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09
28
3 Comments

Donovan Prepares to Pivot in Place of Porter

Written by Donovan Beery in Conference Reports

Hey, Donovan Beery from 36 Point here, and with Matthew Porter unavailable to make it to Phoenix for the AIGA Pivot Conference, I was asked/volunteered/begged/did begging/said ok to cover the Neenah paper blogging duties.

And wow, these things sneak up fast. It really hit me yesterday at the Field Paper Show in Omaha where Tom Wright (of Neenah Paper of course) was speaking. Note: the free lunch brought in more designers than I expected to see at the event. Also note: Tom actually had a solid narrative, story, and flow throughout his entire presentation, much better than I expected to see, so big props.

Little does Tom know that his presentation slide would send me searching for who was actually speaking in Phoenix the minute I got back to the office.

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Thankfully, nobody knows how to pack big name speakers in a single conference like AIGA, as you can see from the list here. Wait a minute, really? Drew Davies? Drew actually lives less than a mile away from me and yet I've never actually seen him give a presentation – I may have to check that one out.

As for the one I am most looking forward too? Robert Brunner from Ammunition, his work is amazing, and speaking to him for less than an hour a few years ago changed my thinking on design more than anything else in the past decade. As for the conference itself, I can only hope the daily opening and closing events are as entertaining as Memphis was two years ago, and look forward to another Command X. That was the part of the AIGA conference that stood out as the best from last time in my opinion.

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As for the non-conference events at a conference like this? I need only look at my bulletin board in the office and realize that of the six photos of myself, two were from those few days in Memphis. Was it that couple of days hanging around some two thousand designers, or just a few too many hours on Beale Street that made Nate Voss and I think jumping off the trolly when we saw Michael Bierut (just to snap our picture with him and then race to the next trolly stop before it was gone just to get back on) was a good idea? But also, going to a conference like this is also a chance to explore a new city, so I ditched a couple morning sessions to make a trek to Graceland (amazing place, I loved every minute of it). Now if I only knew what the Phoenix equivalent to Graceland was...

Anyway, I'll be back in a couple weeks to report on the big event, and if you are there, be sure to say hi.

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  1. 09
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    29
    2:37pm
    Neenah Paper said:

    I only ask one thing: please save me a kiss at the Kiss A Former AIGA President Booth. I know who is first in line, Donovan, so don’t hog all the love.

  2. 10
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    5:51pm
    | Against The Grain said:

    [...] Donovan Prepares to Pivot in Place of Porter1 comments 2011 [...]

  3. 10
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    14
    8:05pm
    Robert Brunner Pivots with Apple, Dre and Gaga | Against The Grain said:

    [...] Donovan Prepares to Pivot in Place of Porter2 comments [...]