2013 was the year of the social share…people using their digital and social spaces to share stories, information, and content they love the most. Big brands, politicians, special interest groups, and numerous other entities leveraged the online passion of loyal brand advocates capitalizing on the digital word-of-mouth. Why? They want to capture your data.
Big Data
Yes…big data is the wave of the content marketers’ future, capturing more than just your contact information…but your clicking patterns and social share tendencies. They want to leverage your digital presence to focus more “relevant content” into your digital life…capitalizing on your purchasing habits.
I had the pleasure to meet the first female professor at Furman University. What a great story! She has accomplished so much here in Greenville and at Furman University.
“Laura Thompson doesn’t walk from her office to the classroom, she dashes. In conversations, her train of thought jumps the tracks, careening from one topic of interest to another. When she says she wakes at 6 eager for another day of work, you believe her.
“They probably think I’m the crazy old plant woman,” she says. “But my goal is for students to leave Furman with a good idea of how important plants are to people.”
Thompson has taught biology at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., since 1987. When she was hired, she was her department’s first female tenure-track professor.
“She was such an infusion of infectious energy and enthusiasm, it was like a huge breath of fresh air for me,” says former student Kimberly Chappell. “She was the first real tangible example I had of what a successful woman trained in the sciences looked like.”
It is possible…it is possible to measure success. I have been surrounded by groups that want to bring a visual context to their story. They enlist me to help find and tell those rich elements creating a meaningful story.
The idea of storytelling has become such a passé term. Each day I receive an email, see a pr strategy, get a insert in the my home mailbox advertising how to tell better stories. From rich pr strategies to complex marketing initiatives…we all want to tell better stories.
Groups invest tons of money into these initiatives yet sometimes measuring success is not part of the initial thinking. The hardest question…what is success. Or…is the term “success” an inappropriate representation for the need to see how the audiences interacted with the media.
Let’s think through the term “success” and consider a different lens. When I think of measurement and storytelling, I think in terms of impact and how the audience experienced the media.
From the very beginning, before the creative stage is implemented…we have to set goals. What do we want the media, (the story) to do and how can we measure the impact based on those goals.
Then, we have to identify the story that needs to be told. What is the message and how do we want it to influence the audience. Is this an awareness initiative or is it a marketing initiative?
Here are the fun questions:
1) Can we actually associate measurement to these goals? Well this mathematics graduate knows you can associate numbers/measurement to anything.
2) But, do we really care about all the data we want to collect?
3) Can we experience data overload? So much measurement we are not even sure what to do with the information…often times leaving us overwhelmed and less interested?
Maybe we should just focus our expectations…thus focus our data collection. OR…maybe we should focus on telling better stories?
It is time to celebrate! Yes…the first Successful Entrepreneurship series has come to a close and there are lots to get excited about. Sixteen weeks…eighteen speakers including the Governor! Yes, Governor Haley joined us to talk entrepreneurship and business in South Carolina.
A core group of entrepreneurs, led by Leighton Cubbage, formed a series of entrepreneurs teaching aspiring entrepreneurs. Each week a new topic all hosted at Greenville Technical College.
So here is a quick recap:
– 200 people applied
– 75 accepted into the 16 week program
– 16 Week Program
– 18 Speakers
– Averaged 68 attendees each week
– Collected roughly 674 food items for donation
– 69 Members elected to participate in the Secret Facebook Group
– 1129 Unique Visitors to Successful-Entrepreneurship.com
– Uploaded videos have been watch 210 times.
Here is the list of all the speakers:
Leighton Cubbage, Joe Erwin, Dan Waldschmidt, Bob Hughes, Rick Davis, Cy Burgess, Katherine Smoak Davis, Bobby Rettew, Dave Wyman, Ruben Montalvo, Curtis Harper, Kevin Hendricks, Ray Lattimore, Art Seaver, Matt Dunbar, Steve Mudge, Randy Dobbs, and Governor Nikki Haley
We sent a final survey to all the attendees, so I thought I would share a few of the responses!
1) Who was your favorite speaker? (Tell us why!)
I am not able to pick a favorite. I felt that every speaker was unique and gave an inspirational approach to entrepreneurship. I was very thankful to be a part of this group.
2) Did you connect with someone special? (Share the experience!)
The connections that I have made with those in the class have been most special to me. More than just networking but real connection. Getting to know them without any real expectations has been a true blessing.
3) Share one thing you took away from these events?
Almost all of the speaker talked about the importance of SERVICE and giving instead of getting! This truly blessed me.
4) Did you meet a new business opportunity? (Tell us more!)
I have contacted a classmate and plan to help him buy investment properties.
5) What was your favorite quote from all the events?
