Category Archive: Conferences
Raising a glass to the open source community in Portland
We co-hosted a happy hour with Mozilla last week. And hey, if you haven't heard, we're hiring.
Enjoying drinks at The Cleaners in Portland's Ace Hotel.
Psst, we’re hiring, and we want every cool, geeky person in Portland to know about it. We want to meet you. There’s so much talent in this city that it makes our collective heart flutter, and we’ve got some opportunities that are pretty exciting. Does talk of Python and Postgres rev up your engine? How about blending form and function to create a great UX experience?
And here’s another thing that’s pretty exciting. Not only do we have oodles of opportunity for the right talent, but we have one of the best company cultures around. Inc. Magazine just named Emma as one of the top 50 small business workplaces. Now, that’s a huge honor in itself, but here’s the insider scoop on that accolade. It is a great place to work. Really and truly.
And our Portland office has its own unique culture. I adore the cohesive, interesting people I work with every day. How we can work together all day and still want to grab a beer after hours. I also love that we’re situated six blocks east of the river on Burnside. With three walls of floor-to-ceiling glass, I can see the Willamette River, the cars on the bridges, the ever-changing, epic Portland sky.
Recently, I teamed up with my partner-in-crime in the Portland office, Kevin McConnell (aka our director of engineering), to talk about the things that make Emma such a rewarding and fun place. And if this sounds like the right fit for you, check out our Portland job openings and apply.
Let’s dive in, Kevin. What’s to love about working at Emma?
I mostly enjoy being around a steady supply of chocolate-covered raisins in the snack cupboard. But apart from that, it’s awesome to be around smart, energetic people who are interested in finding creative ways to solve problems.
You do love chocolate-covered raisins. They are Kevin kryptonite.
Yes, I am powerless to resist them. Other good things about Emma … We are lucky to have the work environment that we do: a swanky office, nice equipment, free Wednesday lunches and transit passes.
I love that we work so hard but do it joyfully. And we have a helluva good time getting it done.
Yes, the fact that we have a successful product is a great thing. We have many happy customers with whom we have great relationships. As a nerd who likes to build things, it’s a great position to be in because you have an existing base to build on, and people who can give you feedback to steer you in interesting directions.
What’s the most exciting thing about the present job opportunities at Emma?
There’s a lot of development going on that suits different people. There’s front-end work for new features as well as interesting scaling and performance problems. There’s a lot of interest in smarter ways to streamline and automate our work, which is cool.
We are constantly looking for ways to get better at what we do. Whether that’s adopting a new process or trying new tools, everyone on the team has an equal voice.
Outside of chocolate-covered raisins, what are some things unique to the Portland office that you really appreciate?
Maybe this is a weird answer, but I like the relationship with the larger Nashville office. We are like a smaller, sleeker and perhaps more handsome version (shh, don’t tell them that) of that office, and it’s fun to be able to collaborate remotely with people one minute and then gather folks around a whiteboard the next minute. It’s great to watch projects and ideas bounce across the country.
It’s true. So much inspiration circulates between locations and teams. I would even argue that our dedicated beer fridge helps spark conversations and collaboration. Great ideas sprout up when we unwind together at the end of the day. Moving on, what’s your vote for the best Emma-sponsored Wednesday lunch ever?
It’s probably Savor Soup House. Tomato soup and vegan grilled cheese. Although the day you brought in the panini press and the myriad of fixings was pretty awesome.
What’s your stance on inner-office pranking?
I’m generally for it, except for that one time I came into work to find my desk covered in St Patty’s stuff. It was cool, but it took forever to hoover up the shamrock confetti.
"Finnish" work and celebrate.
I like the Finnish flags around the office. As in *finish.* Like we finished a project and it’s time to fly the flag.
Last question, Kevin. We’ve done some fun Emma socials in the past (bowling, movie night, marathon dinners at Pok Pok). What’s your pick for the next one?
How about fruit picking?
We could go to one of the beautiful farms on Sauvie Island to pick through the summer bounty and then have a “farm to table” potluck.
For the longest time after moving here, I thought it was Suave Island. I pictured a whole island sipping martinis and talking philosophy.
And there you have it. If you are particularly suave or have a predilection for chocolate-covered raisins, you know where to find us. We’ve got the need for great developer and UX talent, so inquire, okay? We’d love to meet you. And we’ll share the raisins.
+++++
Read more from Kevin and our developers on Emma Tech, and more about Portland from Kris here.
