#The99percent Conference -- Archived & Curated

What is the 99 percent? 

• rosskimbarovsky: The conference isn't about ideas. It's about making ideas happen. #the99percent
• nicolecwong: is covering #the99percent confab, which takes its name from Edison's quote on idea execution: "Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."
• LaurenceTom: Q: Why do most ideas never happen? #the99percent
• LaurenceTom: Josh Rubin: "There are no new ideas. It's really about execution." Lesson learned in grad school. #the99percent

Cheryl Dorsey 

President /// Echoing Green

• MobileBehavior: Echoing Green is an angel investment firm in the social sector, seed funded Teach for America, City Year, Seed School in DC #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Not all ideas should be implemented - even those ideas that are really good (Dorsey) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Sometimes, the ideas aren't great - other times, the people who proposed the ideas aren't the right people to execute them. #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Cheryl Dorsey: Please don't start a new organization! Not all ideas should be implemented!
• rosskimbarovsky: If you have a great idea - develop a flexible "battle plan" to execute it. (Dorsey) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Ideology v. Pragmatism. It's not about the ideology - it's about using any tool to make your ideas happen (Dorsey) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Echoing Green is rolling out a new behavioral model - SEQ (Social Entrepreneurship Intelligence) (Dorsey) - #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep have found themselves and have formed their identity and their cause, they live it and breath it #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep have a focused ability to execute. Not enough to just have a idea. Build a mission driven business #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social Entrep must be solutions oriented, must have the ability to actually solve a problem and not preach an ideology #the99percent
• swissmiss: Cheryl Dorsey: "To be a Social Change agent you have to be in the business of solving problems and not of generating ideas." #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Social entrepreneurs see opportunities rather than problems (most of us just see problems). (Dorsey) - #the99percent
• nicolecwong: SEQ 4. Asset-based thinking, a psychological framework of glass-half-full and seeing the world as opportunities, not problems. #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Asset based thinking, instead of worrying about a problem eating you, social entrep see the opportunities in the problems #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Social entrep must be a resource magnet, money, people, media all things required to execute #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: SEQ: Must have a deep and unshakeable devotion to a cause. You're going to spend 20 years of you life doign this #the99percent

Scott Thomas 

Design Director of New Media /// Obama for America

• rosskimbarovsky: The web has to be integrated with print as much as possible to make a campaign uniform (Thomas) - #the99percent
• vikramtank: Scott Thomas's challenge: how do you get a political web site to be designed well? #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: There wasn't a process initially in the Obama campaign for developing materials (i.e. mockups, user research, etc.) (Thomas) #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Idea was to focus on "we" across all messaging platforms, rather than focus on Obama - #the99percent
• nicolecwong: on stage: scott thomas, design director of new media of obama for america. invented mission statements & processes on the fly #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Design can establish a certain sense of balance through consistency (Thomas) - #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: Obama was a junior senator, use "instant vintage" and "he's already president" design to convey experience #the99percent
• vikramtank: Mission:Keep the message of hope while removing the notion of being aloof.Focus on we and not on he. achieve through design #the99percent
• nicolecwong: Obama's Achilles heel = Jr senator. But design can establish certain amount of balance, give visual impression he's experienced. #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Knowing they couldn't design for everyone, Obama designers put assets online and let people design their own stuff (Thomas) - #the99percent
• vikramtank: created DL page allowing people to use official design as part of their designs.no need to make a t-shirt for every small party #the99percent
• vikramtank: long forms don't allow analysis of where people are bailing out, instead a 1 question at a time interface lets you know what to tweak #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: Started in 2007. There had never been a design team for a political campaign.
• rosskimbarovsky: Write down your ideas - you'll have many great ones, but you WILL forget them unless you write them down (Thomas) - #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: Created brand buckets - 1. Campaign 2. Instant Vintage 3. Timeless 4. Supporters
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: On idea triage... There will always be great ideas and you must be able to quickly assess how to act.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: Diversity of thought/background is absolutely essential in your org. You must push against one another to create.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: Evolution. Everything changes. The real task is making change as natural as possible.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Scott Thomas: Final thoughts - 1. Surround yourself with people who are passionate about you. 2. Write things down!

