Since the passing of Sarah Burke this week, I have been reflecting on the nature of action sports; the nature of the sports and the sense of family that comes with it.

When I began snowboarding 16 years ago I never thought it would be such a large part of my life. Over the years it grew from a hobby and a way to spend time with my father to a passion and the reason I woke up in the morning. I woke up one day on the other side of the world benefited by an international family of snowboarders and realized just what sport had given me. It gave me a family and a personal sense of accomplishment. My incessant pursuit of achievement in snowboarding is part in thanks to the women pioneers who came along before me (and many others) in the sport and pushed the boundaries. From winning the first women’s world championship titles to pushing beyond the “pink it and shrink it” days and into a world where women now stand a chance to make million dollar sponsorship deals, I owe these pioneers everything.

The loss of one of the most promising Canadian female athletes is something that I’m sure all women who have ever pushed the boundaries felt. I’d watched her ski only a few times but had read more about her advocacy for the inclusion of freestyle skiing in the winter Olympics.

What the world of women in sports needs is more Sarah Burkes. Not afraid to stand up and voice opinions about the world around them and unwavering in their commitment to excellence in sport. All those who love the exciting and fast paced world of action sports feel the loss of a great talent, but I choose to think about all the young female half pipe skiers out there that Sarah inspired. I’m confident that her passion touched young girls and that the world will be in for a great treat when those girls start showing up in competitions and one day hopefully the Olympics.

An accident such as Sarah’s is something that is felt by every person who chooses to participate in these sports. Injury is a reality everyone faces and one that we all accept each time we are on the hill. But for what? The pure exhilaration and the pursuit of happiness I’m sure are two top reasons any pro would cite. Whatever the reasons are, the outcomes far out weigh the risks. The chance to be apart of such an accepting international fraternity (or sorority) of skiers and snowboarders or action sport enthusiasts is worth it. I just consider myself lucky to be apart of these communities with greats like Sarah.

My nephew is now over the year and a half mark and is in constant need of stimulation, whether that stimulation is running up and down the halls or zoning out starring at extremely colourful childrens programs like “Bo on the Go” or “The Backyardigans” is of little concern to him. Since the big happy family is all under one roof again it is next to impossible to escape the grasp of these enthralling shows. I’m not sure if its the creativity behind some of the characters, the catchy songs or the vibrant colours that attracts me (and my nephew) but I find myself enjoying the aesthetics of it all … not to mention the fun.

The chapter I recently read from my consumer behaviour text book points out, while discussing the issue of whether or not marketing creates needs in consumers, that Children’s programs can be view as nothing more than full-length toy commercials. This statement raised my eyebrows when I read it. You mean Chugginton is a way to sell more toy trains to kids instead of a welcome and colourful distraction in the day?

Obviously a certain portion of my life has been dedicated to the study of and active participation in marketing and with that in mind I always seem to side “pro marketing.” But this is one issue I just can’t overlook. If this is in fact the reason why the Backyardigans exist, just to sell toys, then I may have a problem. Young kids do not know any better. As adults we can read between the line and know when companies may be exaggerating the claims of products. With all the governance to ensure ethics are met in the marketing and advertising industry, surely promoting negative consumerist values to young children by way of cartoon programs crosses some sort of line? Since when does the TV program have to be about selling merchandise more than the development and entertainment of children?

I’m not sure if I agree fully with statements like the one my text has made… however I can’t seem to ignore the large POP displays of Dora in Toys R Us and the screaming children that beg their parents for these toys. Is this practice of offering a full line of show merchandise to kids ethical? Or is it a cash grab at their parents wallet?

Just some food for thought.

Recently I was given the task of rethinking my resume and personal brand. So far it has been quite a process and one, honestly, I wish someone taught me in school (instead I can anotize in multiple styles… when do I do this in the real world? Answer: never).

I have looked at my resume upside down. I have attempted head stands. I have done some yoga with my resume… talk about making fish pose challenging!

There have been key snipets of advice that have been mulling through my brain on a rather frequent basis “what are you going to give to a future employer? Show me you think differently and you have experience to back it up.” I have really chewed on this for awhile, thinking of all the 1,000′s of graduates out there, what is going to set me apart and make the hiring manager want to bring me in for a chat (ps… I don’t call them interviews anymore… they are chats. This is purely for psychological reasons). So while I wait for the right words to come, and they will, I turned to the nuts and bolts of my resume.

