Ms. Adverthinker

Last week, I made a quick day trip to Dallas (thanks to a dear friend who let me swoop in on her day and home for the interview!) to talk with Jim Douglas of WFAA in Dallas/Fort Worth about Carry The Load and its mission to bring back the meaning of the Memorial Day. You can read the WFAA article here and watch the interview here:

Last night, I was able to sit down with Craig O’Neill of THV 11 in Little Rock and talk about Carry The Load and invite all Arkansans to participate. To learn more go to the Carry The Load website. Here is a link to the TVH 11 article and you can watch the video here:

Image source: Inviting Arkansas

The month’s issue of Inviting Arkansas has a special section for Memorial Day. I am honored and grateful that they chose to include Carry the Load in that section. Read the article here.

Image source: Arkansas Online

Image source: Arkansas Online

I am very grateful today to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for covering Carry the Load and helping us get the word out in Arkansas. Here is a link to the full article (it is behind a paywall). Carry the Load will come through Little Rock on TUESDAY May 21st. Please take your time to share the message, show up and walk, show and cheer other on, or give to this worthy cause. We are bringing back meaning to Memorial Day and turning it into Memorial Month! Thank you for your support.

Image source: Arkansas Online

Image source: Arkansas Online

This morning I had the opportunity to talk with Bob Steel at KARN News Radio about Carry the Load and encourage all Arkansans to participate in some way as the relay comes through our state. Here is a recording of some of our discussion.

It is officially May and that means it is officially Memorial Month. This year I am taking part in Carry the Load, an organization whose mission it is to bring back the true meaning of Memorial Day. The national relay component of Carry the Load has already started and is headed our way to Arkansas. It will be in Little Rock on TUESDAY May 21st. You can participate in a 4 PM, 6 PM, 8 PM or 10 PM in North Little Rock and Little Rock on TUESDAY May 21st.

I will be walking in memory of my brother, Robert James Reeves, who died in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. He was funny, smart, compassionate and my best friend. I miss him every day. But I know that he died doing the job that he loved and that he felt was important for our country. I will be carrying Rob. Who will you be carrying?

You can read more about my story and the details of Carry the Load here.

See this image for details about the walk coming through North Little Rock and Little Rock. And you can download and print a copy of the poster from this link CarryTheLoad for distributing around your community. Thank you for your support.

I’ve covered this a couple of times before, but since it is a constantly changing mix of what is exactly in my bags (and because I get asked at least once a day), I put a little video together that shows exactly what I carry around every day and why.

In My Bags from Emily Reeves on Vimeo.

I am learning to code. I can’t prove it yet, because I am still learning. And part of the reason I am writing this is because by putting it out there I will feel an obligation to continue my education so I can ultimately prove to you all that I am following through with my resolution to learn to code.

I don’t need to learn to code. And it is a skill I’ll likely never use to code a site for a client. I may play around with it on my own sites. But I really want to learn to code so that I can better understand the skills needed to hire for the department I now manage and so that I can better understand the possibilities for digital communications in a world where anything is possible if you now the programming languages, how to manipulate data and are familiar with the platforms and channels that people use regularly. In short, learning to code will make me smarter and help me come up with better, more innovative communications ideas for our clients.

Carry the Load Participation Request from Emily Reeves on Vimeo.

We are quickly approaching summertime. And many think of Memorial Day as the official kick-off of summer. It is a three-day weekend for most and a time when we flock to the lake, have parties and picnics, and find great items on sale at our favorite retail outlets.

But Memorial Day is truly about remembering and honoring those that have given their lives for our safety and protection. My younger brother Rob, my only sibling, was one of those. Rob was a Navy SEAL on SEAL Team 6 who was aboard a helicopter with 37 other men that was shot down in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. All 38 men and the one dog aboard lost their lives. Twenty-two of those men were Navy SEALs. Rob gave the ultimate sacrifice. And I want Memorial Day to provide the reminder to us all that we should honor his sacrifice and that of all those who have given their lives to looking out for us.

