People from Around the World

Day 4 here I am! Well, just a tad bit late whoops....the Microsoft Party went a little late! The first seminar I went to yesterday was Cheil Worldwide: Will Smart TV Make Your Life Smarter? The speakers gave a futuristic presentation about what TV will look like in the next couple years. They proposed that the TV will be your alarm clock, your schedule maker, and help you decide your wardrobe. These techniques will all be made possible by your smart phone. This seminar made me want a smart tv but all the while I was still wondering if this technology is even possible? They illustrated that when the SuperBowl was on commercial break, Pizza Hut, for example, would have an interactive button on the screen for you to order pizza, drinks, and cheese sticks. Also, when you're watching the game a scroll of tweets will appear the right side of the screen that allows you to chat with your friends. The sad part about all of this is that everything was looking SO virtual that there were not any real communications happening. The world was communicating via the virtual world with everything and not face to face which scares me!!

The second seminar I went to was MoFilm: Can a Social Network Build A Global Brand? Jesse Eisenber, actor and star of The Social Network, made his appearance on stage and was just as witty and cunning off camera as he was on! The actual information I retained from this seminar was little to none but it was cool to see him!

Oh and I must say in between all the events of the day, we visited our new favorite coffee shop (Coffee and Cookies) 3 times!! That has to be a record. We were VERY tired and we're fueling up on caffeine to get us through the long day!!

The rest of the day was filled with speakers from many different companies. We spoke with Jennifer Frommer, SVP of Clinet Relations/Branding at Interscope Records. She works in LA and deals with major music clients such as Lady Gaga, Eminem, and the Far East Movement. I've never considered a field in music industry but she made her job sound awesme! Her job reminded me a lot of Public Relations so I liked what she had to say although I probably could never see myself in the music business. I love to listen to my iPod, but music completely changes when you're working with it! The second speaker was David Simon, Writer/Producer of 'The Wire' and 'Treme.' To begin with the setup at the Majestic Hotel was AWESOME! They had drinks, coffee, tea, breads, and macaroons for us right when we walked into the conference room (& that's the way it should be done haha!) He was a very intimidating man because he seemed to have a lot say about any question you fired at him. I thought he was very cynical but at the same time he shared loads of wisdom. The next speaker we had was Allison Arden who is the Publisher of Advertising Age. Her cute little personality was adorable and she asked us many questions. I liked her because she wanted to know the seminars we found interesting and the workshops we enjoyed!

Later last night, I attended the Cyber Awards at 7:30. For our assignment in class, I have to cover Cyber:Banner and Rich Media. I seriously felt like I was at the Oscars last night! They presented about 80 something awards and it was a HUGE deal. I didn't realized that getting these awards meant so much. Old Spice Body Wash dominated many of the awards and Brazil represented very well! The most interesting part of the night was sitting by Kim Jung Hwa from Korea. She is the Art Director at DAEHONG Communications. We tried to use the "bump application" on our iphone to exchange information but of course the wifi wasn't working! She was interested in the Public Relations field and wanted to friend me on Facebook. I was thinking to myself when in the world will this opportunity ever arise again? The awards were pretty lengthy but very much worth the time!

After the awards ended, it was time to head to the Microsoft Party on the beach! It was SO COOL!!! There was dancing, food, and networking opportunities! The night consisted of three interesting encounters:

1. I met a man who worked at BBDO in Dominican Republic. He had some official title but I forgot it!

2. I met two Young Lions (who are competing in the film competition) from Germany. They needed girls to be in their video and were wondering if we would be available. I said sure what do we have to do? He said all we had to do was acty girly and smile. We all agreed that we were in and said they would try to shoot it either today or tomorrow.

3. I met people from London who crashed the Microsoft Party. One guy told us he worked at Microsoft first but then said he was unemployed. He was there to mooch off of the free drinks and have a good time. I was like seriously dude you need to LEAVE, this is for OFFICIAL people only aka me haha!

Nonetheless, we had a very eventful night with Dr. Reichart and Kohn dancing until the wee hours of the morning! Microsoft Party=SUCCESS!!