BlackFin360 – Innovation To Reality
Tom Edwards is a professional futurist and keynote marketing technology speaker covering data, digital, artificial intelligence, marketing technology and emerging media trends
I am incredibly grateful to be recognized as the 2022 Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association as their Marketer of the Year. I am always grateful to my wife and family for their continual support as well as my network whose support is always appreciated.
Thanks to the DFWIMA Board, members, and everyone associated with the excellence in marketing awards program. Thanks again.
I recently had the opportunity to virtually meet with Bryon Morrison, the CEO, and Co-founder of Proxxy, to discuss the topic of “Are you driving the narrative about your online reputation?”.
Bryon moderates our discussion. We dive into the topics of personal branding, the story behind BlackFin360, tips for finding time to focus on content creation, the value of building an online reputation, the difference between personal reputation vs. business reputation, and recommendations for all executive levels in the following video.
I have enjoyed working with Cal Entertainment founder Chris Lee for years as I am an exclusive speaker for Cal Entertainment. We sit down for a fun discussion that covers a lot of ground. We talk about trends across data, AI, gaming, spatial computing, new form factors beyond mobile, as well as some fun with Funko Pops.
1:48 – Introduction and opening statements tied to trends.
3:05 – Creating experiences that go beyond desktop and mobile.
4:10 – Tour of Matrix-inspired office.
4:42 – Awards & BlackFin360.
7:12 – Voice ecosystem and thoughts on Google, Amazon, and Apple.
8:24 – Discuss virtual proxies & how assistants will evolve.
12:00 – How should business leaders think about integrating tech and trends into their existing business with a focus on value creation.
12:50 – The new 4 Ps to consider for marketers.
14:50 – What about small business owners? What do they need to look at?
18:36 – How to apply AI & Machine learning to understand affinities and behaviors.
19:44 – Thoughts on ownership of data.
20:17 – The role of AI & it’s not the enemy via the Pixar Theory
24:15 – Digital Simulation.
25:50 – What about search beyond desktop & mobile? The role of the Google knowledge graph.
27:06 – Moving beyond mobile devices & the rise of smart glasses.
28:14 – Smart contacts are the future.
30:10 – The rise of gaming & how to align with business.
31:55 – What brands should be in gaming?
35:00 – Creating authentic connections.
37:48 – Digital twins & the proxy twin hypothesis.
41:08 – Forecasting trends.
42:18 – Data, experiences, ethics.
45:20 – Blockchain & Industries like Healthcare, Financial Services.
46:55 – Digital rights management
47:30 – Closing thoughts
If you are interested in having Tom speak at your next event, please book with Chris Lee via chris@calentertainment.com or call 877-300-1888 ext. 101.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360 via Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, & Twitch.
Wow! It felt good to be back on stage with a socially distant audience. Yes, I wore a mask on stage per the organizer’s policy, but it was great to be in person! This was a bespoke talk designed to motivate future business & technology, men & women.
The talk covered how a passion for gaming, marketing, and technology, has shaped my career journey. This discussion was more personal and reflective than futurist, but I wanted to provide insights into how various passions have shaped my perspective and translated to driving business performance.
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Recently, I was talking to an industry associate and he referenced this topic and video. I have been speaking professionally for years now and this is the process I go through in advance of taking the stage and I thought it was worth resharing.
By focusing your time and effort on knowing your audience, framing and refining your story and following these 7 tips, you will be well prepared to take the stage and deliver a great presentation.
Tom Edwards, Tech Titan Technology Advocate Technology Winner,  Ad Age Marketing Technology Trailblazer and TEDx speaker shares 7 tips about preparing for TEDx or any major public speaking event.
I recently had the opportunity to partner with Nokia to cover Mobile World Congress 2019. From highlighting key elements of their brand messaging around 5G, amplifying content from analyst meetings to on-camera work on the show floor. I really enjoyed partnering with Nokia.
Today, my full #MWC19 recap was posted on Futurithmic.com the recap views trends from MWC through the Innovation to Reality™ lens of Empower, Exponential, and Enhanced. The article covers all facets of experience and 5G. From Devices, AI, Gaming, Live Entertainment, and so much more. You can read the full article here.
I was also engaged as a technology influencer to create cross channel social content, highlight Nokia & their 5G efforts during a recent keynote, as well as on-camera work during #MWC19. When it’s all said and done the content should drive north of 100,000 highly targeted views that will have boosted Nokia’s message during a very crowded MWC19.
Thanks again to Marianne and the entire @Nokia team.
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Last night my wife and I attended the 2019 Tech Titans Awards Gala. I was a finalist for the Technology Advocate award. This award recognizes a technology advocate/champion for their outstanding leadership in assisting, advancing or accelerating the performance of technology companies and/or the technology community.
It was a really fun night. The Tech Titans awards are like the Oscars for the Dallas technology community. After settling into a delicious dinner and some fun commentary from the Gala committee it was time for the awards presentations to start.
When my category was up for the next presentation the head of North American Customer Marketing & Communications for Nokia, Marianne Strobel did a great job setting up the category and announcing the winner…
After the initial shock of the win, it was time for photos, a great conversation with Marianne of Nokia about their 5G work and more innovations on the way, networking with sponsors and attendees and fun times with my wife Cherlyn from chomping M&M’s pre-event to celebrating post-event Texas-style with Whataburger.
Thank you to the Tech Titans organization, sponsors, judges, thank you to Marianne Strobel for the warm welcome from Nokia, the Dallas Business Journal for their coverage and support of the event and finally to the other deserving finalists.
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Recently, my wife had a fun idea to get a custom Funko Pop to take with me on my travels and use that to chronicle events, speaking engagements, and trade shows. These adventures will be logged here on the blog via the #Tompop page as well as Instagram be sure to follow/subscribe to see all the fun.
I recently had the privilege to deliver the Evolution of Experience keynote at the 2018 Evanta CMO Summit in Dallas, Texas.
For this event, I tailored the Evolution of Experience, E^3 talk tied to  Empower, Exponential and Enhanced to focus on the camera as a platform, artificial intelligence, multi-modal, the New 4 P’s of AI marketing and new themes introduced by the Apple WWDC 2018 that happened earlier in the day.
Empower is looking at how accessibility to mobile technology has led to consumers being empowered to create, amplify and influence across generations. Specifically looking at the behaviors of Gen Z and the evolving role of the camera.
Exponential is all about acceleration through intelligent systems. This looks at the role of data for AI as well as the rise of virtual assistants and the ability to predict consumer needs ultimately becoming a proxy for the individual that will split decision journeys between consumers and algorithms.
Enhanced is all about the bridging of physical and digital reality and how immersive computing, augmented reality, computer vision and the intelligent camera will forever redefine our version of reality.
The talk ends with an explanation of how we will evolve from a mobile-centric world to the new normal of voice, vision and touch experiences powered by artificial intelligence. This includes a date when project it will all converge as well as 4 new P’s of marketing.
It was an awesome crowd of CMO’s and IÂ really enjoyed the hour long session + Q&A.
If you are interested in having Tom speak at your event please contact here.
