Like others have already mentioned in this blog this is my first attempt at this whole “blogging” thing. I am totally on board and I think it is going to be a great project for us in the Membership & Marketing Department. I think one of the coolest things is going to be reading back through these months from now. There is definitely a lot we can all learn about ourselves, each other and our jobs from actively contributing to Collective Reality.
So, that is pretty much all I have… Now I am going to go ahead and brave the traffic on 76 to head home for the weekend on what experts claim to be the busiest travel day of the year. I can only hope that the 30 mile drive doesn’t take 4 hours like it did this time last year. But now isn’t that why we all love 76 so much?
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Bring on the Turkey!
Even as a "grown-up" (I use that term very loosely) there is an unavoidable energy that takes over the day....or days...leading up to the holidays. Being that Thanksgiving is a week later than usual this year, I feel like that energy this year has been multiplied by 50! You've noticed it...People are, for the most part, extremely light-hearted, overly silly, and antsy beyond belief. (Has anyone seen the beach ball lately? No really....where has it been?)
So....just to add an extra dose of cheesiness to this weeks blog:
"This year, I am thankful for my coworkers...You make it fun to come to work everyday!"
So....just to add an extra dose of cheesiness to this weeks blog:
"This year, I am thankful for my coworkers...You make it fun to come to work everyday!"
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
We're off to a good start...
Welcome to Collective Reality - our attempt to share with you a little bit about life inside a non-profit membership and marketing department.
I've been meaning to write a "welcome to our blog" message (seems that's how they all start) for about a week now, but my sense of urgency picked up when I went online yesterday and found my fellow contributors have already hit the ground running. I think that speaks well for their being fresh content from a wide variety of perspectives over the coming year and beyond.
Our core blogging team are our marketing assistants (co-op students from Drexel University), along with the full time staff who regularly work with them (me included). We've put this blog together for a couple of reasons including the opportunity to chronicle our collective reality in hopes of learning from it, but also to expand our knowledge of web 2.0 technologies by living within them. I also hope that by sharing a little bit of our world, we can increase the collective knowledge and learning within the association community...after all, sometimes it's just good to know that you're not the only own going through a particular issue or that others use the same approach a problem you're facing.
Welcome to our online experiment...I have no clue where this will take us and have put no restrictions (other than good taste and writing only things you would want your parents to read in print) on all of the contributors...I supsect that over time, you'll find this blog filled with posts on not only the business side of what we do (campaigns, direct mail, press releases, etc) but also on the human side of a non profit work place (conflict, self-doubt, confidence, collaboration).
When it's all said and done, I hope that we've helped to expand the conversation (define as you'd like) in some small way.
Enjoy the ride
I've been meaning to write a "welcome to our blog" message (seems that's how they all start) for about a week now, but my sense of urgency picked up when I went online yesterday and found my fellow contributors have already hit the ground running. I think that speaks well for their being fresh content from a wide variety of perspectives over the coming year and beyond.
Our core blogging team are our marketing assistants (co-op students from Drexel University), along with the full time staff who regularly work with them (me included). We've put this blog together for a couple of reasons including the opportunity to chronicle our collective reality in hopes of learning from it, but also to expand our knowledge of web 2.0 technologies by living within them. I also hope that by sharing a little bit of our world, we can increase the collective knowledge and learning within the association community...after all, sometimes it's just good to know that you're not the only own going through a particular issue or that others use the same approach a problem you're facing.
Welcome to our online experiment...I have no clue where this will take us and have put no restrictions (other than good taste and writing only things you would want your parents to read in print) on all of the contributors...I supsect that over time, you'll find this blog filled with posts on not only the business side of what we do (campaigns, direct mail, press releases, etc) but also on the human side of a non profit work place (conflict, self-doubt, confidence, collaboration).
When it's all said and done, I hope that we've helped to expand the conversation (define as you'd like) in some small way.
Enjoy the ride
My Life Story
I’m pretty excited for this new blogging project. I think that it will get people thinking about a lot of new topics and ideas. For me personally, I think that this blog might help me filter through my own thoughts and be a factor in helping me decide my major and whatnot.
Unlike Dettmer, I’m definitely not new to blogging, one of my high school teachers made us make a blog in the beginning of our freshman year. We had to write down our thoughts like it was a journal and in a few years come back to it. I continued writing until the end of my freshman year and looked at it again at the end of my senior year. The journal was filled with entries on what I wanted to do in the future, what life I would want to have and so on.