Helping the city of Portland turn it up to 11
At Emma, we work hard, play hard and passionately support causes that change our communities for the better. Company-wide, we give 5% of our annual revenue to fund things we believe in, like Kiva, Donor’s Choose, our annual Emma 25 and various causes that our staffers support.
Sometimes, though, we can make more impact with a time investment than a financial one. Out here in Portland, that means stepping outside of the proverbial work week and lending time and energy to projects that focus on creating the community we live in.
A compelling movement is brewing in Portland right now called PDX11 that hits all the right notes for us — so, naturally, we got involved. Fueled by Mayor Adam’s office and the Portland Development Commission (PDC), PDX11 aims to put Portland on the map as the go-to place for software talent and investment opportunities. To accomplish this, a community of software industry professionals, local government leaders and interested citizens emerged to make this a reality.
Emma has been supporting PDX11 since the inaugural meeting in December 2010, and we’re currently in the final planning stages for the PDX11 Unconference and Hackathon slated for April 1-2. It’s a two-day opportunity to bring everyone together to share the progress we’ve made, craft strategy for the future and celebrate the diverse and vibrant contributions of everyone involved.
In conjunction with the Unconference, we’re also hosting a Hackathon for assembled developers to work on some key software that supports PDX11, like Calagator, ePDX.org, CivicApps inspired projects like PDXAPI, and open source Trimet data processing applications. Another group of developers will pair up and hack code like Ruby, Python, PHP and Javascript.
All and all, it’s going to be a great weekend. If you’re in Portland, consider this an invitation to join the revolution. After all, who doesn’t want to turn it up to 11?
Notes from Austin: This year’s SXSW Interactive
This year, the conference was all about improving customer experiences.
South by Southwest Interactive is the Super Bowl, or maybe the Olympics, of the web-based tech world. Each year, thousands descend on Austin for a chance to hang out, learn from industry thought leaders and discover the next big thing in tech. Or at least that’s the promise of SXSW. But like all things, the conference is evolving, and over the last decade we’ve seen a gradual, but steady, move away from the bleeding-edge early adopter and toward the general tech enthusiast, social media marketer and corporate advertiser.
As someone who’s seen the conference evolve over the last several years, it’s clear to me that it’s no longer simply a technology conference aimed at generating buzz for new tools. It’s now a people-centered event, where the value of these new tools isn’t measured solely on technical merit, but also by the extent to which they make our human connections and web experiences more meaningful. Is it still the greatest event for showcasing the best and brightest new technical innovations? No. But there’s still plenty to appreciate.
These three themes from the conference show how the industry is becoming more customer-focused, improving our experiences on the web and beyond.
The tools themselves
New applications and web-based services are still the technical foundation of SXSW, but this year the currency is less about technical innovation and more about providing clear value to a community — from hyper-local to global.
- Group texting – The pre-conference buzz was all about which of these services would emerge as the leader of the pack. And while there’s no clear-cut winner, the underlying theme is clear — in a noisy, busy world, we need tools that help us connect and communicate easily with close-knit social groups.
- Localmind – Last year, location-based services got our attention by introducing a game layer on top of real-world locations. This year, Localmind took it a step further by allowing people to ask questions about specific places and get answers by people who are actually there. As we see services like Gowalla and Foursquare struggle to gain mainstream traction, a service that offers a value in the form of real-time recommendations may be the tipping point that brings location services to the masses.
Giving back as a business unit
Giving back is quickly moving from something that businesses and individuals do as a side project, afterthought or only during holidays to a dedicated and sustained effort in making the world a better place. This year’s SXSW saw everything from individuals pledging relief money to Japan via Twitter, to a keynote address that told the story of how an entire business was built by their giving initiative.
- HelpAttack – This service allows you to pledge a dollar amount for each of your status updates. They facilitate the transaction at the end of the month and work with you to determine a per-update rate that fits the amount you want to give in a month.
- Thank-you economy – Gary Vaynerchuk gave a rousing speech dedicated to the idea that saying “thank you” to your clients, in whatever way you can, is the key to building meaningful relationships in business. In a world with ever-growing marketing noise, it will take a vocal community of evangelical fans to make your brand stand out.
