TG Madison was thrilled to spearhead St. Kitts Marriott Resort and Emerald Mist Spa’s first-ever Facebook contest.

The resort had been facing challenges in recent years in driving destination awareness that would later convert into room bookings, which was how the “You Don’t Know Kitt” marketing campaign and its website, http://www.youdontknowkitt.com, was born.

The marketing campaign was a punchy, in-your-face message suggesting to Caribbean travel researchers, “Think you know where to go in the Caribbean? You don’t know Kitt!” TG Madison has been running this campaign since September 2011 on relevant media channels, and it has seen strong success.

The accompanying Facebook contest that supported the campaign was a resounding success on every level.

Sweepstakes Goals

• Drive destination awareness (and subsequently, traffic to youdontknowkitt.com)
• Drive “Likes” on the St. Kitts Facebook page

Ad Support

To support the contest, TG Madison arranged a small Facebook ad buy to run over the 14 days that the contest was live, from April 3-April 16, 2012. The buy consisted of Sponsored Stories ads (to drive Likes) and standard CPC ads (to drive contest entries and site traffic).

Sweepstakes Structure

"You Don't Know Kitt" Contest

Every day, a new St. Kitts-related trivia question was posted to the contest application, the answer to which could be found on youdontknowkitt.com.

Entrants could enter once per person per day. One winner was chosen at the end of the contest to win a 5-night stay at the resort.

The contest itself was hosted through the application Wildfire, which helped us arrange all of the trivia questions, flight them out correctly, and seamlessly follow Facebook’s strict promotion guidelines.

The Results

• The contest generated 1,771 entries and over 1,600 Facebook Likes.
• The contest drove 816 visits to the site between 4/3-4/16, and visitors spent an average of 2 minutes there.
  • The bounce rate was an EXTREMELY low 13% during this time period, indicating that people intended to be on the site and were exploring its content.
  • People visited an average of 3.81 pages on the site per visit, again indicating exploration and interest.
  • Each day, fans were posting excited comments on the Facebook page. By posting a new status message every day encouraging people to enter, we really built some momentum and buzz. Eight people even commented on the “thanks for entering” post, thanking the resort for the fun contest.
  • Because TGM included a disclaimer on the email section of the entry form, St. Kitts now has a database of nearly 1,800 additional email addresses.

TG Madison is thrilled at the results of this campaign, and at the interest and buzz it has generated for St. Kitts as a destination and the Marriott as a resort. We look forward to many more successful Facebook contests, and continued growth in awareness and bookings for the St. Kitts Marriott Resort.

Learn More About St. Kitts

Like St. Kitts Marriott Resort

TEDxAtlanta is an event I look forward to every season. The coming together of great minds and great ideas creates a kind of contagious intellectual enthusiasm that is hard to deny and this year was no exception.

Our day began with a musical performance from Shawn Mullins.

I’m not a music buff and I don’t pretend to have even the slightest bit of music history knowledge, so when Shawn Mullins took the stage, I ignorantly assumed it was another relatively obscure hipster musician. I didn’t recognize the first song or the second so when he started in on third, I settled into my seat, ready to tune out. But only a few seconds into the song, I realized it was “Lullabye,” the 1998 soft rock classic that I had heard a million times since I was 12. I immediately perked up and noticed the energy in the room change. It was a familiar classic that everyone knew and love and he performed it beautifully. When he finished the song and told the audience a little bit about himself, I realized he was a proud Atlanta native, a quiet but successful singer song writer who loved music and his hometown.

This really set the tone for the day. The theme of the event was simply ‘Community,’ but what really came out of these ten different talks was a focus on music, race relations and positive change in our special community of Atlanta.

I’ve briefly recounted the top three talks as well as the special opportunity we we’re given at the end of the day to do more than just talk about great “ideas worth spreading.”

Blended within each of the following topics is insight from its curator as well as my own takeaways – and I hope you’ll develop your own, too.