I have been very lucky to have the support of talented artists in the past but the last thing I wanted to do was ask them to create a layout for me. So, I purchased Adobe CS5 (thank goodness for student discounts) and got to it. In the past weeks I have taught myself how to redraw images in illustrator, and “place” them in indesign. With no formal training what so ever this process is lengthy and frustrating but I’m learning a great deal about the capabilities of these programs and the trained professionals who use them.

Side note: hug a graphic designer, they deserve it

Another exercise I have given myself is taking the PAGES of information I once had on my resume and using infographics to help display my experiences. I have now fit four pages into one colourful and easy to read documents.

I opted for a profile purely because the expert I spoke with said objectives were essentially passe and a profile gives the hiring marketer a better idea of who you are and how you may (or may not) fit into their company. Considering you have seconds to grab someones attention the logical placement for this is the top left. the english language is read left to right starting from the top of the page to the bottom. This ensures that it will be the first bit of information read.
To the right of my profile I placed my contact information. I included my personal website because it has links to writing samples and a list of events that I have coordinated. I put it in the top right, in BRIGHT PINK, so that in a stack of papers on someones desk my name is visable (even if a piece of copier paper sits directly on top of it).

My references are directly beneath my contact information. It seemed logical to have all the phone numbers close to each other. In this section I chose to use a QR code linking to my linkedin profile for a few reasons. 1) Shows that I understand the technology and its uses (I do make claim about my social media prowess) 2)I want the hiring manager to go to my linkedin profile to read my references from colleagues and to see more detail about my experiences.

Underneath my profile aligned to the left side of the paper is a graphic representation of my experience. I found inspiration for this from a tool called visualize.me. I felt the colours and bubbles were representational of who I am. It was a fun and difficult project redrawing this image, however it gave me the opportunity to customize it.

Underneath my graphic, again alligned to the left, is a list of accomplishments. I picked out what I have achieved through my experiences that are pertinent to the job I’m applying for. These PROOVE and back up claims I make in my profile and my letter. This info is meant to make the hiring manager go “oh wow.”

Beneath this, the last section, is a visualization of my skills. I choose circles to help me communicate my varrying proficiency. Large circle = I’m awesome at this… small circle = I’m not bad at this either. I stuck with the colour scheme to break up the colour of the copy in the above sections. I created the circles all together in illustrator and placed them in the indesign document. Key here was using the allignment tool in illustrator to make sure the circles were alligned based on the center anchor point. I considered leaving this as a “notes” section. When having “chats” the managers always seem to write things down… some more than others. I thought it would be handy having a section, but I also thought it was a waste of space when I have a SINGLE page to market myself with. I opted to leave this out of my resume to instead focus on the layout and content.

When I embarked on this project I knew I wasn’t going to be re-inventing the wheel. I didn’t want to. I just wanted to display this information in a susinct way that captures an element of my personality, my creativeness, the fact that I actually understand what it is that creative professionals do and the technology, and also that I understand the importance of linkedin.com for professional networking.

Next up the letter!!

There are a lot of hokey sayings out there. Advice that has been past on from one to another over centuries. Its been adapted for the hallmark generation and frankly I have a hard time sifting through the crap to find exactly what will make my life easier and ease the growing pains of being a 20 something. Here are some nuggets that have actually turned out to be true or made the biggest difference in my life.

- If someone isn’t giving you the experience/opportunity… make one for yourself
- Doing something the same way over and over again and expecting different results is insanity
- Do the best you can at every opportunity put in front of you
- Laugh at yourself as much as possible
- Not everyone will like you… in fact… some people will dispise you
- Though you may try, you’ll never please everyone all the time.
- Traveling is the best way to explore who you are
- There is no such thing as a friend on a powder day (or spouses).
- Walk softly, carry a big stick (not just good foreign policy).
- Think before you speak
- Give back as much as you can and definitely more than you get (this is a tricky one)
- Say thank you and mean it
- Say sorry only when you mean it
- Say please all the time
- Give credit where it’s due and learn how to be happy for other people. Take pride in their achievements

What linkedin has done for recruitment professionals, infographic resume apps will do for the job application process. Or will it?