Ji Lee 

Creative Director /// Google Creative Labs

• rosskimbarovsky: Personal projects are great because it's 100% up to YOU - you don't answer to anyone except yourself (Lee) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: The challenge of doing personal projects is motivation (time, inspiration, money, resources) (Lee) - #the99percent
• nicolecwong: Lee: "When everything falls apart in the workplace, I can always fall back on my personal project." it's fun & provides growth #the99percent
• xekc: Cool take :) #the99percent http://twitpic.com/3ehpu
• MobileBehavior: Bubble project blew up because of @boingboing 120 to more than 50000 hits. #the99percent
• vikramtank: since bubble project made open to public, when issued cease and desist Ji was able to say that it was other people doing it. #the99percent
• vikramtank: open projects like http://www.wtclogo.com/ make collaboration easy. @cshirky comes to mind here #the99percent
• xekc: Google business card project story at #the99percent http://twitpic.com/3eigv
• chrisdary: Loving Ji Lee's presentation. Focuses on the power of doing things yourself and letting your own motivation spread to others. #the99percent
• the99percent: "Time is a concept which can be stretched" -- Ji Lee #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Sharing is rewarding. The Internet has changed the creative philosophy about sharing. (Lee) - #the99percent
• vikramtank: personal projects can lead to professional projects,professional projects can inform personal projects. it's all complimentary #the99percent
• xekc: Lessons learned from personal projects (google's art director) #the99percent http://twitpic.com/3eily
• blainehogan: #the99percent Ji Lee: Motivation for personal projects usually comes from deadness at work and the desire to do things yourself.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Ji Lee: Realized he couldn't depend on others so he started doing things himself - Creation, Planning, Financing, Producing
• curlyhmk: Lesson learned from Ji Lee: study people and surroundings in aggregate to find common themes/inspiration #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Ji Lee: Some of his projects: http://thebubbleproject.com/, http://abstractor.tv/, ">http://junkees.spreadshirt.com/us/US/Shop/

Seth Godin 

CEO, Squidoo /// Author & Blogger

• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth wants to sell us an idea...the idea is FINISHING not starting.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: Amateur creative - He who writes often in his moleskine but doesn't actually make anything.
• LaurenceTom: Seth Godin "What you do for a living is not be creative, everyone is creative, what you do is ship." #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: when you run out of money or run out of time, you release. That way you're always on time and on budget #the99percent
• katiebart: Seth Godin- If I'm going to take the first steps, I'm going to finish it. Agonize over whether to do it upfront rather midway.#the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Godin says "you must thrash in the beginning" - debate features before you develop them - #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: seth godin redux: produce, create, don't second guess at the end, do it at the beginning. #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: Thrashing usually gets more intense the closer you get to shipping something. The challenge is to reverse that.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: The concept of Thrashing - inserting ideas, more people, critics (internal and external).
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: Don't become a wandering generality. Be specific but always be shipping something. Make it then ship it.
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: According to Seth we must rid ourselves of our scared lizard brains (our internal critics).
• curlyhmk: Seth Godin: you dont need to be more creative, you need to quiet your lizard brain #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Seth Godin: Be obsessively careful about what you commit breathing life into. Finish what you start.
• swissmiss: Seth Godin: "If you are proud of what you 'ship' and are on time, you will be successful." #the99percent

Funny Tweets 

• sheenstar: The best overheard quote "don't get in the way of your own dopeness" #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: there was a real guy named duncan hines??? what! is sara lee his wife? #the99percent
• christinewhuang: Seth godin just pegged me with a water balloon and all I got was this stupid Twitter #the99percent

Jeffrey Kalmikoff & Jake Nickell 

/// Threadless

• jessiwrites: #the99percent "we had a blow dart gun in our office, you know like everyone does..." Threadless.com guys on the beginning of things...
• MobileBehavior: threadless was a personal project that was also a proof of concept to get more web design work #the99percent
• xekc: Our website was absolutely reactive to what our community asked for. #the99percent http://twitpic.com/3elwi
• nikku: Message from threadless at #the99percent - organic business is good business. Stay scrappy, brutal prioritization and maniacal focus are key
• MobileBehavior: seek out competition, it makes you create more/faster when you are competing to create an idea #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: The more people you hire, the more you begin focusing on operations, rather than execution (Kalmikoff) - #the99percent

Scott Belsky 

CEO & Founder /// Behance

• rosskimbarovsky: Creatives tend to ignore competition, but should actually seek it out. It forces you into action (Belsky) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Fight your way among your team to breakthroughs - don't settle on apathy (Belsky) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Leaders of creative teams should encourage certain levels of fighting - to promote great idea development (Belsky) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Don't become burdened by consensus (Belsky) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Self-marketing is important. Present yourself. Overcome the stigma of self-marketing. (Belsky) - #the99percent
• alexkrupp: The Josh Bell story exemplifies the importance of self-marketing: http://bit.ly/Y7UCr #the99percent
• nicolecwong: Scott belsky of behance on best practices: "Generate ideas in moderation. A surplus of ideas is as dangerous as a drought." #the99percent
• technotheory: @scottbelsky: Creativity x Organization = Impact. And by organization, he's definitely including our ability to DELIVER. #the99percent
• nicolecwong: Creativity x Organization = Impact. So 100(creativity) x 0(organization) = 0 whereas 3(creativity) x 2(organization) = 6 #the99percent
• MobileBehavior: have a culture of capturing action steps=doing what you say you are going to do,and organizing to remember those things #the99percent
• nicolecwong: "Accept Darwinian productivity. Otherwise known as nagging." Folks have to much to do. It's good to rely on environmental stimulation #the99percent
• LaurenceTom: "Don't let today always trump tomorrow." Scott Belsky #the99percent
• LaurenceTom: "Don't have a meeting just because it's Monday" Scott Belsky #the99percent
• technotheory: "Leaders talk last" says @scottbelsky, the last speaker at the conference he's running. Seriously though, there's power in that #the99percent
• swissmiss: "Hire based on initiative!" Scott Belsky (#the99percent)
• technotheory: @scottbelsky: Hire based on INITIATIVE not experience. People who START AND CREATE things not just people who have been there. #the99percent

