But you know, the week has given me a little distance from it and now I can see more clearly some of the reasons why I think it was a great success. They are:
1. The Denver area has a lot of schools with design related studies. It was fantastic to have them all together in one place, showing off their students' work.
2. The students were proud. They brought their families. And their friends. And I watched as they made the rounds actually looking studiously at and discussing the work of their peers.
3. The space. Gallery-like and big enough to accommodate everybody yet small enough to make it feel like a hot-ticket event, it was perfect.
4. The DJ. J. Scott Womack, A.K.A. cobelco, is a fantastic mood enhancer. Strike that, he creates the scene. Some music is fine for the background and some music is great front and center. cobelco's wide range of influences and spontaneous mixing saavy combine to construct something that is more like the skeleton of an aquatic creature. The underlying groove helped the event and the attendees move along fluidly, occasionally accented by something recognizable or, even better, a completely new flourish. That's how he does it.
5. Kimberly Carey Putnam. The event seemed effortlessly put together by Kimberly and her crew. All her planning made an occasion that the students, their families and the ADCD can be proud of.
6. Finally, the fact that this show happened just weeks after the much successful and beneficial Student Briefies event (see previous posts labeled Briefies Wow), has me thinking that the ADCD really has something to offer the younguns in the profession. I think this may not be as obvious as it could be. And that's too bad, but I think that will change.
Stay tuned for more of the same. And tell a student about ADCD. Good for the student, good for the community.
