Kendall PRess @ Work

Last night we celebrated the Kendall Square Association's Third Thursday event co-sponsored and hosted by Google and the Community Charter School of Cambridge. As with nearly every Third Thursday event since our intrepid outreach and networking committee started this program last year, most all of us learned something new about our neighborhood and our neighbors.


Kendall Square Association Third Thursdays - Images by Keith Spiro

I'm not sure if the draw was the talk by Steve Vinter of Google (and a member of the KSA board of directors) or the offer of Free Food and Drink with catering by Jules or the fact that it was literally just a block away, but we had our largest turnout to date with well over 100 people showing up, mingling and taking tours over the two building complex that makes up the CCSC.

I do have to say that the most exciting part of the night was meeting such an incredible group of young motivated High School students. Their robotics team showed off some neat bowling ball and tennis ball moving technology- most likely their response to being told, once too often, to clean up their floor - this Bot did it very well while being controlled by a computer.

Even more impressive, however, was Paula Evans Founder's Talk about the success of this intimate and engaging High School program.  Every member of their first three graduating classes (2009-2011) gained college admissions and 95% of them are enrolled now in college and CCSC was one of only three schools in the state to have 100% of the 10th graders score proficient on the mandated MCAS tests.  Let me repeat that statement by Paula, 100% OF THE GRADUATES WERE ACCEPTED AT COLLEGES.

Congratulations on an amazingly important feat. With so much emphasis around Kendall Square on STEM performance this group stands out!  I'll add that after meeting a whole cross section of sophomores, juniors and seniors who joined us last night, I am not surprised. These folks help each other, are articulate and mutually supportive. Art projects adorned the halls and walls, printed certificates of completion and recognition were everywhere and they didn't look like the old school of every kid gets a complement - This guys and gals earned their place. A job well done.

Among the many local celebrities were spotted Joe Tulirmieri and Tracy Mercer of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, a big supporter of all this activity here. Also helping out was Carolyn Goff of Eastern Bank, Committee co-chairs Lena Sharp of Alexandria Real Estate and Sarah Gallop representing MIT. The ever wonderful Walter Sullivan who is a community booster in his own right was there along with the better half of the Spiro Boys who is  pictured with the business development team from Veolia Energy.

I was all prepared for my quarterly faceoff with Steve in my ongoing discussion over paperNpixels but Google has all these fascinating capabilities in their new products, Currents & Producer, so I simply enjoyed listening to additional methods of self publishing now available If you haven't heard, Google turned my android (and your ipad) into real-time, on-line curating, magazine tools. The fact that Steve has only physically carried around two books this year (loaners) and both he and my wife have large virtual libraries in their eReaders, made my all too heavy book bag weary shoulders jealous...'cept for the fact I've now got 3 books in my smartphone which I use for just about everything but phone calls.

My tour hosts Christy, Sara and Jose  made sure I had many good photo opps as they proudly gave me a top to bottom tour of the place they work at from 8 to 4 and insured I was impressed with the space, activities and friends that populate the buildings. Future lawyers, social workers, business people- they've got their plans and dreams and i was glad to be included in their thoughtful conversations. Watch out world - here they come.

Keith
(and for anyone in these photos who'd like a print please contact me and also say something nice about us on this blog or in your favorite means of social communications. Thanks)

Labels: Community Charter School of Cambridge, Google, Kendall Square Association, paperNpixels

That famous comment about the shoemakers kids going barefoot, never was more true than when I came up short for an art show this past month. Matted and Framed photography takes forever and wouldn't do justice to the larger than life images I had collected for the show. Full Color Printed Posters, I decided would do the job just fine. The shop was busy. I was busy. The clock ran down and now I needed posters in a hurry. Fast poster printing- our trademark - never was more put to the test.

POSTERS BIGGER THAN LIFE AND FASTER THAN A SPEEDING DEADLINE
Happily in far less than an afternoon, with the team behind me, we put out 23 big, full color posters, mounted and ready for my show which was to begin the following day. I left Kendall PRess that afternoon with an "ARTSHOW in a box." Literally.

Digital JPG's converted to giant posters, hauled up the old B&M route to its Northern Terminus where the ever patient and efficient Connie Bailey was waiting to set up my show. A day in Photos. Exploring TOPSHAM and a Community Dialogue.

One month, two presentations and a front page news article later, the show itself has come to its natural end. But, the presentations were a surprise outcome. People wanted to talk about the things they saw. The Images held their imagination. Those photos are now the topic of a speaking tour "the immediacy of taking action for people and places that matter." Pixels alone would not have accomplished that. Printed Posters as big as life did.

You can see the front page headline here.
Thank you - team at Kendall PRess
I'm going back to making more shoes
Keith

Labels: Giant posters, keith spiro A day in photos, paperNpixels, poster printing, printed posters

FAMILY
COLLABORATION
(BUILDING) BRIDGES

Kendall PRess has been guided by the principle that we help our customers accomplish more by being focused on timely, accurate, quality results for the tasks they bring to us. We also listen to their spoken and unspoken needs in this dramatically fast changing business climate.

As technology impacts change, we have committed to evolving with the opportunities. One business leader we respect and learn from is Chris Brogan who says "you aren't just a business, you're a media company;" meaning businesses need to communicate what they are and what they do. Each year on the First of January, he presents three words that he will use to define his goals and experiences thoughout the year. He finds this more effective than a New Year's Resolution and we think this idea merits a try for us as well.

Merging paperNpixels, business communications and print is the easy part. Staying focused on individual goals, team goals and life balance is the hard part. So, with a salute to Chris, here are our three words for 2012:

Family - we all have families but with the amount of time we spend at work, we acknowledge our work family and customers as an integral part of our daily world. We depend on our families. We try to help them and sometimes we finish their thoughts for them (sometimes correctly and sometimes not).

