Conference call woes

Last month, I published this post on tips for surviving mega-conference calls.

This week, my roommate shared a comical YouTube video that brings to life everything I mention - and really paints a picture of a conference call. Since I spend a few hours a week on conference calls for work matters - whether it be developing research plans, listening to webinars or simply receiving a status from my client's media partners, it's affirming to know that the rest of the business world notices the same nuisances.

Enjoy!  

Referrals for the win

Referrals have to be one of the strongest business strategies ever used with Millennials.

Not only do they feed into our sense of competition, but they enhance the feeling of being acknowledged by offering rewards for recruiting your friends!

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Uber telling me that Uber was doubling its referral bonus for a limited time. When you referred a friend with your specialized code, not only would your friend get $20 in cab credit, but you would get $20 in credit too. I kept it in the back of my head that if someone didn't have the app, I'd recommend they get it and give them the code…but who didn't have Uber at this point?

The more emails they sent, the more competitively I became a brand advocate. I quickly learned plenty of people I knew did not have Uber. Friends who were home on break from college, my roommate and luckily enough, an entire group of Mizzou students who were visiting on a Mojo agency tour of Chicago.

After explaining how convenient taxi-calling apps like Uber are, let's just say I have free cabs for awhile :)  Now, I'm doing the same thing with new mobile apps that I download because I saw it successful with Uber. Referrals FTW (yes, that means for the win).

Consumer Electronics Show: closing thoughts

At the beginning of this month, technology, advertising and innovation aficionados traveled to Las Vegas for the annual International Consumer Electronics Show. Working at a media agency, many of my co-workers attended to learn about the newest opportunities in ad tech, and I followed the press throughout the conference to learn about products and innovation.

Wrap-ups and reporting covered top trends such as wearable technology, products for smart homes and other new ideas.

Here are three tidbits that caught my eye, as I continue to think about their lasting effect weeks after CES.

1. EyeLock: Myris
This is one of the most exciting devices I have heard about in awhile. This "Myris" device scans your eye, plugs into your computer through a USB port and removes the need for online accounts and passwords by using your eye as the password to everything. How amazing it would be to not have spreadsheets on spreadsheets of passwords!

2. Bended technology

Bended TVs were very popular at CES, and they even introduced curved smartphones. I don't understand the appeal of bended technology, or what value it provides to anyone except the "cool" factor. If you have any insight or opinion as to why a bended TV screen would be useful, please...let me know.

3. Home automation systems

Now that smartphones are the norm, "smart homes" and "smart cars" are next. If one device can be ultra-connected and targeted, why can't every major aspect of your life? Dish Network shared an  automation system in the "smart home" space that will allow you to see video footage of your front door from your TV screen. This could mean incredible things for security.

Big Mac pricing worldwide

Kind of upset to see that the United States has one of the most expensive Big Macs in the world...thanks, McDonalds!

Read more here: http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/investing/big-mac-index/index.html

Graphic from CNN Money, sourced from The Economist

10 things I wish I knew growing up in Chicago

A few months ago after moving to the city, I published this post outlining realizations about Chicago. Now that I have become more acquainted nearly four months later, here are a few things I've learned that would have made a lot more sense as a high schooler roaming around after a Metra ride.

1. All of the good restaurants are across the river.
From Union Station, we would often roam around and wonder why there were no sit-down restaurants. It was too far to walk to the Michigan Avenue stretch as a 16-year-old, and Potbelly's by the train was even closed. Well…all the restaurants we were envisioning are in River North. 

2. Young people actually do live in Streeterville, and besides shopping - there is not much to do around there.
Streeterville is the neighborhood by Michigan Avenue and the John Hancock building, and it's pretty much just shops and high rises.

3. Lincoln Park and Old Town are just an L ride away, and it's not as difficult to get there as it seems.
Some of the most exciting parts of the city, there is always something to do in Lincoln Park. We always thought you couldn't get there without a car, but the more I think about it, it's not really difficult at all to get on the Brown line from Union Station.

4. No one lives in the Loop.
At all.

5. Highway 90 actually does have a lot more traffic than 94.
Friends from the west suburbs always claimed this and I didn't believe them. Well, after the junction when you look back, 90 really is incredibly backed up. #sorrywestsuburbanites 

6. The closer you live to 94, the worse location you are in.
The highway is awkwardly west of where most young people are, except Wicker Park, Bucktown & Logan Square. And if you live near it downtown, you're awkwardly a few blocks more north than any transportation or food. Basically, don't live near the highway. 

