• by Kelly Samardak , October 19, 2009

October Is For Gourds, New York

This week is already off to an interesting start.  And interesting is probably the most uninteresting word.  I had great intentions of heading to Connecticut this weekend past to enjoy the 'burbs and do fun-for-the-soul stuff like pumpkin picking, getting claustrophobic in corn mazes, and going for big walks in the woods.  I don't know if any of you poor souls were also planning on getting some fresh air in your lung cavities.  If not, let me sum up this weekend in two words: trench foot.  It bone-soaking rained the entire weekend.  Which is great for testing out one's ability to avoid bed sores on one's parents' couch, but not so good for the stout orange gourd shots in the sun.  Let's see what the week has in store for us  -- and by the way, the forecast looks beautiful. 

Today I'm up in the air.  I could go to the Brandhackers Meetup, which should be rife with debate, as the topic is "Who 'Owns' Social Media Strategy?" with reps from the PR side and the digital creative side on the panel.  Mike Germano, President and Creative Director at Carrot Creative, is on the panel,and I know he's not one to put lip gloss on an alligator, so I'm leaning towards Brandhackers.  In the other corner is the ICSC Summit, which I first heard of in a forward from their PR rep which included nothing more than "not sure why this bounced" and a convo thread with my very incorrect email address.  The second reach-out included two attached word documents and hardly any context in the body of the email.  Well lookee here, I think I just  made my decision right here in front of you -- I'll be covering Brandhackers!

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 20, or those of you keeping score at home) I WILL get up in the wee hours of the morning to attend "The Reinvention Economy: Re-casting Communications as a Critical Corporate Innovator" at the Samsung Experience.  This is an old friend of mine, as I was sort of a corp comms rebel in my IBM days, but never once felt it didn't play a pivotal and continually strong role in any company.   I was more on the internal side, but let me tell you, people appreciate a nice dose of straight and clear communication.  With panelists like Jack Leslie from Weber Shandwick, Christopher Preuss from GM, David Steel from Samsung, Anita Larsen from Unilever, and Jim Whaley from Siemens U.S, I'm nerdily excited to see how the big guys in the sky see communications (leader or support?).

Wednesday I'm going to get my CMJ on by covering a boozy bar crawl followed by what feels like a million live musical acts.  I can't wait.  I love when I get to mix my big big loves of photography, writing, AND music all in one swoop.   After Wednesday, this week does not disappoint in consistency -- that's right, it's followed by Thursday! As of yet I haven't figured out what is filling the slot.  I'd love to squeeze in another CMJ event or maybe I'll just squeeze in a haircut, lord knows it's so long I can't do anything with it without looking like a certain eyebrows-challenged gal.

Good luck to you all this week. The sunshine says happiness, but the vibe says, "what's hiding behind that recycling bin?"

Now listen up, I'm serious - I want to start giving these captions themes.  Kind of like a creative brain jogging exercise.  The way it works is, you tell me in the comments section what the theme should be and then, no matter what is pictured in the photos, each caption will reflect YOUR theme.  Understand that I do not want to get fired or sued when you suggest your theme.  However, even the weirdest theme can be spun.  Annnnd GO! Also, leave your twitter handle so I can give you a shoutout when your theme is used!

Send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com!

Read up on last week's fun and don't forget the pictures!