On Music

Eddie Owens:

The first speaker was Eddie Owens of the famous Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. Often referred to as a ‘listening room,’ “Eddies Attic” is a true community center for all music lovers. Eddie began his talk by simply stating:

“Live Music Matters.”

Music and songwriting is a community of crossovers and sharing. Every song is a story and every story is a reflection of someone’s day to day life. Music is very close-knit and personal and everything about Eddie seemed very close-knit and personal as well. He spoke to the audience as if we were a crowd of long lost friends, sharing stories and charming us with this old school love of the live music show.

After reminiscing about old friends and old gigs, Eddie pointed out the changing landscape of the music industry. “Everyone in the crowd probably has over 1,000 songs just on their phones. So why does live music matter anymore?”

He gave us three great reasons, the artist, the listener and the venue. The beauty of music is that it is and always will be a personal experience, one that is different and unique for every listener. The artist’s performance, the venue’s format and listener’s involvement are what continue to make live music one of the most important communities in the world today.

On “The Network Society”

Rhonda Lowry:

Rhonda Lowry was perhaps the most unique, standout speaker of the day. In many ways she represented everything you would expect and hope for in a TED speaker. She was a brilliant, articulate, confident and fluid speaker. For 20 minutes she challenged the audience with unexpected insights and commentary about the future of the social world.  And as the Vice President of Emerging Social Web Technologies at Turner, she gave us an intimate and surprising knowledge of our connected world.

Rhonda began with a unique thought. We think about Facebook as a revolution. But Facebook isn’t it. Revolutions don’t happen when societies adopt new technologies (such as Facebook), revolutions happen when societies adopt new behaviors. And let’s face it; Facebook has led to a whole new set of social rules and actions.

Rhonda referred to this as “the revolution of the network society.” The network society is particularly special and important revolution because in many ways, it is invisible. It lacks the tangibility of the Industrial Revolution.  We aren’t watching factories being built before our eyes. We can only feel and experience these changes of a more connected world.

In order to live and thrive in this new network society, we must develop a unique form of social literacy and a different way of perceiving things.  A great example of this is the game Second Life. Second Life is a virtual world that allows participants to create a new identity. Rhonda revealed that she is Grace Mcdonough, a world famous Second Life citizen.

“People often ask why do you spend hours making fake things, for fake people, in a fake world?”

Second life is about being part of something bigger than yourself. Since 2005, Second Life has created and participated in a virtual Relay for Life. This is a virtual charity event that takes hundreds of hours to construct and thousands of Second Life participants to orchestrate. In 5 years, Second Life’s virtual Relay for Life has raised over $1 million for the American Cancer Society, proving that virtual communities can provide very real results.

On Justice (and Lack Thereof)

Bryan Stevenston (TED.com talk):

Bryan Stevenson spoke at the big TED conference just a few weeks ago. His presentation was quickly uploaded to TED.com, where it received millions of views. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest TED talks of all time and we were lucky enough to watch it.

When I look back on his talk, it is hard to retell with the same power, emotion and impact. Bryan was one of only a few talented speakers who managed to cover a wide range of topics, theories, stories and personal values in a short 15 minutes. He was able to infuse personal stories about his upbringing, his grandmother, his relationship to Rosa Parks, his duty as a lawyer, incarceration rates, the death penalty, poverty, hope and injustice all in one succinct and moving presentation.

But what I think he did best was to shock us. He was able to shock an entire crowd of accomplished and influential TED attendees by calling them out for ignorance and inaction.

He began with a story about his grandmother and the simple but powerful ways she shaped his current identity. He then threw out some terrifying statistics about the state of the African American community.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. One third of 18-30-year-old men in the U.S. will spend time in jail, prison, on probation or on parole. 50-60% of African American men from all the major U.S. cities will spend time in prison. 34% of the population of Alabama has lost the right to vote through incarceration.  And did you know that 13 and 14 year olds are being tried and convicted as adults and sentenced to life in prison without parole? Where is the justice, and why does no one seem to care?

Bryan reminded us that you are far more likely to be charged with a crime if you are poor and innocent than if you are rich and guilty. Wealth and race continue to significantly shape outcomes and identities.

