If you’ve ever met our CEO, Duff Stewart, you will quickly learn that he is a great listener.

And, if you’ve ever met our SVP of People, Dorian Girard, you will quickly learn that she is always seeking to better understand and relate to a scenario or an individual.

These are two qualities I have been working hard to adopt.

So, I have spent the past year learning to listen rather than to hear; and learning to question to understand, rather than to simply receive answers.

And, from this, I have discovered a concerning trend: It seems that over the past few years of the digital boom, we, as human beings, have become less happy, less satisfied, and more lonely, more disgruntled.

Yes, it is a depressing discovery, but I truly believe it is something we need to address before this becomes a pandemic.

It all comes down to bringing IRL interactions back into our lives.

When the early digital boom hit, we were so mesmerized by the ability to be better and faster: suddenly, we could share an article with all of our Facebook friends within a few clicks. Then, we realized the opportunity to be even better, and even faster. And, soon emerged the option to comment on and share articles with all of our Facebook and Twitter friends – with just one click.

In this chase after efficiency, we continuously condensed and further packaged our IRL interactions into minimalistic, one-action units. An originally verbalized “I like that!” was packaged into a thumbs up icon, which upon one simple click, notified the individual and his/her network that someone was a fan of it. An original process of surveying of a room, listening to conversations, then artfully asking to join in was packaged into an effortless, automatic intel feed of nearby individuals and their discussions that anyone could jump in on. No etiquette required.

These tightly-packaged interactions have allowed us to quantify our worth. So, we work hard to publish the right content to gain followers, deem Likes, receive mentions – all to prove that we are worthy. With these metrics for worthiness and/or success, our proportions have inverted. Our original 80% of our time with friends IRL and 20% with friends online has become 80% managing our digital personas, leaving only 20% for our IRL friends.

And, that is why we have become less happy, less satisfied, and more lonely, more disgruntled. We are born as social creatures who require IRL interactions and processes to find our inner happy. We have become so entrenched in quantification and optimization (a la digital), that we have forgotten about the value and necessity of IRL interactions – and how it feeds our souls.

This deep craving of IRL elements has spurred a defragmentation of the uber-efficient packages we’ve created, doting back on our analog lives: we convert mp3s to records; we create gifs that focus in on one small detailed action; we even brew our own beer. We are beginning to revisit the process of things, all to savor the slowing down of and the art of the details – all in an effort to re-inject meaning, happy, and comfort into our actions and lives.

Subconsciously, we are realizing that faster is not better.

And, consciously we need to remind each other to let life aerate a bit, to take slower sips, to allow it to roll over our palates, to experience and savor the beautiful undertones.

That. Is better.

Editor’s note: Our very own Shannon is headed to reality TV! I asked her to share some pre-trip emotions and insight on the blog. Don’t you worry, there will be a post-trip post too. Stay tuned.

A few weeks ago, I very expertly and professionally won an 11-day trip on a show that airs on the Travel Channel. I realize now that I am full of wisdom that I feel is my duty, nay, my honor to share with the general public. So before I become the biggest F-Lister you’ve never heard of and start making prestigious celebrity appearances on all of the bottom ranked cable network shows, allow me to tell you how you too may one day become a huge winner and an almost-but-not-really celebrity.

1)    Don’t read anything about casting notices. Just let a friend or significant other casually mention it mere hours before the show will be there.

2)    Don’t overthink the answers on the questionnaire. In fact, point out a typo or two. (No seriously, I did that.)

3)    Go in with a “no one ever wins these things” attitude. I can’t stress this enough. The less you think you’re right for it (apparently), the more right you ACTUALLY are for it.

(Note: this feeling has to be genuine. If you are faking it, producers know. I don’t know how they know, but I know they MUST know.)

4)    Tell the host of the show how you’re a nut case who fears that sharks will eat them in swimming pools. Because crazy always looks good on camera.

5)    Blindly agree to anything they throw at you. Hypotheticals are VERY easy to agree with. For example:

“SURE, I’d love swimming in a tank of hungry great white sharks!” “I’ve never tried BASE jumping, but it’s not THAT unsafe, right?” “Uh, who WOULDN’T be up for a solo rafting trip to Cuba??”