7. While Loyola's campus is prettier, it's more dangerous and DePaul is in a better neighborhood.
I always liked Loyola more because of its beautiful, lakefront campus buildings, but as I've learned, DePaul has a more grand appeal because of its Lincoln Park neighborhood, which is more renowned than Rogers Park. 

8. Randolph Street in the West Loop is awesome.
Best restaurants in Chicago. 

9. Both Chicago airports are accessible by public transportation.
Until traveling to cities like Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, etc…I discovered how HUGE it is for a city that you can get to Midway or O'Hare on the L. 

10. There are buses, and they can take you far!
It's easy to get acquainted with the bus system, and it can get you everywhere you are used to driving. The Halsted bus to Greektown, 77 Belmont bus in my neighborhood to the Blue Line and many more are pretty direct and don't take long at all. 

Help a stranger out

When my friends and I left United Center on Monday, it was windy and snowing viciously. We all know I'm too cheap to call a cab, so of course we waited for the bus to take us back downtown, to then take the subway back north.

On the bus, I saw a family struggling to communicate with a young couple, as they all stared blankly at the Chicago Transit mobile application. Taking a quick glance at the family, something about their image just looked South American. I couldn't determine if it was the father that looked like he just smoked a pack of cigarettes, or the mismatched clothing on the sons…but didn't want to make any assumptions.

Moments later, I heard the word MICRO and knew instantaneously they were Argentine. "Micro" is a shortened word that porteños (Buenos Aires residents) use to describe their buses. I had to help these people out; my roommates and I had plenty of lost moments on buses in Buenos Aires.

I had to laugh at all of my immediate thoughts. Why are they here during there summer, when it's hot and sunny in Argentina and cold and snowy in Chicago? Oh, because it's their summer vacation and they have off of school. Why were they taking a bus in a city they barely know? Because that's what everyone does in Argentina. Why didn't they look up directions on a phone? Because they don't have unlimited data in the US or WiFi on a bus, idiot. 

They were asking me directions not to their hotel, but to Pizzeria Uno. Why did they want to go to Pizzeria Uno at 11:30 p.m. after a long night at the Bulls game? Because that's normal dinnertime in Argentina. 

I talked to the bus driver, used my iPhone maps and told them exactly where to get off (and how many blocks it was from the stop I got off at, so they wouldn't be lost alone). After chatting a bit, it was comforting immersing myself into conversation with a family from Argentina. They were from Belgrano (outer skirts of Buenos Aires), taking a "vacation" to Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas & LA, and the son and I shared a birthday. They even felt comfortable asking me to look up the weather for their flight to Boston the next day.

One of the more hilarious questions they asked (after we converted Fahrenheit to Celsius together so they could understand the weather) was why everyone in the US has iPhones instead of Samsungs. They seemed to be very perplexed by something as small as this!

Lesson of the day: You are a reflection on your country, and represent not only your family or city, but the United States. If no one helped these Argentines with directions, they would have talked about how rude Americans were, not necessarily how rude Chicagoans were. I'm still thankful for people that helped us with directions in Argentina, and can remember what the group of kids look like who told us to get off of a bus at the wrong stop because they thought it was funny.

A little bit goes a long way!

Lesson of the day: laugh at yourself

Sometimes, stupid things happen and rather than dwelling on them, you just have to laugh it off. I learned this yesterday, when I burned my forehead while trying to curl my hair with a 360 degree curling wand.

It's definitely visible. It's bruised. It probably burned off a layer of skin. It looks horrible. And a huge part of me wants to break out into tears at how upset I am about it.

But instead, I decided to hold it together by laughing at how ridiculous this is. An interesting yet functional coping mechanism, it seems to be working so far. Laughing at yourself feels like true transparency and gaining the ability to admit you've done something dumb…and aren't going to let it affect you forever. Try it out, and laugh with me!

A screenshot of the Snapchat I sent to some friends

DALLAS: Mizzou wins the Cotton Bowl

After a great football season, the Mizzou Tigers got picked to go to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. Despite not being there, Dallas was never my favorite US city, but spending it with friends would be fun. Needless to say, a large group of us booked our flights, got tickets to the game and showed up in Dallas. 

Dallas skyline from the Deep Ellum area

I met my friends in the West End after their time at the Sixth Floor Museum, and visited the JFK Memorial while I waited, since he was shot in Dallas. The West End was full of museums and history- for both the United States and state of Texas. The Old Red Museum looked gorgeous. The hungry bunch headed to YO Steak House for lunch.

West End of Dallas with the museums, JFK Memorial and Dealey Plaza

The Dallas chapter of the alumni association planned a bar crawl at four prevalent bars in Uptown - Social House, Kung Fu, BBC and Prime Bar. It was a fun, little area with a large patio culture, and it was great to see other friends out in Dallas. The specials were great and they were trying to get rid of all of the champagne from New Year's Eve.

