Time flies when you're having...something

OK--It's been a while.  Check that--it's been more than a while.  2 years in fact.  Two years that I don't wish to relive but must accept the result.

My Rocky Mountain Experiment failed.  At least, as far as a long-term solution for my chronic pain is concerned.  Instead, I got higher than I wanted to in an area I didn't wish to get high in.  As, in, the head.  I wanted my back to stop hurting, and it did, but at the cost of a disconnection I didn't care for.

So, from then, I went to more doctors, had more tests, and eventually found out I had all sorts of other stuff I won't go into.  Short-term disability led to long-term disability which led to a premature retirement.  So, I'm on the DL.

I'm unsure what I'll do.  I will reconnect with the business at some point once I get to a comfort spot.  Stay tuned for more posts.  I promise it won't be two years before the next one.

In the meantime, I am using my near-encyclopedic knowledge of music from the '60s through the '80s in a new way.  I'm digging up old stuff you probably haven't heard, or haven't heard in a long time.  I'm linking to a YouTube video that doubles as my time machine.  I promise some surprises from bands you thought you knew.  It's at

thatwasrockandroll.blogspot.com

Stop by and see what's cooking...


Pete

Rocky Mountain High...

I just got home from what I've come to call Gazipalooza, the EEA soiree that was held last week in Denver.  I used to call it Kilmetispalooza in honor of Jim Kilmetis, the "face" of the event to the market.  With Jim's move to Hinda, Nick Gazivoda has assumed the leading role, hence the name change. 

The event was not a "trade show" (although I did get a couple of things in "trade" from other exhibitors), but rather a "client meeting event" where we didn't build a booth, didn't bring much product, and didn't stand around on hard concrete for 8 hours a day (my back is eternally grateful for that). 

What we did do was sit down with clients large and small, new and prospective, and talk about how we might improve each other's business.  In the end, I left Denver with my expectations exceeded for the second year in a row.   Nick has something here.  What I'm interested to explore is exactly "what" it is he "has".

Since the demise of the Chicago Motivation Show in 2012, our business has sought a "gathering place" that allowed us to visit with clients.  PPAI has provided the merchandise suppliers a new venue at "brand." The Gift Card people, however, aren't as thrilled with the arrangement, perceiving that their clients aren't at Expo and cracking the promotional products nut is harder than they (or anybody else) thought. 

The EEA event allows more types of suppliers to exhibit and meet with the "right" client base.  The whole hosted buyer thing may or may not be a fad, but in the current environment I'm willing to pay to secure a potential audience with key clients.  I'd guess most of the other exhibitors felt the same way. 

What we don't know now is whether this concept is scalable.  Can we bring 200 buyers?  500?  Or is the format, with a small number of exhibitors, the optimal way to meet?  We should explore and answer this question ASAP because our market desperately needs another place to congregate. 

Of course, the real issue is "how many suppliers can EEA secure?" because without suppliers footing the bill we won't be able to scale the attendance.  Travel expenses aren't cheap, and anyone that exhibits at IMEX knows what the price of admission is for a large-scale sponsored buyer event.  I don't think we need something like IMEX--in fact, I'd argue against it.  The consolidation of brands in our market doesn't suggest that we are going to get 100 suppliers, or 200. 

IMRA and IMA have an opportunity and they should explore it.  Nothing may come of the discussions but there are no real options out there other than "brand." and while that remains the major show (and will for the foreseeable future, especially for the merchandise types) we need another one that appeals to more segments of our supplier universe.

So, kudos to Nick and his team for making Gazipalooza what it was--a productive two days that allowed me to visit with important clients in a less-hectic environment.  And while I wasn't looking for new clients, a couple of them found me and something may come from that as well.  I guess hosting the event in Denver didn't hurt attendance...


Pete

Parting is such...

And so we gathered in a cornfield in the Middle of Nowhere, IL.  We came from both coasts and just about everywhere in between, leaden with our sorrow and hoping to lessen it by sharing it with others similarly afflicted.  It was a nice day--sun and clouds with a gentle breeze ruffling the corn, which had grown to Mutant size through either the elements or Monsanto's most recent concoction.