“The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it’s justice.”

The death penalty is another important piece of this puzzle. The most common question asked is, Do criminals deserve to die for their crimes? But the real question is, Do we deserve to kill? 1/9 of people on death row are found to be innocent. Bryan believes that if you steal something, you are more than a thief. If you lie to someone, you are more than a liar. And even if you kill someone, deep down, you are more than a killer. There is power in identity.

TED’s identity is most often about design, technology and intellect. But at the end of the day, our society is not judged by design, technology and intellect, our society is judged by our character. It’s not easy to think about injustice, inequality, and struggle. But we must embrace suffering in order to fully understand it and fight it. This is a far more challenging identity than the one that TED currently imposes. But the TED community is full of leaders and if we start to pay attention, the rest of the world may follow. Our humanity depends on everyone else’s humanity.

On Giving Back

By the end of the day, after 10 heart-stirring talks along the same themes as those recounted, the memories of the morning music had faded and the focus had turned to presentations about problems: racial equality, injustice in the legal system, hunger, malaria, and discrimination. I think it’s safe to say that the crowd felt a little heavy as the event came to a close.

But then the organizer of the event, Todd Martin, did something that had never been done before. He came to stage and shared one more story and one more idea.

After Bryan Stevenson gave his speech at the TED conference, the crowd was uncomfortable and antsy. Countless people approached Chris Anderson (curator of TED) and asked how they could help Bryan’s cause. A few presentations later, Chris came onto the stage and told the crowd that what Bryan and his peers really needed was financial backing – $1 million, to be exact. A hand shot up and an audience member declared that they would like to donate $100,000 to his cause. Within seconds six more hands went up offering $50,000 each. And within ten minutes, Bryan Stevenson had raised $1.2 million dollars for his cause.

TED and TEDx have always been about “ideas worth spreading.” And often it is just that, ideas, discussions, conversations—but little action.

TED is evolving. It’s become about more than just ideas; it’s about raising the level of dialogue AND making a change.  So Todd raised the question, how can our TEDx community help our Atlanta community?

After much discussion with City Councilman Kwanza Hall, it was decided that 2012 will be ‘The Year of Boulevard.’ Anyone who is familiar with this city knows that some of the most dangerous and poverty stricken neighborhoods run along Boulevard street. And 27% of this neighborhood is made up of children. The TEDx community is looking to make a change in this community by giving these children hope and opportunity. The entire audience was given a card where you had the option to sponsor a child’s summer camp, provide a summer internship, help the child start a small business or any other idea/opportunity you may have.

I often leave TEDx events feeling energized and inspired but a little lost as to where to begin. Listening to speeches about passionate people making a difference is the ultimate motivator but for many of us, we aren’t sure where to start.  This was the perfect ending to yet another TEDxAtlanta. We were informed, moved, motivated and then given the opportunity to give back to our own community.

If you’d like to get involved in the next TEDxAtlanta or The Year of Boulevard, please visit TEDxAtlanta.com.

TG Madison is supporting the mission to end Alzheimer’s and spread the word about this terrible disease. As part of the release of the latest Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures, TG Madison will be running TV bookends across early morning television over the next month, with spots airing during morning programming across several broadcast and cable networks.

This effort will be also be supported with programming from Headline News, weekend offerings on CNN and afternoon business coverage on CNBC.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s partnership with popular African American  radio personality Tom Joyner continues next Monday with  a month-long campaign including :30 spots appearing on over 110 radio stations nationally.

A digital pre-roll effort will complement the national broadcast presence and will spread the word to over 17 million people. We can’t wait to paint this country purple and spread awareness of the latest information about this devastating disease.

From someecards.com

Having been in this business for roughly a million years, I’m always astounded how the holidays sneak up on me every single season. I promise I’m not an idiot. I know the holidays are coming at the tail end of the fourth quarter and yet, upon their arrival, I develop a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ visage reminiscent of a guy about to be hung in the public square. Why the long face?

