San Francisco
Lombard Street
May 16, 2011
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Conferences are packed with speeches, workshops, and ample opportunities for networking. Even a brief respite is warranted. A walk outside your hotel room to see the neighborhood will have terrific restorative benefits.
Last week, I mentioned my upcoming San Francisco INTA adventure to a newly met friend (i.e., blind date). She encouraged me to see Lombard Street, a.k.a. The Crookedest Street in the World. This morning, I accomplished the task. The cab driver negotiated the whiplash turns with extreme deftness. Lombard Street is shorter than it looks in photographs, but it’s worth the trip.
All too often, we consume ourselves with wanting to get every professional opportunity from a conference. And we should pursue opportunities vigorously. But there are always pockets of time available to do something besides collecting business cards. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.
david@davidkrell.com
Conferences are packed with speeches, workshops, and ample opportunities for networking. Even a brief respite is warranted. A walk outside your hotel room to see the neighborhood will have terrific restorative benefits.
Last week, I mentioned my upcoming San Francisco INTA adventure to a newly met friend (i.e., blind date). She encouraged me to see Lombard Street, a.k.a. The Crookedest Street in the World. This morning, I accomplished the task. The cab driver negotiated the whiplash turns with extreme deftness. Lombard Street is shorter than it looks in photographs, but it’s worth the trip.
All too often, we consume ourselves with wanting to get every professional opportunity from a conference. And we should pursue opportunities vigorously. But there are always pockets of time available to do something besides collecting business cards. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.
The Maltese Falcon
May 15, 2011
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
And so a full moon shines brightly over San Francisco as the INTA Annual Meeting is underway.
At the kickoff reception, I immediately noticed an energy missing from the 2009 Seattle and 2010 Boston meetings. Perhaps the healthier economy is the major factor. Also, approximately 9,000 attendees will be here. That’s quite an increase compared to the last two years. I also enjoyed meeting friends and colleagues on INTA’s stalwart team -- Ralf Mangual and Jessica Tuquero. I also had the opportunity to chat with Alan Drewsen, INTA’s President.
I connected with another old friend and colleague -- not to mention trademark attorney extraordinaire -- Sonja Keith of Classic Media. Sonja oversees the trademark portfolio of Classic’s properties, including The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Richie Rich, Underdog, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. We talked trademarks at the legendary John’s Grill. Detective story buffs will note that John’s Grill is mentioned prominently in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon as Sam Spade’s hangout. I had the Sam Spade Special, a meal described in the book -- Sam Spade went to John's Grill, asked the waiter to hurry his order of chops, baked potato, sliced tomatoes and was smoking a cigarette with his coffee when...
It’s the stuff that a carnivore’s dreams are made of.
david@davidkrell.com
And so a full moon shines brightly over San Francisco as the INTA Annual Meeting is underway.
At the kickoff reception, I immediately noticed an energy missing from the 2009 Seattle and 2010 Boston meetings. Perhaps the healthier economy is the major factor. Also, approximately 9,000 attendees will be here. That’s quite an increase compared to the last two years. I also enjoyed meeting friends and colleagues on INTA’s stalwart team -- Ralf Mangual and Jessica Tuquero. I also had the opportunity to chat with Alan Drewsen, INTA’s President.
I connected with another old friend and colleague -- not to mention trademark attorney extraordinaire -- Sonja Keith of Classic Media. Sonja oversees the trademark portfolio of Classic’s properties, including The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Richie Rich, Underdog, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. We talked trademarks at the legendary John’s Grill. Detective story buffs will note that John’s Grill is mentioned prominently in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon as Sam Spade’s hangout. I had the Sam Spade Special, a meal described in the book -- Sam Spade went to John's Grill, asked the waiter to hurry his order of chops, baked potato, sliced tomatoes and was smoking a cigarette with his coffee when...
It’s the stuff that a carnivore’s dreams are made of.
San Francisco
May 15, 2011
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Greetings from San Francisco!
The INTA Annual Meeting is kicking off imminently. Yours truly will be blogging throughout the conference. It’s a pretty simple formula. Workshops. Networking. Parties. And about 8,000 of your peers and, hopefully, soon-to-be colleagues, clients, and friends in the trademark arena.
I’ll head to the Moscone Center fairly shortly to get a jump on things.
I hope I run into some folks from Disney. The House of Mouse recently applied to register “Seal Team Six” with the United States Patent & Trademark Office in the wake of the successful mission to storm Osama bin Laden’s compound. Is there a movie in the works? A video game?
david@davidkrell.com
Greetings from San Francisco!
The INTA Annual Meeting is kicking off imminently. Yours truly will be blogging throughout the conference. It’s a pretty simple formula. Workshops. Networking. Parties. And about 8,000 of your peers and, hopefully, soon-to-be colleagues, clients, and friends in the trademark arena.