Black was the unofficial color.  It was present in the plethora of clothing styles, from LBDs to suits, well-tailored and not-so-well tailored.   The church was beautiful, and a reminder that the person we came to pay our respects to had been on the Board that oversaw its construction.  One of her daughters was married in that building.

It was a Catholic Mass, one of those events that non-Catholics should go to once in their lives.  I wondered as I was sitting there whether the Guest of Honor would be embarrassed with all the fuss being proffered.  She always was uncomfortable receiving praise and the gratitude of those she served so well.  My guess is that death wouldn't change that.

The room was bifurcated with Family Friends and Professional Friends.  There was some co-mingling but we all pretty much stayed in our own Clan.  The group catharsis was useful, as it allowed us to weave her life into our own tapestry.  My own path was influenced considerably by her influence and counsel.  I am a better Professional and Person because our lives crossed.

We smiled, and laughed, that laugh that while sincere, it lacks the full energy of our "normal" laugh.  It's just a bit forced, a bit withheld, always mindful of the setting and the solemnity of the occasion.  We hugged.  We cried a bit.

Then we left.  As the Mutant Corn passed by the window I began to think of what things are going to be like without her.  I thought I had made that assessment a year ago.  I realized I was holding out for the Miracle in Naperville and once the Miracle didn't happen the realization that she was gone was more profound.  I held on to those times and interactions that made me, or her, laugh.

I want to think that I provided some measure of value, even though I got so much more than I gave.  We meet so many people as we wander through our lives.  Only a few make a serious impact.  Karen was one of them.  I miss her already...


Pete

What can you say?

Karen Renk has died.  Those four words have hit me with the force of a Cat 5 Hurricane, leaving emotional devastation in its wake.  For the second year in a row, an important influence in my professional life has shuffled off the Mortal Coil.

I had almost a year to prepare for it.  Karen got a horrible diagnosis last September.  Everyone knew the magnitude of the news.  Stage 4 cancer.  Multiple locations.  Which one to attack first?  How hard to hit it?

10 days ago I got the news--Karen had taken a turn for the worse.  Home Hospice.  "The end is near".  And so I told myself "I know what's coming,  I'll go through my mourning now and be prepared for the news when it actually arrives".  I sent a note to my rep team, ending it with "I'm gonna go cry now".  And I did.

Then it arrived.  A slug to the gut combined with a shot to the head.  And I realized I was in no way prepared for the news.  25 years of knowing and working with her had ended.  And as it is with all deaths, I thought of myself and MY loss.  It's a selfish act that ignores the greater impact.

I certainly didn't have a monopoly on the professional and personal gain I realized by knowing her.  She waded into shark-infested waters to create the Incentive Marketing Association in an atmosphere of conflict and bad feelings.  She negotiated truces, made reparations, and handled the highest of the High Maintenance types with tact and consideration.

It was so fitting that we are all together, here at the IMA Summit, when we got the news.  It allows us to grieve as a group, to celebrate the life and try not to mourn the death.  I thought of Kate, Karen's daughter, who has followed her mother into our channel and is growing into a solid professional.  I don't have the eloquence to say how sorry I am.

So I'll mourn, and hopefully will put these emotions to the side.  Not "behind me" because that would be an insult to the power and grace Karen brought to our business.  "On the side"--taking it with me as I move forward, remembering the valuable counsel and partnership that she gave without any expectation of return.

We'll not see her kind again.  I'll go and find the patch for the hole in my heart...


Pete

Behold the turtle...

So I'm reading this article about Las Vegas and how it's attempting to remake itself (again).  This time it's taking some of the Sin out of Sin City and trying to become a nightlife capital (as if it wasn't already).  They're investing in celebrity DJs and opening clubs all over town that charge you $30 to get in and thousands to get a table close to the DJ.

