It is content, or rather the consciousness of content, that fills the void. But the mere presence of content is not enough. It is style that gives content the capacity to absorb us, to move us; it is style that makes us care.

The speaker of this quote is absolutely not talking about the content on your website or in your newsletter, but the content of our lives.


Being a copywriter/content creator, however, I see its direct applicability to written content.


It goes along with my earlier posts about copy and design being a celestial combination, and about how dressing-up/giving some style to RFPs can get you and your services noticed.


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the well-written word (content) + beautiful design (style) can change the world…and our lives (and your website, and your newsletter, and your RFP, etc).

I thought to blog about this because I go to a lot of networking events and not all of them are great. A large part of what makes an event great or not is how we use our time at those events. I confess I could have used my time more wisely at some of these events. Anyway, this isn’t a post about networking event dos and don’ts (this post is though), but I thought others might be experiencing the same feeling of dissatisfaction so I thought I would share my most recent experience. Thus, to blog.


I went to a networking event yesterday afternoon that was put on by the Portland Business Alliance called Lunch with Leaders. It’s an event series where members can attend a lunch talk with local city, regional and state leaders. The speaker this time was Tom Hughes, president of our regional governing body out here, Metro.


I arrived late to the event and there wasn’t a single person I knew in attendance. Sometimes I need to find shelter in a familiar face for a few minutes before moving on to new people and yesterday was one of those days. So I was immediately thrown off my game, I didn’t get to ask my very important question about how community gardens figured into the long-term regional development plan because some guy wouldn’t stop talking, and then everyone scattered as soon as the event was over. Extreme frustration. That’s what I felt.


You may be thinking to yourself, “Amber, you’re whining. The point?” Yes, yes, the point.


The point is that after I walked out of the air-conditioned conference room, I stood in the sun outside the building (a rarity in Portland. The sun, that is, not the building.) and thought about anything else I could do downtown while I was there. It turns out that two wayward clients had offices within a 10-minute walk of where I was standing. You see where this is going?


I stopped by the offices of these clients and when they gave me that, “Um, what are you doing here? Did we have a meeting?” look, I told them that I was in the area for an event that had just finished and I just wanted to stop by and say hi. Their confused forehead wrinkles turned into smooth smiles and I chatted with each of them for 5-10 minutes before wishing them a good day and leaving.


It was great. I felt immeasurably better afterwards and hey, maybe now those wayward clients will change their wayward ways.


So, the lesson to be learned from this story is that when unsatisfactory networking events give you lemons, make lemonade; when they give you eggs, make an omelet; when they give you oranges, just peel them and eat them on the spot.

So, I was at a networking event this morning and one of the attendees was a travel agent. She stood up and told us that she’s planning trips to Peru and Africa and that Africa is her specialty. She used to live there and, I quote,

“I know the language in Africa.”

…(clears throat) Now, I’m not a bad person and nor would I consider myself a snob, though I know a few people who would argue that, and I can’t help it if my right eye twitches involuntarily, just a little, every time someone says things like this. It doesn’t mean I’m judging them, but it does mean I’m mentally reconstructing their sentences into a form that is grammatically, socially, and literally correct.


Everyone in the room understood what she was trying to say, but that doesn’t make the statement any less inaccurate. Here’s a few things I’d like us all to review about Africa:


1) It is a continent
2) There are about 54 countries within it
3) An estimated 1500 languages are spoken on the continent that is Africa (According to Wikipedia.)


As a copywriter, these are the kinds of inconsistencies and falsities that I correct on a daily basis. Yes, it’s my job to correct such things when they are written, but I have no control over the way you speak. You’re on your own there, people.


So go forth, and for the love of all that is wonderful and wordy, speak good.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&feature=player_embedded#!]

You’re welcome.

It occurred to me only after you had walked away that there might be an equivalent to Writer’s Market. I did some quick research this morning and found out that there is indeed an equivalent! It’s called Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market. I haven’t looked through this book, so I can’t professionally recommend it, but if it’s anything like Writer’s Market, I recommend it.

If only I had given you my business card we could have been in touch and I could have told you about it! Oh, well. Hopefully other aspiring freelance graphic designers and artists read this post and find the tools they need to get started in this book.

Cheers.

True to form, I found an error in this copy. It’s not a typo this time but a matter of a comma that could have been employed to make this sentence read a little easier.

Attorneys for both the 32-year-old St. Paul man as well as the victims’ families say they’re encouraged by the evidence that the problems went beyond models that originally were recalled.

I would have added a comma after “families” like this:

Attorneys for both the 32-year-old St. Paul man as well as the victims’ families, say they’re encouraged by the evidence that the problems went beyond models that originally were recalled.

That’s all.

Or maybe have the local Girl Scout troop volunteer to chop to them down.

However distracting two “tos” can be, this doubling is not to be blamed on Palin. The finger is to be pointed at the copyeditors and proofreaders at HarperCollins for letting this slip through.