Tom Edwards Speaker Bio
Follow Tom @BlackFin360
This post is number 500 for the BlackFin360.com/blog. Starting this blog was one of the best decisions I have made professionally. It provided me with a platform to share original thoughts, cover industry trends and serve as a repository for speaking and media coverage.
It has evolved significantly from the early beginnings in 2007. The blog was originally under the domain TheBlackFin.com. Now that domain is simply a redirect to BlackFin360.com. “BlackFin” was a nickname given to me by a co-worker at the time and the blog name came directly from my Xbox Gamertag “TheBlackFin“.
Here is a screenshot of the original look for the blog from 2007-2009. Why green for a blog named the “black” fin is something I still wonder about to this day.
Over the years the look and feel of the blog has changed but the core content focus on marketing, emerging technology, and gaming has remained to this day.
I officially moved the blog from theblackfin.com to blackfin360.com in 2009. By 2011 at least there were black/techie elements in the look and feel.
Now in 2018, the blog continues to serve as the primary entry point for speaking engagements, advisor opportunities, university lecturing, media coverage and over the past year it has shifted to more of a Vlog.
The look of the site will continue to evolve in 2018 and beyond.
Whether this is your first time here or you have been a subscriber since the beginning, I sincerely want to thank anyone who has stopped by and spent time with my content. I am incredibly grateful for this platform and I would highly recommend to anyone to find their industry voice and build their personal brand in addition to their professional.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
This is the second part of my interview session with the Words of Mass Disruption podcast with Eric Hanes.
During this discussion, we dive into finding the right balance between personal and professional branding , 4 steps to a better digital you and the importance of creating and sharing content, and adding value to your professional networks.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
1. How important it is to develop and share your own perspective and point of view.
2. Be open with your network connections.
3. Find the right balance of Personal Brand (the Digital You) and your Professional Brand (the hand that feeds you).
4. Diversify your network.
Here was part one of the podcast discussing all facets of Artificial Intelligence.
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Follow Eric Hanes @WordsDisruption
I recently had the privilege to be interviewed by the SMU Temerlin Advertising Institute team for the TAI blog. This is a repost of the interview discussing various topics tied to teaching, career advice, and how the advertising industry has shifted over the years.
Professor Tom Edwards is teaching capstone course ADV 4399 Advertising Campaigns for the Temerlin Advertising Institute this semester. Professor Edwards is the chief digital officer at Agency, Epsilon, where he oversees brand planning, research, data design, digital strategy, digital experience, social/CRM/email, innovation and media. He regularly publishes content and speaks on the future of marketing.
Professor Edwards was an adjunct faculty member of the virtual campus for Wayland Baptist University from 2003-2015. He also instructed Principles of Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Global Marketing and Consumer Behavior. He has also guest lectured at University of Texas at Arlington, and prior to joining the TAI team he was a member of the SMU Digital Accelerator certification program faculty.
What made you want to become a professor?
I have spent the past 17 years in the marketing technology space. The rate of change associated with technology, its impact on consumer behavior and ultimately how we connect with consumers continues to outpace traditional academia’s ability to keep pace. I wanted to contribute and give back to the next generation of advertising professionals by bridging the gap theory and the practical application.
What is your background in the subject you teach?
I currently instruct the Advertising Campaigns course. Over my professional career, I have worked on campaigns for hundreds of fortune 1000 brands (Citi, Starbucks, AT&T, GameStop, Activision, Hasbro, Frito-Lay to name a few) both domestic and international. My expertise is rooted in a deep understanding of technology, consumer behavior, data and intelligent systems such as artificial intelligence and the application of machine learning.
What has been your favorite memory from teaching for TAI so far?
The passion and creativity exhibited by the students and the staff and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and get to work, even when it’s in areas they may not be in their core area of focus.
What is your favorite part about being a professor?
I have instructed thousands of students over the past 15 years across a few universities and my favorite part is the open dialogue with the students. Getting to hear their perspectives and thoughts and to see their work evolve over the course of the semester is incredibly gratifying.
What made you want to go into advertising? How did you get where you are in your career?
I started my advertising career during the dot com days of the late 90’s. I had a passion for technology and all things digital. As graphical user interfaces and connectivity began to spread, so did the need to create engaging digital experiences.
The alignment of marketing and technology have been a key foundation for the advancement of my career. I have worked in interactive agencies, start-ups, enterprise software companies and large agency holding companies. Having the ability to decipher complex problems into simple solutions has been a key to career advancement. The other critical component to career growth has been my blog. 10 years and over 400 posts later, having a visible point of view and a repository for thought, industry commentary and speaking has been a valuable asset in my career development.
How have you seen the advertising industry change since you started?
 The biggest change over my career is the shift towards the empowered consumer. Prior to 2007 advertising had remained somewhat stable with broadcast at the center of the experience. In 2007 we saw that begin to shift with the introduction of the first iPhone. This sparked the shift towards mobility in advertising that is still prevalent.
Then we saw how technology enhances consumer empowerment through the creation of user-created content, accessibility and amplification via social channels, the personification of brands and celebrity being redefined from Hollywood to influencers.
Moving forward we are now seeing the shift from content marketing to contextual and the rise of multimodal interfaces with the focus shifting from mobile and desktop to voice, vision, and touch.
Moving forward, we will see the shift from consumer-centric advertising to system based marketing as algorithms and virtual assistants will take on more responsibility for consumers and ultimately our definition of reality will evolve when we see the convergence of location data, computer vision, augmented reality and artificial intelligence where any space, physical or digital becomes a new canvas to connect with consumers.
What advice do you have for students who want to have a career in advertising?
I have 3 tips for students just starting their career:
1) Network – Begin building a professional network before you start your professional career. Attend industry events and network in-person, focus on your LinkedIn profile and engaging with content. Your professional network is one of your most valuable resources. It should require more nurturing and attention than personal social channels.
2) Sponsor & Mentor – It is key to seek a mentor, someone who works in the industry you are about to enter to help navigate key pitfalls and to “learn the ropes” from a seasoned individual. It is incredibly important to be open to feedback. It is also important to identify a sponsor within your organization. Someone who is either directly or indirectly in your chain of command. Someone who can provide positive internal earned media and groom you for advancement. You cannot always depend on an immediate supervisor to serve this role. Seek out highly respected and influential individuals within the organization, you will know who they are.
3) Original Thought – I cannot reiterate how important publishing content can be for a new grad. Having thoughts on industry commentary or showcasing your ability to connect trends that may not seem to link on the surface is an art that can lead to you being selected over someone else.
How do you incorporate aspects from your work into your teaching?
 I look to bring best in class examples and techniques, be it research, the latest on aligning psychographics and affinity to personas or the role of conversational experiences into digital strategies. The key is aligning experience and tools with the core areas of focus of the lesson or assignment.
Follow Professor Edwards on Twitter @BlackFin360 to stay up to date on the latest areas of study.
I was recently asked by the Forbes team to provide insight into my personal approach to networking hacks. To put it simply, what do I do to maintain connections.
The article is Six Little-Known Networking Hacks
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I received a nice surprise as there was a special package waiting for me in my office. It was an early release version of the Xbox One X Project Scorpio edition.