It means that the ad agency holiday card (or worse yet, the holiday video) is due.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually love the holidays, especially at TG Madison. I love the festive lights, the buoyant effect of decorating a tree and I especially love the free booze from our vendors. It’s just that the card/video is a big, hairy chunk of pressure placed lovingly on a Creative Director’s shoulders at the worst time imaginable. And unlike the work we do for our clients, the card/video is judged by everybody in the agency. And, at times, it feels like everybody in the building has the right to approve or kill it. Some of my favorite critiques over the years include:

“I like the concept but the font might be offensive to the Mormon community.”
“Why aren’t we all wearing Snowman sweaters? That would step it up a notch.”
Or my favorite, “I thought Jim was supposed to be funny.”

And now, even Adweek throws valuable editorial space against it, adding yet another layer of judgment and the inherent threat of national embarrassment.

It’s all too much. Too many opinions to consider, too many people to satisfy and, now thanks to Adweek, too damn much pressure.

God bless us, everyone. And pass the free vendor booze.

As an SAE, I have a long way to go before I join the ranks of those who know how to deliver the perfect business pitch, consistently strategize incredible ideas, and project manage like a pro. I’m still evolving in this wonderful world of client relations, but in the time I’ve spent in account service, I’ve noticed a few patterns consistent with client retention – and some pitfalls to avoid.

Perhaps what’s most interesting about these insights is how they are not rocket science. These doctrines are timeless, cross-generational, and media-agnostic. These are the basic tenets of client service that bridge decade and discipline.

Let’s visit each as it relates to marketing today, and let them serve as a reminder to sometimes step back to the basics of client retention.

Keeping Clients Loyal

Develop a Great Relationship

I know, I know: It’s Account Service 101. But it’s easy in busy times to focus on all the tasks at hand rather than the lives of the people you are working with, as well as their wants, needs, and would-love-to-haves. What’s stressing them out? What can you do to help? My supervisor Taylor is fabulous at this. Very quickly, she’s able to form a trusting, genuine relationship with her clients, and as a result, they love working with her and the agency. It’s just a part of who she is! I strive to be more like that as I continue to grow.

If you’re turning down opportunities to help your client out when they’re in a pickle because it’s “not in your SOW,” you’re missing a chance to develop a mutually-reliant relationship that will benefit both of you long-term. It’s a balance, but one you must learn to strike.

Be Dependable

This Mashable article notes dependability as the #1 most important quality for businesses. Think about it: Are you going to re-hire a plumber who shows up 6 hours late, even if he’s the cheapest guy on the block? Probably not. The same carries over to your relationship with clients of your marketing agency: In every circumstance you can, deliver what you say you will, in the manner you said you would, on time. It shows that you respect your client and your word to them, and that means the world when it comes a time for a potential review.

Keep It Light

Here in Atlanta at TG Madison, we work our booties off to make sure campaigns are strategic, well-executed, and timely. Our clients have hard jobs, too, and we respect that. But at the same time, we set ourselves apart from other advertising agencies by knowing how to have fun with the people we work with. It’s one of our agency’s greatest strengths: we’re people other people love to work with. Crack some jokes on the phone, send a silly picture here or there, or Tweet a photo of an employee “planking” – your clients want to know you’re human like they are, and that makes them want to continue working with you.

Do Your Job Well

You’re not going to get anywhere if your work is shoddy or badly thought-out. Put your best foot forward every campaign, every day, and share your passion with your clients. Excitement over the success of, say, a new display campaign is contagious. Highlight the points of a campaign that will matter most to your client and make sure you’re working hard to hit their goals. Your dedication will shine through.

Learning from the Mistakes

Being Over-Confident

Believing an account—and your agency in general—is indestructible creates problems for both you and your client. Over-confidence that your client will always be there positions you to turn a blind eye to signs of unhappiness, and could lead to your lack of investment in the account because, hey, they’ll be around forever. Bad move!

