My Rendezvous at Mindshare LA

As a user experience designer I always like to do new-fangled things and go to novel places to keep my experiences fresh, which translates to more creative and innovative designs in my work. I was one of the lucky ten to win a ticket to Mindshare LA at Club 740 in Los Angeles. Naturally I whole heartedly accepted the freebie win. I’m glad I made the dreaded drive to LA, which coincidentally took place the same night as the NBA finals at the Staple Center. I had a really good time and the entire hour or so was comical, witty, and fascinating to say the least. Here is the low down on the event that night.

Bhagwan Chowdhry, along with many professors and entrepreneurs around the world, found the FAB Campaign, which stands for Financial Access at Birth. Bhagwan was the representative for the FAB Campaign that night as he talked about how it worked. With just $100 deposited into a bank account at birth for each child born, these babies are given financial access and can become self sufficient in the later years. It is estimated that 134 million children are born each year around the world and 25% of them will not have financial access if we do not help. Therefore, we would need $10 billion per year to fund this program, which means each country will need to contribute one-fiftieth of one percent of their GDP into the FAB program. In order to succeed, the entire world needs to get involved which starts with you and me, and banks, technology companies, healthcare organizations, etc… Show your support for this initiative by signing the FAB Campaign.

Brian Selzer, founder of Ogmento, an augment reality company, gave a presentation on the world of augmented reality, which the Wikipedia defines as a “live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery.” It was interesting to me to learn that augmented reality can encourage people to do good, such as recycle or exercise by incorporating augmented reality elements to make the experience fun. For example, an augmented basketball hoop was put up to challenge passersby to make the hoop into the recycling bins. Another example was the opportunity to construct a race using augmented reality whereby you can compete against your friends who aren’t even physically there. I never realized how powerful the tool can be. For the user interface designer, augmented reality has provided not only a desired need for these talents but also another avenue for them to play in.

Stuart Gibbs, author of the book Belly Up, gave a presentation about “Hippo Dung Showering.” Stuart shared a hilarious story about the life of hippos. Here are some interesting facts about hippos that I learned.

• They’re aggressive and not the cute, awkward, and insecure type that we’re use to from children’s books.
• They run at speeds from 18 to 30 mph.
• They use their poop as a form of artillery when combating other hippos for dominance. If you’d like a visual, you can find plenty on Youtube.

Chef Spencer Walker, blogger and author of the book Cook to Bang, gave the guys in the audience tips on how to woo the girls. Chef Spencer has made a name for himself in the culinary circuit with a clever niche. He transforms dishes into sexually positioned imagery and gives them banging names, no pun intended. A free bite size appetizer followed his entertaining presentation. I have no idea what the appetizer was called but it contained a water cracker, some type of cheese spread, smoked salmon, and avocado. It was quite tasty.

Other great acts that night included the cool Bob Reynolds and his jazz band, a viewing of the individual works from the talents on Sketchtheatre.com, and the one and only MegaRan, the original nerdcore rapper.