Some of our friends in town at Prime Bar in Uptown

The next morning, we ate TexMex food at Pepe's & Mito's per a recommendation, a restaurant in the Deep Ellum area of town. I've traveled with our large of a group of friends before, but it's funny every time for different reasons. We were all incredibly excited to use the hotel's free shuttle that takes you anywhere within three miles, and enthused each time we all hopped in. We quickly learned on this trip that friend time no longer has to be a regurgitation of what you do every day, especially since we're not all roommates anymore. Rather, the majority of time was spent talking about sports, highlights, people and current events. 

Pepes & Mitos in Deep Ellum. Everyone even got their own salsa!

We took a 15-passenger van to Arlington, about 20 miles outside of Dallas. AT&T Stadium, or "Jerry World" as they call it, was beautiful as we pulled up. It's right next to the Rangers Park where the baseball team plays, and Mizzou Alumni Association was hosting a large tailgate at the Arlington Convention Center. There was a cash bar, live band and plenty of alumni and Tiger fans together. The craziest thought was envisioning all of us at an MAA Tailgate with our own families later in life. 

The game was not as action-filled as the SEC Championship in Atlanta, but the 1st and 4th quarters made the game. It wouldn't be a Mizzou sport if it weren't stressing us out until the very end, but Andrew, Sherman and I had great seats and a beautiful view of the large video screen (from the 20-yard line to 20-yard line, three stories high) that steals the stadium. AT&T lived up to my expectations with good WiFi and cell phone service too :P, so it was a very well-documented game. We had trouble focusing on the field with such a gorgeous screen. 

Rangers Park and AT&T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tx.

The crew with Truman at the Mizzou Alumni Association Tailgate-
It's crazy to think it's been more than four years since we all met!

Singing the fight song at the MAA Tailgate

Sitting with Andrew & Sherman at the game, we had a great view of the video screen!

AT&T Stadium

The trip ended with late night In N' Out Burger and brunch at Emma's on the West End. It was nice to know that in just two and a half days, we saw most of Dallas's downtown neighborhoods and Arlington, and didn't feel like we 'missed out' on anything or had to return. Overall, the quick trip was a blast and hopefully Mizzou football stays game so we can attend many more bowl games in the future! 

Best photos from writing a thesis

When writing a thesis, unlike other life adventures, there are not many things you can take photos of. There's no visual way to document the hours you spend reading, annotating, coding, writing and preparing for the defense.

While flipping through 2013 photos, I found the following pictures captured on my phone as I moved between Chicago and Milwaukee work spaces to avoid distraction and have the proper space wanted. Here's a snip of laughter!

Working from a "home office" in the dining room

Using the church's Wifi and working in the church library

Spreading out papers in the church 

Dividing notes up by interview and carrying the printer to Milwaukee when setting up our Milwaukee apartment as another home office

Lit review-ing at the Milwaukee "home office"

Reading through final notes for the defense at the pool - might as well get some sun doing all this work!

Discovering Atlanta

A lot of traveling this year has been made possible by Mizzou football successes. With a week's notice after a win, a few friends and I decided to trek down to Atlanta for the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome the first weekend of December.

Atlanta has been on my cities to visit list for quite awhile, since the only other real southern city I have visited at an older age is Nashville. I was excited for not only for the Mizzou friends, fellowship and spirit, but also an opportunity to explore a new city.

Here are my observations overall:

• Downtown is full of hotels and conference centers. Many attribute this to the 1996 Olympics, but everywhere you look downtown there is another hotel or conference location - more so than any stores or restaurants! A Hyatt, Hilton or Marriott-owned hotel seemed to be everywhere I looked. 
• Everything is very spaced out. One of Atlanta's biggest differences is there is not one central skyline for the whole city. It felt like three different "downtowns" - the actual downtown, Midtown and Buckhead. 
• Everyone lives in a high rise. High rise apartments appear to be the way to go, since every building was at least 20 stories high. The city overall wasn't incredibly tall, but all of the buildings remained consistent and it seems to house a lot of residents. 
• There's a slower pace of life. Whether it was on an escalator or walking on the street, no one in Atlanta is in a rush to get anywhere. Which is fine…just a difference from Chicago and New York where everyone is very pushy and immediate. 
• Highway traffic is ridiculous. You hear this about Los Angeles and wouldn't expect it, but the highway barely moves here. It's always congested and traffic was absolutely horrible. 
• There are a lot of attractions and it continues to grow. As a visitor and tourist, it was not hard to find things to do in the city. Whether it was a botanic garden or park, CNN Center, rich Olympic history, World of Coca Cola or others, attractions provide a full weekend of entertainment. More continues to be built though, such as a College Football Hall of Fame in the works, as well as another museum next to Coke World. 
• MARTA public transit is great. We took the gold and red line trains on the MARTA everywhere and it was a very easy to learn. For only $2.25, we were crossing the city and the card system was simple to reload, enter and exit. Beats Chicago's Ventra! 
• There is a large Hispanic population. On the MARTA, all instructions were spoken in both Spanish and English, with brochures and signs often multi-lingual too. Props to ATL for being on par with America's cultural shifts and accommodating its population. 