“Shut up, go to work, and put it in the pipeline!” & “Timid people have skinny children.”
6) What made you attend week after week?
The content really kept my anticipation HIGH each week! Different topics, differnet experiences, dynamic speakers. the FRIGGING GOVERNOR!!!!!!! need i say more.
7) How can we make Successful Entrepreneurship better?
I think it is spectacular you support share the knowledge… not everyone gets it. Your all role models and it was a pleasure to experience it. I would do it again.
I wish I was there…I so wish I was able to make it. My father, a Vietnam Veteran who served on the USS Kittyhawk in the Gulf of Tonkin, flew in from Utah and was able to witness this event.
It was a purple kind of day. Yep…since Clemson’s traditional colors are orange and purple…it was a purple kind of day. “Purple Out” was the call to fans, asking everyone to wear all purple in honor of Military Heritage Day. Clemson has a long traditional of military dating back to it’s origins.
Here is the context of the story:
In 1893, Clemson opened as an all-male military school, rivaling the South Carolina Military Academy (now know as the Citadel). Clemson graduated 446 cadets in 1896 and the Citadel was able to award it’s first bachelor of science degree to it’s graduates in 1900. There is a rich traditional of competition among these two military based schools.
CBS Sports writes about Saturday:
Purple has a rich tradition at Clemson and has become even more present with the addition of Daniel Rodriguez to the roster.
“Clemson wide receiver Daniel Rodriguez recorded his first career touchdown in the Tigers’ 52-6 win against Citadel on Saturday. The 25-year-old Purple Heart recipient has mostly played special teams this season, but got an opporutnity to score on a fly sweep from Cole Stoudt.
Rodriguez was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal after he was wounded in 2009 during the Battle of Kamdesh. After tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rodriguez joined the team in 2012 thanks to an NCAA waiver. He recorded three receptions last season and entered Saturday’s game with five catches on the year.”
Saluting Daniel Rodriguez:
This purple day was an intersection of many story-lines. As these layers, these story-lines became one…the emotion was overwhelming. What makes a stadium cheer like they won the national championship in the fourth quarter when a reserve wide receiver scores a touchdown…especially when Clemson is up 40+ points.
What brings tears to the eyes of those who served when this reserve wide receiver spikes the ball and is lifted in the air by his team mates?
What is it that gives us chills when this wide receiver is more that a reserve…but a leader among leaders.
What gives you such pride to know that Daniel Rodriguez scored, walked into the end zone, that sacred carpet of freedom that so few have experienced in college football. Maybe this sacred carpet he enjoyed on this 4th down play was the very carpet of freedom his service, and the service of many others in the stadium that day, has provided for us to enjoy and entertain.
This moment of glory was more than just a touchdown. It is proof that someone can overcome all the odds, all the hurdles, and not only lead a country into a time of peace, but lead a team, a fan base, a state, and a college football nation into a moment of pure joy. What sits behind that joy? Hmm…maybe it is the knowledge we all can overcome the odds to find our moment of glory.
Thank you Daniel Rodriguez for reminding us what it means to serve our great country. Thank you for reminding Clemson and College Football that life is more than what transpires on Saturday’s…that it is this kindred time when we can all come together and feel a little more whole when you walked across that goal line.
I feel honored to know that you wore that purple uniform, leading us with your purple heart of service.
This past weekend’s Clemson football game was Military Appreciation Day at Clemson. Clemson played the Citadel and how appropriate to honor those who have served with two schools playing on the gridiron representing such military heritage.
In the game program, Col. Ben Skardon was the featured story. Earlier this year, I produced a short documentary surrounding his story and how his Clemson ring saved his life. I thought it was awesome to see him honored, and to also see the pictures that I took of him during that interview appear in the program. It has been a pleasure getting to know Col. Skardon and his lasting legacy here at Clemson.
I was a part of the team that produced a short documentary about the SC Mission 2012 event in Columbia, SC. This production won a Silver Wallie Award and a Golden Tusk award. Below is the video from the event. EXCITED!!!
What is your greatest passion…the one thing that drives you to get up in the morning and push harder and harder?
This is my greatest passion…my little rose!
Now I talk about my business passion: finding and telling great stories. yes…it is. But that is just one part of the bigger picture.
This little one makes me work harder, work smarter, and challenge myself to seek the balance in the work/life continuum.
A few months ago, I sat on a panel discussion where the audience were mothers of preschoolers (MOPS). They called it the man panel and the major part of the discussion was balancing work and home. I think there is a bigger balance for self-employed, small business, entrepreneurial individuals.