The Xbox One X officially launches on the 7th of November. I captured the full unboxing, setup, and discuss what’s included and the features of the console including a look at the system after start-up.
A special thank you to Brent at Xbox and Chris from TripleClix for the great surprise.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
April 22nd, 2007 marks the date of the first blog post under what was then TheBlackFin.com. Now 10 years and 456 posts later the blog has morphed into what it is today.
Here is a shot from the old TheBlackFin blog.
Starting and maintaining a blog has proven to be one of the most important decisions and invaluable assets in my career development and progression over the past decade.
By the simple act of formulating perspectives on various industry topics, it served as a foundational knowledge base to capture trends and evaluate shifts tied to consumer behavior.
Over time it served as a timeline to measure and gauge key technology inflection points and the impact of disruptive and emerging technologies.
Knowing that I had to create content changed my curation behaviors tied to industry news and new technology. My focus shifted from simply consuming content to analyzing topics and looking for connections as the foundation for digital strategy.
I joined Twitter the same month I started my blog in 2007.
Now, the role of my blog has shifted to sharing thought leadership with agency clients, a reflection of industry media commentary, and speaking engagements. But regardless of how much the focus evolves over the next ten years at it’s core the blog will still be about aligning experience + perspective + prediction.
My strategic approach developed through blogging was a key component to recently being named by Advertising Age as a Marketing Technology Trailblazer.
Beyond blogging, here is additional advice for those just starting their career.
Have a POV – Regardless of platform have a spot to capture your thoughts and focus on 2-3 territories in your industry of interest and begin commenting and creating your voice and perspective.
Build a Network – Your most valuable professional asset is your network. Be diligent in meeting movers and shakers in your industry and seek out those who are crafting a narrative in their industry and emulate their approach until you refine your own.
Mentor & Sponsor – Having an internal advocate is incredibly important when it comes to career advancement. It’s not enough to keep your head down and work hard. You need to work hard and have an internal sponsor who will champion your advancement.
You will also need a mentor, preferably someone who is not in your current organization but knows your industry to provide a bigger picture perspective and guide you through the challenges that will inevitably be a part of career advancement. I have been incredibly lucky and thankful to those who have sponsored and mentored me over the years.
Thank you to the thousands of visitors over the past 10 years. I write to openly share thoughts about the industry and to unravel the connection between emerging technology and it’s impact on human behavior.
Here’s to the next 10 years!
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Today Advertising Age announced their 2017 list of top 25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers and I am honored to be included.
Photo by Bradley Taylor, Caprock StudioÂ
A big thank you to the Epsilon corporate communications team, DGC and Advertising Age judges. I am truly humbled by the inclusion with such a great list of industry innovators.
I am incredibly grateful to my data design strategy and innovation teams. From research, planning, data design, digital strategy, digital experience delivery, social and innovation a huge thank you for all that you do.
Finally, a very special thank you to my amazing wife Cherlyn for supporting all the crazy hours and travel for the past 17 years.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
TA Expert Interview Series featuring Tom Edwards of The Marketing Arm
Tom Edwards, the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation here at The Marketing Arm, was recently invited to be a guest on the TechnologyAdvice Expert Interview Series to share his insight on the digital marketing landscape. The series, which is hosted by TechnologyAdvice’s Clark Buckner, explores a variety of business and technology verticals through conversations with industry leaders.
Edwards joined Buckner to discuss modern day digital, social, and mobile innovations, the importance of bridging technology and marketing, and the four core elements that bring a campaign to life.
Below are a few of the highlights from our conversation:
TA: Tell us about what life is like at TMA and some of the projects you work on everyday.
Tom: At The Marketing Arm, we’re really a consumer engagement agency, so that touches a wide range of project types. Everything from digital, to promotional, to talent, to production, to just a number of different types of projects that come across my desk on any given day.
I’m a part of the digital engagement division and we service about 16 core clients, everything from Exxonmobil, to GameStop, to name just a few organizations. So over the last 15 years, my role within the industry has really shifted from starting more on the technology side, and really kind of incorporated being that bridge between technology and marketing.
As digital continues to progress, we’ve seen it all: the end of the dotcom boom, massive portals, the rise of consumer social. All of these different types of trends we’ve seen definitely had a hand in touching and guiding different project types across multiple platforms and different routes of sale. It’s been a fun, interesting ride and it continues to get better.
TA: What suggestions do you have for a team trying to compare and find the right marketing automation vendors? What should they be looking for?
Tom: Portability. So if I’m able to either leverage a tool that can aggregate content, redistribute, visualize things that can basically whether it’s a seamless flow, whether that’s your API through an SDK or whatever it may be, like that’s what I’m ultimately looking for now.
I’m looking for how can this one piece fit into the larger strategy that I’m trying to deploy and continue to add value without adding additional barriers or additional layers, that’s really the key piece. Because we’re touching so many different channels, everything from top line awareness via digital all the way down to shopper and point of sale.
So making sure that we can have programs that can work in scale. Scale is another key piece for us too and the data considerations depending upon local versus global so there are a lot of different pieces that we look at when we’re evaluating but for me, it’s how can whatever tool that you’re leveraging best provide value for everything as a whole versus just one specific piece or one specific function.
To learn more about The Marketing Arm, visit www.themarketingarm.com. Connect with Tom on Twitter @BlackFin360 and follow his blog at BlackFin360.com/blog. Be sure also follow @TheMarketingArm.
Listen to the entire show above in order to hear our full conversation, or download the show to listen later. You can subscribe to the TA Expert Interview Series via Soundcloud, in order to get alerts about new episodes.
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This podcast was created and published by TechnologyAdvice. Interview conducted by Clark Buckner.
This past weekend I took my oldest & youngest boys to the University of Oklahoma Spring game. As we were entering the stadium a reporter from The Oklahoman stopped us and asked a few questions about our beloved Sooners.
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Chief Marketer recently named my agency, The Marketing Arm, promo agency of the year for 2012. In this month’s issue of Chief Marketers Promo Magazine, they break down the top 100 promo agencies in the US as well as a two page article about TMA and why we were chosen as this years recipient. The article also includes a key reference to our upcoming Flockstar beta launch. Here is a link to the full article.
Flockstar is the first of our new crowdsourcing service offerings that I have worked intensely on over the past 6 months. More news to come as we get closer to the public launch but if you are a creative, strategist, planner, etc… then there is still time to join the private beta at http://www.flockstar.co
Hmm.. the gentlemen to the far right looks oddly familiar…
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I don’t know about you but I am driven by achievements. Yes I hear the laughter now and see the nodding of heads. I like to set an achievable goal and reach the objective. Maybe it is my military past or growing up in a military household but I like to have a clear objective that I can then pursue.  Be it professional or personal I really enjoy a good challenge! This is what drives me professionally as it is a constant push to achieve x amount of revenue and margin.
At the beginning of this year I set a few arbitrary personal goals… outside of being the best father and husband that I can be:
1) 100 miles with Nike+ – Since I am a dad first, meaning most of my activities are home centric, running is one of the ways I workout. Setting a goal definitely adds to my motivation.