Carry The Load is an organization that was created to bring back the meaning of Memorial Day. This year, I am honored to be a part of that organization and help get the word out to the country to participate in some way. Carry the Load has two components: a National Relay and a Memorial March. The National Relay starts on April 30, 2013 in West Point, NY and travels by foot for 2,000 miles across the country in five-mile increments, ending in Dallas, TX for the 20 hour and 13 minute Memorial March.

Carry The Load

The Carry the Load National Relay will cross the entire state of Arkansas. It will enter in our northeast corner on May 20th, with our first leg starting in West Memphis at 6 PM on May 20, 2013. It will reach North Little Rock/Little Rock on May 21st. The first North Little Rock leg will start at 4 PM on May 21st, the second at 6 PM and the third at 8 PM that will take us into Little Rock. The last leg in Little Rock begins at 10 PM and ends at midnight on May 21st. The walk will continue through Hot Springs, Arkadelphia and exit through Texarkana into Texas on May 23rd. For three days, Carry the Load will be walking through Arkansas in remembrance of our fallen heroes and making Memorial Day and entire month. I want Arkansans to show their patriotic spirit and participate in this event, showing the rest of the country that we stand behind anyone that fights for us.

How can you participate?

• Sign up to walk a leg of the relay. Go to the National Relay page and find the location start time and place nearest you and show up. You can sign up officially, or you can just show up and walk with the rest of us.
• Donate to the cause. The funds go to the families and children of those that have lost loved ones: Snowball Express, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, and Team Red, White and Blue. I would like to see Arkansas raise $25,000 for Carry the Load. Can you help? Go here to give.
• Show up along the walk routes and cheer those on who are walking. The maps for the route can be found here.
• Get the word out. Share this blog post, write your own blog post, share the Carry The Load link, like Carry the Load on Facebook and share it on your own wall, follow Carry the Load on Twitter and tweet about it from your own account. Help us gather crowds and money for this cause. Tell people why they should participate, how they can participate and then bug the hell out of them until they do participate. This is important.

To honor my brother Robert James Reeves, my dad and I will be walking as much of the Arkansas route as possible, and most definitely be there for the North Little Rock and Little Rock routes. Please join us. We will be meeting on Tuesday, May 21st at 4 PM at Route 70 and Route 391, North Little Rock, AR 72117 to start. If you want to pick up the next leg in North Little Rock, meet us at 6 PM at Route 70 and Eureka Garden Rd, North Little Rock, AR 72117. If you want to pick up the next leg that takes us into Little Rock, meet us at 8 PM at W Riverfront Dr/Riverfront Park Dr, North Little Rock, AR 72114. And if you are up for the late night last leg of Little Rock, meet us at 10 PM at W Markham and John Barrow Rd. Little Rock, AR 72205. We will be going on through south Arkansas and will also be participating in the Memorial March in Dallas over Memorial Day weekend. Wherever you are and however you can, please participate by walking, donating or cheering the rest of us on. I will forever be grateful.

Me and my brother Rob.

For a quick glimpse at my brother’s life, watch this video:

Robert James Reeves Memorial Video from Emily Reeves on Vimeo.

Last weekend, I participated in the first Startup Weekend Little Rock, and my first Startup Weekend ever. I joined this event with some trepidation: I am a bit of an introvert and I knew this was going to be a weekend that would require me to meet new people and form instant rapport to be able to work together for 54 hours. I also worried I wouldn’t have much to contribute to a group since I am not a designer or a developer. However, I am intensely curious and am passionate about technology, innovation and learning from people smarter than me. And I do know marketing and communications, can create order from chaos and problem-solve pretty efficiently. So I entered the event on Friday night, still not sure how or if I would participate for the rest of the weekend. I ended up staying all weekend, working on a fantastic project, making new friends, learning a ton and claiming second place with my team for the project we built.

Startup Weekend Little Rock was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I might even go so far as to say it was life-changing. Let me tell you why.

