To-do, to-do, to-do

My to-do list is growing. Odd as it may seem, I'm actually happy about it.

It's about half-way through my year as President and I'm finally sinking my teeth in. It seems the more I learn about AdFed, the more I want us to do. This is a great club, a strong grass-roots organization with people volunteering their time, creativity, energy, and sweat to keep it running and growing. I'm an ambitious, energetic person and I see us doing great things.

Here in Marion County, we have the power to improve our professional lives and the quality of our business. The reward for serving the Greater Ocala Advertising Federation is that good, old-fashioned satisfaction that comes from giving back and making a difference. Pushing positive change along. Rewarding excellence. Bringing awareness to community service issues. Guiding students through professionalism. Bringing new opportunities for professional education and growth. Networking and bringing people together who can help one another. Having fun!

As rewarding as it is, it takes a lot of work. As I said, the more I understand and want to do, the more ideas we all have, the more that to-do list grows. Lucky for me, most of it is fun stuff. Lucky for me, too, I have great board members. Our newest addition, Adriana Rosas, of Purple Cow Communications (our Communications Chair and our Membership Chair), recently came over for a mini, mid-year retreat to catch up on the details and re-evaluate where we are and what we need to do. See us working hard (and having fun):


Adriana is "on it." I am not the only one taking the pictures any more. Way to go, communications chair! Whenever something is happening, I look up and she's taking a picture. Fabulous.

Our other board members have been busy, too. Mark Hershberger of BJ Trophy created and produced the new gold and silver ADDY Award medals. Ooooh, cool medals... get your Addy on!

Andy Stracuzzi of Zed+Zed+Eye Communications is our Branding Chair, he created our new logo and lo and behold, we've got a web page up with all things Addy. You can find it from our website www.ocalaadfed.org . He's hard at work on our overall website, so stay tuned for more. If you go to our current website and click on the cool art that takes you to our Addy page, you'll get a teaser of the art that Kip Williams, of Ocala Magazine, is working on to create a graphic environment fitting for our Creative Blues Addy Gala.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, everyone's to-do list is growing along with the busy season. Tymn Armstrong, Kip and crew are working on a movie for the gala that will have you in stitches! Networking events and programs are being planned for next year. Seminars, media auctions, scholarships, community service, legislative and government affairs, oh my!

It's a fun time. If you are interested in volunteering, participating in the fun, sharing ideas and feeling that great giving back satisfaction, give me a ring or send me a note. I'm here, checking off my to-do list.

"Write and update the President's Blog. Check."
Jessi

Live From Daytona Beach Shores

It's early. It's beautiful. We're here in Daytona for the 4th District AAF Winter Conference, heading into the last day of meetings and presentations. It's been a great weekend full of fun and information. The tone is very political right now, as Florida goes through possible budget and tax upheaval, The AdFed gets to do what it does best – represent us. I'll be bringing more information home to you all to keep you updated, it's an important time for the advertising industry to be alert.

It's breakfast time, Adriana and I are heading down... and I'll give my President's report if I can squeek it out... my voice has about gone. Maybe Adriana can talk for me and I'll whisper to her. I'll be showing off the new medals – get your Addy on!

Cheers,
Jessi

Green is Sexy!

Hi Kids!
Here's a fun-in-October photo-blog:

Wednesday, October 16th...

Tara Crawford with Mac Papers showed us that it can be easy being "green." The paper and printing industries are rising to meet the growing demand for environmental responsibility. She talked about the "green" certifications that a piece of paper can carry – which have to do with how the forests are managed, the manufacturers using wind-energy, and recycling.

Mac Papers goodies

Tara Crawford, presenting

Enjoying lunch from Primary Oven and the presentation

Sharon & Peter Mei with Tara Crawford chatting after the presentation

Our new Communications & PR Chair, Adriana Rosas talking with Andy Stracuzzi

Mark Hershberger & Kip Williams grabbing up the goodies!

Diane Smith, treasuring

Been there, bought the T-shirt

Friday, October 12th...

Several GO-AdFed members attended ELO's Haunted Hollywood, which was glamorous and ghoulish!

Debbie Roth (w/the Florida Blood Centers) won a costume award ... and wants your blood!


This mysery man is quite the dancer!



Adriana Rosas & Jessi Miller... 2 guesses as to who they're dressed up as!

Debbie Roth, headin' home...

The Calendar is Filling Up!

At about the same speed that the weather cools down, the event season seems to heat up. Calendars are filling up with special events, holidays, birthdays, vacations, deadlines, meetings, lunches, dinners, you name it. It won't slow down until February, or maybe not even until April! I'm constantly amazed at how much there is to do in "little" Ocala.