I’ll head to the Moscone Center fairly shortly to get a jump on things.
I hope I run into some folks from Disney. The House of Mouse recently applied to register “Seal Team Six” with the United States Patent & Trademark Office in the wake of the successful mission to storm Osama bin Laden’s compound. Is there a movie in the works? A video game?
Preparing For A Conference
May 09, 2011
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
And so another spring is here. My annual ritual of attending the INTA Annual Meeting is fast approaching with the kickoff taking place next Sunday night, May 16th.
I’m privileged to speak on a panel about branding for attorneys. Trademark attorneys specialize in protecting brands. But a newConference calls, practices, and constant self-editing have become part of my routine in recent weeks.
Practicing the presentation is the most challenging part because there is no audience during our practices. Comedians can go to small comedy clubs for the 1:00 am slot to get timing down for a new set of jokes. We do not have that opportunity. And unless we’re Charlie Sheen, he of the “Duh! Winning!” attitude, we do not have proclaimed goddesses adorning the stage to keep the audience visually interested.
We cannot coast on our experience, our knowledge, or even our reputation. Why? Because every audience is another chance to land a client. We only get one chance to be in front of the crowd. So, I’m diligently rehearsing my part of the workshop.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
david@davidkrell.com
And so another spring is here. My annual ritual of attending the INTA Annual Meeting is fast approaching with the kickoff taking place next Sunday night, May 16th.
I’m privileged to speak on a panel about branding for attorneys. Trademark attorneys specialize in protecting brands. But a newConference calls, practices, and constant self-editing have become part of my routine in recent weeks.
Practicing the presentation is the most challenging part because there is no audience during our practices. Comedians can go to small comedy clubs for the 1:00 am slot to get timing down for a new set of jokes. We do not have that opportunity. And unless we’re Charlie Sheen, he of the “Duh! Winning!” attitude, we do not have proclaimed goddesses adorning the stage to keep the audience visually interested.
We cannot coast on our experience, our knowledge, or even our reputation. Why? Because every audience is another chance to land a client. We only get one chance to be in front of the crowd. So, I’m diligently rehearsing my part of the workshop.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
INTA -- Changes
May 26, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
And so we enter the home stretch of the 2010 INTA Annual Meeting. Some attendees will leave today because their work load demands it. Some will stay for tonight’s Grand Finale at the Museum of Science.
I attended my first Annual Meeting in 2005. In the past five years, I’ve noticed three major changes.
First, the booths in the exhibition hall don’t offer giveaways anymore. Westlaw used to offer premium quality gym bags or roller bags if you sat through a presentation lasting approximately thirty minutes. The giveaway was so popular that waiting on the massive line to get to the presentation frequently exceeded an hour. Perhaps the scaling back is a response to the economy. Instead of premium giveaways, many vendors are holding drawings. Place your business card in a bowl. If they draw your card, you win an iPad, iPod, etc.
Second, law firms don’t host nearly as many parties. The economy has certainly hit the legal field in the past five years. Law firms retracted marketing efforts accordingly. Once a highlight of the INTA Annual meeting, now attendees must find networking opportunities on their own.
Third, the topics in the seminars, workshops, and breakout sessions have changed. This change is a response to the demands of INTA’s members and their clients. For example, “social media” was not in our lexicon five years ago. Now, it’s front and center as a topic because our clients face tremendous challenges in policing their marks on Facebook, Twitter, and the like.
So, as we wind down, I’m already looking forward to next year’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco!
david@davidkrell.com
And so we enter the home stretch of the 2010 INTA Annual Meeting. Some attendees will leave today because their work load demands it. Some will stay for tonight’s Grand Finale at the Museum of Science.
I attended my first Annual Meeting in 2005. In the past five years, I’ve noticed three major changes.
First, the booths in the exhibition hall don’t offer giveaways anymore. Westlaw used to offer premium quality gym bags or roller bags if you sat through a presentation lasting approximately thirty minutes. The giveaway was so popular that waiting on the massive line to get to the presentation frequently exceeded an hour. Perhaps the scaling back is a response to the economy. Instead of premium giveaways, many vendors are holding drawings. Place your business card in a bowl. If they draw your card, you win an iPad, iPod, etc.
Second, law firms don’t host nearly as many parties. The economy has certainly hit the legal field in the past five years. Law firms retracted marketing efforts accordingly. Once a highlight of the INTA Annual meeting, now attendees must find networking opportunities on their own.
Third, the topics in the seminars, workshops, and breakout sessions have changed. This change is a response to the demands of INTA’s members and their clients. For example, “social media” was not in our lexicon five years ago. Now, it’s front and center as a topic because our clients face tremendous challenges in policing their marks on Facebook, Twitter, and the like.