I learned to think differently. So often, we get into our comfort zones and routines. We work with the same people every day. And I work with a lot of talented people every single day and we produce amazingly creative communications for our clients. But because we have our routines and know each others’ strengths and weaknesses, we tend to not push each other as far as we could, or learn new things as often as we could. It happens to the best of us. An event like Startup Weekend removes all of that knowledge and forces its participants to fill gaps by learning on the spot and get even more creative because resources are scarce and time is scarcer. The outcome is not a perfectly polished product or idea. The outcome is a better version of yourself.

I made new friends. Had I not been brave enough to enter the room and participate in this event, I likely would have never crossed paths with 75-percent of the people that were in attendance. And everyone I met this weekend has added value to my life in some way. By learning their personal stories, learning about their skills, learning from their knowledge, being inspired by their passion: everyone had something to contribute and we bonded over the experience. I know for sure that I will stay connected to my new friends.

I stumbled into a really great business idea. And if that business idea becomes a real product, one day I’ll be able to say, “I was there and I got to help!” Our team leader had a great idea. I loved his idea. But he had no team. For a while on Friday night, the team was just the two of us. And we both shrugged and said, “let’s try to do this.” By Saturday afternoon, our team was seven people because the idea really was a great one. It just took longer for others to realize it. I am super proud that Jody had a great idea and we were able to help him take it to the next level. I believe he has the passion and the energy to take it and make it. His energy inspired me and if he needs my help, he has a friend in me that he can call any time. And I’ll be able to say “that’s my friend and I got to help!”

Yes, it is a bold statement, but Startup Weekend LIttle Rock changed my life in a great way.

This is a blog about things I notice and things I like (mostly) related to my work. That covers the spectrum of digital communications, technology, books, and personal style. I keep the conversation here (mostly) in the realm of business-related topics. And, yes, I think style falls into that category because it is about presentation and your personal brand, which is extremely important in our digital age. I am extremely girly, love technology and work in business where presentation is important, being high-maintenance is burdensome and being tech-savvy is valued. I consider this blog my way of bringing all those things together in some workable way and giving my opinion on the products, service and devices I find useful, stylish and not to heavy to carry around in my big bags.

I started this bog in January of 2008. It is hard to believe I have been writing and sharing here for five years. It has evolved over the years as I find my voice, explore new interests and figure out what content makes sense to discuss at any given time.

In July of 2012, the agency where I work started a blog, Waiting for the Elevator, that I contribute to, along with many others from the agency. As a result, much of my digital communications content ends up over on that site. You can find all my contributions here. The overflow of that content gets shared here on Ms. Adverthinker.

I just thought a bit of an explanation was needed as the content here may seem to jump all over the place lately. But, there is a master plan in place. And yes, I still think the name is perfect for the content I am sharing. And pink is my signature color.

I’ve been reading a lot of books about sketchnoting as I have decided to make this one of my things to learn and do this year. Sketchnoting is about capturing the concept and big ideas in a conversation or presentation rather than recording every detail of a meeting. So there are times when it will be appropriate, and times when it will not be, depending on the context and content of meetings and presentations. I’ll share some of my sketchnotes here as I deem them worthy and after I have had a bit more practice. This is one of my firsts:

Notes from this Gary Vaynerchuk presentation (and yes, I am aware I spelled his name incorrectly in my sketch).

The books that I have read on using sketching and drawing to communicate are:

1. The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Notetaking. This was by far the best read with great examples and tips for approaching visual notetaking.
2. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. This book really picks up where the first one in this list left off (though not intentionally; these are two different authors) and talks about communicating ideas through drawing.
3. Blah, Blah, Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work. This was not my favorite read. It is by the same author of The Back of the Napkin and I felt like it was a lot of talking for a book about drawing.
4. Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rule-Breakers and Changemakers. This book is a great resource for jump starting ideas and thinking in brainstorming meetings. Many of the recommendations include drawing to communicate, and even provides tips for getting participants past that “I can’t draw” resistance.