These are all excellent answers.

6)    Whatever you do, DON’T worry about having to take days off from work. That just ruins #3 and #5. Deal with that when the panic of winning sets in.

7)    Win. This is perhaps the most important step on the list. In fact, ALL of the other steps will become null, void, irrelevant and stupid if you don’t actually win.

So there you have it. If you follow this guide, you too can be jet-setting off to I-STILL-don’t-know-where (and I leave tomorrow). But who said you have to know what adventure you’re getting in to? As long as you have stalked the Internet to make sure the show is real and not an elaborate plan to sell you into slave labor overseas (which I have), YOU’LL BE FINE!

Oh, but always keep your passport up to date, because you never know when 1) it will come in handy and 2) the horrible picture will come back to haunt you.

So, future fancy-pants jet-setters, when I return I’ll regale you with tales of the (hopefully) fancy place(s) I visited and (maybe) interesting stories of me (fingers crossed) not dying. Until then, go forth and win not just A trip, but ALL of them.

By Dorian Girard

Last week I joined the sing-a-long led by B.B. King to “You Are My Sunshine.” I witnessed B.B. hand over his beloved Lucille to Jimmie Vaughn to play a few songs. Both were firsts for me. Not that I haven’t seen Riley B. King before. I’ve actually won tickets to see him 3 times. I have good musical fortune. This last win was compliments of a fund-raising raffle at the Austin Blues Society’s jam session at Antone’s. The year was 1983 when the first win came from being the 4th radio caller at a 7-11 payphone on Koenig and Lamar (this was pre-cell phones, folks). Both were great concerts, but for different reasons.

Sunday night’s 2 ½ hour concert was sold out. Now 87, the King of the Blues plays and sings less during the concert. And while it could have been a disappointment for some, for me this lent itself to seeing the other side of the musical legend– that of storyteller, joker, promoter and uniter of great musical talent. “Rock me Baby”, “The Thrill is Gone”, “Every Day I Have the Blues” were 3 of 9 songs played. Jimmie Vaughn and James Cotton were surprise guests. And as one would expect, the musicians in the band were cream of the crop.

As he introduced the band he told stories on them, throughout the concert he told stories on himself, and lightheartedly he joked often about growing old and talking too much. Every so often as he sat in his chair wearing his loud print jacket, he would “boogie” in his seat and quickly call attention to the audience so as not to miss it. Jimmie respectfully played Lucille on a few songs, while James Cotton tore it up on the harp.  And the incredibly talented Tameka Jones opened the show with a versatile range of unexpected songs such as “Miss you” by The Stones, “Burning Down the House” by the Talking Heads, and “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John.  Even the intermission music, pre-,post- concert music was great – then again, you can’t go wrong with Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Odds are unlikely I’ll win tickets again.
But if B.B. comes to town again, I’ll be there.

Okay Reagan, I was so with you…I was all “Tell me something we don’t know, Lance. Quit flattering yourself. No one cares. I can’t even believe Oprah is descending from her throne to interview this jerk-off. As if I’m going to watch. I think Vanderpump Rules is on at the same time.”

And then Thursday rolled around. And I started seeing a bajillion tweets about said interview and I thought “Well maybe I’ll just tune in- check it out- and turn it off after about five…It’s a pop culture event, and I am nothing if not interested in pop culture…”

And then. Then I found myself watching the whole 90 minute interview and not just watching it, but continually thwacking my husband on the arm saying “Did you hear that? This guy is UN.REAL. I mean, unreal.” And by the end of the two day 150 minute interview, here is why I care.

1) It’s really not about the doping. It’s not. Sounds like everyone was doing it and while that isn’t a reason or an excuse to take part- I don’t know that it’s really as controversial as we are making it. I would even go as far as saying that if everyone was doping- the playing field was level- and he still won. SEVEN TIMES.

2) It’s about him ruining people’s lives. Lots of people. So many people he can’t even recall exactly who, or how many people, he sued in an effort to get them to shut up about his doping problem.

