All Done with the UW Campaign

This was the second and final week of the United Way giving campaign at LC. On Wednesday, we had our Balloon Burst, which went great. Everyone who came had a lot of fun, and most of them won prizes. Then on Friday I got to draw the 50/50 raffle winner, and we tallied up the winner of the LC Penguin promo.

Besides that, I didn't have much to do this week. I wrote up a few project memos for the LC Digital Initiative we're working on, but that only took a day or so. On Tuesday, for example, I went from person to person, looking for some work to do. No one had anything for me, so I devoted some time to scouring the Internet for CoolJobs tweet ideas.

It was a little frustrating not having anything to do. They're often telling me how great I am at this or that, yet here I was, withering away.

That's one thing I noticed... It takes them time to find work for me, and everyone at LC is so busy that they don't have extra time to find things for me to do. Hopefully, though, they'll have me in mind now, and when something crosses their desks that they can have me do, they'll note it.

I did get some such work on Friday, which ended up being a very busy day. Unfortunately, the work in question was paragon monkey work. Literally selecting, copying and pasting. It was valuable for the company, though, and extremely time-sensitive, so I put up with it. And it's not as if I were the only one doing it; several full-time people were doing the same, exact thing. So it wasn't so bad.

Friday was also great, because a few other interns and I got to have lunch with Steve Laughlin. It was pretty exciting to meet and speak with one of the founders of LC, who I'd never really gotten any face time with before. It was a little restrictive having so many people around... Rather than having a conversation, it turned into more of a classroom lecture, but it was still great to tap into his mind.

I also noticed that my colleagues seemed more interested in impressing Steve than having a legitimate conversation... They were quick to spout off anything that sounded professional or intelligent, and the whole thing felt a bit contrived. We did have Panera catered, though.

Also, I found out that I'll have a legitimate vacation for Thanksgiving Break: The office is closed on Thursday and Friday, and there's an early release on Wednesday. That means, since I don't come in till the afternoon anyway, I won't be coming in Wednesday. So from Wednesday through Sunday, I'll be able to take a nice, long breath. Can't wait.

Anti-Cubicle

As usual, a lot happened this week.

The United Way giving campaign launched this week. Everything went smoothly, thankfully. We did find that, by Wednesday, we had very few entries in the raffle box, and we decided that we needed to increase awareness. I devised two half-sheet flyers (one to advertise the raffle, one for the balloon burst), which you can see below.

In other news, I helped Laura with another new business proposal, did some SEO research and compiled some analytics statistics.

So I've been at Laughlin for over a month, and I still like it. That's a good sign. My cubicle is right next to Joyce's office. A great placement. Joyce is always so positive, turgid with new and interesting ideas. She always has good things to say and, best of all, she loves to laugh.

Working at Laughlin makes me feel happy. And extremely lucky. I can't help but remark, time and again, how blessed I am to have happened upon such a wonderful opportunity. And I can't help but feel indebted to Amanda for thinking of me. So great.

And I'm proud. Proud because I'm able to work with such great and talented people. And they count on me for things just like they count on each other. I'm not just the guy who gets them coffee, like interns are at some places; I'm a real employee.

But it is frustrating sometimes... I'm only at Laughlin for a few hours each day, and I have so much to do. And on top of that, there are meetings and meetings and meetings, and before I know it, the day is done—and I never even got a chance to work on anything! It's a little overwhelming sometimes, but I know that I'll get through it. I always do.

When I'm frustrated, I sit and reflect on the things I'd change if I ran the place. Sometimes they're major changes. Sometimes they're political. Sometimes they seem silly. For example, I'd get rid of the cubicles. I just don't like them. If I were in charge, I'd open up all the rooms, and people would have their desks out in the open and they'd actually see each other. It's not like people at Laughlin are living like hermits; there is, of course, a lot of collaboration. But there's just something about cubicles that jangles my nerves...

I guess I'm also lucky in that regard. I have a cubicle, yes, but it's not my only station. I'm just as much upstairs in Paul's office or around the conference room. In a sense I'm placeless; in a sense I'm omnipresent.

In Perpetuity?

We always hear about how once you put something on the Internet, it's out there forever. Although that's kind of an exaggeration—I mean, even if the random document that you stored on some server for a half an hour is still stored on a remote desert island, the chances of it being discovered, associated with you and used against you are miniscule.

Anyway, we rarely hear people saying, "Make sure you don't put stuff just on the Internet." It seems equally as, if not moreso, dangerous as putting stuff on the Internet in the first place.

