The Design Can

Sarah attended the conference as a press representative and was very nice and played well with the other monsters. Here is her review, borrowed from the How Design blog.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

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A little creative reCHARGE ...
[Guest blogger and HOW managing editor Sarah Whitman files this entry]

I just returned from the AIGA/Jacksonville re:CHARGE conference and I feel, well, recharged. It’s funny how two days filled with nice people, great speakers and a cool city will do that to you.

The event was held at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL, the oldest city in the country. It was well-organized and the materials were national-conference caliber, but there was definitely a laidback, college-town vibe to the whole thing, which was fantastic. Attendees were a little more open. Speakers were a little more relaxed. And the theme, “there's a little Creative Monster inside all of us,” actually seemed to work.

In addition to great regional talent like Roger Black, Klaus Heesch from Juicy Temples and Phil Bienert from CitiGroup’s in-house creative department, the chapter scored major national names like Ze Frank, Sean Adams, David Carson and Terry Marks for the speaker roster. (Check out Ze and Terry at the HOW Conference.) AIGA national president Bill Grant stopped by to talk about some of the great new stuff the organization is working on. And everyone from the starry-eyed students to the industry icons seemed to be learning a lot—and having a ball at the parties.

The conference was small—maybe 75 attendees—which was part of what made it such an easygoing event. I think it could (and should) grow a little without killing that vibe, though. Given AIGA/Jacksonville's commitment to bring in great speakers (thanks Russel, Lisa, Jeff and Ron) and create top-notch materials (shout out to the nGEN works crew), I think this event is on track to rival AIGA/San Diego’s Y Design Conference. So whether you’re a Floridian or not, mark your calendars for 2008. This may be the best little conference you didn’t know about.
Posted by: Sarah at 9:00:04 AM


http://www.howconference.com/blog.asp