I was really lucky to sit down with a very successful marketer and talk about my potential and my future in marketing. We discussed my resume and I was a bit surprised at what he said about my custom designed resume. I learned how to use inDesign to edit the sucker!

The man I met with is the president of a marketing agency in Toronto. That is an accomplishment. He has hired many and passed over many in his career so I trust what he told me. Looking at my experience… there is good stuff there that I’m constantly adding to. (Note: I took another gold nugget of advice from a guy who is a self made success story… “If nobody is willing to give you the experience at their company, you have to do it for yourself. Create something so eventually one day they will come to you”). Apparently though, what I lack is interest and what I have too much of is copy. Tough to hear because I think I’m pretty interesting.

It was explained to me that it is about being memorable (on top of the other important stuff, networking, relatable experience, selling yourself etc). In a field like marketing where there are more graduates than jobs it is all about standing out in a stack of 100′s of applications. My homework, after the meeting, was to go home and re-think my personal brand and if my resume was really a reflection of that brand.

I have been going through exercises like “if I were a tree, what tree would I be?” and “if I was a colour, what colour would I be?” I have all but stood on my head to figure out my personal brand.

I started thinking of unique, creative and inovative ways to display my experiences and core responsibilities to a future employer (especially one that wants to hire people who think differently). In my marketing metrics class we were introduced to the new trend in statistics and information gathering… infographics. I love infographics. I love how sometimes difficult to understand information can be put into easy-to-process pictures in a beautifully laid out way. It puts into focus the importance of certain stats in relation to one another. I thought, why not use this for my resume? Keep the resume aspect of my applications easy to understand my experiences with just a snap shot and expand on these in my letter.

After I had a great idea I took to the net to see if there was something I could reference and I found visualize.me along with a great mashable.com article http://mashable.com/2011/10/15/infographic-resume-apps/ These web based applications, tied to linkedin, have the goal of transforming the ways people display their experiences and skills to future employers. Lofty ambition indeed! But I like people with big ideas

I have a feeling that indesign and photoshop and myself will be getting reacquainted this evening (and well the rest of the week).

Awhile ago I lamented on the inproper use of QR codes in advertising where mobility is reduced. I also commented, in the same article, on the volume of codes popping up… well… this has since to slow down. I’m seeing all sorts of brands use them for all sorts of creative purposes… but what I now want to know is .. who is using these?

I’m a self-professed “people watcher”… but not in a creepy stare at you through my binoculars from the adjacent building sort of way. Rather I like paying attention to the manerisms of people around me… in sort of a behavioural study sort of way. That said, through all my people watching recently, I have yet to see someone whip out their smart phone and scan a QR Code. Whether in the mall, at the grocery store, waiting for the bus/street car, or at large events… not one single person scanning. Is anyone out there using these things?

To satisfy my thirst for quantitative stats I came across a study that notes 58% of mobile users say they aren’t familiar with the technology and only 28% of respondants have used them. Thats not great when you consider the way marketers are adopting these technologies as cost-saving forms of connecting with the target market.

So I am completely frustrated with living NORTH of Finch. It takes HOURS to get anywhere, I can’t ride my bike downtown and coming home after a night out is murderous (uhh vomit comet anyone). With these valid and frustrating points very much in our heads everyday, we have decided to move.

Moving is exciting. Well, not the packing, but the looking is exciting. It is full of positive promises from new beginnings. Since making the decision to move, I have been LIVING on MLS.ca checking out all the homes in Toronto that meet my criteria. There have been some real winners and some real losers (the kind you wouldn’t enter without first wearing a haz-mat suit a la E.T.). In the epic searches that I have been doing, trying to find the “Mr. Right” in home form, I have found myself wanting to share my finds with friends. The excitement of finding a good deal on a re-done two story hard loft conversion is a thing of beauty and something that everyone needs to know about. The only re-course I have is e-mailing it to friends… how dated!?