What was wonderful about this 3-day trip was seeing Atlanta was not the only experience. Before the SEC Championship, Kathryn and I rented a car to see Phi Mu Headquarters in Peachtree City, about 40 miles outside of Atlanta. It's incredibly meaningful to see your sorority's headquarters, museum and Foundation, and meet all the people who work to maintain it. Unfortunately, I lost all of my photos of the artifacts when my camera went missing, but I won't forget the tour we received and the fun facts learned!

Kathryn and I at Phi Mu headquarters in Peachtree City, about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta

SEC Championship
Now the reason I was even there…the SEC Championship game. Although Mizzou lost to Auburn, it was an incredible football game and had an indescribable sense of energy. The SEC FanFare Tailgate alone was like a convention, with sponsors paying tons of money to support the conference, teams and fans. Auburn definitely had 3/4 of the game's tickets because of its close proximity, and the biggest joke of the weekend is how 'War Eagle!' is the team's rally cry when its mascot is a Tiger. When questioned, an Auburn alum said "Well Bama says Roll Tide and their mascot is an elephant so it's okay." You learn something new everyday.

I was very impressed with how many fans and Mizzou friends were able to drop everything in a week and make it down to Atlanta for the weekend, and it was a much-needed reunion. Mizzou Alumni Association hosted an awesome tailgate beforehand where everyone could reunite and share the Tiger spirit. Despite a sad ending with a missing camera and cancelled flight, I'm happy I could go and experience a championship game for such a devoted conference.

Here are some photos from the weekend: 

View of Midtown Atlanta from Piedmont Park, just a few blocks from our hotel 

Midtown skyline

A night out in Buckhead at Buckhead Saloon, a great bar that even put a Mizzou banner up! In addition to the Saloon, Lost Dog, Five Paces and Parkbench were just a few of the fun bars we saw in the Buckhead area, full of dive bars.

Our tickets to the SEC Championship

A panoramic inside the Georgia Dome

Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in downtown ATL

Sunday morning, Sherman, Jordan and I attempted a "scenic" brunch at the revolving restaurant on top of the Westin on the 74th floor. As you can see, the fog inhibited visibility but it was still a pleasant experience. The Sundial Bar & View is supposedly the tallest hotel restaurant in the Western Hemisphere. 

Afterward, we had tourist time and visited Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca Cola and the CNN Center.

Centennial Olympic Park downtown 

Tasting Coca Cola from each continent at the Coke Museum

The Coke Museum - World of Coca Cola - had a very new feel, with many interactive exhibits, high-tech videos and touch screens. The highlight of the museum is the tasting room at the end, where you have the opportunity to try more than 50 Coke flavors and sub-brands. My friend Jordan and I quickly learned that Fanta has tons of flavors including Fanta Magic, Fanta Exotic and Fanta Pineapple (from Greece!), European teas are not the greatest and all of the Coke brands in Africa do not taste nice.

My Atlanta conclusion is that the city's spread out nature and size with both the population and metropolitan area reminded me of my trip to Seattle last year. Both are cities where you drive, which have a few companies whose headquarters run the town (Turner/CNN and Coke in Atlanta, Microsoft and Starbucks in Seattle). While they are mid-sized, they are bigger than cities like KC and St. Louis, but not quite as big as Chicago or Los Angeles. It's easy and fun to visit and maneuver them, but I not rushing to live there full-time. Thanks again to Mizzou football for the opportunity to check it out!

2013 Highlights

Last year, I wrapped up 2012 with this post recounting some of the most exciting moments of the year after seeing many publications I follow complete wrap-ups and predictions. Here are some personal highlights of 2013 called out and upcoming occasions to look forward to.

What happened in 2013? 

• Travel, travel, travel.

