Lloyd goes to SEED–Chicago, Threadless, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Inspiration

Last Thursday I got my butt out of bed about 4:30 am to get to Pasco to catch a flight to Chicago for something called the SEED Conference, “A ONE-DAY CONFERENCE on DESIGN, ENTREPRENEURSHIP and INSPIRATION” the site declares. My Lead Designer and Development Manager begged me to attend this conference a few months back and I was so glad I came along. I have been to a few shows in the last year, wine related and entreprener related but this one takees the cake as the show that left me wanting for more—more from myself, more from my company, and more to give to my customers.

Among the speakers were Jason Fried, Founder of 37 Signals, Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV, and the dynamic creative duo from Threadless, Jake Nickell (Founder) and Jeffrey Kalmikoff (Creative Director). Also represented was Carlos Segura from Segura Inc. as well as Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners, and Edward Lifson–a NPR Correspondant for Architecture.

Friday began around 8 am with name tags, organic coffee, and brief chit chats between web 2.0′ers and Designers from all walks of life. I sat near a cool guy named Eric Franklin, a Senior Program Manager at Amazon, and a fellow Walla Walla property owner…small world eh?

The conference lasted around 10 hours including the tasting hosted by Gary V, he selected a NZ Sauv Blanc from his shop, not a domestic wine as I would have preferred but good none the less.

Three Key Points I took away from this show were:

Build Now…Tweak Later. Jason Fried spoke heavily on User Interface design and strategy and the improtance of clear and easily managed interfaces, but the idea of “Get it out the door and make it better as you go” rang home for me. We can spend hours, days, weeks, thinking but you can waste lots of time and money if you spend more time talking then building. It rings to an old school motto I grew up with, “Just Do It.” The panel at the show swore heavily and amended the urgency of this call to action, “Just F-ing Do It… Now.”

RAT–Real, Authentic, and Transparent–Gary Vaynerchuk spoke on the concepts of building and living as a breathing brand that people can access and follow. He also delivered his strong emotions about not trying to be something you are not. The thinking behind this is that technology and the speed by which information passes these days will sting you in the ass before you utter the last breath of your falsity. So in short, don’t be something you are not, and be RAT, and be very accessible and committed to your following no matter how small or large.

Your Employee’s Happiness Matters as much as your Customer’s–maybe more. Jake and Jeffrey both delivered a clear message on investing in your company’s most valuable resource, your employees. Building fun, productive, and creative work atmospheres in the web space is essential. They both mentioned it makes terminating employees that much more difficult but performance is the key indicator of an employees activity in the company, a measurable component. Im not sure my office has space for foos-ball or Ping Pong tables but ensuring my employees are happy will remain a constant in my daily role as CEO of American Winery LLC.

The SEED Conference closed with one of the most educational Q and A sessions that I have ever attended, not to mention there were more F-bombs than the last Wu Tang Album, but the relaxed atmosphere of the SEED conference will be something that makes this show sell out time and time again. Whats better than hearing the most successful people in Web and Design dropping a few F-words?

There was rumors of a SEED show that would be 12 hours of Q and A, if so, I’m in, all I ask is that we can toast the show with some quality US wine from AmericanWinery.com!

Cheers,

Lloyd