13 days and counting

In less than two weeks from today, I'll be appearing at the 'boards summit. Take a look a the crew who is on the panel with me. If you don't recognize me, I'm the one with the least impressive title and the most unprofessional headshot. 

 

You may recall a few weeks back I posted an S.O.S. It was a plea for someone who could help me avoid public humiliation. Many of you forwarded suggestions, ideas and software. One person, Dominic Lahiff, actually took the time to write a detailed list of ideas. It is very much appreciated. Through this process one person became my savior and muse, Hudson Lines. 

Hudson sent me an email telling me about his experience as a speech writer for a CEO of a major corporation. He had worked on these type of presentations before, not only for the CEO but also for himself. He was willing to offer his services to me for free but in return he wanted career advice and introductions. I love the barter system so I took him up on is proposition. 

When I was in NY a couple of weeks ago we sat down. Wanting to make my down payment in advance, he gave me his story first. His background and talent is impressive but he is still in the career exploration phase. After listening to him all I could think of is how do I create a position for him at my company. There should always be room at Epoch for young, ambitious, creative and smart people. Now, I just need to figure out where, if not in my world then at least in my expanded universe. First, I need him to bale me out.

I started the meeting by pitching my ideas to Hudson on the history of the relationship between agencies, production companies and their audiences. I then segue into how it's dramatically evolved in the last year. He nodded approvingly and told me it was a good idea but completely wrong...for me. He said the speech needs to be personal. I need to talk about my exploration and experiences in social media. How it changed me personally, changed my company and ultimately how it is changing the direction of the entire industry. He then started to reference things I had written. As I listened to him speak, I turned to my computer and dragged my previous notes I spent two hours in the plane writing quietly into the trash.

Hudson and I are in the midst of working on the presentation. I hope to get done in time to post before the 'boards summit. I'd love receive some feedback. As I said in my first posting, this blog got me into the mess I'm hoping it can get me out. So, why not take full advantage.

Hudson Lines - Reason #127 on why social media works and is here to stay.