Hi ,

 

Cold bright mornings over the weekend meant long walks through the city. But frankly, I'm more focused on the pending ski season. Got any good snow dances you'd like to lend me for a few weeks while I try and find my gear??

 

This week on the blog, a handful of tradeshow tips from Twitter, which, oddly enough, is still a good source for good information and not just political smack talk. Also, a short video on how a small company can look bigger. Finally, a new podcast/vlog that features and interview with Rich Kahn, CEO and co-founder of Anura, which is a leading ad fraud fighter.

 

Soundtrack for this week's issue: Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Natty Dread." (Spotify link).  It was the first reggae album I'd ever heard, and it came into my life in an odd sort of way. When I was just 20, living in The Dalles, Oregon and less than a year into my first radio gig, I was married (very young - it didn't last). Anyway, my wife at the time, who worked at a deli, showed up at home after work with a long-haired guy in tow. She had just helped the guy out somehow (details are fuzzy), and had gotten them back on the road. They were dropping her off at home and as a thank-you he gave me a copy of this album. Weird! I had just read about Bob and the Wailers in Rolling Stone and was curious about this "new" music. I put the needle down and cranked it up. Then turned it over to side two. Then turned it back over to side one and listened to it all over again. I was hooked. Reggae fan for life. Natty Dread is the one that started it.

 

(I had to look up acedia. It means spiritual or mental sloth; apathy)

 

Doomscrolling is one symptom of the general condition, but the habit predates 2020. It’s what happens when we give ourselves over to the flood of information and allow it to wash over us. Whatever else one may say about doomscrolling, it seems useful to think of it as structurally induced acedia, the sleepless demon unleashed by the upward swipe of the infinite scroll (or the pulldown refresh, if you prefer). Acedia is the medieval term for the vice of listlessness, apathy, and a general incapacity to do what one ought to do; ennui is sometimes thought of as a modern variant. As we scroll, we’re flooded with information and, about the vast majority of it, we can do nothing … except to keep scrolling and posting reaction gifs. So we do, and we get sucked into a paralyzing loop that generates a sense of helplessness and despair.

 

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Tim Herrera, Smarter Living at the New York Times:

 

 

...if you find yourself particularly distracted or stressed out this week, try a 60-second reset, a wonderful tip I learned from friend of Smarter Living Arianna Huffington.

“I use my reset many times a day, it takes 60 seconds,” Ms. Huffington told me. “You basically put together the things that are joy triggers. It could be photos of people you love, pets, quotes, landscapes, music you love, a breathing pace.” In just 60 seconds, she said, you can change your mind-set, adding, “Gratitude is the greatest antidote to stress.”

 

 

 

There's Always a Tradeoff. When you give up one thing, you often get something in return. It's the way of the world (mostly). 

 

Does Your Tradeshow Exhibit Evoke Emotion? And if it does, what emotions are people feeling when they first experience your exhibit?