Thursday, December 6, 2007

Insights Lecture Input

Here's an e-mail from Heather Olson regarding the upcoming Insights Lecture Series.

"AIGA and Walker Art Center will again be co-sponsoring the Insights Lecture Series in 2008. I believe it will occur on Tuesday nights in March. The series features outstanding national and international designers with provocative viewpoints, and is held in the Walker auditorium.

Richelle Huff, an adjunct professor at the U of M, is helping plan the series, and has asked what we can do to encourage students to attend. Is it all about price? Transportation? Timing? Desired speaker list?

I know all of you appreciate it when the student member fee is discounted, both from the professional price and from the nonmember price. What price seems right for a 60-90 minute lecture presentation? Would a bus from your school help you get there? Is a 7 PM start time appropriate? Is there a designer out there whose work you are burning to see?"

As for my response, discounted price is always appreciated and a bus would be awesome! I think it would totally draw people in. We students are exhausted and a little sheep-esque... :)
As for speakers I would love to see Haley Johnson who did the "Looking Good for Jesus" chapsticks and bags. <--the kids love her!
The Method soap folks would be awesome too.
I think speakers that pertain to us is important. I think students have a finger on the pulse of new and cool. Other stuff is just not in our world, we aren't as exposed to the huge world of design as the grown ups. That's just my opinion, I'm sure others feel differently.

Any other suggestions?

4 comments:

Michael said...

i saw eric ryan, the CEO of method, speak at a conference last month. he was pretty freaking awesome. if anything, it made me want to reeeeeeeally work for him.

i definitely wouldn't mind seeing him again.

Audry said...

say what! he was at designature!
ya know, i probably should have drawn that conclusion by the big method bottle on all of the flyers... boy i am really losing it
yah, maybe we just have to move to san fran...but i like mpls! but it's so cold here...but i like mpls!...but it's so cold here...etc etc on into eternity

Audry said...

this makes me think about how to draw students into things. i really wanted to go to designature but i had 0 dollars and -time. I struggled to catch up from design camp for a month. i also had grumpy issues. if you aren't super on top of things and ready to rock, a weekend is critical.

i think the key is time and money. and learning how to sort out time. any little extra thing just sets us off into frustration and despair. so little short events that are cheap and convenient to get to (bus would be awesome).

Michael said...

i intern at the firm that designed all the promotional materials-- as part of our payment we all got to go to the AMA conference for free.

eric was really awesome. at the end of his presentation he put up his email address and mentioned that there was a position open...and that we should email him if we were interested.

i sent him an email later that week and never heard back from him. i'm going to san francisco at the beginning of next month and i'm meeting with joel templin and i'm trying to get in touch with an intern recruiter at apple. my friend knows someone at method, but they're all really busy these days.

after graduation i'm hoping to move out there. i was standing out on university & 280 the other week waiting for the bus-- freezing cold and with snow blowing in my face. it was then and there that i decided that i have had enough. enough!

unrelated: what's up with the poster these days, huh?