In July 2012, we launched a new blog for Stone Ward called Waiting for the Elevator. I’ve been spending a lot of time over there and contributing regular content on that blog. You may have noticed some schizophrenic content here at Ms. Adverthinker the last few months as a result. I’ll still be writing and posting here regularly, but the majority of my communications-related content will be over on Waiting for the Elevator. Ms. Adverthinker will focus more on professional growth (i.e., book reviews) and presentation (i.e., fashion) and content overflow from our Stone Ward blog. Please bear with me as I continue to find and hone my online voice.

I am girly. The name and design of this blog would tell you that without knowing anything else about me. If you saw my “What’s in that bag?” post, you know I love make-up and hair. Because I am so girly, I also love clothes, shoes and all the accessories that go with fashion.

I am also a professional, working in an office environment. So I take great care in how I dress for work each day: I want to be professional, always ready for an impromptu presentation to a client (even if I happen to be wearing jeans that day), comfortable (we have a laid back and creative office), and attempt to be stylish. How a person presents themselves in dress says a lot about them; most days at work, I want my dress to say “confident.”

Here is a glimpse of this week’s outfit choices. As you can see, heels, blazers, pencil skirts, dresses and button down shirts are my go-tos for making casual and jeans feel more professional and dressed up.

I like to be prepared for any situation. So I carry a big bag with everything I could possibly imagine needing during the day or while traveling (and I travel a lot). And when I say my bag is big, I am not exaggerating.

As a result, people comment on its size and ask me almost daily “what’s in that bag?” My answer is usually, “my life.” I answer that way because it is easier than detailing the contents of my bag, but I am going to quell the suspicions here today!

What’s in that bag?

1. Computer and accessories. 13″ MacBook Pro in fushia BuiltNY sleeve, VGA adapter, power block with PlugBug extension.
2. Lacrosse ball in orange. It belonged to my brother and I like to have it with me for luck, for use as toy, for use as a weapon, etc. It always confuses TSA.
3. Technology accessories. Mophie for charging a dead iPhone when no power is available, wall and car charger for iPhone/iPad, screen cleaning cloth, iPad stylus, Maglite flashlight, Fossil zip pouch in hot pink.
4. Spectacles. I can’t see across a room, so I always have at least one pair of glasses with me. These are special because they are Warby Parker, an organization that gives glasses to someone in need for every pair purchased.
5. Cards. I have business cards, personal cards and social media cards. In a J.Crew zip pouch covered in dots.
6. Energy. Kind bars, Cliff bars, Starbucks VIA Refreshers, lemon ginger tea, and gummy bears. My favorite koozie is always with me, too.
7. Embroidered handkerchief. Made for me by a friend and embroidered with my name, I always have it with me.
8. iPad. Reading, writing, note-taking, entertaining. It always comes in handy. In a DoDo case lined in pink linen.
9. Sunglasses. A necessity. These are Ray-Bans, Original Wayfarer in black.
10. Foldable flats. I am usually wearing 3″+ heels and long days are not friendly to my feet. These are Tieks and I love them.
11. Bag full of personal items. Herban Essentials antibacterial wipes, Excedrin Migrane, Colgate Wisps, various make-up and hair tools, all in a Saltbox zipper pouch.
12. Bag full of liquid personal items. Kept separate for ease in security lines at the airport. Lip glosses, scents, hair needs, etc. In a Vera Bradley clear zipper pouch.
13. iPhone. In white.
14. Necessities bag. I use this as the bag of items that comes from the big bag to a satellite bag when a big bag would be awkward. Small sized: mints, hair bands, earbuds, eyeliner, lip care, concealer and lotion. Fossil zip pouch in hot pink.
15. Secondary necessities bag. Travels with #14. Kleenex, mirror, hair stick, lots of lip care options, mints, wallet. The zipper pouch was a gift from a friend.
16. Notebook and pen. For times when technology fails or during air travel. I use Moleskine notebooks and pens.
17. Sleep mask. Dream Essentials. I keep it in my bag all the time, but it really only gets used when I travel. And I usually grab any opportunity to sleep because it doesn’t happen that often for me.

Now you know.