Studioclues

I  will be  regretfully missing the IDSA northeast conference this year as I will be on a plane to China on the final day of the conference. That said, I want to tell you how important I think the conferences that a trade organizes, are important to attend.

I went to the Northeast conference last year in Boston and had a great experience overall. Not only were there great speakers such as Martin Keen , founder of Keen shoes and designer at heart, but their were tons of opportunities to talk with students and professionals who are in the same field as YOU. Yes, you. There are more of you and maybe they have something to share. It’s a small world as they say and I bumped into a few local Baltimore IDer’s who I had been brief encounters with in the past, and made a tighter connection with. We also had the opportunity to stay at one the Mass- Art students houses to cut down on costs, which was a great experience in itself. How better to get to know a group of students than crashing on their couch and eating the last of their cereal?

So with all that said, lastly there is also the the act of team building which always happens when you are cooped up in a van for five hours with a bunch of people in which you did not know their taste in music before hand. I found out that some of my team were really bad drivers actually and shouldn’t be on the road. It was a fun road trip and unforgettable team building experience.

Maybe next year I will have the opportunity to try travel again with the team, see some great design studios, and maybe see some great speakers.