3) It’s about how brazenly he dashed the idea of hope for millions of people who bought into his story. Cancer fighters and survivors EVERYWHERE saw him as something to believe in. They grabbed on so tightly to the idea of this human, this mere mortal, that not only beat a very advanced case of cancer, but then went on to do super human things. Lance Armstrong gave people something to believe in…and I would imagine that in many ways, that feels gone.

4) It’s about his family and his friends and how heartbroken his kids must be in realizing that their dad, the man they surely saw as a hero, had been lying to them and the world for YEARS…putting them in the awkward situation of having to perpetuate the lie day in and day out at school.

5) But what it’s really about for me, is the fact that the guy is clearly only sorry he got caught. He has to be a sociopath. There must be something wrong with him. In the whole 150 minute interview, there was ONE moment where he truly seemed troubled by what he had done. ONE.

And so I actually care about the whole Lance Armstrong mess. And not because of cycling. It’s true, no one cared about cycling before, so I’m sure the world will be fine after. I care because he has affected, and even ruined, the lives of so many…he has squelched the hope that people have tightly been holding on to in an effort to get through some of the darkest times…and the amazing thing is that he shows so little feeling about it that he seems to be telling a story that is not even his own. He hasn’t OWNED any of it.

In my mind, he will not be the guy that was stripped of 7 titles because of his incessant cheating and doping…he will be the guy that told a lie that so consumed him, that in the end, that is all he really is.

Hey everyone! Let’s make a pact: Let’s not talk about Lance Armstrong anymore. Cool? So many people are talking about him! They don’t need us, too! I mean, I get it. It’s “news” or whatever. But let’s give him the toddler acting out treatment and just take a break.

He made some pretty bad decisions. He avoided being held responsible for those pretty bad decisions for an incredibly long time. I’m not even mad! That’s impressive! But for whatever reason, people are really upset. But, you know what? I don’t get it. Here’s a mish-mosh list of why I don’t care:

1. No one cared about cycling before.

This might be a controversial opinion, but I am of the mind that no one cared about cycling before Lance Armstrong. “HE’S DONE SO MUCH DAMAGE TO THE SPORT OF CYCLING.” Calm down, person saying that. He didn’t damage anything that he didn’t sort of build himself.

“I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it!” – Lance Armstrong, probably

2. Livestrong is still an excellent organization.

They’re doing good work. It’s a bummer that they’re taking some heat from his fall from grace, but I sincerely hope they regain it. That backstock of yellow bracelets won’t wear themselves.

3. Wait, there are COURTS?

I am learning so much about doping, you guys. There are courts! And legal issues? I didn’t realize we took this so seriously. It all feels very dramatic and intense and also sort of unnecessary? Let’s just go back to playing stick ball and pick up games with Julio down by the schoolyard. Oh, the days of innocence!

4. His coffee shop is a ball joke.

Juan Pelota. Come on. That’s classic.

5. There are way more important things going on.

A guy maybe got Catfished! Gun control! Global issues! Monkeys in IKEA! GIFS! What you’re having for lunch! Think about those things!

I know we loved him and we all feel like jilted lovers standing in the rain holding boomboxes and crying, but if we don’t pay attention to him, we get asked out to the prom by the hottest guy/girl in school or something. Haters gonna hate. Lances gonna Lance and lose their Olympic medals. Let’s just close our eyes a while, not mention it and maybe it’ll all stop showing up in our Twitter feeds.

It’s starting to feel a lot like the Jetsons inside the walls of the Consumer Electronics Show!  The Connected Home has  been a hot area for years, but the more futuristic aspects haven’t really caught on with consumers in a big way.  Will  this year, with the next evolution of the connected home, finally parlay into a day-to-day reality for consumers?

One thing we know for sure…mobile is at the center of the Connected Home…smartphone app integration makes your phone a remote control or command center to make your home environment exactly the way you want it, at any time, from anywhere.  And homes are not only more connected, but they’re smarter.  Near-field communication (NFC) and sensor-technology make household living more automated,  intuitive and “connected” in a way that makes previously separate household  functions play well together.