- TOMS Shoes – At the extreme is TOMS. Blake Mycoskie has built his entire business around the story of “one-for-one.” You buy a pair of Tom’s shoes, and they donate a pair to a needy child. Blake explains that without the story, TOMS would never have grown to become the organization it is today. His word-of-mouth marketing by people who bought his product has been his most valuable business asset. And even though he didn’t set out do to do something philanthropically great as a marketing strategy, the results speak for themselves in the continued success of the business.
The customer voice is stronger than ever
Even the way we build applications is changing. How? By inserting the voice of the customer in the build-and-release process. From methodologies to best practices to applications, the voice of the customer has a larger role than ever before in shaping the tools that help businesses grow.
- The Lean Startup – The Lean Startup movement has taken the startup world by storm and even had a day-long track at SXSW this year. The key principals are building products and services as efficiently as possible by involving the customer at the earliest possible stage, and then building to the market using your audience as the rudder for features, value and price. These ideas mirror the conference direction as a whole by emphasizing concepts like feedback and value over simply building the newest shiny object.
- User-centered design – From websites to applications to registration processes, user-centered design is the future of the way we conceive, prototype and build new features and applications. The very definition of design is evolving from something that needs to look great, then perform, to something that has to meet the needs of users intuitively, then be styled to make that experience fun and visually engaging.
- Get Satisfaction – This year’s winner at the conference for best business app, Get Satisfaction facilitates user feedback by embedding a friendly link and interface into websites, allowing users to post comments and suggestions on-the-fly as they use a product.
What made SXSW especially fun this year is that the trends we saw there are very similar to how we work here at Emma. We preach engagement and relevance, segmentation and availability. Also, giving back is important to us, and we make it a part of our day-to-day operations.
I know lots of you are thinking about the same things. So how are you making your product or service more meaningful? What ways are you finding to engage people in a personal way? Please let us know in the comments. After all, we don’t have to wait for another SXSW to roll along – there’s plenty to talk about all year long.
SXSW Interactive comes to Emma
Emma streamed talks by Felicia Day and Blake Mycoskie.
2011 marked the first time SXSW Interactive keynotes and speakers were streamed live from the festival in Austin. This allowed us the pleasure of bringing some of the most interesting presenters at SXSW into the Emma house. We settled in with chips, salsa and Shiner Bock to get down Austin-style.
On Monday, we were wowed by Felicia Day’s talk about creating a buzz-worthy social media strategy and following through with a passionate, authentic and personal approach. Felicia is the creator, writer and star of the web series, The Guild, which has more than 100 million views web-wide. Felicia utilized social media and her online presence to acquire 1.7 million followers on Twitter. Seriously, 1.7 million. She discussed how she’s turned down paid offers for product placement in the Twittersphere and merged her personal opinion of delicious breakfast hot spots and cupcake love with business-related content to create a dynamic presence and personality online. We came away from this impressed and totally smitten. That Felicia Day is good. We’re tossing our cowboy hats off to her.
Tuesday offered up the entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit of Blake Mycoskie, creator of the wildly popular TOMS shoes. Blake’s found profound success utilizing what he’s dubbed the “one for one” model. For every pair of TOMS shoes purchased, he donates a pair to a child in need. (We’ve spotted more than a few TOMS shoes around the Emma office, by the way.) He attributes his success to the giving back model and plans to expand outside the shoe world this summer. Blake has us all eagerly awaiting June 7th when he’ll reveal the next TOMS product.
We’re so pleased that we got to experience a piece of SXSW from the comfort of our Nashville offices. And, coming next week, we’ll have an update from my colleagues who were in Austin for the conference.
Heading to SXSW? Try our insider tips for Austin’s best
Emma’s Austin outpost is here to help you keep it weird while you’re in town. The answer? Head to South Lamar.
Maria
The blogosphere is chock full of great tips for enjoying Austin during SXSW. Most of them cover the quintessential items such as where to find the best BBQ, breakfast taco and Mexican martini around town. But sadly, one of the coolest drags in Austin is often left out of the mix. Just a few blocks west of South Congress Avenue and south of downtown, South Lamar is home to a mix of historic spots (like Broken Spoke, Kerbey Lane and Saxon Pub), mingled in with an infusion of newer shops, restaurants and bars (like the best sushi spot in town, Uchi, and a Bon Appetit 2009 Top 10 New Restaurant of the Year winner, Olivia).
Since Emma’s Austin satellite office is squarely planted in the heart of South Lamar Boulevard, we decided to make our own list of suggestions built around one of the quirkiest boulevards keepin’ it weird in town.