I am happy to share that I have now officially achieved these goals! I know it is arbitrary, what value does Gamerscore have? Outside of the ~10 cents per point that I have spent in $$$ not much other than to my friends who play as well. Airline miles??? Yes now I have the ability to sit on the plane a little bit longer. The only one that has any value is the running goal at least from an overall health perspective. But from my perspective these were primary personal objectives that I wanted to complete.
For me I find motivation in having a very clear set of objectives and working hard to achieve the goal. What motivates you? Do you set specific goals and work towards them? Do you wait for things to come to you? I am really interested in understanding how you find motivation to do what you do.
I wanted to take a moment and thank my wife for the best 9 years of my life so far.
We were married in October of 1999 on this day and I consider myself the luckiest man in the world to have found a woman I love so deeply. Now after 9 years and 3 kiddos I still feel the same as I did 9 years ago.
Thank you Cherlyn for all that you do!
Happy Anniversary
Thanks again to our friends at the Microsoft Automotive team. I had the privilege to join them for this past weekends Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.
I have never attended an IRL, Le Mans Series or an SCCA SPEED World event so I got to experience all three at one location.
And I have to say it was a great event! Being a guest of Microsoft meant that I got to experience the same amenities as they do. This included their trackside chalet to watch the races as well as paddock access to view the cars, drivers and crews up close and personal.
It was great to see the likes of Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, and Danica Patrick hit the track… or actually road since this is a road course vs. the standard oval.
The event was the brainchild of Roger Penske with all net proceeds from the event going to the funding of the preservation of Belle Isle.
It was a great event and I want to thank our friends at the Microsoft Automotive team for being excellent hosts!
Below is me with one of the race cars…. Does it come in Black????
More pictures from the event are available in the Photo Gallery under Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.
Last week I traveled to Vancouver on business and as usual there is an interesting story from the trip.
We initially flew into Vancouver to meet with Electronic Arts and various clients but we had also scheduled a meeting in Seattle (Roughly 2 hours away) so we jumped into the rental and drove towards the border.
We arrive at the border crossing and did not realize that we were in the “Nexis” lane which is equivalent to a FastPass into the US. So the line was roughly 40 minutes long and we did not realize we were in the wrong lane. We found out soon enough.
Once we realized our mistake it was too late. We tried to move over to the middle lane and it took a good 5-10 minutes to pull over. Once we made it into the proper lane we heard obscenities directed at us that would make a sailor blush. This coming from the most unassuming people you could imagine. Think of grandmothers and grandfathers in their late 70’s early 80’s.
So we have our meeting with Sony and head back to the border that same day. It is about 10:30 PM at night and there were no lines going back into Canada.
The guard at the initial post reviews our documents… smiles and asks us to pull over into one of the stalls and exit the vehicle, enter the building and get in line “a”.
We pull in just to see the contents of the car next to us completely removed from the vehicle. So this already looks like it is going to be a lot of fun.
Once inside we are interviewed separately… What are you doing here, where are you going, what states have you lived in since you were 18.
Once they interviewed both of us we were asked to remain seated while they ran full background checks on us.
In the meantime an individual was in our same waiting area and he was called up. Once he was at the counter he was told that he can never enter Canada and he was not welcome based on information that came up during his background check.
Needless to say I was not worried as I have no record to speak of but still being in that position and the demeanor of the border patrol it made me uneasy for a moment.
After a few more minutes we were handed our passports and sent on our way.
The morale of the story is to just fly to Canada and stay in the same country for the duration of the trip.
I knew it was a matter of time until this day would come. I just did not think it would come this soon.
I consider myself a decent gamer, 45,000+ gamerscore, but on this day my 6 year old son absolutely obliterated me on Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii.
It is not just today either. The domination started a few days ago and the competition has been building.
He has mastered the little yellow powerhouse known as Pikachu. Who would have known that a 1’4″, 13 pound furry fantasy animal would cause me such grief.
You may or may not know about Pikachu. It is a character from the insanely popular Pokemon series. Yes they are still around and we buy the cards regularly. They are for my son, really.
His record is now 12-2 against me with the little yellow fuzz ball. I am frustrated but very proud at the same time.
I will hear pika-pika-pikachu in my sleep. The baton has officially been passed.
Today was our last day in Dallas before our vacation to Destin, Florida. You know, a day to get everything packed and ready for the fun in the sun to come. But today was one of those days that you could make a really funny movie out of or just break down in angst and defeat.
When you have kids, you know there will be great moments, your sons first soccer goal, your daughters first dance recital, etc… There are also those days that seem to never end. This was one of those days.
It all started a few days ago when my daughter was sick, then magically on Wednesday of this week I get sick, 104 degree fever, the works. So I am still not 100% today… more on that later.
The kids were playing in the backyard when my oldest son Gavin comes screaming into the house like a banshee. We asked him what happened and we immediately notice a large number of bites glowing red on his arms and legs. I look out at his play fort and see yellow jackets flying in formation as if celebrating their kill. Let’s just say they will no longer be patrolling this airway.
So we immediately go with the ice/benadryl combo and pray that he is not allergic. After about 30 minutes everything is looking good until he says… “I am having trouble breathing”. So we hop in my car and off to the ER we go. This is roughly 1:00 PM by now. We arrive at the ER and an hour and a half later we get the all clear. So he is good to go. So we head out for some celebratory ice cream and medicine pickup.
Back on the home front there is still packing to do but I am still not feeling 100%, in fact I am starting to feel worse. So around 5:30 I do a web check in thinking it will save me time. I don’t get the call that they have a room for me until 9:00 PM. So after another hour and a half I am the one that ends up with a shot today, not the one who got stung 8 times. Go figure.
So now it is closer to 10:45 PM and I finally make it home to continue packing the car. I go to get something out of the van and the auto sliding door won’t open. Then I open the front door and the lights flicker then go out. The battery is dead. Someone left the keys in the ignition when he took the van earlier. So now I not only get to pack the car, but jump the car as well.
So this is around 11:45 PM. I am in the garage setting up the jumper cables, the van no problem. Then I get to my car and I realize that I have not jumped off of my car before. It is a C-230 and needless to say I was not quite sure how I was going to pull it off after popping the hood. I had to remove the battery cover, filter, etc… to get to the area I needed to do the jump. So car is now jumped and it is past midnight.
We are wrapping the final items for the trip and I am shutting down around 1:30 AM. When my son comes downstairs covered in vomit and commences to use our facilities. Then I get the welcome surprise in his bed that he left. And oh what a surprise it was. It reminds me of Stand By Me when everyone has a blueberry pie explosion… Yeah needless to say I got the lucky task of changing out the sheets. How did Cherlyn get out of that one? Well she has been taking care of sick people for the last week.
While I was changing the sheets and trying my hardest to get rid of the smell I go to open his window and set off the house alarm and wake up our light sleeping infant son. Now 4 out of the 5 family members are awake and my princess is just sleeping right through it all. Lucky girl.
So it is 2:32 in the morning, their is still vomit in the air and the looming 5:45 wake up call to catch our flight isn’t getting further away. This is a great start to our vacation, did I mention that rain is forecasted for the next 7 days there as well stopping on the day we are to leave :).