Having my Instagram photo map to keep track, I realized I've visited four countries and 23 states in the past year, visiting cities and states like: NYC, Princeton, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Seattle, Kansas City & St. Louis, Iowa City, Champaign, Milwaukee, Dallas, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, San Diego & San Francisco, Denver, Lincoln and Omaha, Nashville, Louisville, Detroit, Springfield, Mass., Enfield, Conn., Atlanta and briefly Charlotte. Four countries: Argentina, Chile, Mexico and the USA. If only this could continue! 

I'm happy I had the time to blog about them and take some awesome road trips through the Midwest and to Colorado. It was also a blast to return to South America, explore Santiago, Valparaiso and Viñe del Mar in Chile and go to Mendoza, Argentina's wine country, a second time. 

• Writing and defending a thesis.

Eighteen hours of interviews, two literature reviews, a methods proposal and 90 pages later, my master's thesis was complete on 7-11-13. Want to read it? 

• Moving to and exploring downtown Chicago. 

Not only did I move out of Mizzou and back home, but signed a lease for an apartment north of the city in Lakeview and have lived here starting in October. If you would have told me that I'd live less than a mile from the lake and so close to North Avenue beach years ago, I wouldn't believe you. It's been fun to learn the CTA (especially the red and brown/purple lines), learn the various neighborhoods and realize how Streeterville is different from Gold Coast which is way different from Roscoe Village or Bucktown. I'm also happy that over the summer I had some time to explore Milwaukee and see what as a smaller city, it has to offer. 

• Starting a full-time, salaried job and visiting three of four Starcom offices. 

I returned to the Integrated Insights team that I interred on at Starcom, which is part of the company's Human Intelligence branch. As a senior research analyst on various accounts, I've learned a lot about LEGOs, consumer electronics and the auto parts industry, as well as quantitative surveys and focus groups. I even got to visit the New York and Detroit offices! 

• Running a Career Fair for 42 companies. 

Working with a fabulous team of three girls during my assistantship last year, we had a record-setting 42 advertising agencies and companies at Mizzou's Strategic Communication Career Fair. It was a good experience in public relations, cold calling, professional networking and learning how recruiters and talent acquisition departments operate and hire. 

• Attended conferences and professional networking events. 

My practice at work places a strong emphasis on continuing education and training, so I'm lucky to have attended a summit at Google's Chicago offices, a conference at Videology in New York and an Advertising Research Foundation conference. It's a cool atmosphere to meet other industry professionals, get to know your own coworkers better and learn together. 

• The year of surprises. (mere, kathryn, sherman, kara) 

As much as I love planning surprise parties, my inherent curiosity (or nosiness) has held me back from being surprised myself. That all changed this year when I had plenty of surprise visits from some of my best friends that made for some fun times. Meredith surprise-visited me at Mizzou, Kathryn flew in for my graduation party and Maria planned for my friends Sherman & Kara to eat dinner with us on a 20-hour trip to New York. What pleasant surprises! 

• The car hit 100,000 miles in July. 

On the drive down to Mizzou to defend my thesis, I was excited to see the CRV go from 99,999 miles to 100,000. And now it's already at 108,000…so the Artemas family doesn't drive at all. 

• Being open to trying new food. 

I was never a picky eater, but have definitely been more experimental in trying new food. Half by interest, and half by forced social situations. Cheese, hummus, onions, Coke, guacamole, seafood, beer and coffee are all new items in my diet that I never would have eaten in college. 

• Getting a tablet and adjusting to social media and pop culture trends. 

Just in the past year, I got accustomed to using my iPad reading list to follow news and books on a tablet, made my cousins watched goat videos after crying at how funny they are and became obsessed with Instagram. Experimenting with other apps like Flipboard, Circa News and transit trackers has been fun and made me feel more Millennial! 

By the (social media) numbers:

• 7,226 photos on iPhoto from this year
• 141 photos on Instagram
• 2,612 tweets total (nearly 600 in one year…yikes)
• 592 LinkedIn connections
• 3400 tagged photos, 11 new Facebook photo albums. 2,347 friends online 

What's in store for 2014?
Honestly, it's difficult to make this list since last year, I got my master's degree, job and apartment in the same week in July. Continuing to learn and explore, here are a few 2014 goals: 

• Enrolling in a MOOC (massive open online course), while they're still free
• Visiting Orlando and Houston as part of the 2014 travel agenda
• Spending more time with family and my goddaughter
• Going back to Mizzou and recruiting for the company I work for at the Career Fair I once ran
• Saving money
• Being Helen's maid of honor and starting to plan showers and the bachelorette party
• Continuing to explore Chicago and try things like Chicago Restaurant Week, and places in Wicker Park and the Gold Coast
• Cooking