In a city known for its food trucks, you can find one of the better cups of joe not from a trailer but a full-sized, repurposed, 20-foot shipping container called La Boite. Pair your coffee with a freshly made almond croissant or macaroon, and your visit to South Austin just got off to a five-star start. Breakfast time brings breakfast tacos all over Austin. Hit one of S. Lamar’s local shops Casita Taco. Or for a true South Austin experience, drop by Maria’s Taco Express — as much for the South Austin vibe as the guisada, el pastor or breakfast tacos served all day.
Gourdoughs, of course.
South Lamar covers a wide variety of boutique shopping options, too, so if you’re ready to grab a break from SXSW sessions and blogging, enjoy a stop into So La, right next door to Emma Austin. Or try one of the street’s more unique stores like Marigold – Gateway to India. If you enjoy two-wheeled transportation, Jack and Adam’s and Bicycle Sport Shop both boast friendly, knowledgeable staffs and some cool gear. If you’ve got bicycle in tow, they’d also be happy to recommend a ride or two in town. (Meet you on Loop 360, early Saturday morning?)
If you’ve had your fill of brisket and tacos by evening, you can hide out on the patio at Red’s Porch, which boasts a great view of the greenbelt, a solid lineup of local brews on tap and bacon gravy. (Let me say that again: Bacon. Gravy.)
Of course, what would a lineup of must-visit spots in Austin be without mentioning at least one or two food trailers? Odd Duck Farm to Trailer features a farm-to-trailer menu that changes frequently. Take note, this popular spot is only open for dinner. And a trip to South Lamar without at least sniffing Gourdough’s would be a crime. To call this place a donut trailer is an understatement, as many a fan will testify. Just know that after a Flying Pig, you may skip a meal or two the next day.
Cap off your trip with a cold beverage and a round of karaoke, a coaster step or 10 frames at The Highball (opened by the owner’s of Alamo Drafthouse in 2010) — or one of Austin’s best outdoor patios at Paggi House, which is just a block off South Lamar at Lee Barton Drive.
The Emma Austin office will be dark during SXSWi but if you’re in the area, give us a shout on Twitter at @J_Gesinger, @gpgarner and @studio865. We’ll go halves with you at Gourdoughs.
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? July Edition
Jonathan Gesinger & Taylor Schena presenting at HOW in Denver, June 2010.
We were all about representing in Denver & Portland last month, but we didn’t really have much going on in our other Emma city, Austin, TX. We’re making up for lost time now, attending two events there in July.
You all hear from me each month about these events, so — as much as you love that, I know – wouldn’t it be cool to hear from the Emma peeps who will be attending this time around? (I hope you said yes.)
MarketingProfs Digital Marketing World 2010
July 7 :: The comfort of your own computer
“We’ve participated in virtual conferences before, but we love the idea of this one being exclusively about email marketing and social media integration. There’s so much great content out there, and for this event, it’s free!”
- Rami Perry, Emma Small Business Manager
Technology Business Accelerators event at University of Texas
July 8 :: Austin, TX
“This is a really fantastic event for us to share Emma’s expertise with more than 300 marketers and small business professionals who are hoping to learn more about marketing their company online. We’re so excited to be partnering with the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas. Hook ‘em, Horns!”
- Jonathan Gesinger, Emma Satellite Business Development Manager
Alabama Franchise Alliance Kick Off Luncheon
July 13 :: Birmingham, AL
“This event is all about effective communication strategies, and I couldn’t think of a better topic for us to speak about for these franchisors and franchisees. They’re looking for better ways to communicate both with one another and with their customers, so I’m looking forward to showing them some best practices.”
- Casey McCormick, Emma Sales Associate
Online Marketing Summit’s Regional Tour
July 21 :: Austin, TX
“Our previous OMS sponsorships in Denver and Portland led to lots of great conversations about email marketing, so we’re glad to have such a popular, content-driven event here in Austin.”
- Jonathan Gesinger, Emma Satellite Business Development Manager
If you’re in the area for any of these events and want to say hello in person, just leave us a note here and we’ll set something up. Keep enjoying your summer!
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? June Edition
Steve and Frank representing Emma at our booth during the NRA Show in Chicago last month.
As you make your travel plans for some summer good times, we thought we’d let you know about some exciting places where we’ll be in June.