Each day, we balance so many pieces of this work/life pie:
home (keeping the house running – the honey do’s)
partner in life (keeping the one we love the most close)
family (keeping our loved ones close to feel like family)
children (being a good father with a profound presence)
working in our business (executing the daily tasks to generate revenue)
working on our business (planning and preparing for tomorrow)
growing our business (thinking and preparing for opportunities beyond)
keeping the focus on our passions (defining those passions in personal and business life)
finding time for ourselves (time to recharge those batteries)
Now look at that list and you think, we can combine some of these points into categories, but i specifically left them separated. Each of these have become so important and it has even taken me years to bring language to all of those points. What do I mean? It is being able to have the wisdom to actually write each point down and recognize each of their relative importances.
“…according to one survey, 75 percent of male executives are married to homemakers. It’s simply not possible to work 90 hours a week and see to your own basic needs – much less support someone else’s career. It works the other way, too: with only one salary to rely on, those husbands need all the wage premium they can get.”
It goes on to share this…
“Millennial men are beginning to do what women have done for decades: to work as consultants or start their own businesses that give them the flexibility for better work-family balance. A forthcoming study of New Models of Legal Practice by the Center for WorkLife Law documents lawyers in their prime who left large, prestigious law firms so they could practice law in ways that allow them to be more involved in children’s lives.”
Now I am a Gen X…so I miss this point by a few years. But…I can definitely relate. Sometimes I fell like I am a millennial. I did what all Gen X’s do. I attended a four year school and received a degree, got a job, and started working my way up the corporate ladder. BUT, a few years into my career…I realized that I was working too damn hard and not making enough money. Also…there was a cap on my long term opportunities.
So I started over…went back to graduate school to get a focused education. I was re-emerging in the business world in a post 911 era. A time when entrepreneurship was becoming common place in the tech world.
Realizing this path…working for myself, learning to start a family, and grow a business; the list above started emerging point by point.
This takes me back to my passion…my ultimate focus. Rose and Sarah are my passion and all things are wrapped around their lives sarah and the life we are building together.
This past summer, I worked on a project with Clemson’s creative services to create a simple television spot for the South Carolina region. Our goal…share the beauty of campus along with the idea the potential student could find the “Total Package” at Clemson.
We sat down and begin thinking through some ideas and we kept coming back to the idea of time-lapse photography. We wanted to translate this medium into video.
I was able to work with a great team to pull together a wonderful concept. The Creative Director of Clemson Dave Dryden along with Josh Stolz, an extremely talented graphic artist and animator, put a plan together. We wanted to bring a different look to Clemson.
This project began in the summer, so we were limited with the number of students on campus…mainly so the campus did not seem “dead.”
Photo Courtesy: Josh Stolz
Also…we were faced with one the heaviest rain seasons in ten years. Each time we tried to shoot, it would pour rain. There is a lot of equipment to set-up for these types of shoots, so quickly setting up and breaking down was not an option.
But when the rain cleared, Josh was able to capture the right moments on campus. These images allowed us to capture recognizable areas of campus that reinforce the Clemson brand.
Each scene in the video above probably has 400 individual shots captured in RAW format. This image acquisition process translated beautifully into After Effects for final editing.
Telling stories can be more than just capturing a person’s thoughts or comments. Stories can be told through images, providing context and opportunity for the audience to connect visually. And sometimes…we can even remove the voice over.
This past summer, I had the privilege of meeting Tony Fernandez in Chapel Hill, NC. His story has many layers and his research impacts anyone who has or will have to use EMS to transport them to a SC/NC hospital.
Tony is a former EMT. He took his knowledge and experience into a graduate fellowship where he earned his PhD. His passion comes from his father, a fire fighter who lost his life from the prolonged exposure to the toxic dust from 911. Tony’s father was a first responder to the twin towers spending months combing through twisted debris, holding out hope for survivors.
As he shared his father’s story, we could see the passion in his eyes. He wanted to use his skills and education to make access to quality care better for the people in NC and SC.
He is the research director for the EMS Performance Center in Chapel Hill, NC. His research impacts improved response times and puts life-saving equipment where it’s most needed.
Bottom-line, his research collects the data from all the EMS response times across NC and SC. He crunches the data and helps EMS all across the two states improve efficiency. Why, because seconds matter.
Remember the story I share with you last year? His name was Mr. John Fields of Seneca, SC. (Click Here to See His Story). He had a heart attack in a rural area of Oconee County. He traveled over 60 plus miles by land and air to receive life saving care in 63 minutes…the time from the moment he called 911 until the cardiologist performed the procedure to save his life at GHS.
Each minute, each second counts…making Tony Fernandez’s work that much more important. Between 2007 and 2012, The Duke Endowment distributed more than $6 million in grants to strengthen emergency medical services in North Carolina and South Carolina. This funding has helped Tony reach some amazing goals.