Sustaining Status Quo

You’ve been hired to breathe a new life and ideas into your client’s business. Consistently great results are fantastic, but if you’re not seeking new ways to test and improve what you’re doing, you’re setting your client up to take things in-house or transfer the “status quo” campaigns on to another agency that will push them to another level. Always stay one step ahead, and bring an innovative spirit to the table. That’s why they’ve hired you!

Focusing Too Much On the Bottom Line

This seems counter-intuitive, but there’s a fine line between being results-focused for both your client and your agency, and being ROI-driven at the cost of all else. The issue is two-fold: if you’re focused solely on ROI on the client’s behalf but pushing strategic ideas that compromise their brand, you are doing your client a disservice.  On the agency side, recommending ideas that benefit your P&Ls more than your client’s is one of the fastest ways to develop distrust and, ultimately, an account loss (justifiably!).

Nobody’s perfect, whether you’re on the marketing agency side or the client side. But what’s most important when it comes to keeping a relationship strong is the power of mutual respect and understanding. If you get along with your clients, work hard for them, and seek to deliver the results they’re looking for, you’re well on your way to keeping a satisfied, flourishing account. There are no guarantees in advertising, but the best you can do is keep your clients happy, and that’s worth all the ROI in the world.

The Brickyards came to life last night in Marietta.

And so did a dated brand. The Cobb County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau sought our help to revitalize their identity, website and communications. And when we unveiled their new look during their annual gathering, the room lit up with excitement.

They’re now Cobb Travel & Tourism – Atlanta’s Sweet Spot.

It’s fresh. Progressive. And authentic.

Our research told us that potential leisure travelers and convention planners are attracted to everything Atlanta has to offer, but not the hassles. They want convenience, affordability and a place that’s family friendly.

We gave Cobb a new name, a tasty look, and we went right to “Atlanta’s Sweet Spot.”

From the reception the idea received last night, sounds like more visitors and meeting goers will too.

Check out the video we produced for their web site here.

Whether you want to be tricked or treated, there’s a little something here for everyone. Happy Halloween!

TRICK

Catch the new season of “The Walking Dead.”

TREAT

Join a Walk to End Alzheimer’s – there are still walks happening across Georgia.

TRICK

Watch Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

TREAT

TRICK

Ghost hunt at the Georgian Terrace hotel.

TREAT

Stay a night away in a Marriott resort and spa.

TRICK

Read about the Legend of  Sleepy Hollow’s Headless Horseman.

TREAT

TRICK

Dress up as the Bride of Frankenstein.

TREAT

Style your hair with “It’s a 10″ Miracle Leave-In.

TRICK

Watch “Cujo.”

TREAT

Stop by Adopt-a-Golden‘s adoption day, every first Sunday of the month!

Useful: able to be used for a practical purpose or in several ways.

Asprin is useful; bookmarks are useful.  Can brands be useful?  Seems like the obvious answer is yes, of course they can.  Especially in today’s 24-7, constantly plugged-in and connected world.  But are brands (and the advertising professionals and agencies who try to build those brands) really asking themselves, ‘What can I do for you?’

Brands are beginning to reach people where they are – at the market, walking the city or on the run; rather than simply where they expect them to be – at home, at work, or at school.  Smart brands are moving freely and easily with mobility.  They are present 24 hours a day and they have become (forced themselves to be) more useful.

Brands are looking inside themselves and finding a fit between their product and their customers.  They ask, ‘How can we make your life easier?’  For some brands it’s offering free delivery, a mobile app, tips on how to lower your handicap or reduce your power bill, etc.

While it seems like the most logical fit, the idea of ‘brand utility’ doesn’t only apply to the mobile/social/digital world.  Even in a good old-fashioned TV spot, demonstrating how your brand is useful to your target is still the most important thing you can communicate – and conversely, not communicating it can be your biggest mistake.  The new FedEx TV spots about shipping your golf clubs to your next vacation destination are a prime example.  While it might be dead-on in terms of capturing the mindset of the avid golfer – nothing matters more to them than their clubs – it’s not very useful.  Unless you tell me that you can ship them for less than the $25 I’m going to pay Delta, you’ve pretty much wasted my time.