When you look at our list, you’re probably going to say to yourself, “Jeepers, these guys love Denver & Portland!” and you’ll be right. Denver & Portland are home to two of our Emma offices, and we’re looking forward to spending time with our Colorado & Oregon colleagues. If you’re nearby and want to meet with us, give us a shout and we’ll set something up.
Open Source Bridge Conference
June 1 – 4 :: Portland, OR
This is our second year in a row sponsoring the Open Source Bridge Conference. This is a newer conference organized for developers who work with open source technologies or are interested in learning more about open source. Not only is this a great opportunity for our Portland developers to connect and share experiences with other developers in Portland, but we also can show some local support to such an important group in one of our Emma cities. If you’re planning on attending, please say hello to Michelle, Mark and Jay, our Emma developers who will be attending. If you’re a developer and want to know more about our job opportunities, be sure to let them know. (You can learn more here.)
Creative Freelancer Conference
June 5 – 6 :: Denver, CO
This event kicks off HOW’s week of design conferences — it’s for designers, illustrators, photographers, copywriters and other creative professionals. We’re supplying some fun tote bag inserts here, so if you’re attending, you’ll receive some Emma love.
InHOWse Design Conference
June 6 – 8 :: Denver, CO
If you’re a manager or lead of an in-house creative team, this event may be right up your alley. This year, HOW is anticipating 400 total attendees from small to large-sized companies. We’ll have an exhibit table at this year’s event, so please do stop by and say hello to Sam Farkas. FYI, Sam plays guitar for a band that is playing at Bonnaroo this year. Pretty awesome, eh?
HOW Design Conference
June 6 – 9 :: Denver, CO
The HOW Design Conference is one of those signature events that we’ve really come to love being a part of each year. We put a lot into the design of our customers’ brands in email, so participating in these events gives us a chance to share more about Emma and gives us a chance to get to know what other creative professionals are up to.
Emma’s Jonathan Gesinger and Taylor Schena will be leading a session, providing helpful tips for creating stylish and effective email campaigns on Tuesday, June 8th from 10:45 AM – 12 PM. You can register for this session here. Not only will we have an exhibit space where you’ll find two wonderful folks from our sales crew, Gina LaMar and Theresa McLoughlin, but you may also run into two of Emma’s fabulous designers, Jennifer Kasdorf and Jimmy Thorn, who will be attending the overall conference.
Online Marketing Summit’s 22-City Regional Tour
June 16th (Portland, OR) & June 23rd (Denver, CO)
This year, OMS will be visiting 23 cities across the United States and Canada as part of their regional tour to bring best practices in online marketing to more than 250 attendees in each city. Each city will receive a single day of online marketing education and peer networking. This month, we’ll be speaking and sponsoring in two of our Emma cities, Denver and Portland. Then in July, we’ll be at the Austin event on the 21st.
If you’re going to be at any of these events or in the area, definitely let us know. Hope you all have a great summer!
A few of our YMCA friends
A quick note from the NAYDO conference in Charlotte, NC, where Steve Turney and I are meeting some really great folks from YMCAs all over the world. (Hi, Carlos from Kenya and Johan from Norway!) We’re learning so much about the YMCA organization and mission — these people seriously rock the philanthropy.
We’re also having the pleasure of chatting with Emma customers and hearing how we’re helping Y’s, big and small, reach out to their members, volunteers and donors in new ways.
One lovely story comes from Kevin Kosik of the Berkeley-Albany YMCA in Berkeley, CA. They used Emma to drum up support for their run at a $250,000 prize from Pepsi Refresh. They sent Emma email campaigns to encourage their members and friends to head to the Pepsi Refresh site to vote. It would have been an even better story if they’d actually won, but he was proud to say that the Berkeley-Albany YMCA, a small regional non-profit, came in ninth overall in a crowd of some pretty heavy contenders, and he credits Emma for their stellar showing.
Another quick shout-out to our friends at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, who won a coveted Eagle Award for Excellence in Fundraising. This amazing team raised more than $77 million last year (um, wow) and continues to push the envelope with a lofty goal to create an endowment that equals their operating costs (um, double wow).
We’re so proud to be even a small part in these amazing organizations. With one more day of the conference to go, Steve and I are hoping to make some more connections and hear some more cool stories.
Where in the World is Emma in 2010? April Edition
Emma's own Jesse Worstell models one of our lanyards from the March SXSW Interactive Festival.
