I took a day last week to boost my business skills - in a creative way. ART WORKS is a one day arts & entrepreneurship conference in the Ottawa area, designed to give resources and information to artists to help transfer creative skills to a business context. This was the third event - 40 artists attended the first and 200 attended this one! This was my first time and I happened to choose two lively and engaging presentations that got my mind whirling with ideas.
"Branding & Message Essentials for Creatives on Social Media" was presented by Erin Blaskie, New Media Princess :) I get so fired up by people who are genuinely passionate about what they do, and Erin is definitely living her passion. She shares information so enthusiastically and with such wonderful humour. I love the stories that go along with the information... it makes for a very entertaining experience. You can check out her "Slide Deck" for this presentation here. I didn't even know what a Slide Deck was until now! And there are MANY links to all kinds of information listed on the same page. I love this techno world!!!
"Sell the Hell Out of Your Art!" with Shawn MacDonell of Creativision was SO much fun. He is quite the story teller and his presentation was an interactive experience. The first thing he did was get 5 volunteers to come to the front and "stomp" on the empty box on the floor in front of them. No more "inside or outside the box" quandary - he totally removed the box! Also, he said, it helped with his recycling chores :) Shawn is one of those people who is himself, no matter what. You take him as you find him. I was impressed to see that he was wearing jeans, sneakers and a sweater. He said we were lucky that he didn't have shorts and flip-flops on - he wears those until it snows! All the other presenters wore business suits, which I found quite incongruous for an artists' conference. Surely you can dress creatively and present business information? You can check out Shawn's blog here. Among other things, he helps people find their creative side and lives his own life with passionate purpose.
I am now wearing my "Artrepreneur" hat even more proudly, happy to be part of a group of such creative enthusiasts. We are an ever growing group and there is no stopping us!
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door". Milton Berle
Artrepreneur...interesting concept! Certainly recasts the vision of an artist struggling in a cold studio hoping to be discovered! I like this idea!! I did watch Erin Blaskie Slide Deck..I think what I need to do is decide on my focus and "branding". I've known this for awhile...just need to do it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this...ties in perfectly with where my thought processes have been going as of late!!
Just stopped by via a link from another blog (Clearer Reflections), and am charmed by your work. Swooning in particular over the Muse Journals.
ReplyDelete@Dave: WOW!! Thank you so much! I will follow up on this for sure :)
ReplyDelete@Laura: I'm charmed by your kind message. Thanks, Laura :)