Like I said, this is either a day that you can just laugh about or makes you just want to roll over. What time does Starbucks open again???
If you would have asked me 10 years about how many kids I would have or what kind of dad I would be I would have looked at you like you were from another planet. Fast forward 10 years and 3 kids later and I would not want to be anything else than my kids dad.
Gavin (5), Audrey (3), Grant (6 months) and my beautiful wife Cherlyn are the reason I get up every morning. Well that and my daughter likes to wake me up at 5:30 in the morning. Outside of trying to be a good role model and teaching them the ways of the world I occasionally have to perform a “Dad” duty.
Last night was one of those times. Being a medic in my time in the Army you would think that I would not have any issues with anything to do with a health related issue. I have given IV’s, numerous injections, etc… so last night my son Gavin had a loose tooth.
Being the trooper that he was he wanted me to pull it. No problem right? Step 1 reach in mouth, Step 2 grip tooth, Step 3 forcefully extract, Step 4 bask in the toothless glory of his new smile. Except somewhere between Step 2 and Step 3 I ran into a slight issue.
The tooth was definitely ready to go from the initial look and feel. I asked how he felt, he tensed but was ready. Then the first pull…. no tooth in my hand… a bit of blood and some screaming ensued. Tried again no go. So this right of passage is becoming an episode of Friday the 13th. Now as a dad there is nothing worse than seeing one of your children in pain so what do you want to do? Remove the source of pain right?
So now it was about distracting and calming. So I used the “let’s dry your mouth” as an opportunity to pull it while he was calm. A few wipes, a quick snap and the tooth was out. Back to my army reference. The site of blood does not bother me, but something about seeing the blood of one of your own definitely took me back a step or two. That and physically removing a piece of bone from your little ones mouth.
Well here was the finished result… mission accomplished :)
While I was traveling to Detroit for business we had a new phone system installed at the office. This is a very slick system, soft dialing, queues, etc…What I didn’t know was another plan was unfolding around the phone system.
There was a phone box on my desk and a few of my co-workers/culprits (John Balod, Deryl Dorsett) kept asking me about my new “wireless” phone so we made it back to my office and I opened the box to find a new “phone system” alright. The system consists of two Green Giant cans of corn connected by a long string complete with hand drawn instruction manual and a “long distance” add-on…. extra long pieces of string.
This was pretty funny, but it actually works as well! I may keep my new phone system vs. the high-tech system that everyone else is deploying :)
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I was lucky enough to be at Game 6 of the Stars and Sharks Sunday night. The plans just happened to come together on that day and I am really glad that they did.
Rob Howard, Scott Dockendorf, Deryl Dorsett and I were excited to catch some playoff hockey. None of us expected what turned out to be the equivalent of a double header.
The Stars came out aggressively in the first and you could tell that they wanted to close out the series and turn tonight into hand shake night. The Stars were the first to score and the building erupted. Towels were waving, people were screaming and it seemed as if the roof was going to blow off of the AA center.
After the score it seems as if the team went into a mode of protecting the lead vs. being the aggressor. The Sharks started to inch ahead in the shot column (over 100 shots total in one game) and finally one went past Turco to tie the game. Luckily that would be the last shot to get by Marty on the night.
The third…fourth…fifth… and sixth periods turned into a stalemate with both sides playing tenacious D and neither side willing to relent to the other until the Stars finally ended the drought with a Brenden Morrow goal in the middle of the 7th period.
The game in and of itself was amazing. Outside of the game action we had fun between periods from an unlikely source. You could send a text message to the Stars and they would display the messages (good or bad) across the jumbotron. This was one of the best parts of the night as a lot of people had fun with the Sharks among other things…. Comments about eating, grilling, spearing, etc… I even got a message about Scott D on the jumbotron…. Scott D eats Sharks for Breakfast scrolled by with a chuckle from our group. I should have sent in Our CEO can beat up your CEO as Rob had gotten booted from a hockey game earlier in the day for let’s just say defending himself from a high sticking…. :)
Needless to say it was a great game and I think I am still tired from watching 7 periods of hockey but we all got to see what we were waiting for… Hand Shake night. On to the conference finals!!!
Bring on the Red Wings!!!! Go Stars!!!
One of the things that has truly shaped my life and served as a foundation for me to be a truly productive, successful adult was my time in the military. In the early 90’s I entered the US Army Reserve early entry program. I was a junior in High School and started preparations for training after I graduated.
My first taste of active duty was basic training at Fort Knox, KY and I learned what it would take to become a soldier. It was more than the physical… 90% of it was mental toughness and understanding how to play the game. Growing up in a military household allowed me to take to the rigid structure like a fish to water. I was a member of the 2nd platoon Ironmen and we were rough and tough and invincible (at least in our 17 year old minds). Those 8 weeks were physically and mentally demanding but I loved every minute of it.
Next in my career was AIT (Advanaced Individual Training). I had always had an interest in medicine so I leaned that direction when selecting my primary military discipline. I was a 91B which was a combat medic. I trained at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio TX and it was a complete 180 from the 8 weeks of training I had just experienced. The focus was more on the classroom as we learned how to work as a team and serve our fellow soldiers by putting their lives and needs ahead of our own. It is a great lesson in humility and empathy for your fellow soldiers.
As I progressed through my career a few moments stand out… winning the battalion soldier of the year in 1996. Receiving my sergeant stripes at the age of 20 and probably the thing I am the most proud of which are my jump wings.
I had a rare opportunity that is normally not available to a US Army Reserve soldier. As a member of the University of Oklahoma ROTC program as well as a member of the US Army Reserve I was able to secure a spot to attend jump school at Ft. Benning, GA. This was the toughest 3 weeks of training of my life. Upon arrival there were 300 members in our class. By the time we were finished only 125 soldiers completed the course.
From the hours of physical training in saw dust pits to the actual jump training on how to exit the aircraft, land and control your chute it was a physically grueling experience. Nothing compares to the few moments of calm after you exit the aircraft and clear the prop wash of the C-130 and your chute is fully deployed. There are a few seconds as you look out at the sun on the horizon that the world just seems to stand still… then reality or rather gravity comes into play and you land like a sack of potatoes.
I look back fondly on my military experiences. I made great friends and even more importantly I learned what it would take to be successful in all aspects of life.
A blast from the past… that is me in the red beret next to my best Army buddy Adam shortly after I finished Jump School.
Happy Holidays. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas season and a safe new years. With my recent gamerscore goal now complete I have switched my attention to something just as addicting… Running with my Nike Plus enabled iPod.
I really enjoy tracking and trending sets of numbers. Be it sales forecasts, gamerscore or miles completed. I thoroughly enjoy setting and exceeding goals so it was a natural fit to turn my attention to tracking my progress via my iPod.
The Nike Plus system works with the iPod nano. You insert a small receiver in your Nike Plus shoe or you can purchase an adapter to leverage the system with any type of shoe. Then you run. It is that simple. Leave it to Apple to make the process as easy as possible.
The system really allows me to continue to run consistently as I like to watch the graph continue to progress on a daily basis. So now instead of gaming I will be running but one thing is certain. Goals will be set and numbers will be tracked and analyzed on a daily basis.
