I can rub my tummy and pat my head.
I always thought that the list of things I can do simultaneously was vast. Chew gum and walk? Yes. Watch Netflix on my iPhone while jogging on the treadmill at the gym? Sure did – for the entire administration of Jed Bartlet, no less! Play a round of Facebook Scrabble while doing just about anything else (except DRIVING, of course) – Absolutely!
So, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that I do not possess the capacity simultaneously SPEAK and WRITE.
If this blog has been a little sparse, know that for the last 8 months, know that I’ve been on a speaking tour in which I presented my Audiences Everywhere™ workshop 23 times in cities all across the US and Canada.
Crisscrossing the continent multiple times – and having the precious opportunity to visit with more than 2,000 leaders of arts & cultural organizations – my plan was to use the ample travel time (i.e. waiting in airports & traveling on airplanes) to reflect on the conversations engaged and the discoveries made – and immediately share those thoughts on this blog.
In retrospect, I hadn’t quite considered the significance of these factors: fatigue, hunger, the stress of making tight flight connections, leg room (i.e. the lack thereof), the paucity of electrical outlets plus and, once on board, a dread phobia that my seatmate (or I) will spill his/her (my) beverage all over my laptop.
So, SPEAKING and WRITING – nope, I just can’t do them both at the same time.
Fortunately, I wasn’t just accumulating frequent flyer miles (and about 12 lbs from airport food). I’ve gathered a wealth of insights, examples and connections and now that my travels have paused (for just for a little while) I’m really looking forward to WRITING about them here.
As you might imagine, there are challenges & frustrations aplenty out there among organizations facing dire challenges in marketing and audience development. Yet, there are also numerous bright spots – people who are reinventing themselves and their organizations in profound and exciting ways.
Last February, I wrote that “The Great Hibernation is Over” and that “possibilities are again in season.” I return from my travels more convinced of this than ever and I look forward to sharing insights, highlighting innovators and, most of all, helping YOU find the strength and resources to advance YOUR organization’s greatest ambitions.
More soon!
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One more thing… Occasionally stuck in a middle seat, I found solace deep within my iPhone – meditating on the kinds of things that arts marketers think about in their deepest souls. With a nod to Yogi Berra for the first one, I offer a selection of Arts Marketing Haiku:
Hear the audience.
Nobody’s gonna stop them.
They don’t want to come.The only thing worse
than having nobody come:
The wrong audience.The virtue of art,
Sacred and unbend-able.
Except for cash flow.After the applause
One experience lingers:
Achieving Budget.Nobody’s coming.
Your new website contains a
Hyperlink Typo.The sum of culture
and creative achievement:
The Season Brochure.
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