This was my first time at an Ad Fed district conference. Now that we’ve been back a few weeks, I’ve finally figured out what I thought of the whole affair: I expected more.
I thought we’d be outnumbered by legions of talented agency-types and boutique creatives from the other clubs. I figured they’d be raking in all of the District 8 Addy trophies, which they’d use to construct little award forts around the reception room. I expected the conference room would have windows. I expected not to be drunk under the table by three other fairly petite board members. And more than anything else, I expected the other clubs to really, really have things together.
And many clubs do. But, as it turns out, so do we. It was hard to realize until I had the opportunity to compare, but it became very clear to me over the course of the conference that AAF-Black Hills has become a strong organization over the past few years. Our programs are great, the creative talents of our members can go head-to-head with anyone (as Jason Alley proved by picking up the Best of Show), and our membership is incredibly involved and active.
That’s a great asset, and it means we can continue to grow and implement some new programs. There were several good ideas tossed around over the course of the conference, including a suggestion from James Datri, president of AAF, that we turn the live-stream of the annual national hall of fame presentation into a local event in tandem with our Silver Medal award.