Well it has been over a month since I picked up my iPhone and I have to say that I am still very happy with it. It has survived a dive into my infant son’s bathtub and after drying out works like a charm. I have been very happy with the performance and the AT&T network.
I have been impressed with the ability to view documents, select which voicemail I want to listen to as well as the safari browser. I can post to my blog via BlogMailr, read my RSS feeds, while listening to my music via the integrated iPod functionality.
As far as the naysayers stating the iPhone is not for business I disagree. I can access my corporate Exchange account, view documents, set global timezones, view maps, manage contacts and view Web content all from one device.
The only downside is around calendar management. You are required to sync via iTunes to update your calendar.
Retailers are also creating iPhone centric sites such as Amazon.com’s newly launched iPhone site. (Thanks to Scott Watermasysk for pointing this one out).
There are a number of great applications already from the iPhone developer community. From skinning apps to games and with an SDK on the way early next year even more applications will become available.
After testing for a month I have to say that I am very happy with my iPhone!!!
I am very happy to announce that Grant “BabyFin III” Edwards arrived on November 26th to the tune of 8 pounds 7 ounces and after a very tiring week both mom and baby are doing well. I am in the Redbull/Starbucks phase where sleep does not exist and I am starting to develop an interesting twitch. He is definitely worth it!
I have taken the plunge and traded in my Samsung Blackjack for an iPhone. For the most part I live on my phone so I had concerns around how the iPhone would support my e-mail addiction. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to connect to our exchange server. Simply input the incoming and outgoing server as well as credentials and you are set up.
Activation was simple as it actually occurs through iTunes so your time in the retail store is minimal. So far I have been very impressed by the sleek design,but even more impressed by the multiple options in terms of functionality (iPod,Safari YouTube, maps, etc…).
For those of you waiting for the nextversion to “work the bugs out” I would recommend going ahead and taking the plunge. I am very glad that I did.
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Being the avid Xbox gamer and achievement points connoisseur that I am it may come as a surprise that we recently acquired a Wii. Granted it is for my son and I will not be giving up my Xbox anytime soon, but the direction Nintendo is going with the product and the market they are serving does warrant attention.
The image of my 5 year old son coming down the stairs dripping from sweat after playing Wii boxing is one I will not forget anytime soon. I definitely approve of activities that require physical interaction over button mashing, at least for my son :). The kids also like the concept of the Mii. A Mii is essentially you represented in various Wii games. My 3 year old daughter laughs hysterically each time we pick up and shake a Mii around the screen.
The fact that you can play Nintendo Gamecube games is also a big plus. Titles like Mario Cart and other kid friendly titles give me as a parent a level of comfort around the titles that I expose my kids to. I would recommend the Wii for anyone who is a casual gamer or has young ones in the household. For your Bioshocks, Halo’s and Gears of War, I would stick with the Xbox as the console of choice.
I was a young guy in 1977 and my very first movie in a theater was Star Wars episode IV. I have been hooked for the past 30 years. Of course I bought into the merchandise and had quite a collection back in the day. I was never a fanatic or superfanboy, but I did enjoy all of the films and I have shared the Star Wars experience with my kiddos. My five year old son in particular is now a big fan. From the Lego Star Wars franchise to action figures to legos, he loves all things Star Wars as I did at his age.
So this past week we hopped in the van and made our way to Ft. Worth to visit the FW Museum of Science and History. For a few months they are housing a special Star Wars exhibit called Star Wars where science meets imagination. In the exhibit are actual props and models from the various films. Everything from the land speeder in episode IV, to an actual destroyer droid, to anakin and obi-wan’s costumes and lightsaber hilts from episode VI, Wookies, and Stormtroopers, X-wing models, and of course Darth Vader! There were also hands-on labs where the kids could build their own robots and a green screen where you can be placed into a photo remaking some of your favorite moments from the films.
If you are a fan of the films and want to share some of the history with your kids or to just take a trip down memory lane for yourself then I highly recommend going to the exhibit. Wow, I cannot believe it has been 30 years since I first saw a Star Wars movie.
It all began when I started receiving random friend requests via Xbox Live. I was suddenly hit with a flood of new requests from people I didn’t know. Then came the news that my gamertag TheBlackFin and blurb were included in the October #75 edition of the Official Xbox Magazine.
There is a section of the magazine called “Live Spaces” it is a page dedicated to highlighting a few of the Xbox Live community members (pg 95). You write in about the achievement you are the most proud of, games you are looking forward to playing and a little bit about yourself.
I am definitely the most proud of the 100% completion achievement (This is a single achievement in the game, not a 100% completion of all achievements) on Lego Star Wars II as it was me and my then 4 year old son Gavin playing co-op together almost every night. We searched every level as we built, smashed and jumped our way through the game. I really liked the fact that we can spend time together and have a lot of fun without worrying about the content of the game.
We arrived in Orlando on Monday to meet with our client teams at Disney and EA’s Tiburon division. The Tiburon group owns the EA Sports titles that we have all come to know and love. NCAA, Madden, Tiger, Nascar… It all happens here. Being in Orlando reminds me of the first time I was here back in 1996. For those of you that don’t know, I am an alumni of the University of Oklahoma. I bleed crimson and cream and I have an insane amount of loyalty to my university and it showed.
While I was a student at OU, I was the mascot for the University of Oklahoma men’s basketball team, Top Daug. I did this from the spring of 1994 to the start of the 1998 season. Yes you are probably wondering why OU would have a dog for a mascot? Don’t you have a big wagon or something? Yes, but the wagon did not play nicely with the wooden floors of Lloyd Noble Arena. Back in the mid 80’s the coach was Billy Tubbs and he proclaimed that OU would be the Top Dog of the then Big 8 conference and thus Top Daug was born. Unfortunately Top Daug was recently retired in order to make way for Boomer and Sooner, they were to become the mascots for the university athletics across the board and Top Daug is no more.
It was a very fun and rewarding job. You have the ability to walk up to virtually anyone and for some reason they are very comfortable with you. Little kids would either love you or run away in sheer terror. The best part of the job was having some impact on the game by getting the crowd into the game. There was a lot of dancing, skits and half court shots, which I did make my share… there is video somewhere. There were costumes and stunts and one instance of being lowered down from the top of the arena to the floor below while losing my shorts when taking off the harness. Luckily I was in full fur.
We did not have the best postseason record while I was the mascot, but I did get to travel to the Big 8 then Big XII tournaments in Kemper Arena in Kansas City and to whatever location we would land at in the NCAA tournament. We went to Memphis to play the Manhatten Jaspers. Yes those mighty Jaspers slayed the Sooners that day and we were out in the first round of the tournament. We played Stanford and let’s just say I had fun with the Stanford tree. You may get the idea…. Dog + tree =…. But in 1996 we were matched up with the Temple Owls and the game site was in Orlando. It was great! We received passes to Disney World and spent time just wandering around the park like big kids. Of course we did lose to Temple the next day but I did hit my half-court shot during half time. Orlando was a great city to visit and now that we work with the Parks & Resorts team at Disney and also my kids have been to Disney World, but it will always remind me of my time with the Sooners.
