#9 – It’s one more opportunity to be able to write off a whole evening of partying as a business expense.

#8 – Where else can you give a rival agency the “stink-eye” without the risk of a fist fight?

#7 – Drink orders via Tweet.

#6 – Your work will be seen by the entire Rochester Advertising Community, not just the 15 people in the “target audience.”

#5 – You may show up single, but you could leave with a new client.

#4 – Rumor has it that Joe Mayernik is planning an interpretive digital dance routine.

#3 – Side-effects may include a swelling of your network and increased visibility in the Ad community.

#2 – There’s no penalty for excessive celebration.

#1 – We need to show those sissies in Minneapolis (aka judges) just what the Rochester Ad community’s made of.

Submitted by Andrea Zuegel and Matt Smythe

So how are you supposed to keep generating smart, fresh work when life is laced with personal loss, financial struggle, or heartbreak? You know time will eventually change your situation and feelings—but your creative deadline is two days from now and you’re not sure you’ll even make it past lunch.

As creatives it’s vital for us to be connected to our positive and negative emotional experiences—it’s an important source for much of our creative inspiration. But when emotions are a crushing tsunami, how can you survive and begin to allow for an even flow of creative thinking?

According to Julia Cameron, author of the classic guide to creative recovery “The Artist’s Way”, survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention:

‘The reward for attention is always healing…In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me. Each moment, taken alone, was always bearable…’

Often getting into the moment is something you can do at your desk over a cup of coffee and a good blank stare out the window. Maybe you have to find a spot in the sun somewhere. Wherever you are, in that moment and then the next, focus your attention on something that delights you. The pool of sunlight that rakes across your desk, the smell of fresh cut grass through your studio window, the sound of kids laughing on the playground outside your building.

Cameron believes ‘…the quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.’

I’ve just got to say, from my own experience, it’s finding delight in the moments surrounding a dark event that’s pulled me though a workday or work session with my creative partner—productively. A heightened radar for delight can even lead you to more inspiration than you’ve experience in quite a while—or even ever. Also, know that pain, once passed through, will lead to emotional knowledge you can write about, create an image of, or use to better understand a once foreign demographic you need to communicate to.

Bright new idea spots. To come.

If you’re in a place like this right now, I hope this is of some help to you.

If you are a freelancer there is still time to exhibit at the event and showcase your work. RSVP to exhibit.

Marketing directors and agency peeps. Do you use freelancers now? Do you feel you may have the need to hire a creative freelance employee? Even if you not have an immediate creative need. I encourage you to come to the Freelance Expo. Our goal is to bring freelancers and decision makers in the marketing profession together. To make a contact. Network. So that when there is creative need, you have someone to contact.

Admission is free. The food is complimentary. So come on over to the MAG, and who knows, you next big idea could come from a freelancer exhibiting at the event. The Freelance Expo. on Thursday, April 22, and the Memorial Art Gallery from 5:30-7:30pm.

Prez Joe

Remember to purchase your tickets by March 5th. No tickets will be sold at the door. No matter how much we like you. GYFO!

JOE

For November, Jeff Gabel, Chief Creative Officer at Partners + Napier will share his observations on the “common constructs of great ideas”. Jeff is a unique package of big idea, business savvy, and passion for execution. In fact, I recently subjected Jeff to an MRI brain scan, and discovered both left and right sides uniquely well developed and working flawlessly together. Actionable insight yours for the taking. Here are the details:

Tuesday November 17th, 5:30 pm
Tap & Mallet; 381 Gregory Street
$5 non-RAF members, free to members

See you there. Here’s Jeff and I prior to the MRI. When we pulled him out, tube was covered in sketches and post-its.

mj

This is not an official RAF event. It’s an event sponsored by the AIGA, and I encourage you to go out and see what the Dock 2 Letterpress is all about. Why? Because our new RAF mission is to strengthen our creative community, to educate, and inspire great work. And this shop is freaking sweet.

The Grand Opening is from 5pm to 9pm, this Friday the 18th.

Dock 2 Letterpress is located across from Webster Thomas High School on 855 Publishers Parkway, DOCK #2 in Webster, NY, 14580

Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one drooling over the Bookman woodblock typefaces in the back of the shop.

JOE

Apparently, advertising talent runs in the family. David is the nephew of Rochester ad & marketing veteran Joe Nardone of Eastman Kodak.

With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY® Awards are the world’s largest and arguably toughest advertising competition. The ADDY® Awards represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association conducts the ADDY® Awards through its 200 member advertising clubs and 15 districts. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry.

Check out all the 2009 winners here.

Also, Kodak CMO and Twitterer extraordinaire, Jeff Hayzlett will demystify the benefits of tweeting and Joan Rivers celebrity apprenticeship with Donald Trump (still trying to figure out how that is going to work).

This is one of the Ad Council’s largest fundraising events of the year, helping them raise funds in support of their work and the community. Show your support by marking your calendars and reserving your seat or table today!

Keynote Speaker:
Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Eastman Kodak Company
twitter.com/jeffreyhayzlett

When:
Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Time: Noon

Where:
Hyatt Regency Rochester
125 East Main Street
Rochester, NY 14604
(585) 546-1234

Be on the look out for announcements regarding contests to win prizes via Twitter and Facebook (to be held both prior and during the luncheon!)

Join us to show your support for the Ad Council and its work in the community, and to help us say thanks to some of the people who have made it all possible.

2009 Lantern Award Honorees
Matt Jones, Wegmans Food Markets
John Myers, John Myers Photography

2009 W.B. Potter Founder’s Award Honorees
Water Education Collaborative
SIGMA Marketing Group

2009 Chairman’s Awards
B. Thomas Golisano Foundation
VanDamme Associates

2009 Beacon Award
Catalyst Direct

2009 Legacy Award
Jeff Gutenberg

Registration:

For more info or to reserve a seat, click today.