But that wasn't what caught my eye.  It was further down in the story, a part about how the CEO of Zappos (HQ is in Vegas) is attempting to remake the city as somewhere to work collaboratively and live there also.  Even that didn't hit me that hard.  This quote did:

"Research has shown that most innovation actually comes from something outside your industry or outside your area of expertise being combined with your own," 

Right about then I started thinking about the new Incentive Federation survey on the size of the market, and how we are finding out that we aren't' the center of the universe after all.  What Mr. Hsieh's comment underscores is what's been happening to our business while we've been anointing ourselves as Kings of the World.

Retailers, with their scale, buying power, and brand equity, are changing how our business works, and how our clients access the brands that comprise most incentive programs.  We now have a formidable competitor that has not only OUR brand equity, but their OWN equity which places us at a definable disadvantage. Add that to convenience (thousands of outlets), and a lack of resources of the part of the "legitimate" incentive market and you have the possibility of a mismatch.

But now that "something outside your industry or area of expertise" has shown up it presents us all with a chance to look at our own operations with a new pair of eyes.  We can be less afraid to experiment, less concerned with finding the "home run" because we haven't even hit a single yet based on the size of the business that's being done by retailers.
Last year at Dialogues we said that our market seeks too many "big" solutions and doesn't try smaller-scale projects as much.  Innovation may now be thrust upon us by the retail behemoths that sell our own products.

This might be fun...


Pete
 

It's like, wow, man...

Remember the discussion we've all had at one time or another about our place in the Greater Picture?  It usually starts with liberal doses of alcohol (or other mind-altering substances), and as it progresses everyone gets the right shade of Mellow.

Then someone blurts out "what if everything is just a cell inside another creature on some other planet?"  At that point everyone ponders the notion that our entire existence might just be a flea on the tail of a Cosmic Dog.  And with enough alcohol (or other mind-altering substances) the reaction is usually "wow, man...".

I just had my "wow, man..." moment, and I didn't even have any mind-altering substances in me.  The Incentive Federation has released its most recent survey to determine the size of the Incentive market.  I have always been skeptical about these sorts of things, prone to believing that we were exaggerating the size of our business for our own ends.  We discussed it this weekend at Special Markets Dialogues, the annual "think thank" I host in Myrtle Beach.

The new number for our business is $76 Billion.  That's right, kids--bigger than the sum total of every dime bet in every casino in America PLUS Disney's revenue (including ESPN, Mickey, and Pixar) PLUS the revenue of the NFL.  Can't be, right?

The more I consider it the more it makes me realize that our little market is actually a very big market that we have a very small presence in.  Spencer Toomey of MMSC may have said it best when he said "We've always thought we were the center of the universe.  It's obvious we are not".

Spencer came to that conclusion because when you add up the volumes of the big players in our channel--the Sonys, the Tumis, the Boses, even the Samsonites, and add the volumes of our customers, it comes nowhere NEAR $76 billion.  Not even close.  So where did all those dollars come from?

It pains me to say this, but they appear to be coming from retailers.  The gifts bought at Best Buy on your lunch break.  The Gift Cards that sit in every supervisor's desk waiting for the right time to recognize someone.  The orders going to Amazon, or Macy's, or The Olive Garden.  Not from Incentive Professionals.
We seem to have been beating our chests about how we are the destination for all things related to reward and recognition while our end clients are out there spending fortunes on stuff.  And not from us.  I'm conflicted--I'm either excited about all the opportunity that's out there untouched by us, or depressed to death that somehow we are insignificant.  A flea on the tail of a Cosmic Dog.

I'm not sure yet.  I need time to process this information.  Perhaps some mind-altering substances might come in handy.

Wow, man...


Pete

A new 12-step program for Baby Boomers

Hello.  My name in Pete Mitchell.  And I am not an alcoholic, or a drug addict.  Yet.  But I am enrolling myself into a new program that will hopefully turn me into one.

You see, I am a Baby Boomer.  I'm one of the tens of millions born between 1946 and 1964, an explosion in the birthrate that has wrought major changes in the way we work, the way government benefits are distributed, and the way we will be living our lives over the nest 15-20 years.

