Hannah Suarez

Sunsuper Riverbreakfast

The Goodwill Bridge was transformed this morning into a whole new world – imagine getting off the South Bank Parklands or near QUT into a bridge filled with people (some even decked out in all things French), French food, cafe style seating, artists on pianos or with chalks creating scenes on the bridge itself.  It was a great way to start the morning after QBE Riverfire and a nice way to start Brisbane Festival.

A Close Knit was also there and I was kitted out with a mini knitted badge in French colours.  Very chic!

Jazz on Sunday

After Sunsuper Riverbreakfast, I made my way through QPAC’s Cascade Court which was buzzing with activity.  I don’t usually go through this area during the weekend, and if I do it’s usually during the night, so it was a nice surprise.  Later on was the first Jazz on Sunday session with the Bassboy Band, Chris Poulson Trio and the Frank Zappa Big Band!  Starting from $15 you can appreciate three hours of jazz music at the Spiegeltent.  Even though it was raining (it was raining most of the day), people got into it and it was quiet easy to do so because of the unique venue and the jazz.  I especially enjoyed Frank Zappa Big Band!

Cantina

Wow, first of all – I think that it is amazing that they are playing every night except for Monday and for that I appreciate them in terms of their endurance and physical skill.

We waiting in the rain for about half an hour to get in but soon immersed ourselves into this new world of Cantina – where a doll twists and turns her limbs to make sense of her surroundings, passion and violence interchange together between two performers, audience members gasp loudly, clap, shriek out, laugh, giggle, eyes turned up to the ceiling in anticipating…the audience are very much into it.

I’m wanting to head along for another night of Cantina!

I’ve been tempted to put out one of those Away messages for some time now because things have been getting hectic and it looks like from now until September 25 it is going to be completely and utterly BUSY!

You may know me from a few ‘hats’ that I wear so just in case – I’m involved with the Brisbane Festival as Online Marketing Coordinator and have been with them full time since June.  With online activities cranking up by a notch (a very big notch) and especially with plans to speak at a few events, get the creative industries websites going (especially the Brisbane one), attend as many Brisbane Festival events as I can and while doing my duties September is going to be a big marathon.  There are also a few other side projects and requests that I have to keep in mind.

I will also be cheeky and suggest that the best way to catch up is to go to a Brisbane Festival event!

PS: I sometimes get email questions related to online/digital marketing.  What I will start doing is to publish them online on my Media Suarez blog as actual entries, in case anyone else is thinking of something similar.

I’ve been in touch with someone from the QUT IP/Tech law clinic since June for a panel session in July but because it clashed with an all day workshop, had to suggest another time that I could possibly volunteer in.

The details of the session are:
Date: Tuesday 14 September
Location: Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House office

Some of the panel members involved will be from people involved in web design, graphic design, games development etc.  I will be mainly focusing on the digital technology side of things.

PS: This is a private event, hence I didn’t advertise the times.

get acquainted with TED

I am currently 60% into this book “The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to Success in Business and Life“.  I mainly bought the book because it has to words strategy, business, art and game theory and I thought “Hmm, what an odd combination for a book.”

The book is surprising and a bit hard to absorb because it includes a fair amount of applied mathematics (I failed maths in high school) and social science which are the main components of game theory.  There are some parts where I feel isn’t applicable to everyday life (how many of us will think of the Nash equilibrium when we make a decision on what to do on a Friday night) but nonetheless it is fairly interesting when I start getting used to it.

There are also a fair few mentions of Sun Tzu’s Art of War which get a fair amount of recommendations, mainly the ‘aggressive business entrepreneur types’ that like to quote Trump, Branson and Murdoch (OK, I have the read the bios of two of those men).  The thing is that when I read one of their chosen ‘Art of War‘ quotes, they don’t explain how and why this certain 6th Century military treatise is relevant and it was only until this book where I actually start getting why it continues to be perpetuated.

So, here are my picks:

• Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.
• Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
• For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
• He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious. (HS: Know what battles to pick)
  
• If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril. (HS: Get into the shoes of the other party)
• If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.
• Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.
• The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.
• When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
• If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.
• If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory.

The text looks really amazing.  Each line seems to be well-crafted.  It’s pretty full on as well.
Read more here.

Seth Godin, in one of this books, introduced the term ‘zoom’ when describing the need (desire?) to focus intently on a particular area, before zooming on to another and so on.  Another image to illustrate the situation – I have imagined myself as some sort of bird (the type of bird is an eagle by the way) who has decided to fly over new, unexplored places.

I am not really worried though:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time” – T S Eliot

I am sure that we’ve all gone through these types of revelations.

What does the T S Eliot quote mean to you?

Even though it’s 12 AM here, I’ve suddenly found myself discussing arts marketing to a group of people in the UK when I noticed that a few of the people I am following on Twitter are engaging in the discussions.  The hashtag is #ama10 and these are the discussions happening around an event by the Arts Marketing Association “Pulling Power: The Social Marketing Revolution”.  You can read their conference blog here.  It’s not the first time that I have jumped into a discussion or an event happening outside Brisbane (or even Australia…this one is at Leeds so it’s literally on the other side of the world!) and even if I did switch on to the discussion for a really short period of time, I already feel inspired just by reading snippets of a particularly inspiring presentation by the Chief Technology Officer of the Brooklyn Museum.

It is so easy to connect with people from other parts of Australia and the world and it has me thinking – what percentage of us (our ideas, our attitudes, our values) are ‘local’ these days?

I know that we still have our city councils, our state borders, etc but it doesn’t stop the exchange and flow of ideas, information, worthwhile connections so why make a big deal out of something (not being) local?

PS:  I am all for city identity, I’m just irate when someone says “but this is from city x, why can’t we have more of city z?” in which my response is “does it really matter that they came from city z and not from city x?  it’s still the same mind/identity?”

Their anonymity is assured

Friend #1:

I have a friend who is looking for a short term (6-12month) contract in marketing/production in festivals in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, or the Gold Coast.  My friend knows their stuff with online marketing, social media, screen works and is an avid arts, culture and creative industries supporter.

Email me (hannah@suarez.id.au) if you are looking for this sort of person!

Friend #2:

I’m looking casual work with a business that needs help with their online marketing strategy.  Specifically around driving customers into a sales funnel, mapping that funnel,  tracking conversions and drop-offs, using email marketing to capture leads and generate sales and analysing data and spot opportunities.  I understand both the tech/IT and marketing side.

Email me (hannah@suarez.id.au) if you are looking for this sort of person!

I recently attended X Media Lab’s Global Media Cultures conference last Friday at the Sydney Opera House and there was a remark made by one of the mentors (it wasn’t part of his presentation) about global businesses today.  He made an interesting remark about being scalable…something that I have come across before from another event, creative3.

Speaking of being scalable, I have just finished the book “Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit”.  I need to revisit this book when it is more relevant for me but it is a good read in terms of having a touchstone to refer to in the near future.

The last chapter of the book mentioned the United Nations Millenium Development Goals. Here’s an excerpt from their website:

With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs   Visit the Summit website.

More information here.

The one area that the book hasn’t explored in a satisfactory way was the issue of privacy.  If marketing is moving towards the human spirit, what does that say about how we want marketing to affect us?

Last week I attended the Australia Council for the Arts Marketing Summit with Philip Steidl, Partner of Mindshare, talking about how marketing needs to be innovative and consider the 2020 vision.  My liveblog of his presentation is location here.  A question that I asked him after his presentation was about privacy, datamining, the future of marketing.