Some of the more exciting developments in this space, and a glimpse of what the Home of the Future might look like, include…

Smart(er) Appliances

Ever drive home and wonder if you are out of milk?  Calling home to ask someone to check is so inconvenient, right?  Well, the next generation of appliances is designed to take convenience and efficiency to a whole new level.  For example, LG’s line of Smart appliances (oven, refrigerator, washing machine, and vacuum cleaner) use smart control technology, including NFC, for a variety of functions with just a simple tap of an NFC-enabled smartphone on the fridge or oven or from a wi-fi connection anywhere else to trigger a remote smart experience.  This can include monitoring the fridge’s inventory from a smartphone in your car to tell you if it’s time to hit the store on your way home.  The fridge can even suggest recipes based on its actual contents and “talk” to the oven to start pre-heating for that recipe.  I’m not sure that I want my life THIS automated, especially given the time it would take to log every item bought at the grocery store, but it’s a step in the right direction to make our day-to-day lives easier.

Although consumer convenience took center stage at CES this year, smarter appliances also mean being smart grid-ready so that those appliances or HVAC systems can “talk” to the grid to find the off-peak times to, say, run the washer or crank up the heat in your home.

LG Smart Appliances

The Next Generation of Home Automation Systems

Remote control of household functions like HVAC, LED lighting, locking doors, etc., have been around for a while but those functions, for the most part, haven’t been integrated into one app….Nexia Home Intelligence, Belkin’s WeMo, and many others are rolling out integrated home intelligence systems, but Lowe’s Iris, announced at CES this year, leverages Lowe’s connections with the hundreds of manufactures of products for an app that controls a wide variety of elements in your home through a single, unified system.  This goes well beyond HVAC and lighting functions.  The Iris system includes remote control of the lawn sprinkler system and even a “smart” pet door that tells you know your pet’s whereabouts.

Taking the home automation one step further is the idea of creating different environmental “sessions” within your home that are triggered by where, phsyically, you set your smartphone.  For example, with a mobile sync pad strategically placed by the bed,  laying a mobile phone down on that sync pad when you go to bed would trigger the instant shifting to an environment you might desire when you go to sleep:  temperature goes down, blinds close, maybe some calming music plays…or Barry White…you get the picture.  This technology even works with proximity control technology so that your home instantly adjusts the environment you want prior to your arrival and as you near home…temperature goes up, door unlocks, oven pre-heats, TV turns on to the evening news.  Allure Energy’s EverSense Proximity-based home management system among others offer this heightened and customized level of home comfort and control.

Lowe's Iris Home Management System

Integrated Home Management System

The Second Screen

No connected home would be complete without the icing on the cake…the connected TV.  TVs are even more tricked out with gesture and voice based controls.   But this year the level of synchronicity or “pairing” of mobile devices with the big screen would make any multi-tasker happy.  The Panasonic  Swipe and Share and Samsung’s Swipeit do exactly what they imply, bringing a second-screen experience where the TV and tablet or smartphone are simply screens and content moves seamlessly aross devices.  Similar to Apple’s AirPlay technology, pictures and video are easily flipped to the big screen.  In the case of the Swipe and Share, photos are even editable and re-shared.

Of course these second screen experiences most likely require a specific hardware and operating system combination to work.  For example, Samsung Swipeit is not currently available for iOS in the US, so it’s important to know what ecosystem you want to adapt to your existing device configuration or adopt an entirely new one.

Panasonic Swipe and Share

Samsung Swipeit

The over-arching theme of 2013 CES, the “Internet of Things”, truly comes to life in the area of the connected home.  Clearly, the higher level of mobile and smartphone device technology and app integration finally brings the Home of the Future into focus. (more…)

Far and away my favorite part of the Consumer Electronics Show is digital health and fitness. And lucky for me the floor space devoted to this category increased by 3x that of last year. Digital Health has been a part of CES for many years, but this year was different. There seemed to be a larger, more palpable movement in play that was driving all this attention…something that meant more than the newest collection of gadgetry to satisfy the average fitness nerd. The buzz around digital health was heard and felt in places that you wouldn’t expect. Even Bill Clinton’s speech at the Samsung keynote event mentioned technology’s vital role in improving our healthcare system.