Jason Randal 

Theorist on Developing Expertise

• rosskimbarovsky: Use one skill to learn another thing - and try different things part-time (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Wide exposure to things provides lots of possibilities (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Interest in something produces questions (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: interest makes the answers meaningful (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Integration ties one meaningful answer to another (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Desire/Interest, Ability to learn, and Enlisting Support are the keys to getting things done (Randal) - #the99percent
• nicolecwong: When he got good at something, he'd move on to the next field to conquer. Plays 5 instruments, is master scuba instructor, etc #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Desire and interest are related. How do you increase desire/interest? (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: If you figure out what truly motivates you, you can make things happen. (Randal) - #the99percent
• nicolecwong: he said the 3 real drivers of becoming expert: 1. Desire for something. 2. Your ability to learn. 3. Support from other people #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Hang around people who are passionate about things you are interested in (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Other people's passions will rub off on you (Randal) - #the99percent
• steffanantonas: @rosskimbarovsky make it personal, relevant & actionable. Interest and passion will increase. #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: You can increase your ability to express emotions. That helps build desire. (Randal) - #the99percent
• coolhunting: "things that wire together fire together" jason randal #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Each of us grades others, and others grade us on 3 factors: trustworthiness, expertise & dynamism (Randal) - #the99percent
• rosskimbarovsky: Reduce everything you want to do to an action you can do right now - (Randal) - #the99percent
• blainehogan: #the99percent Jason Randal: The only reason I can do all the things I've learned to do is because I have an enormous ability to love.

Jill Greenberg 

President /// Jill Greenberg Studio

• nicolecwong: on stage: photographer Jill Greenberg, showing us her covers for Wired, Portfolio, movies. Took 5 yrs before 1st decent mag gig #the99percent
• nicolecwong: she said "It's almost uncool to admit you have your nose to the grindstone. Even when you think you've made it, you still have to keep doing it." #the99percent
• coolhunting: controversy gets you out there jill greenberg #the99percent

Robert Hammond 

Co-Founder & President /// Friends of the High Line

• mamakitten: #the99percent Using the opposition as a tool for creativity... Fear of failure is my everyday opposition.
• MobileBehavior: the case for the high line was made through grass roots effort but was supported by solid financial data & crowdsourced design #the99percent
• nicolecwong: Robert Hammond of Friends of the High Line: "Gift-wrapping a project so a politician will come along and claim it as his own." #the99percent
• jenpi: Love it: http://www.thehighline.org/ (Robert Hammond) #the99percent
• LaurenceTom: "It's amazing how far you can go giving credit to others." Robert Hammond, Friends of the High Line #the99percent

Michael Bierut 

Partner /// Pentagram

• redantler: Michael Bierut speaking at #the99percent 'I became a designer because I wanted people to come to me with problems I could solve'
• swissmiss: "I want people to come to me with problems that I can solve, that's when I am creative." Michael Bierut (#the99percent)
• mikearauz: take-away from @michaelbierut's talk at #the99percent is that creativity is born out of solving problems. that's why i like problems.
• swissmiss: "Don't avoid the obvious. Embrace it. The obvious needs friends." Michael Bierut (#the99percent)
• MobileBehavior: Good designers are like doctors that listen and have great bedside manner, Clients are patients #the99percent

Blog Reactions 

• behance: Some early coverage from the #the99percent -- Fast Company: http://tinyurl.com/cja79s
• nicolecwong: VentureBeat posted this summary of key points from today's #the99percent conference on getting ideas off the ground http://bit.ly/99percent
• technotheory: Takeaways from #the99percent - one of the best conferences I've attended w/lots of good insight: http://sn.im/99perc
• 99% | Cheryl Dorsey
• http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/04/99-ji-lee.html
• http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/04/99-seth-godin.html
• nickonken: My #the99percent Conference review and found nuggets of wisdom: http://bit.ly/9Ef2b
• hristos: 5 rules from the #the99percent - http://tinyurl.com/dmsurl