E-mailing a link is pretty 2006. I couldn’t believe that I would have to e-mail this amazing home find individually to each one of my friends as opposed to just hitting the “share” button. Where is my link to facebook? Where is my link to twitter? Come on MLS.ca it’s 2011 and you HAVE TO have one of the most visited websites in real estate!

Moreover, why isn’t there a mobile site for mls.ca? I was at a showing a week ago and wanted to do a quick search of the area to see if there was any other units for sale in the neighbourhood. I whipped out my iPhone, plugged in mls.ca and there I stood for 20 minutes while everything loaded and even then it was IMPOSSIBLE to navigate on my phone. Real estate agents are very mobile people… surely having a mobile connection to this site would improve their productivity leaps and bounds. Its all about efficiency here folks. Not many people can take multiple days off work to go view places… having the ability to do searches on the spot for places with lock boxes in the neighbourhood that you can view could save an additional day.

Also, imagine the ability to check-in to showings and link it to mls listings?

There is something being missed here by MLS. I suggest they jump on it.

It’s mid-day on Monday which means just one thing… I am preparing for the onslaught of heavily tattooed sweaty men in spandex that is Monday night #RAW.  I have been watching wrestling for a long time (my all time faves are Undertaker and Ray Mysterio), I blame my brother who was present for WWE 8 … thats when it was called WWF and Hulk Hogan was King.  His enthusiasm and influence over me is the reason I started watching in the first place… if my brother did it… I thought it was cool.  I took a vacation from wrestling when I was teenager, for a variety of obvious reasons (mostly because as a teenager you haven’t quite mastered laughing at yourself).  But now, as a 25.9 year old Canadian female with a good sense of humour, I’m dragged back in to wrestling and I’m glued to these over-the-top storylines and pure athleticism of the WWE’s performers. 

As my boyfriend and I watch the man-drama unfold every Monday night my phone explodes with twitter updates from athletes and WWE controlled feeds.  The opinions on the match ups and man-drama come in at a furious pace… 100′s by the second from all over the world.  Where are all these people coming from?  I thought wrestling was taboo and only something that folks with mullets and nascar jackets took seriously?  Apparently said nascar jacket wearing folks amount up to 14 – 15 million unique visitors globally.  The #WWE claims one of the largest online community on the www with it’s top fan sites receiving approximately 1 billion post impressions (likes, comments etc.) last year alone.  

As someone who is studying marketing and fascinated with the explosion of social media … the #WWE impresses me… greatly… and not just for the non-stop drama and muscles.  But deciphering percisely the spark that ignited their fire storm through social media is a bit tougher.  Is it the storylines?  The optimization of accounts?  The online marketing specialists at WWE HQ?  The content?  The constant updating of accounts?  The branded athlete accounts and the freedom of said athletes to update at will?  Who knows really.  But there are some important things to point out.

1.  They carry the conversation on between episodes.  As I type I am currently updating myself from what I missed in the last week so that when I tune in tonight I’m amped.  The beef between wrestlers continues on twitter… CM Punk stokes the fire with John Cena and taunts the entire WWE Universe with his authority questioning posts and call to “bring back the WWE ice cream bars.”  They keep the snowball rolling from monday through to sunday night updating Youtube, linking to their website with photos and polling their fans.  They pay attention to their community between fights. 

2.  Polls.  The official WWE universe is constantly asking me what I liked the most and what I’m looking forward to at Summer Slam (or any of the big pay per view specials).  They are obtaining a realtime opinion from MILLIONS of viewers so they can cater and promote more efficiently.  Why are they going to waste the time promoting to the 1million people who think WWE spreads violence amongst youth when they can pay attention to their dedicated fan opinions that they get (very cheaply) through social media.  Their ability to “mediate” the conversation between fans and company as well as fans and athletes is what I think lends to their success. 

They monitor what gets the most feedback (be it negative or positive) and then give the people what they want making the “like” button the modern day gladiator thumbs up (and similarily thumbs down). 

Regardless of the message and content another smart move the WWE made was going to the fans, rather than trying to bring them to the WWE.  Through strategy their promotions, polls and updates were created across 100′s of WWE controlled feeds where their fans were already discussing the latest beat-downs. 

They kept it simple, they optimized the be-jesus out of all their accounts and plug away at it consistently to create an online conversation of WWE fans which is something we all can learn from.