For example, all my e-mail is stored on Google's servers. My school e-mail forwards there, too. I conduct all my personal e-business through Gmail, and only very rarely do I print something out. What if, for whatever reason, Google decided to delete all my e-mail files? I'd be ruined.

That's not to say I'm super paranoid now. I'm not about to download my Gmail archives, and there's no way I'd go and print out every message on there (I'm sure I'd be embarrassed by most of them, anyway)... But I'm starting to think I should.

And I'm not alone in this boat. There are so many users of Gmail—and the other free, Web-based e-mail services. Is it good that our lives are in their hands?

A Note on Jealousy

Amanda and I were talking today, and she invited me over to her cubicle to look over a document for her. "Here," she said. "Have a seat."

So I did.

And the first thing I noticed, and almost blurted out: Wow! Your chair is really, really comfortable. Why doesn't my cubicle have a chair this nice?

I got down to reading and offered her some advice on the document, then went back to my cubicle, where I made an important discovery: I have the exact same chair as she does.

So here's the lesson: Don't rush to be jealous of what other people have. Sometimes, like me, you'll find that you already have the thing you were so jealous of, but you took it for granted and never actually realized that you had it.

Even if you don't, though, I'm confident you'll find that you've been getting on fine without it.

Week in Review

This week I did some research for a client on e-marketing (SEO and SEM) versus traditional direct mail. This client has been hesitant to enter the digital world, so it was my job to find research and statistics that could show them that e-marketing is really important, even though they've been doing just fine without it. Another example of how "leaving well enough alone" can cause you to miss out.

I compiled all my findings and typed them up into a succinct report, which I passed on to Laura. She said I did a good job—that a lot of my work would be included in the agency's formal recommendation to the client. For me, it's exciting to get any kind of feedback... I like to know how I'm doing. But it is, of course, nice when the feedback is positive.

This project was also exciting for me, because it was "real" work for a "real" client. Even though it was pretty basic, I could see the importance of my task, and it was exciting that they trusted me, at least a little, to perform it.

On Thursday, students from the Marquette Ad Club came to visit Laughlin, and I sat in the dome with them. To take pictures for the HR Dept's Facebook page, and also for my own information. We heard from a few people (who I hadn't met yet) from different areas in the agency, and they talked about their jobs. This helped me get a better understanding of how the different people and teams work together—how all the pieces of the agency fit together. I'm really understanding what Steve Laughlin means when he says that we can't work as isolated departments—if everyone doesn't work in symphony, nothing will happen. (Goal 2)

On Friday, Amanda and I finished up the final details of planning for our United Way giving campaign within Laughlin. We sent out an e-mail to the agency overviewing the events for the next two weeks. We have a lot going on: a 50/50 raffle, a balloon burst (people buy $5 balloons, some contain prizes) and the "L/C Penguin" (everyone can cast $1 votes and the "winner" in the creative department "gets" to wear a tux for a day).

Behind the scenes, we have so much going on... drafting reminder e-mails, coordinating with higher-ups in the agency, keeping track of progress in our programs, collecting pledge forms... It's not overwhelming, though, because we have all the duties properly delegated and scheduled (Goal 1). Together there are four of us who did all this planning (and are doing the execution), but it's been a little hard staying in contact and keeping everyone accountable for what they're supposed to be doing. Just another challenge of teamwork.

I also finally met Dave Hanneken, the creative director, and we talked for a while. He's great. It was exciting to finally get in touch with him (they say he's the busiest guy at Laughlin). Anyway, he offered to review any portfolio pieces I had and said I could come by and pick his brain whenever I wanted. This is a great step for my future, since I'm still most interested in Creative (Goal 14).

One more thing: I mentioned before that Paul encourages me to sit in with him while he's talking on speakerphone with clients, or talking to his colleagues about whatever project. I don't always understand what they're talking about, because their conversations are often highly technical and obviously assume a certain degree of background knowledge. Even so, they're valuable for me because I can see how Paul deals with clients (Goal 4). I've seen two keys in doing this:

1. Relish small talk. I used to think small talk was a waste of time—in my communications, I'd get to the point right away, often forgoing the "How are you?" and ignoring their "What's goin' on?" I realize, though, that small talk is vital to creating an amiable relationship with a client. To make everyone feel personable and comfortable.

2. Recap. Business people are busy. Things are constantly running through their heads and, in conversation, they're often only halfway paying attention. It's important to recap periodically during a conversation. Repeat key points, reemphasize who's doing what as the next step. It's like that old saying, "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, then tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em." But a little more suavely.