Playing with adults.

I went out last night with my friends Casey and Jason… Now that I’m a student, I like to say that I’m “playing with adults” when I’m doing anything non-MBA related. While my classmates are also adults, our conversations are centered on our classes, professors, Spring Break, TGs and Pub Club, and foosball tournaments. We really are students. I like to get out of that space whenever I can for a little perspective.

Our original plan last night was to get food at Txori and then attend Ignite Seattle. Txori worked out and was delicious. Their La Abeja (rum, honey, lemon, thyme) drink is a new favorite. When we made it to the Kat Theatre for Ignite, there was a line out the door and around the corner. None of us wanted to wait. So we changed our plans and went to an art show instead.

I feel especially adult saying that I went to an art show! They are not normally something I seek out, but this show was featuring some artists I know through Scott’s work. Augie Pagan was one of them and had my favorite piece of the show. The tribal theme reminded me of a lot of the imagery we saw in Peru. Afterward the whole group headed to the Elysian for more adult conversation, and then I crashed at about 10:30pm due to all of the excitement!

Social media marketing is a wicked problem! (PR+MKTG Camp Seattle)

I attended the PR+MKTG Camp on social media yesterday to augment some research I’m doing in the MBA program. (And because I love social media!) I was hoping the format of the conference – a series of conversations about very open topics with a wide ranging audience – would help me see what issues with social media are most top of mind to PR professionals and marketers. No such luck.

One of the panelists at the conference, Tac Anderson, called social media marketing a “wicked problem”. Go ahead and click on the link… I had to look it up too. A “wicked problem” is essentially an issue that keeps growing as you learn more about it. This is exactly what I have found in my research of social media marketing. Opening the door to the topic is letting in a fire hose of information about opinions.

The channel is still very undefined, and there are a lot of voices participating, trying to come up with a common language and approach. Another attendee likened the current state of social media marketing to the negotiation phase of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (I also had to look that up…) “This phase is characterized by several incompatible and incomplete theories.” Yes, exactly.

I really appreciate the topic of how to integrate social media into a holistic marketing strategy. I’m trying to put a stake in the sand on some of these issues, including:

1. Where should the social media function lie in an organization – is it marketing, PR, customer service, or something else?
2. How exactly is social media used in terms of messaging and customer engagement?
3. How is the success of social media marketing campaigns determined? What are the measurements and tool for tracking progress?
4. Are there common practices that can be applied to all businesses? Or, as mentioned today, do businesses just need to try social media to see what works for them?

Let me just say that none of these questions were answered definitively today, but the conversation was good. (Even if my brain still hurts.)

Good riddance Winter Quarter 2010!! Can I be a 2nd year MBA yet?

I’m in the final stretch of Winter Quarter! Two more weeks to go. I actually have my first final on Thursday for my accounting class. My other two finals are next Thursday and Friday… Technically I’m taking those two early because I’m leaving for a study tour on Saturday. We’re seriously down to the wire here!

I’m just going to put it out there that Winter Quarter pretty much kicked my butt. I let my guard down after surviving Fall Quarter, and wasn’t expecting the different kind of stress that comes with internship searching, classes that don’t have hard and fast deadlines, and case competitions. Good riddance Winter Quarter 2010!

On a very happy note, I’m going to be the President of the Marketing Club next year! I have a really great team of VPs who are stoked about getting the club more involved in external marketing organizations, putting on creative events both on and off campus, and becoming a resource hub for our members. It’s going to be fun. Are we there yet?

I met Warren Buffett.

I’m feeling really humbled after meeting Warren Buffett and hearing him speak for 2.5  hours on Friday. The man is amazing!

The Foster crew got in to Omaha last night, and went to dinner and drinks together. We were up early for breakfast, all looking sharp in our suits. (I looked especially stunning as I had to buy an emergency new suit the day before we left town thanks to a botched tailoring job.) At 9:30am a rock star style bus came for us at the hotel and whisked us off to Mr. Buffett’s office building.

The assembly was held in the Cloud Room at the top of the building. Imagine walking into this room of suited up MBAs!

Each school got to ask a few questions, which ranged from his opinion of recent Berkshire news (e.g. Kraft’s purchase of Cadburry and Berkshire losing its AAA S&P rating), thoughts on the economy, advice on how to start investing with $10,000, how to instill ethics into a company, and his opinion on philanthropy. My favorite comments of his were about his heroes (his father, his wife, Bill Graham, Charlie Munger and a handful of others.) and raising children (how you only get one shot at doing it right). He was just as straightforward and unassuming as both books I’ve read about him portray him to be. He literally could have been my grandfather. Wouldn’t that have been nice! He held a can of Coke in his hand for most of the 2.5 hours, and even though the man is 72, I think he could have spoken to us all day. There were never any signs of wear.

I recorded some of his speech using my iPhone. I’ll try to trim it down into a few sound bites to share.

After the Q&A we were invited to have lunch with him at one of his favorite restaurants called Piccolos. Everyone got a kick out of this place… It was very Midwest, down to the iceberg lettuce (only) salad and rootbeer floats for desert. The main course was Omaha steak. It was definitely a cultural experience! And again, humbling and reminiscent of some deep Americana.

After lunch he took a receiving line of people wanting to take individual and group photos with him. I had brought my big camera, so I stood about 8 feet away from him and snapped away. He had some fun with a few of us, posing with students (ladies in particular) stealing his wallet, or him proposing.

All in all awesome. We left quickly to catch our flight, only to have it be delayed and then cancelled! So, we spent an extra night in Omaha.

Progressive Wine Party

My fellow MBA ladies who live on Capitol Hill co-hosted a party last night for the other ladies in our class. We started the evening with fondue and wine at Helen’s, then cheese and wine at Lacey’s and finally chocolate and wine at my place. I’ve never purchased so much chocolate in one shot in my life.

The party was great. This was the crowd that made it to all three places!

“The most important decisions you make are not what you do… But what you decide not to do.”

“The most important decisions you make are not what you do… But what you decide not to do.” Jim Fowler, CEO and Co-Founder, Jigsaw

I love the advice in this Fast Company 30-Second MBA video. What he said is definitely ringing true to me right now as I’m wrapping up my first quarter, and making a LOT of plans for involvement next quarter!

Our class load is “lighter” Winter quarter, so I’m planning on un-freeing up my free time by doing some volunteering and side projects. And potentially taking an extra class on digital media marketing. There’s a fine line between being involved and being over-committed though, so I’m treading softly. Stay tuned for details. I’m hoping to have more time next next quarter to dish on here as well.

Have business cards. Will network.

Classes were cancelled for Veteran’s Day and the rest of the week due to some large conferences and business tours in other states. I am one of the few people that elected not to go anywhere, and therefore, had three days off of school, and a five day weekend.

Not knowing what to do with myself for that amount of free time, I set up some informational interviews with contacts around Seattle. It was my own networking tour of sorts… Wednesday and Thursday a classmate and I visited some larger companies, and on Friday I met with a start-up marketing firm.

It definitely felt good to focus on my career and internship search, both of which have taken a back seat to my coursework.

p.s. We got our official UW business cards on Wednesday afternoon just in time to start networking away! Exciting.