http://www.hallmc.com/blurt/ The place for news, commentary, reviews, rants, insights, opinions and (occasionally) whining. en-us Copyright 2013, Roger Hall and Associates Inc. Sat, May 18 2013 17:54:20 EDT Marketing In house http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ %uri.base%/blurt/blog/love-what-you-do-or-do-something-else--136 When you wake up in the morning and get ready for work, can you look at yourself in the mirror and say that you love your job? Realizing that all of us as human beings have good and bad days, if you cannot say this to yourself most of the time, and you are in sales in particular, I would strongly suggest that you find a new job. Mon, 13 May 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/miss-march-135 I recently had the pleasure of being the Keynote speaker at The Windermere Manor’s Motivational Speaker Series and was very proud to have been affectionately given the nickname of ‘Miss March’. Aside from feeling like I should have a picture in a Calendar for this nickname, I was ever so pleased to have been given the month of March, as it is the month that my son Jake was born in. Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/it-rsquo-s-the-little-things--134 Recently, I was at a friend’s home to watch a hockey game. Trying to kill some time between periods of the game because we weren’t interested in what the pundits had to say, and weren’t at all interested in being inundated with the same Heartland and Ford commercials, we decided it would be best to fill this void with more hockey. He fired up the PS3 (not completely true, the PS3 is always up and running) and popped in the newest offering from EA Sports and the NHL. We began to play NHL13. Wed, 03 Apr 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/news/leveraging-your-most-powerful-asset-34 Hall mc invites you to join us for The Windermere Manor Motivational Speaker Series for an exiciting Presentation by our own Courtney Hance. Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/stepping-outside-the-box-133 We recently held a Google Connect event that Hall mc hosted put on by the Google Engage program. We got a group of marketing professionals together to listen in on a group of speakers from Google about some of the benefits of using the Adwords program and some of the great projects they have been working on at Google. Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/happy-halliversary--132 A few weeks ago I celebrated my first year at Hall mc and what a first year it was! In some ways the time went by very fast and in others it feels strange that I’ve only been here for a year, as it feels like I’ve been here for much longer. This is not because the year felt long at all, but rather I feel that the relationships I have built with my colleagues and the knowledge that I’ve gained could not have been attained in just one year. I suppose this is what happens when you find the right career with the right company and for that I consider myself to be extremely lucky. Mon, 11 Mar 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/i-feel-the-feeling-i-forgot-hellip--131 Paper. How does something seemingly so simple, have such an impact on print design? It’s astounding how much of a difference the choice of stock can effect the look and feel of your printed materials. Most people outside of our industry don’t realize how much of an effect the physical feel of something as simple as paper can have. The symbiotic relationship between the visual and the tangible is of upmost importance to designers. Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/that-039-ll-learn-ya-130 When I was in high school, my favourite class was "Communications", which (at the time) was a mixture of broadcast engineering, film production, and early web tech. When I say early web tech, I mean we were building BBS portals, and the modem had a telephone receiver. Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/look-what-we-made-2-129 We've been working with Meridian for several years now, and the recent CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards being imposed on automobile manufacturers drove the need for a complete brand overhaul and repositioning of the Meridian offering. Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/a-year-in-the-agency-world-128 A year has passed since I entered the agency world, and overall I’ve loved the change. An agency is an ever-evolving world and working in the digital space we move quickly to begin with, and since multitasking is my middle name I’ve fit right in. Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/the-power-of-networking-part-2-127 “The successful networkers I know, the ones receiving tons of referrals and feeling truly happy about themselves, continually put the other person’s needs ahead of their own” –Bob Burg Mon, 11 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/i-loved-you-mrs-morrison-126 Throughout the course of my life as a student in the sausage factory we call public education, I estimate I had - give or take - 100 or so teachers. Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/they-catch-my-breath-and-knock-me-down-125 I was lucky enough to stand up at one of my best friends weddings last week in the Dominican Republic. For the bachelor party I got to try a sport that I have always wanted to do, surfing. Thu, 07 Feb 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/happy-birthday-google-engage--124 On September 17th of last year, I had the opportunity to participate in the anniversary of the Google Engage program as a panelist. The event took place simultaneously across the country in four locations including Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Toronto and connected each location through Google Hangouts. If you have not had the opportunity to try of this relatively new Google collaboration product I suggest you check it out. Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/you-039-re-only-as-good-as-you-think-121 Anyone who creates for a living has come across someone who insists on forcing his or her ideas or suggestions into the equation. Sometimes they’re relevant and insightful, and actually serve to make the outcome better. Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/respect-your-roots-123 In the last few months, writing more consistently has made me think carefully about what I want to say. I don't want to spew out cursory tutorials on web design, or write anything that's lifeless. A valuable subject to communicate to you is my role within this company, how I work and meet challenges, and how the collective experience of developers applies to the rest of the communications industry. I always want to make a point that will leave you with new insight. Just as your business's customers all have different expectations, a public audience has different professional experience and preconceptions. My goal when writing is to engage as many of you as possible, and confront and explore issues that are close to me. Wed, 16 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/the-power-of-networking-122 As I was editing many blogs that I have written and deciding which blog to post, it crossed my mind that I have yet to write a blog on a topic that is near and dear to my heart – professional networking. Since this is the focus of the Business London magazine this month that I am in, I decided that this would be the time for me to expand on my thoughts and blog about this topic. Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/a-cautionary-tale-119 It's been a rough week for the design world in our neck of the woods. First there was the creative public's lambasting of the new London logo (and I do mean logo, not brand - look it up) and then there was this little gem that made it into the Toronto Star - for all the wrong reasons (see picture, and try not to be sick in your mouth - I dare you). Fri, 11 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/the-full-package-120 It has come to my attention that I will soon be working on a new project, a robust project that will consist of 20+ new SKUs. I’ll be giving an old product a new look. Having never tackled a project quite this large before I am excited yet nervous. This will be very challenging because of the variety of looks needed while maintaining consistency across all products so that they all look to belong to the same family. Fri, 11 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST %uri.base%/blurt/blog/in-house-vs-agency-sem-117 As we start the New Year you may be deciding what marketing avenues would best suit your business. With those decisions come the thoughts of ‘how’ and ‘who is going to help you meet my goals’. Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:01:01 PST