Team Building. That is what it’s called when a company has a sponsored outing. In order to partake in team building on this day you had to drive to the middle of nowhere, don camouflage from days gone by (ex-military) and pick up high-powered weapons that shoot plastic balls filled with paint at high rates of speed. Then divide the company into two sides, line up on the ends of the playing fields and wait for all hell to break loose.
That is exactly what transpired on Friday with Telligent’s soon to be inaugural paintball adventure. Imagine if you will a group of mild mannered developers, program managers and sales team members. All friends during the day, collaborating on multiple project initiatives, driving towards company goals… but when the masks drop down and the last of the air cartridges are full, they turn into lethal paintballing machines.
The battles had an ebb and flow to them. One side would gain control and then the other would push forward. Towards the end of the day the term “surrender” had no meaning. Many casualties were met on this day as some team members bravely charged into bunkers where automatic weapons lay in wait. There will be posthumous medal ceremonies for those brave souls. There was the occasional friendly-fire incident and many shrieks of pain as the impact and subsequent explosion of paint could be heard by anyone within ear shot.
When it was all said and done: 20 boxes of paint, 1 neck shot, hundreds of whelps and countless chigger bites later the goal of the day had been accomplished. There were many that wore weary smiles as they painfully made their way to their cars. The next day the IM titles read like a list of honor… 15 whelps here, 12 whelps there, paintball recovery day 1, etc…
Battle brings the best and worst out of people. I hope on this day each individual caught a glimpse of themselves and were happy with what they saw.
On this day there was much team building indeed.
As most of you know by now I am an avid console gamer. I was hooked at an early age. First it was the Odyssey² in 1978. I loved that the Odyssey² cartridges looked like 8-tracks with handles… Then it was on to the Nintendo 8-bit explosion of the mid-80’s.
I was amazed by the graphics and as soon as I saw R.O.B. the Robot playing Gyromite I had to have it! Who says marketing doesn’t work. I remember many hours spent on Excitebike, Zelda and Metroid. You had to ensure you had a good supply of Q-tips and rubbing alcohol to make sure you could still fire up your favorite games. And how did we ever live with just two buttons to mash is beyond me.
Next for me came the 16-bit Sega Genesis, with its slick black design and innovative controller layout (3 buttons vs. 2!!!) and titles like Phantasy Star 2 I had to have it. Plus my console came with a fun game that had a blue hedgehog that was lightning fast. On a side note, it amazes me that the same games I enjoyed are now available for my kids to play. My 5 year old son now loves all things Sonic the Hedgehog. He has the Sonic Mega Collection for his PS2 that allows him to play the original port of Sonic. And don’t forget all the retro arcade titles on Xbox Live Arcade…Like father, like son.
I had a bit of a gap between the genesis and my next console. I bypassed a lot of the other options of the day, don’t get me wrong, I still played them with friends, The Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 (Goldeneye is still a classic), Sega Saturn etc… It was not until the Sony Playstation came out that I got back into consoling gaming head first again.
Sony redefined mainstream gaming with its CD only media and a truly amazing controller. The basic design of the controller was so solid it is still in use through 3 versions of the product. The graphics were amazing and I remember friends demolishing their PS1’s as they tried to mod them. The library of games was also really impressive. I think that is one of the ways they gained market share as quickly as they did, that and it was a 32 bit console. (First console to reach the 100 million mark) and all of these factors turned me into a Sony fanboy. To this day the best games I have ever played are the 3 CD behemoth Final Fantasy VII & Xenogears on PS1. I absolutely love those games.
Of course, I picked up a PS2, this sixth-generation 128-bit console was impressive, I remember seeing the first videos of Madden and the realism of the players just blew me away. This is also when I became 100% addicted to the EA NCAA football franchise. I played it in 1999 and a few versions on the PS1, but nothing compared to taking over the University of Oklahoma and leading them to national championship domination year, after year, after year in dynasty mode. I have probably logged over 500+ games of NCAA football across platforms.
By this time I wanted to take my gaming with me, I was traveling a lot and decided to pick up a Gameboy Advanced SP (The PSP was still on the horizon but not yet available. I played everything from Dragonball Z and Megaman to SpyHunter but it was short lived. The PSP was finally released.
All I have to say about the PSP at the time was WOW. The size of the screen, the ability to hold my photos and music all in the same device was just too cool. I remember when it first came out hacking the browser in Wipeout and thought it was the greatest thing that I was online with my PSP. Alas, my PSP was stolen in Seattle and my desire to continue with the PSP went with it.
Which brings me to the here and now. Me being the Sony fanboy that I was means that I did not own an original Xbox. I was a member of the Sony Gamer Advisory Panel, I beta tested upcoming Sony titles and I could not wait for the PS3. With a brilliant move by Microsoft, instead of trying to cram everything into their console, they went to market first with a next-gen console that was just what the market could handle. I held out for a long time as many of my friends picked up the Xbox 360. I would passively sit back and just wait for the PS3 thinking it would be worth it.
At the Telligent office we began playing NHL2K6 on the Xbox 360 and things started to get really competitive. I wanted to get a leg up so I jumped head first into the realm of 360 gaming with very low expectations, I mainly bought the console to play the game and this was filler until the PS3 shipped. My gamerscore was zero, I casually played Halo and other Xbox titles with friends on their consoles so I was a true Noob when it came to the Xbox.
Fast-forward 14,000+ gamer points later and 50+ games played and I still do not own a PS3, nor do I see myself going that direction anytime soon. The biggest selling point to me besides achievement points was the way you can easily collaborate with your friends over Xbox Live. Granted it is not perfect, but I really like being able to see what games my friends are playing and the game-specific leaderboards, how far they have progressed, or if I want to challenge someone or just co-op on the latest game it is easy to do.
I look forward to the eighth-generation consoles like the Xbox 720, Playstation 4, and Wii2Â or whatever the future may bring. With amazing strides being made with the game engines (Look at the upcoming Mass Effect and Unreal Tournament 3 titles) and consoles like the Wii changing the way people interact with games, it is going to be a fun ride.
Today was one of those rare days. It is Telligent’s 3rd Anniversary and it was a day when you have an opportunity to do something that is just plain funny! After a month of planning, today was the “unveiling” of Rob’s clone/Evil Rob/Rob2… In other words a life size cutout of Rob Howard, CEO of Telligent Systems. When the group had gathered and Rob entered the room his reaction was the payoff that we were waiting for. For those of you that don’t know me, I am a bit of a prankster. I like to conduct “social experiments” to see how people respond. With today’s experiment we are testing Rob’s tolerance to literally laugh at himself.
The planning started a month ago. Rob had recently completed a photo shoot for a cross promotional ad with ComponentArt and our Community Server product. So a high-resolution image was floating around just waiting to be a part of a fun prank. When I initially, innocently inquired about said photo I was met with resistance, so an alternate path had to be taken. Once the photo was in hand it was time to find the perfect printer, and that came in the form of Advanced Graphics. AG specializes in life size cut outs and I highly recommend them. Then the waiting game for the item to arrive. So today the package arrived. We quickly unpacked and reviewed the item. The next thing you know an e-mail is sent out to meet in the ping pong conference room and the team showed up quickly. A camera was ready to capture the reaction and Rob did not disappoint. Once plenty of pictures were taken the “Rob Clone” found a home in the front lobby.