Collaboration - there is just too much work to do and life to live to ever try to just do it alone. Technology has given us an easier way to include collaboration on a daily basis. Collaborative efforts acknowledge the greater good that can be achieved by using the strengths of many.

(Building)Bridges -a metaphor for many things, here we'll define it as reaching out to different constituencies. Building bridges to enhance our understanding and our willingness to help others.

Welcome, 2012
Keith speaking for himself as well as for the team at Kendall PRess

Labels: business communications, Chris Brogan, paperNpixels

Merry Christmas (and yes, the ever politically correct "Happy Holidays"). Our goal at Kendall PRess is to provide customized service to each of you, our honored clients. If Christmas is your holiday then here's a hearty Merry Christmas! If Chanukah is what you celebrate then Happy Hanukah! If your preference is something else, and we know it, we will be sure to greet you with the specific greetings of your seasonal holiday because, above all else, we are here to provide a unique and personally customized experience to each of you who trust us with your Business Communication needs.

Kendall PRess is NOT your grandfather's printshop. Most of our clients arrive by Word of Mouth because they've heard of our program #paperNpixels (TM) or they've heard about old fashioned service with newfangled technology and lightening fast speed to market. If you can THINK IT, we can deliver it, complete with the old fashioned printer's (triangle) quandary; PRICE, QUALITY & TURNAROUND SPEED; Yup, some things don't change; you can still usually only choose two out of three of these!

But there is significant change in the marketplace since Kendall PRess started twenty eight years ago. Technology has fueled ever faster product and campaign cycles. The best of today's business communicators use a combination of real time web and long-lived recyclable, tangible, paper. Our favorite Business Strategist, David Meerman Scott reported in Google + yesterday from Lapland but our wish to write about it was usurped by just a few hours old news announcement that North Korea's Kim Jong Il just died of a heart attack. The need to be timely, accurate and relevant has never been stronger.



We can't tell you what will happen in the future, but we can promise that in 2012, Kendall PRess will continue to evolve with new print capabilities for faster turnaround of your printed color work and more real time web based initiatives with Web Analytics, Web design and Search Engine awareness along with Public Relations and Marketing support tools for our clients.

We'll introduce new voices to our blog which really means that we've already inducted new employees with new ideas into our business culture.

Stay tuned; a new business year is just around the corner.
Keith for the team at Kendall PRess

Labels: #paperNpixels, business communications, David Meerman Scott, Kim Jong Il dead, unique and customized, Word of Mouth

Yesterday, David Meerman Scott released Newsjacking, his newest guide to great tactical business marketing actions. Within hours, his blogpost received numerous comments and notes of thanks from the many readers who downloaded copies immediately of his "short and punchy" EBOOK from his long time publisher Wiley.

However, we've noted one glaring, politically incorrect message in his blogpost.
"NEWWSJACKING WILL NOT BE PRINTED ON DEAD TREES"

This is so wrong for three key reasons, not the least of which is #DeadTreesFightBack:

1. As a former commercial print shop transitioning to a Real Time Business Communications Company, we at Kendall-PRess would not want to see printing on live trees. Graffitti hurts living trees at worst and can been unsightly at best - with limited distribution capabilities in either case.
2. the old adage which he may be referring to "be kind to the environment, save a tree and don't print this out" is out of date...
REALLY want to save a forest or a tree?
REQUEST PAPER; send the signal that trees are a good investment
paper recycled= more paper and more trees
electronics recycled = toxic landfill
3. dead trees serve more than one purpose. They:
>put nutrients back into the soil
>slow erosion
>make good barriers and on the opposing side, good battering rams
>are sturdy things - had OCCUPY WALLSTREETERS lashed themselves to trees rather than linking arms via Twitter, their evictors would have had a much harder time removing them from Zuccotti Park
>They were good enough for the truly American Revolutionary Thomas Paine. Please, folks, use Common Sense.

Before DM Scott insinuated something about "no dead trees," Seth Godin, similarly pounced on the dead tree question by declaring Linchpin to be his last printed book. And now, less than two years later we see "We are all Weird" available in print edition.

God save the Queen
People save the trees
and we at Kendall PRess seek the higher ground of utilizing both #paperNpixels to accomplish communications tasks. After all, even Seth Godin said "Day old News is Fresh enough"

FULL DISCLOSURE:
We are raving fans of David Meerman Scott
We have spent a dollar on a nine month old newspaper
And we have had that story published in Seth Godin's SquidooMags for Thanksgiving Yes, the pixel part of our paperNpixels crusade.
Now if I can only get my wife to loan me her kindle.
We are not opposed to helping #DeadTreesFightBack

Keith

Labels: #DeadTreesFightBack, #paperNpixels, business communications, David Meerman Scott, Newsjacking, Seth Godin

OK. This is the last full work week prior to the start of the Thanksgiving through New Year's Holiday season of merry making, stressing out on work not completed and admitting that all those start and finish small jobs, long before Thanksgiving arrives, just didn't get done.

Five Full Days; quick. What three things can you bang out now and be done with.

1. Saying Thanks, before everyone else does; Christmas cards? Holiday greetings? thank you for your business cards? Do up flat cards, post cards and just sign away or hand them off to your employees for slow moments and the personal touch

2. Taking that last run at Year End Goal completion; this is the Monday you want to pull out your 2011 plan and check for progress against plan. What one last thing can you do today that will enable the most gains off the remaining broken up weeks of work this calendar year?

3. Review your LinkedIN, microsoft outlook, Twitter and accounts PAID files for names of people you have NOT been in touch with for a while. Add them to item one above and you'll do the most important thing you can to keep good connections strong. Stay in touch.

Keith

Labels: #PaperNpixel, Google +1, make friends, PR firms, SEO