There's no escaping it.  The tide of Demographics moves slowly but is inexorable.  We will influence everything that happens over the nest couple of decades.  Which brings me to my issue:

I'm having emotional issues.  I'm having trouble sleeping--its not the quantity, mind you, it's the quality.  I'm taking a drug to prevent me from getting into Stage 5 sleep where all the REM activity occurs because the drug I'm taking to control my fast irregular heartbeats is causing terrible nightmares.  We're talking about eviscerated bodies, no-win scenarios, and highly perilous situations with few survivors.

I'm professionally under-fulfilled.  The market is changing and it's difficult to grasp how those changes will impact my company, a more "traditional" manufacturer/supplier to the channel.  Gift Cards and "Amazon-esque" solutions threaten us in ways we are only now imagining.  The stress level is higher than I'd prefer.

My emotions are a mess because my mother's cognitive skills are wasting away in front of me.  Each time i see her I wonder if this will be the last time I see her.  I also know this is the best cognitive condition I will ever see her in.  The future seems lousy.   Alcohol isn't dulling my mood any more.  It always did.

I have attempted to be more proactive.  I have been doing self-affirmation talks at night tn hopes that more pleasant dreams will follow.  I have asked for Christina Hendricks on multiple occasions.  She has not appeared.

I need a new path.  So, I've invented the Reverse 12-Step Program.  It allows me to get the help I need while solving my problems.  Now I don't wanna hear all the well-intended advice about how I'm "running" from the problem.  I am fully aware of the damage that substance abuse brings on families and individuals  So, let's learn a new word today --SATIRE.  And take two or three deep breaths besides.

My favorite website, www.despair.com, has a poster that says "Winners never quit.  And Quitters never win.  But people who never quit and never win are idiots."  This is the genesis from which the Reverse 12-step program is born.  So, I've taken the traditional 12-step program and turned it on its head.  Here's how it goes:

We:

1. Admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.  My doctor says I need drugs to have a chance at avoiding a systemic breakdown.  I wanna be powerless-perhaps the drugs will take effect faster...
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. This power resides in Lilly, Pfizer, and Merck.  It appears my God has deserted me during this time of crisis.  
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.  Since I'm having trouble decoding His/Her/Its completely oblique signals, I've come to the decision that I'm on my own here.  And being too messed up to separate good from bad, I need to turn to Our Lady of Perpetual Pharmaceuticals and the Patron Saint of Chemical Cures.  
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  And found myself wanting in almost every way humans are measured.  I cannot continue to function this way.   I will not continue to function this way.  Absent some more definitive sign from Him/Her/It I'm going my own way.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. It's in the wrong order--It should be to ourselves first, then to those we love, and to God last.  If God is omnipotent,  shouldn't He/She/It already know this?  What do I benefit from telling the Creator of the Universe that I've become cranky? Like this will be some sort of surprise to He/She/It?
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.  God doesn't root for sports teams, help you win the lottery, or get Kate Upton into bed.  Why on earth should he/she/it care about whether you drink too much?  If He/She/It cared, alcohol or drugs would kill humans on contact.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.  The accent here is "humbly".  If you get the Old Testament God you turn into a cinder.  Of course, He/She/It gave you those shortcomings.  That might be His/Her's/It's definition of "perfection" and removing them may be a cinder-causing insult.  Better think twice about that one.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.  Or better still, give them some of the stuff you're taking and they'll probably forgive you more easily.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.  See above.  Don't bogart the good stuff.  
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.  I'll just Cowboy Up for everything now.  Do I get a Karmic Discount for spilling everything at once?
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Thinking I have the power to influence, or even get the attention of the Almighty Creator of the Universe is the height of human arrogance.  I can't summit it.  I'm on my own here.  
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.  Gotta pass on this one too--there is no "one size fits all" approach to the reverse 12-step program.  We figure it out as we go,

I feel better already.  Not as good as I'm gonna feel when we chill my ass out and when I focus on only those things I have direct control/influence over and forget the stuff that doesn't matter.  Once you get where I am, only the Reverse 12-step program can save you.  And remember our motto:  

"Better Living Through Chemistry"

Pete