Also, engagement should not be confused with usefulness.  It seems every marketing objective these days, no matter the initiative, is to ‘increase engagement.’  Brands need to be careful here, that they aren’t engaging just for engagement’s sake, especially at the expense of communicating their usefulness.  Domino’s Pizza may ask me to go to their website and submit a review of the last pizza I ordered, but come on, is that really necessary?  We’re talking about Domino’s Pizza, not the French Laundry (or even my local neighborhood pizza joint, for that matter).  I couldn’t imagine too many customers are that impressed, or unimpressed, with their latest pepperoni/mushroom from Domino’s that they feel the need to go online and write a review.  I’d rather you just offer me a $2 discount on all pies ordered during football season.  That would be much more useful to me than me telling them my last pizza tasted exactly the same as the first one I had 15 years ago.  I mean, isn’t this the equivalent of reviewing a Big Mac?

Brand utility: Burger style!

So, how can you increase your ‘brand utility’? At TG Madison, we believe it starts with an insight – can you make something simpler, faster, easier, more available, more inspiring, nicer, effortless etc.  Identifying that insight is key, and then focus your messaging strategy there.  It can be something simple: remember, it’s the little things that count.

Relate how your brand utility supports your core products and services.  Once your customers recognize your brand as useful, the sky is the limit.   Your brand will be seen as one that enriches lives and goes beyond expectations—all because it became useful.

The 19^th annual Atlanta Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s™ was this past Saturday, October 8, at Atlantic Station.  The morning was cool and sunny, and the atmosphere was festive.  Central park was awash in purple, with Promise Garden flowers popping up everywhere to honor, support and remember loved ones with Alzheimer’s.

Previously called Memory Walk, the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s™ is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research.  Since 1989, this all age, all-ability walk has mobilized millions to join the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, raising more than $347 million for the cause. Events like the one at Atlantic Stations are held in the fall in nearly 600 communities nationwide.

TG Madison is, and has been, the agency of record for the Alzheimer’s Association for five years. We are proud to have aided in the rebranding of the Walk this year, and the excitement and energy that has created in more than 70 Alzheimer’s Association local Chapters across the country.  But that is not why we participate in the Walk every year.  We truly believe this is a disease that can be cured in our lifetime, and the funds raised by the Walk move us one step closer to a world without Alzheimer’s.  We invite everyone to unite in a movement to reclaim the future for millions and put an end to the nation’s sixth-leading cause of death.  The end of Alzheimer’s could start with YOU!  Go to alz.org to learn more about what you can do in your community.

The TG Madison team representing the cause!

Kate finishes up her TEDx series today, recounting the discussions of Atlanta’s TEDx event featuring Rita Charon, Bill James, Radcliffe Bailey, Greg Best, and Hugh Acheson. A lesson on balance became both a learning experience and pimento cheese heaven for Kate. Kudos to her for bringing innovative ideas and food for thought back to TG Madison! Although we would have also liked to try the sandwiches.

RITA CHARON:

Rita Charon created her own field: The field of narrative medicine.

Rita initially came to medicine because she was a lifelong reader. As a reader, she understood that what patients paid her to do was to pay attention to their words, stories, faces, and pauses.

After becoming a doctor, she approached the English department at Columbia and asked if they would take her in as a student. She told them that she wanted to learn more about narratives so that she might be able to improve her medicine and practice. After getting a Master’s and PhD in English, Charon went on to pioneer the field of narrative medicine, which she describes as clinical medicine fortified by storytelling and listening. The purpose was to teach doctors the importance and power of a story. Doctors were taught how to absorb every hint, pause, and detail of a patients story so that they could better interpret and serve them.

Storytelling is one of the biggest elements in hospital life. From the chaplains to the nurses to lab technicians to interns, everyone is involved with storytelling on a daily basis and few truly understand the connection between human stories and medicine.

Charon’s challenge was to bring people hardened by medicine to open up to the power of receptivity in patient interactions.

She found that an amazing transformation took place in her practice. She stopped asking a million questions and learned so much more when the patient spoke from the heart.

