submit their idea;
2) people from the community vote or decide which ideas they want to hear;
3) the chosen ideas are presented at the Ignite event in a very specific way – each presenter gets exactly 5 minutes and 20 timed slides.

There are plenty of great Ignite talks on the parent website, but I would really encourage you to look for the Ignite group in your area. There’s no telling what you could learn about your community from some really interesting, passionate people.  Moreover, you find out about what other people think is important – and hopefully find yourself inspired to help that community develop.

Unfortunately, IgniteOKC is sold out – we have no more room in the Lyric Theater! But, we will be Live Streaming the event here and I plan to have the video of the individual talks up over the weekend.

If you’re already going – come say Hi! I’ll be the girl in the Ignite t-shirt with the video camera :)

Today I received my first issue of Communication Arts.  Part journal, part magazine, CA is a treatise for good design – something that I clearly don’t know as much about as I thought I did.  I’ve always considered myself “the creative one” of my friends and family; my opinions are often sought on various creative projects, and that makes me feel good.  But I realize also that it has made me complacent.  I seem to have gotten very good at giving my opinion about other people’s work, and not very good at all at coming up with my own designs.

Unfortunately, this attitude is becoming pervasive among students and seems to be going unchecked.  In class, we are frequently asked to evaluate messages for their true meaning and effectiveness, but we are rarely rewarded for our own creativity. An out-of-the-box idea turned in for a big project can cost a student his grade if the concept isn’t understood or executed the way a professor thinks it ought to be. Granted, I’m enrolled in a mass communication program rather than a design program.  But isn’t creative thinking required in both?  Deconstructing messages has made me more hesitant to freely create.  I need more practice in getting the initial idea out first – and critically improving it later.

I’m resolved to do more “doing” and work on my own style. I look forward to more flashes of self-reflection brought on by CA – the first issue alone has been worth the $39 student subscription price.