Stephen Randall from LocaModa. Image courtesy of DMI.
Social Media
I am a late adopter of facebook, twitter and even blogging. The only reason why we started BACE, was so that we could be the one holding the conversation and discuss topics that matter to us. And of course we hope those topics matter to others as well. The cool thing is, no one pays us to talk about them. Whatever is discussed on our blog, is unsolicited. It’s a venue for us to rant about the things we love and hate.
I know many still think that social media is a fad. According toStephen Randall from LocaModa social media is NOT about twitter or Facebook. Social networking is not a fad. It’s an infrastructure of connectivity and communication. Click here to see the top 10 social media component by Randall >> Randall added that the unique aspect of social media is that customers are building your business for you.
Dori Tunstall, Organizer of U.S. National Design Policy Initiative. Image courtesy of DMI.
U.S. National Design Policy Initiatives
Dori Tunstall is a leader in the field of design anthropology. She is also the organizer of the U.S. National Design Policy Initiatives. Dori gave an impressive presentation on how government in design may lead to the growth of design awareness, by drawing examples of how other countries have successfully established those councils/ partnerships with their governments:
United Kingdom – British Design Council
Japan – Japan by Design
Germany – Blikfang
Spain – SIDI
Belgium – Design Flanders
Norway – 100% Norway
Finland – New Finnish Design
Holland – Created in Holland/ Premsela Org.
Sweeden – Scandinavian Design
I am personally very excited about this national design policy. I know this initiative is still at its infancy, but it’s about time that the U.S. is represented as a country in top design trade shows at international level. Dori brought up a great examples of how we have amazing products designed here in the U.S. ie. Apple Iphone, and yet it’s made in China. There should be a serious discussion on how to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., while increasing the value of design for products created and made here.
Beth Comstock, SVP of GE. Image courtesy of DMI.
GE
Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer and SVP of General Electric took the stage next. Comstock is responsible for GE’s ecomagination environmental business platform and the newly launched health innovation platform called healthymagination. According to Comstock, innovation at GE is a portfolio of efforts, with more than $10B annual spending on technology and services. She went on to say that innovation is not just within GE (in this case NBC). She gave an example on how they reached out and partnered with HULU.com
Want to compare your health profile to GE’s database? Click here >>
U.S. Military Healthcare
Ahh….healthcare. Great timing to bring in Colonel Kurmel (Retired), former Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. According to Col. Kurmel, the U.S. Military health system is a $43B per year business with 133K medical professionals. Hmmm…I cannot comment much about this presentation. I would not be able to do justice, since the military healthcare issues I think would require more than a 45minutes presentation for me to grasp. Nonetheless, I enjoyed Col. Kurmel’s presentation tremendously, and he showcased some pretty interesting quotes from Colin Powell.
This is my favorite, “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier,” – Colin Powell.
Futurist
The last speaker for this event was Watts Wacker. He is simply great. He is a great story teller. Here are some cool rants from Watts.
5 keys to invention:
1. Scope
2. Curiosity
3. Attention to detail
4. Systematically Challenging Convention
5. Play
- Myth is not about true of false. It’s about the greater truth.
- The more sophisticated the culture, the more sophisticated the palette. ( More power to those who are culturally diverse!)
- Risk is a paradox. Paradox you cannot afford NOT to take.
- Conceptual thinking is teachable.
- Xerophelia = Anything you do can be copied but who you be is uncopyable. Design is about who you be.
And so the conference ends with ultimate favorite quote from Watts, “The #1 way is to PLAY to success.”
Vacation at BVI?
And I did play and won the name badge contest with a prize of a week vacation to Tortola, British Virgin Islands, sponsored by Wallace Church!!!
Mel Lim's name badge winning piece. Image courtesy of DMI.
Name badge contest judging. Image courtesy of DMI.
As a sustainable designer, this piece was created without any usage of additional materials, (glue, inks or paper). It was made purely by just using a pair of scissors and repurposing & reconstructing the badge into a piece of jewelry/ornament; keeping true to the concept of “Design, Complexities, and Change.”
Looking forward to more DMI conferences next year! – Mel Lim