In the end she was able to see the true purpose of medicine.  Medicine allows us to find meaning in health and life. Doctors guide us through the story and gift of mortality.

BILL JAMES:

Bill James was our next live speaker. James described his vision for the future of transportation, a network of ‘Jpods’ that run entirely on solar power. Through the use of roller coaster mechanics James invented Jpods as a solution to the increasing energy crisis.

“We cannot survive if oil continues to be the lifeblood of our economy. We are running out of affordable oil.”

Jpods are the ultimate oil free solution to many of our oil and financial woes. These ultra-light computer-controlled vehicles suspend from rails and run off solar energy.

James has a goal of getting us all on a solar budget by 2020.

As he put  it, “The solution is self-reliance.”

RADCLIFFE BAILEY:

Radcliffe Bailey is an internationally-known artist that explores American history and memory through art. When it comes to art, Bailey can do it all: installations, paintings, sculptures, mixed media, photos and more.

Bailey began by explaining what he called the “7^th Layer” process. When he first started created art, he had a hard time knowing when a piece is finished. So he created a process called the “7^th layer:” He stops his work at the seventh layer. This could be the 7^th layer of thought, layer of paint, or the layer of clay.

Bailey was one of the most unique and moving speakers of the day. Clearly nervous and not comfortable in front of a crowd, the cadence of his words often changed unexpectedly from fast and loud to almost painfully slow and restrained. His confidence seemed to cut in and out depending on the moment and the topic. At times he seemed timid and shy, almost embarrassed to be there. And then he would close his eyes, almost in a trancelike state, you could see a hint of a smile and he would get into his rhythm and go into an eloquent explanation of one of his pieces. The vulnerability in his speech and his art work was so touching that you could hear a pin drop the entire time he was on stage. At the end of the event I spotted him in the middle of the crowd, his head drooped down on a table, exhausted, as if the 15 minutes on stage had taken everything out of him.

GREG BEST:

Greg Best has been named of the top 10 mixologists in the country. As the bartender for Holeman and Finch, he was one of the most surprising and shrewd speakers of the day.

The dynamics of a bar are unique, fragile and constantly changing. Bars are a mini microcosm of society and a pulse on modern celebrations and dilemmas.

Bartenders are a strange breed of social chemists. Their method is part intuition, part catalog and part psychology. They do more than mix drinks. Bartenders are witness to the mixing of personalities – and all personalities are amplified by alcohol. Best asked us all to be conscious of the personality you bring to the balance of a bar and next time bear witness to the personalities around you at the bar. It’s a unique atmosphere that can’t be found anywhere else.

Best concluded his talk with this awesome piece of advice:

“In conclusion, a good drink is well balanced and tasty.” Brilliant.

HUGH ACHESON:

Hugh Acheson is one of the biggest names in southern cooking today, except he’s Canadian. He is head chef at Empire State South in Atlanta, Five and Ten in Athen’s and a Top Chef Master from Bravo’s reality cooking show (my favorite show).

And now, the best part: Hugh Acheson's food.

Hugh was a perfect finale speaker. He was another one of those passionate, rambling speakers, jumping from topics like sustainability to his farmer friend Tom, to organics, to community. While it wasn’t always clear what his point was or where he was going with his sentence, his knowledge and passion for food was infectious. He had an energy and enthusiasm that revitalized us all. And the second he showed us a picture of one of his famous pimento cheese sandwiches, we were hooked. As we listened to stories about his local farmer, his fresh breads and cheeses, and his unwavering commitment to only the freshest vegetables I think everyone began to anticipate and salivate over what was coming next (his food tasting immediately following the talk). I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a crowd of people move so fast for a pimento cheese sandwich, but it was oh so worth it.

The event ended with a food/drink tasting and me hovering around the pimento cheese table for far too long, eating more than my fair share. It was a delicious end to an inspiring day.

After hours of absorbing the rapid succession of stories, memories, theories and ideas with strangers, I walked away from TEDxAtlanta with a newfound sense of community, energy and optimism. And a belly full of pimento cheese.