SPONGE BRAIN

Saturday 10.24.09

Today was a 9 hour day of seminars. There were a few quick 15 minute breaks between, but honestly, I was on the edge of my seat for most of the day. (Well, after the adderall kicked in.) First up was a very informative 3 hour book publishing seminar, which was the primary reason that I came to this show. Then we had the honor of listening to keynote speaker James Nachtwey in such a moving presentation that I literally cried. (Good thing it was dark in there) He has been documenting war, famine and other crimes against humanity for many years. Listening to him today and give commentary on so many of his compelling shots was an unforgettable experience for me. It was truly an honor. Please take the time to click on these links and look at his images. It made me feel shallow, small and insignificant. At that moment I felt like there was no other purpose in life except photojournalism. I felt like any photograph that I had taken or might take in the future was dumb and futile in comparison to what he showed us. Photojournalists like James Nachtwey give a voice to people who have no voices. He has recently been in the news for his documentation of drug resistant tuberculosis in very poor countries, when oftentimes patients are inflicted with TB and HIV. He was one of three recipients of the TED award in 2007 where he was allowed one wish… He wished that tuberculosis was given the medical attention and funding that it deserved. This is something that is preventable, treatable and curable and needs to be addressed. His wish is finally being acknowledged.

After his lecture I sat in on a podcasting and social media seminar. Shockingly, there were very few people in this room. If you don’t think that social media is a valid way to increase your business, I don’t know what to tell you… you are seriously missing the boat. So there I was tweeting away and the instructor totally called me out for being on my phone and using Twitter. Then of course, I had to tweet about the fact that I got busted for tweeting. One of my followers said “Laura, if you are tweeting from a social media seminar you do not need to be at a social media seminar.” It was pretty funny, actually. I did learn a lot about the importance of podcasting and video content for a blog J

The last lecture of the weekend was about internet strategies and guerilla marketing. I didn’t get that much information that I didn’t already know from working at Naughty America for so many years. The adult industry is typically one step ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to technology and I do know a thing or two about getting traffic to your site, so I listened to the instructors tell a room full of photographers (who probably still use film) about how to buy a domain name and where to host it. HA! In all seriousness, I did walk away with a couple of good ideas…

I went back to my room and searched some more domain names and scooped up a bunch of Twitter names and then Hot Liz picked me up in a cab and we headed to Gramercy Park Hotel for a drink. I want to point out that Liz travels with road sodas and she is not under the age of 21.

That place is really really sexy… and there are some delicious drinks on their menu. I had the watermelon mint martini and a drink called Garden of Eden made of gin, ginger root and something else which escapes me now. Liz had the most amazing cinnamon mojito… I wanted to have sex with it.

We went to a gimmicky restaurant called Ninja NY

Imagine if Bruce Lee owned Benihana.

The food was average… but it was also close to closing time, so they were in a hurry to get us out of there. I am pretty sure they served me a plate of nigiri that had been prepared an hour beforehand. Oh well. Lesson learned. It was my idea and they both loved it, but I am never going back.

I want to close with this: In your day to day dealings with people… remember to always treat people as you want to be treated. I know you have all heard this before from your mother and I know that we all know that this is the right thing to do… but actually do it. Sometimes your actions might hurt someone’s feelings… just think carefully. It’s never a good idea to burn a bridge because of a simple act of discourteousness.