Hello, April! That’s what we Emma staffers are saying around the house here in Nashville. The weather is finally starting to get warm, the jackets are staying in the closet and no one has played any believable April fool’s jokes on me yet. With the arrival of spring, we’ve got another full list of events we’ll be attending.
If we’re in your area, please let us know. We’re always hoping to catch up with customers and new friends at these events and hear about all of the great things you’ve got going on. And who knows, if Emma’s own Sara McManigal is around, drinks may be on her.
NAYDO 2010
April 7-10 :: Charlotte, NC
We’re fans of all things YMCA. Everything from their philanthropic work to their focus on overall wellness and motivation is cause for us to support the North American YMCA Development Organization’s 29th annual conference. If you’re in the Charlotte area and want to meet up, let us know. Our very own Megan & Steve will be representing our gal at the conference.
Workology Conference 2.0
April 11-14 :: San Diego, CA
Workology is the user group conference for Workamajig, a web-based tracking and integrated project management software. We’re actually the only email marketing service that connects to Workamajig, which we like to think is pretty cool. What’s even cooler, my friends? There’s word around their office that they’ve got their own drink, Workamadrink. We haven’t tasted it yet, but we hear it’s darn good. We’ll have a table set up in the Crown Room, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re there.
Mirren New Business Conference
April 12-14 :: New York, NY
The Mirren New Business Conference happens in New York City during mid-April, and they’re expecting more than 300 advertising agencies from all over the country. We’ll be exhibiting at this year’s conference, and Mirren will be using Emma’s services to send out the event schedules each day of the conference. If you’re in the Big Apple and would like to meet Laura & Heather, our team members at the event, let us know ahead of time and we’ll try to set something up.
2010 Green Business Summit
April 13-14 :: Nashville, TN
Lipscomb University is hosting this green event in our hometown. We’re strong supporters of sustainability, including businesses that do what they can to better our environment. (We plant five trees for every new customer, after all.) This two-day event will be full of workshops, keynote luncheons and tips to help you become a little greener. (I promise that’s a good thing.) If you join the Nashville Sustainability Events Meet-up group by April 7, you can receive $45 off your registration.
AACSB’s ICAM
April 18-20 :: Anaheim, CA
This business school event brings together more than 1,000 educators and business school leaders from more than 45 countries and helps those folks network and gain insights on hot topics. This year’s event is in Anaheim, and Emma will be exhibiting. If you’ve got any questions or just want to say hello, look for Megan & Rami around the event.
More SXSW notes: collaboration, social space and science fiction
From looking at product design through the eyes of science fiction to searching for the most influential people using your product, topics at this year’s SXSW are as varied as usual, and they’re almost as thought-provoking as the queso is delicious. (Which is to say, very.)
A couple of main themes to talk about so far, from my perspective as Emma’s product manager.
1. Collaboration, innovation & expectations. As we all know, consumer expectations have changed. Not only do we want access to the latest information and support when we encounter problems, but as consumers we also want to be a part of the product itself. To that end, it’s important that companies don’t create new products in a vacuum. After all, we’re creating and building something that we hope will bring value to our customers, so we should get them involved early in the process and let them help shape the final result.
We’re also learning that releasing new products or features is just the beginning of the process. New technologies to collect and respond to feedback, paired with iterative development techniques, are giving users a more active voice in how products evolve over time. As product builders, our role is to listen to lots of single voices and ideas, and then synthesize and reshape that information to create innovative solutions that do more than just solve problems – they create value.
It’s not quite a haiku, but:
Collaboration leads to innovation…
Innovation is shaped through iteration…
Iteration validates the vision…
The vision inspires collaboration.
2. Social space trends: reach & influence. So if reach indicates how wide your network is and influence indicates how much your endorsements matter, it’s time to rethink what’s actually more important. Reach used to be all the rage, but influence is measurable.
And as for the science fiction, one session about “design fiction” emphasized that story-telling, including science fiction, can do things that science itself cannot. Imagining people in the future keeps ideas focused on how we’ll work and play, buy stuff, communicate with friends and coworkers and so on. As the stories of people emerge, the objects and gadgets and interfaces that they’ll use start to magically appear right along with them. And sometimes those objects look very different than if the conversation starts by trying to envision the “future version” of the gadgets we use today. People use products, so the more clearly we can visualize how people will change, the more clearly we can aim the technology to support those new stories.
And with that I give you the future of note-taking – maybe.
Emma is a member of the Email Sender & Provider Coalition and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
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