So, as we wind down, I’m already looking forward to next year’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco!
INTA - New Friends, Old Friends
May 23, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
And so the annual gathering of trademark professionals, otherwise known as INTA Annual Meeting, began tonight with the kickoff cocktail party. I connected with my Effective Legal Writing co-panelists Bob Latham and Kelly Slavitt. Unfortunately, we did not connect with the other member of our quartet, Joff Wild. But we’ll all be in the same place tomorrow at 10:30 am -- Room 203 in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Bob Latham generously invited us to Jackson Walker’s cocktail party at City Bar in the Westin adjoining the convention center. I reconnected with Jackson Walker veterans Carl Butzer and John Jackson. And I struck up a conversation with two attorneys -- Alan Kaufman of McKenna Long & Aldridge and Sunita Koneru of Bullivant Houser Bailey.
Sunita, raised in Iowa, now calls San Francisco her home city. Alan is a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan transplanted to New York City. They are proof positive that INTA’s Annual Meeting inspires networking. Alan and Sunita met at last year’s event -- now they’re old friends. To market future INTA events, Alan theorizes that the word “Intaversary” could be an emblem, maybe even a trademark.
While I waited on the taxicab line outside the convention center, I ran into another Alan -- Alan Drewsen, INTA’s Executive Director. Alan graciously remembered my blogging and Tweeting from last year’s Annual Meeting. I promised more of the same for this year.
We’re off to a good start.
david@davidkrell.com
And so the annual gathering of trademark professionals, otherwise known as INTA Annual Meeting, began tonight with the kickoff cocktail party. I connected with my Effective Legal Writing co-panelists Bob Latham and Kelly Slavitt. Unfortunately, we did not connect with the other member of our quartet, Joff Wild. But we’ll all be in the same place tomorrow at 10:30 am -- Room 203 in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Bob Latham generously invited us to Jackson Walker’s cocktail party at City Bar in the Westin adjoining the convention center. I reconnected with Jackson Walker veterans Carl Butzer and John Jackson. And I struck up a conversation with two attorneys -- Alan Kaufman of McKenna Long & Aldridge and Sunita Koneru of Bullivant Houser Bailey.
Sunita, raised in Iowa, now calls San Francisco her home city. Alan is a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan transplanted to New York City. They are proof positive that INTA’s Annual Meeting inspires networking. Alan and Sunita met at last year’s event -- now they’re old friends. To market future INTA events, Alan theorizes that the word “Intaversary” could be an emblem, maybe even a trademark.
While I waited on the taxicab line outside the convention center, I ran into another Alan -- Alan Drewsen, INTA’s Executive Director. Alan graciously remembered my blogging and Tweeting from last year’s Annual Meeting. I promised more of the same for this year.
We’re off to a good start.
How Is Your Company Using Social Media?
October 22, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Social media isn’t just for status updates about waiting in line at Starbucks, watching the baseball playoffs, or running errands. Corporations are taking advantage of the relatively infant social media network to connect directly with customers, enhance branding initiatives, and promote products and services.
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt highlighted the corporate embrace of social media yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco -- A Conversation with Jeff Immelt with John Battelle, Founder and Chairman of Federated Media Publishing.
The one thing I’ve learned being a public company CEO for the last couple of years is if you’re not willing to be completely transparent on just about everything you do and if you can’t tolerate life in a world where you’re sharing information openly, where you’re getting input from lots of different people, where they have the ability to critique, criticize, have inputs whether it’s on Health Imagination, Ecomagination, you better find a new profession. This is just a world of transparency, openness, two-way dialogue with your constituents.
How is your company furthering that dialogue?
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Social media can be a cornerstone of a company’s marketing plan if it is used effectively. We reveal effective social media strategies in the Your Writing Is Your Brand™ and Write This Way™ workshops.
david@davidkrell.com
Social media isn’t just for status updates about waiting in line at Starbucks, watching the baseball playoffs, or running errands. Corporations are taking advantage of the relatively infant social media network to connect directly with customers, enhance branding initiatives, and promote products and services.
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt highlighted the corporate embrace of social media yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco -- A Conversation with Jeff Immelt with John Battelle, Founder and Chairman of Federated Media Publishing.
The one thing I’ve learned being a public company CEO for the last couple of years is if you’re not willing to be completely transparent on just about everything you do and if you can’t tolerate life in a world where you’re sharing information openly, where you’re getting input from lots of different people, where they have the ability to critique, criticize, have inputs whether it’s on Health Imagination, Ecomagination, you better find a new profession. This is just a world of transparency, openness, two-way dialogue with your constituents.
How is your company furthering that dialogue?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social media can be a cornerstone of a company’s marketing plan if it is used effectively. We reveal effective social media strategies in the Your Writing Is Your Brand™ and Write This Way™ workshops.