Even though some of the entries were really stupid, it kind of helped me to look back on it and see how much my goals had changed. So I think just writing and reflecting along with the experiences and opportunities I get might just help me figure out everything I’m so unsure of.
Unlike Dettmer, I’m definitely not new to blogging, one of my high school teachers made us make a blog in the beginning of our freshman year. We had to write down our thoughts like it was a journal and in a few years come back to it. I continued writing until the end of my freshman year and looked at it again at the end of my senior year. The journal was filled with entries on what I wanted to do in the future, what life I would want to have and so on.
Even though some of the entries were really stupid, it kind of helped me to look back on it and see how much my goals had changed. So I think just writing and reflecting along with the experiences and opportunities I get might just help me figure out everything I’m so unsure of.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Look Who's Blogging Now
This is the first blog I have ever contributed to and I have to say I am pretty excited to see what it can do. I have often thought about starting a blog, or becoming one of those readers who comments so much on a blog you would think they were getting paid to do it, but in the end did not know what to write about or who for. Hopefully this blog can give me a jump start or some ideas.
Thats all for today... More coming soon
Thats all for today... More coming soon
Just another manic Monday
It's Monday, but it feels more like Wednesday to me because we have off for the holidays on Thursday & Friday this week.
Monday's are always a little hectic here. I get to work around 9:30 in the morning and catch up on e-mails, do a few things to prepare for our meeting and off I go at 10:30. I sit in an unusually cold room for nearly two hours listening to updates from the past week and anything up and coming for the week ahead. It's not a boring meeting, I get to record updates and send them out to everybody afterwards. I decided to include a little bit of humor in the minutes so that it is something for the department to look forward to and so people can laugh a little bit. After the meeting is over, I go to lunch and the rest of the day usually flies by. I have more e-mails to catch up on, the minutes to write and post online, and a few other odds and ends that I don't mind doing.
When I say that Mondays are hectic, I don't mean it in a bad way. I like this type of busy because the day goes by faster (although I think the next day and 1/2 will drag on because I'm excited for a short vacation). I'm not really sure what else to say here but how awesome are my Thanksgiving themed colors?!
Monday's are always a little hectic here. I get to work around 9:30 in the morning and catch up on e-mails, do a few things to prepare for our meeting and off I go at 10:30. I sit in an unusually cold room for nearly two hours listening to updates from the past week and anything up and coming for the week ahead. It's not a boring meeting, I get to record updates and send them out to everybody afterwards. I decided to include a little bit of humor in the minutes so that it is something for the department to look forward to and so people can laugh a little bit. After the meeting is over, I go to lunch and the rest of the day usually flies by. I have more e-mails to catch up on, the minutes to write and post online, and a few other odds and ends that I don't mind doing.
When I say that Mondays are hectic, I don't mean it in a bad way. I like this type of busy because the day goes by faster (although I think the next day and 1/2 will drag on because I'm excited for a short vacation). I'm not really sure what else to say here but how awesome are my Thanksgiving themed colors?!
The First Post
Well, looks like I'm christening this blog with the first post.
During my 30 minute walk to and from work each day, my thoughts tend to drift off and, I reflect on the state of things going on around me. A few days ago I had an interesting thought that I wanted to expand upon but never really went back to. I guess now that I contribute to this blog, I have a spot to do that.
The scene before me; busy professionals make their daily commute via subway. They shuffle through the turnstiles in silence, appearing to be somewhat displeased at the start of a new work day. I can’t say I’m not on the same boat. Up ahead, a womanunknowingly drops one of her gloves. People pass but either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I like to think my mother raised me right, so I pick up the glove and catch up to the woman outside the subway. She seemed very pleased, and fairly surprised, that I went out of my way to give her the glove back. Even though it was such a small act, I felt like it was a good way to start the day. Which leads me to my thought;
We tend to like not the people who do things for us but the ones we do things for. Though there will always be those who feel the contrary, I think humanity intrinsically finds satisfaction in selfless service. It can come from helping to build affordable houses, donating money to a charity, or even just returning someone’s glove.
I feel as though this relates closely to things going on in my own life. As a graphic designer, nearly all of my profession involves doing things for other people. It makes sense then that I am the most excited and fulfilled when I can show someone a quality piece of design. My motivation is rooted in my desire to create people’s visions to the best of my abilities; I’m not in it for the money (but please don’t stop paying me)
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