Not to be left out of the hustle and bustle, GO-AdFed has a lot planned for the season too. This month's program (Oct. 17th) is on "The Green Movement" – presented by Mac Papers. This topic is very current and relevant, so I'm excited to hear what Tara has to say. I'm also looking forward to the giveaways, I LOVE paper! In November, Pedro Perez will be returning to give the "Multicultural Marketing" presentation that was canceled in September. In December we are fortunate to have Erik Schroeder, the Director of Marketing (a.k.a. New Business) from PUSH come and speak on "Obtaining and Maintaining Business."

That takes us right into Addy Award time! Entries will be due January 8th, 2008. We have great judges lined up for the competition and we are busily planning an exciting "Creative Blues" gala for February 22nd. This year the awards are new! Especially designed and custom created for The Greater Ocala Advertising Federation, the new awards will outshine the little plastic men. I rather liked the Academy-Award resemblance they had, but the new medals are beautiful! Even more exciting, we'll be giving out gold and silver medals, so even more people can "get their Addy on."

Stay tuned for updates on all of that and more, it's turning out to be a very eventful season. I hope to see you around and would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or send me a note, let me know what you think, about new ideas, or what kind of hair-day you're having. ;)

GOoooooo-AdFed!
Jessi

Summer Fun!

Summer's almost over, at least schedule-wise. Public school has begun and we're busy planning fall, winter and yes - even spring 2008 events. I do take some comfort in knowing the warm Florida sun will stay shining for months to come before the holiday season begins.

I will be going to Jacksonville this weekend (August 24-26) with Diane Smith, our Treasurer, to attend the AdFed 4th District Summer Conference. That will be a lot of fun on the beach, as well as a lot of workshops and meetings. I'll give the highlights when we get back.

We bashed our brains last Wednesday, well... we brainstormed and mingled at the 2nd Annual Brain Bash at the Martini Bar. It was a lot of fun! Keep your eyes out for pictures that might show up in the papers, as we had press there too. The raffle was a hit, a dozen or so prizes were given out - t-shirts, monkeys (production monkeys?) and design books. Thank you to everyone who filled out a survey, it really helps to know what everyone is thinking when we're making our plans.

We also said goodbye to Fred Mullen, our founding member, at the Brain Bash. Fred started the Greater Ocala AdFed some 23 years ago. He is now moving away to beautiful Tennessee with family. The good news is that he'll stay in touch and will continue to visit. Thanks for everything, Fred!

Following are some snaps of the evening.

Onwards and forwards, September's program will be on Multicultural Marketing, look for details and emails... hope to see you there!

GOoooooo-AdFed!
Jessi

Fred Mullen, we'll miss you, stay in touch!

Sharon Mei, past Treasurer

Sharon and Andy Stracuzzi, looking over raffle prize

Fred Mullen and Toni James

Rose Blaine and Holly Clark

Rapt attention as Jessi speaks

Lots of photography being taken by Dorothy Johnson of the Ocala Star Banner



Diane Smith and Brent Haeseker, checking for winners

Oh Yeah! I won!!! ... Andy Stracuzzi, Peter Mei, Kip Williams

A new year begins

Hello members and members-to-be,

Bright, shiny and a little green, I have begun the 2007-2008 AdFed year as President. This July I have put more hours into AdFed than any month yet, and as I write this it is still not over. We had our first board meeting with the new and returning directors, I went to Cocoa Beach for a 3-day 4th District President/Leadership Retreat, returned and worked hours on an agenda for our own retreat, which we held last week to map out our year. Website and budgeting meetings are scheduled for next week, so by month's end a lot of plans will be getting underway. It's been a busy month – rest-assured, work is going on behind the scenes!

I'm looking forward to seeing changes through and to learning more about the traditions. The American Advertising Federation is rich in history and tradition. Since 1904 clubs have been forming and merging to eventually become what we now know of as AdFed (or AAF), which is 50,000 members strong. Ocala is no exception, there is a history of AdFed and advertising here that we will strive to celebrate... while breathing some new life and progress into our advertising community.

One change you might have noticed already is in our name. Instead of "GOAF" we have changed the emphasis. The Greater Ocala Advertising Federation is now GO-AdFed. Our new logo, designed by Andy Stracuzzi our Branding Manager, reflects the identity and bears the national AAF colors. Everything you'll see from now on will showcase our new, professional and fun look.

In fact, you'll be seeing and hearing more from us in general – communication is a priority. I hope that you'll contact me or one of our board members with any interest or curiosity whatsoever. I also really hope that you'll become involved more actively. We have so many fun projects percolating and the more help we have, the better and bigger everything will be. This club belongs to the members and takes on their personalities, so dive in and put a little bit of YOU into it!

I will keep you all updated via this blog... keep your eye on it for photos and stories, news that relates to our industry, peeks at what lies ahead, behind-the-scenes goings-on and general communication. Post comments, send me emails, I want to hear from all of you. I want to know what's working and what you'd like to see happen.

GOoooooo-AdFed!
Jessi


PS- Here's a photo taken at the 4th District Retreat with some of the other bright and shiny club-leaders: