3 Things I Re-Learned At The ICON7 Board Meeting
Over the weekend, I met with 10 of my fellow members of the Board of Directors for the ICON7 Illustration Conference in an undisclosed location to make plans for next year’s event.
The experience was wonderful, fulfilling, exhausting, inspiring, and rewarding in more ways than I could ever articulate.
During this intense weekend of hard work, I was reminded of 3 things that are important for all Illustrators to keep in mind:
1. Illustrators Are Awesome.
Any Illustrator who interacts with their fellow artists or participates in the larger Illustration community knows that our industry includes many incredibly generous, kind, and creative people. The ICON7 Board is certainly no exception. I am extremely fortunate to be a part of this group who is working so hard to make the next conference a success, while also striving to ensure the sustainability of such an invaluable resource for creative professionals. I had met some of the Board members before, and some I was introduced to for the first time, and each one of them is a wonderful person that feels strongly about contributing to our industry. I know of very few other fields where you will find people like that.
2. I Don’t Know Shit.
I spent a lot of time in our “off” hours listening closely and soaking up everything I could from my fellow Illustrators and Art Directors who have many more years of experience than me. It can be so easy to get caught up in your own bubble of daily work and forget how much you can gain from the insight of others, but I was reminded of the gaps in my knowledge as I listened to the stories that circulated around the breakfast, lunch, and dinner tables. This experience alone was worth the trip.
3. Giving Back to the Industry Gives Back to You.
Even though we all spent more than 2 entire days brainstorming, strategizing, and designing the next ICON conference, and even though I ended up with a bad case of fatique and a severe headache, I gained so much from the sheer act of contributing what I can to the industry of Illustration. There are so many ways to give back, both big and small, and the side effect of selfless service is indescribable, so I won’t even try.
It’s funny how an experience like this can remind you of certain things that you already knew, and I’m grateful for that.
Needless to say, we’re all very excited about the upcoming ICON7 Illustration Conference, and there’s a lot more news to come in the future. If you’d like to keep up with future updates, be sure to follow ICON7 on Twitter and Facebook so you don’t miss out on all of the exciting developments.
If you want to take a look back at some of the highlights of last year’s ICON6, go here.
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As CEO of CISCO,John Chambers said in his 2009 MIT talk, “The future is visual communications!”. That excites me as I take my 30+ years experience and re purpose my skills to navigate into this new creative age. A dream is just a dream with one person, it takes leaders to make that dream come true.
This is my question to ICON 7 – Memo from 2015: What the Future Wants From an Illustration.
Thank your so much for sharing. I really hope that as things come together that you are able to share more details with us.
I’ve always been facinated with how events like ICON come to be, and the people that make them happen. :)
Thank you for allowing us to sneak a peek into the very beginning of such an important and great event. I hope to be able to come and really look forward to meet all you guys of the creative community in person, not just on a screen. :)
As it was said in your EFII talk, visual communication and the bridge between creativity and corporate is what it’s all about. I remember and like the accurately described term “visual ambassador”. It would be great if many business people from other industries would also be invited to come and visit ICON7 to learn more about the possibilities and advantages of using and working with professional illustration.
Super-psyched! I’m glad you’re a part of this. Looking forward to meeting you there. The first beer is on me. Unless you drink white wine, you gentleman, you.