But the highlight of the conference was the inspiring and thought-provoking Super Session panel called “The Digital Health Revolution: Body, Mind and Soul”, moderated by Arianna Huffington and including an impressive line-up of professionals in health technology.

The Digital Health Revolution panel at CES 2013

The panel was all in agreement that the healthcare system is broken…

- 75% of healthcare spending is spent on preventable diseases like diabetes and heart disease

- Patients outnumber healthcare professionals 10 to 1

With the system in crisis, the panel stressed that the key to success is to empower individuals to take control of their own personal health…managing diet, exercise and stress to prevent illness. This also means more efficient and informed interactions with healthcare professionals. Indeed, the tech industry is innovating in a way that makes this level of efficiency, control and the ability to heal ourselves entirely possible.

Wearable devices that measure the body’s bio-metrics while you do certain activities have been around for a few years. In the fitness realm, the Fitbit Flex, BodyMedia and GeoPalz iBitz (pedometer for kids) in many cases use sensor technology to provide real-time, accurate data including steps taken, calories burned and even sleep patterns. But what makes them more appealing this year over last is the improvement in look, comfort, and most importantly, making all that data accessible and usable via mobile synching with a smartphone app. Any time I want to see how calories burned and sleep habits affect my weight loss, I can. And I can even see what how my friends’ weight loss is going, too.

Fitbit Flex

GeoPalz ibitz

But of course, no matter how much working out and healthy eating you do, it doesn’t go very far if you don’t have a handle on stress. This aspect of health was not forgotten on the Health Revolution panel and on the showroom floor. Sleep and stress management tools took up almost as much space as the fitness devices, from training your brain with cool tools like the MUSE brain-sensing headband to a more warm and fuzzy solution with cute, cuddly, therapeutic robots, like the Paro seal robot. It responds to touch and gesture, just like a docile puppy would. I wanted to take that seal home with me!

MUSE brain-sensing headband

Paro Therapeutic Seal Robot

Beyond wearable devices is something that almost threw me off my chair. One of the panelists from Proteus Digital Health talked about a product they have developed that is essentially a digital pill. Imagine that every prescription pill you take has a microchip on it that measures how that medication affects your body. Can you imagine? This technology is real and right around the corner and it will transform the way individuals work with the medical community and how we manage our health.

At the close of the Health Revolution panel, Leaving CES made me hopeful that our collective health may actually turn around if we reframe the issue into something that makes people excited about getting healthy or fit…in the same way that they are excited about their smartphone and what it can do to entertain and make them more productive and in control of so many aspects of their lives. With the technology that is here at CES and right around the corner, we can.

While today is the first official day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there were plenty of great panel discussions, press announcements and buzz yesterday to get conference-goers salivating for all to be found on the showroom floor this week.

In just a few short hours yesterday a handful of obvious themes punched through my travel-weary brain…

Mobile is the Viewfinder for your life. In the Trends to Watch presentation, CEA’s Shawn DuBravac pointed out that 65% of time spent with mobile is for non-communication purposes. Smartphones are the interface for people to get things done, be more fit and healthy, manage their household and thousands of other uses that we have yet to tap. Smartphones are in virtually every corner of CES because they are essentially the remote control for the 20,000 new products and services throughout the showroom floor.

The Data trade-off. We’re starting a new digital era where we are beyond mere adoption of devices to taking advantage of the vast capabilities they have to offer. More often than not, this involves information about you…your personal data. When your data is stored in the cloud, sold to 3rd parties, or used for more targeted advertising, at what point does the benefit of the service not warrant handing over your personal information? As companies develop new services around the collection and harnessing of personal data, they need to ensure that they don’t create friction with their user base. Facebook obviously comes to mind as a company that has pushed the boundaries of this relationship. One of the panelists at a Privacy session yesterday posed the following question to the audience: “How much is your privacy worth to you? Would you pay Facebook $100 a year to keep your information private? Would you pay $10 a year? What is the threshold?”

