Remind you of someone?

A lot of advertising tries to get you to think about having a connection with a product or service. It is a fantastic way to get the viewer to visualise owning the product, putting them on the path to purchasing. With services the system is slightly different, adverts will often show lifetime benefits or people enjoying themselves, think of the services your bank offers and how it promotes them. (N.B the new HSBC adverts do break away from this idea).

How could a brand connect with a feeling or emotion without a big tv budget? Social media is the answer to a lot of marketing woes at the moment but I think it runs deeper than that. Knowing more about what makes a consumer tick is gold dust! I do believe that it isn’t always about pulling on heart strings though. It can be about making memories. As much as we all get fed up with the endless Share this if you agree posts, somehow these posts are still getting shared….so they are doing something right! I beginning to think that instead of thinking and evaluating content on what I would share but focus more on what gets shared with me.

Being reminded of a friend or loved one can make all the difference, lots of people run the race for life, lots of people run it in memory of or for somebody. That is their motivation to do, yet we’ve still not figured out exactly how to translate this into support and regular donations.

#OpenTech 2013

Saturday 18th June was  an incredibly busy day, instead of my normal Saturday completing household chores and talking to the dogs. I ventured back into London to attend #OpenTech.

“OpenTech 2013 is an informal, low-cost, one-day conference on slightly different approaches to technology, experience and democracy.”

This was the first year that I have attended #OpenTech and I was lucky to be attending with some other people who I knew. It has taken me a few days to absorb and process the majority of the talks.

Electromagnetic Field: Tales From the UK’s First Large-Scale Hacker Camp

Festivals are a huge feature of the summer, with the weather doing its bit by making fields super muddy. Even considering hosting a hack-a-thon or hacker camp in a field is a little bizzare…now consider doing this in the UK! It was amazing to hear about how the location was chosen as well as how you can get better internet in a field (cue very large crane and port-a-loo server rooms) than is achieved at most inner city conferences. It was an incredibly popular first event and they were asking for anyone who can and would like to get involved to say HELLO and offer assistance. I would recommend keeping an eye on their website for future updates :

https://www.emfcamp.org/

Prescribing Analytics — Bruce Durling

Bruce discussed how data that is available online can be used to make a difference, he spoke about how NHS hackday enabled data to be gathered and used to make a change. He explained about how prescription medication dispensing varied across the UK + what they did to highlight the issue. If you’d like to see the full explanation + project results look no further

If you are interested in the NHS Hackday look at the link below

http://nhshackday.com/

Silence and Thunderclaps — Emma Mulqueeny

Emma described taking an hour out of her day to just sit and think….novel idea right?!?!? In this she created, founded and generally encouraged the idea of enjoying the silence, in a busy place, watching the world go by and reflecting. The mind boggles at how much of a difference taking a time out makes. She’s even summarised it in a neat little blog post here

I look forward to sending a postcard and seeing what ideas the silent club produces. The business card thunderclap on the other hand was a concept I didn’t quite get on board with, the die being you send out one message a year to all the people you’ve collected business cards from about something important to you. It is a good idea, what if you’ve changed professions? Well people have a handy habit of letting you know that they are not interested right? Nope, more often than not your message will end up being deleted and forgotten about. This disheartens me. I would much rather contact the individual and find out if they’ve changed to, there is something about maintaining relationships that I admire. Yes it is time-consuming but you can figure out if you can just get rid of the business card within an email or two. Maybe I’ve just not collected enough business cards yet 😉

the 300seconds project — 300seconds

Getting diversity in tech, a HOT topic, with conferences being challenged about diversity on panels and the amount of speakers who are of the same gender, race, background, company ranking. I am very naive in thinking that the opportunity is there if you fight hard enough for it, but as type this I realise you shouldn’t have to fight for the opportunity. You should be able to apply and get in based on your merits not other factors. The 300 seconds project is helping encourage and support female speakers practice their presenting skills. You can mentor, you can present or even offer advice on venues and find out more information here is their site http://300seconds.co.uk/what-is-300-seconds/

I throughly enjoyed open tech and will be attending next years event, it was FANTASTIC to see all the differing opinions and topics going on in 2013. The disappointing element for me is that it seems like events like this go under the radar, you have to search and be told about them . Guess that is half the fun….

It is just a hobby

I like gardening, I’ve never really called myself a gardener, more a grower. Today whilst re-potting some of my plants I complimented one of my chillies on its lovely root system….I know right…talking to plants about their anatomy. So I guess now it is a hobby.

A quote that is often bounced around is that “if you do a job you love you never work a day in your life”. I’ve been considering what happens when your hobby becomes so serious that it does become a job, a chore, even a way of life. What if it also works in reverse, what if the job you do becomes more like a hobby, giving you the chance to enjoy it and make your own.

I spoke before about looking forward to conferences this year, tomorrow is my first conference in a string of events. OpenTech 2013 is on tomorrow, I have never attended before but am looking forward to the experience. As a non coder I’ve always been a little intimidated by events so tech heavy. Don’t get me wrong you’ll often find me wired up to something but I am somewhat out of practice when it comes to hard wiring.

I guess the most important part is learning new skills, maybe even one that becomes more than a hobby.

Thats all for now
Amy

Hey Hoe, Lets Grow

Due to the stunning weather as of late I have been able to carry on planting up the garden. The chillies are now all at a stage of being able to go into final pots and allowed to flower. With this in mind I have planted up 2 new varieties, Fish (Pepper)  and Joe’s Long Cayenne  so I am looking forward to seeing both develop. I have 5 of each planted.

I have also planted up 10 sweetcorn plants and a few carrots to see if they will be more successful than last years, I have made sure that they have suitable drainage and look forward to seeing those first leaves appear. My radishes have been a great success, none eaten yet but I have one to try in my lunches this week pre the full harvest.

After a glorious weekend, I have actually been very glad to see some rain, for my plants it is pure bliss. A bit of sunshine, a bit of warmth then straight back to being soaked. All seems to be going well in my little garden, I’m currently wanting to plant more but I think part of that is being a little impatient.

Courgettes, green beans and aubergines are on my list as well as some more herbs. I have also been promised some lovely strawberry plants….no idea where I’ll keep them!

That’s all for now

Amy

I’m going to a conference

Maybe even two.

I’ve been out of the routine of blogging lately, with a house move, new job + general chaos of trying to get back on my feet, writing up any thoughts and revelations has dropped down my list of things to do.

Last week on twitter I saw @Nickie72 talking about Cybher :

“Cybher is a one day event which brings together the most influential bloggers and speakers from all corners of the blogosphere to network, inspire, share and learn.”

It was the first I’d heard of the event and luckily I have managed to find a ticket for it. Whilst filling out some of the information though I found myself asking “Why do I blog? and what do I blog about?”

In an effort to try to regain focus pre the conference I’ll be playing around with topics and writing styles. So any and all feedback is welcome.

The second conference I am hoping to go to is one that my friend Liz is venturing down for called OpenTech 2013. Although neither of the above directly link to my new job, I find it is so important to learn about what is going on and see if there are ways that a new idea could be adapted for your everyday plans.

That’s All For Now
Amy