Why is a life size cutout of Rob so funny? Because if you know him you have to know that the last thing in the world that he would do would be to promote himself in that way. It so goes against his personality. So if you happen to catch him at TechEd next week, be sure to ask him how his “clone” is doing and which one is the good Rob and which is the evil one.
While flying to NYC today I read an interesting article talking about “the three-screen universe” (TV, PC, and cell phone/gaming gizmo/iPod). The basic premise was that we have so much information available to us that it is potentially causing a social breakdown by contributing to ADHD type behavior and actually isolating us from interacting with one another. The more I thought about this I began to apply the meaning of the article to myself. How many times a day do I check my smart phone? 10, 20, 30 times a day??? Knowing me it is probably more like 50-100 times a day. Then I think about all the time I spend gaming (granted the kiddos are asleep) but that time could be spent interacting (No co-oping with your buddy does not count) or sleeping and of course the weekly TV (LOST) and during football season the weekly Oklahoma Sooner game. Then I started thinking about potential disruptive behavior in meetings, laptop open and working during meetings, checking the smart phone 15 times during the meeting, etc… you know you do it or have done it at one point in time. The whole point is to just say every once in a while before you go to pick up that controller or smart phone/ipod/blackberry think about doing a little something for society and interact (positively) with your environment and don’t feed the e-mail monster. It will still be hungry in the morning.
It is official… Adrian Peterson is now a member of the Minnesota Vikings. Peterson was built for the NFL and should do very well, especially with the Minnesota O-line. I will be taking my son to the Minnesota vs. Cowboys game in October.
Draft time is one of my favorite times of year, I liken it to Christmas… I love the overcoverage of the event and the ebb and flow of the picks, especially when something happens that is unexpected… like a certain Notre Dame quarterback falling to the 22nd pick.
Speaking of the draft it was great to see the Madden08 commercials. It is a great feeling to know that you had a part in contributing to something that you are passionate about. Community Server powers the blogs of the Madden08 site as well as the forums for the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, and the NY Giants
I can’t wait for football to start!!!
It took 7 months but I finally broke through the 10,000 point barrier (Xbox 360 achievement points). Let the celebration begin, okay on to 20,000! In another update to the never ending hockey series, Rob and I once again dropped 2 to the Scott Dockendorf and Kevin Cunningham combo (yesterday). Back to the drawing board.
I am really looking forward to the NFL draft tomorrow! For those of you that don’t know I am a big OU Sooner fan. I can’t wait to see where Adrian Peterson ends up, I just hope that the Bills don’t trade up (Eric Smith’s team). As that would mean I would have to root for Eric’s team and that just can’t happen.
Also, Telligent will play a part in the NFL draft tomorrow. When EA announces the cover athlete to Madden08, the blog portion of the Madden08 site will be powered by Community Server via an iframe!!! Great stuff!!!
Alright, I have finally broken the 1000 pt barrier on a game. Thanks to EA’s Fight Night 3 (Great game btw) and 5 nights of gaming and a very understanding wife (love you babe). In the latest news Rob Howard had a big collision during a pick up game of hockey yesterday… don’t worry Rob, scars are cool :). In other updates the never ending series with Scott Dockendorf and Kevin Cunningham took a turn for the worse after directly calling them out in a previous post, we dropped the best of three series 2-1. We will see who is feeling it today.
Being an avid gamer, I have a tendency to focus on vertical markets that I enjoy personally, so we have made significant traction in the gaming industry. From our relationship with the Xbox team, Community Server powers the Xbox forums, Major Nelson‘s blog, Gamerscoreblog, and the new Forza Community. We are doing some very cool work with Electronic Arts that will become public very soon, but one of the sites rhymes with “aladdin” hmmm. Also, we just rolled out a great new site for Ensemble Studios. The new Age of Empire III forums which are powered by Community Server. The real reason we do it is for the free games :P
Also, I have a few positions open in the Dallas area, I am looking for an account manager for CodeSmith Tools as well as a Partner Channel Manager for the Community Server sales team.
One of the more frequent questions I get is why Telligent? I joined the Telligent team about a year and half ago. Previously I was a co-founder of a Professional Services firm that focuses on custom application development and works extensively with Microsoft. I was the VP of Sales & Marketing, a member of the Board of Directors and had equity in the organization. So why leave for Telligent? Two words, Vision and Collaboration. When I met with Rob Howard, Jason Alexander, Scott Dockendorf and remotely with Scott Watermasysk one thing became very clear, this was a team that has the vision and domain knowledge to do something truly unique.
When you first meet Rob Howard one of the first things you will notice is the passion that he has for Telligent and Community Server. If you ever happen to catch him at a conference, or via webex demonstrating Community Server you will immediately recognize that Rob truly is a thought leader in terms of understanding the application of business intelligence, specifically around collaborative software and online community. More than that though, Rob understands the concept of the blue ocean. Mainly, don’t compete over minor scraps in the red ocean of over saturated products and competition, look for the blue ocean and ensure that the focus of the organization is to build something that provides value but may not be completely mainstream just yet. This is where the collaboration reference comes into play.
One of the big shifts over the past few years is the emergence of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 focuses on collaboration. From an organizational standpoint this trend is really gaining traction with traditional businesses. The move from traditional marketing to a more viral approach has accelerated the emergence of strategy aimed at bottom up marketing, whereas the end consumer either B2B or B2C has direct impact on the direction of marketing strategy for an organization. This was very key for me as it provided an opportunity to guide the marketing direction of a product that was still in the early adopter phase of the product lifecycle. The ability to ride the wave of collaboration combined with the vision and drive of the Telligent team were an easy sell for me. Over the past year we have made significant penetration into a number of great accounts, Disney, Conde Nast, MSNBC, Intel, Dell and Electronic Arts to name a few. What is really exciting is that enterprise level organizations are truly just scratching the surface of what is possible in terms of Web 2.0 marketing strategy and software solutions. This means that Telligent and Community Server will continue to be in very high demand.
This year has already started with a bang and with the release of Community Server 2007 which is the best Community Server release to date it just keeps getting better. The roadmap is defined and we are looking to do some very special things in upcoming releases. Look for the announcement of some very large initiatives that are in the works and will be launching later this year, one is just mind boggling and definitely affirm that Community Server can scale to meet the needs of almost any organization.
Hello and Welcome to the Black Fin Blog. I am Tom Edwards. The purpose of this blog is to provide additional insight into Telligent and Community Server as well as provide my perspective on sales & marketing. So why the Black Fin? It is a newly acquired nickname given to me by one my co-workers. He thought it would be funny to name my hair, so it stuck. Yes I choose to go with a more aerodynamic approach, but hey it can cut through water like nothing else. Anyway, I will try to keep it light and interesting moving forward.
I am an avid gamer (Xbox 360 is my platform of choice) gamertag – (Was TheBlackFin – Now BlackFin360). Look me anytime you are on Xbox live. I am always up to co-op on the latest game.
Take care,
Tom