Sensors. Sensor technology has been around for a while. I’ve been using sensor technology to measure the amount of calories I burn a day with the BodyBugg. It’s immediate, actionable and more accurate than more “analog” forms of data. And according to Mr. DuBravac, sensor-technology is dropping in price so consumers will be seeing layers of sensor-based functions (accelerometers, gesture, touch, voice, etc.) permeating their devices. For example, the iPhone 5 has not only the basic microphone, but an additional microphone sensor to cancel out background noise when recording a video. Beyond that, the “sensor-ization” of devices can take the form of,say, a DVR that can sense who is in the room so that it can customize ad delivery to those unique individuals. Lots more to report in this area.

Driverless cars. ‘Nuff said.

Can’t wait to hit the floor today! Check back for more CES updates and/or follow me on Twitter @janicepsuter.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for years, you know that some folks think that the world is coming to an end in a few short days. (Although if you’ve been living under a rock for years, you’ve probably done so in preparation for the world coming to an end. So congratulations, you weird, pale hermit.) Personally, I don’t buy all this talk about a Mayan calendar signaling the end of days. I’ve got one of those calendars at home, hanging in my craft nook. It’s even signed by Ms. Angelou herself, and goes right up to December 31st 2012 just like any other year. It’s also chock-full of inspirational quotes and anecdotes, so I don’t know why people have to be so negative. But since those haters still insist that the world is as good as gone (and since I’m no apocalyptic scholar) I present these selfish reasons why the show must go on.

1. Global warming is not complete. You didn’t really think things would end before we all had the chance to cruise the newly melted ice caps like a bunch of gill-breathing, well-tanned Kevin Costners, did you?

2. We can’t let the Doomsday Preppers be right. I’ve been hate-watching this show where people stockpile creamed corn and gold jewelry in bug-out bags for a while now, and I won’t accept that they have the right idea.

3. Arrested Development is back next year. And no force of nature, no matter how vengeful, would dare keep the Bluth family from gracing our television screens again.

4. I’ve got one of those massive pimples right at the corner of my mouth. And I’m not going down looking like this.

5. There are so many GIFs I haven’t been able to use in work emails. Like this one. And this one. And this one!

6. Instagram hasn’t made any money off of us yet. Their new Terms & Conditions don’t go into effect until mid-January, and we can’t put the earth to bed until the folks at Instagram have properly profited from our shots of half-eaten veggie burgers and birds on power lines and Converse shoes on various terrains. It’s not fair!

7. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS HAS NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT.

8. The IKEA monkey hasn’t had a chance at real stardom. This little bugger at least deserves to get a failed NBC pilot under his belt before we all go belly-up. And there are so many Olsens he’s yet to date!

9. Only the first film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy has come out. I can’t seriously be expected to spend the afterlife not knowing whether Bilbo ever returned the golden porridge to Cate Blanchett and saved the world from evil and who am I kidding I haven’t seen The Hobbit. Next.

10. We haven’t had our office holiday party. Oh, we did? I did what? Okay. Moving right along.

11. My newly-completed TV spots have yet to air. Those client-mandated last 12 seconds of enlarged logo aren’t going to watch themselves, people. LIVING THE DREAM.

12. I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet. Actually, if I can skip the mall parking/mall lines/mall people and just go straight to hitting the wrapping wine while the credits roll over this world of ours, I’m cool with that. Peace out, home planet. It’s been real.

It’s no surprise GSD&Mers quickly raised their hands when it came time to sign up for holiday charity efforts. This year, the agency made an even bigger impact and here’s how:

· Agency volunteers: 60+

· Time given: 125+ hours

· Food sorted at Capital Area Food Bank: 7,200 pounds of food/5,800 meals

· Children’s gifts purchased for the SuperHero Kids gala: 300

· Trees pruned at Tree Folks: 30

· Southwood Care Center gifts purchased: 89+

· Cash contribution to Blue Santa and Mobile Loaves & Fishes