The event

The 100 Most Creative People Gathering.

Robert Safian started the event perfectly by thanking everyone for joining Fast Company in an intimate, distinctive setting. Intimate indeed.

Fast company is a progressive media brand with a magazine and a digital presence. We have over 1 million viewers and 25,000 followers on Twitter…. We focus on long term trends not quarterly thinking.

Robert also spoke about how the idea came about. He mentioned that the 10 most creative people would be limiting and that with 100 they tried to encapsulate a full range of creativity. Where else would you get Facebook and the Department of Defense together he said. Great point.

Christine Osekoski, publisher, got the opportunity to bring up the great Karin Fong. She shared a great Christian Bale story with me during the cocktail reception that you’d have to ask her to repeat.

Karin, best known for innovative movie titles, is a founding member and Creative director for Imaginary Forces. She had the stage to speak about her work doing movie titles. She also did a fun presentation on creating a title sequence for the event we attended.

I know a lot of people wonder … can you make a living doing this?

Her answer was no. Hence the reason why Imaginary Forces makes Commercials, Interactive spaces, Television,  Live action,  Broadcast design, Virtual destinations, Experience Design,  Graphics, Branding. The list goes on as stated on their site.

She showed us a case study for the work she did with McG and Terminator Salvation.

She has worked with him for over a decade now and they were commissioned to provide the “ Machine Vision.” This is the P.O.V of the robots in the movie. Interesting stuff.

We got to witness a wonderful sequence of the work her company does. The question I had after the short reel was, “Who haven’t they worked for?” After the video, it was apparent why she made the list.

The next panel was comprised of:

Noah Brier, Head of strategy, Barbarian Group
Simon Collins Dean of Fashion, Parsons
Neri Oxman, Presidential Fellow MIT Media Lab, founder of Materialecology

And led by Danielle Sacks.

How did you start and how did you end up in the current position that your in?

Simon Collins

“ I once saw a professor berating a student in a coffee shop and I thought..  wow, that sounds like fun.”

The crowd laughed.

Seriously though…

They were looking for someone different and he got in there at the perfect time. He mentioned a goal is to get to the students and teach them about design and sustainability  before they get preconceived notions that they’d get from the business world.

“ I am facilitating the place to share sustainable ideas with their peers and more importantly the rest of the world. ”

“ I want the designers we turn out to always do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. ”

Noah Brier

“ I’m always curious about why people do the things they do and how pop culture and media affect what they do.”

Noah did an Internet social experiment where he placed the name of a company and the logo and asked people to give the first thing that comes to mind. He has collected over 1 million entries in a tag cloud.

I love the internet. I like to help brands be better internet citizens… be friendly, funnier and just nicer.  We need to serve them. Our clients really are internet people.

Neri Oxman

She is too brilliant to paraphrase. Although I do remember this…

When asked about technology enhancing creativity:

Technology enhances creativity. Designers need to use and unuse technology, abuse and contaminate it to do different things.

Pier Giulianotti is the Chief of minimally invasive, general and robotic surgery at University of Illinois Medical Center. He spoke next about amazing robotic innovations that will allow for great advances in surgery.

Ed Ulbrich is the Executive Vice President of Production at Digital Domain. He did a great presentation on the inner workings and complexities of bringing “ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to life.

Anything is possible with the proper time, money and resources.

Ed and his team went through sort of a 12-step program like AA in order to make a computer-animated person look real. (Only he is so good he made it 3 steps)

1. Admit you have a problem.

2. Break the problem down.

3. Make a Technology stew.

Technology stew: Find parts of tools and techniques from different industries and put it together in a stew.

He should us a visually intense presentation as to how it all works. You’ll have to e-mail him for a re-cap. Amazing work Ed.

Ellen Mcgirt is a senior writer at Fast Company. She rounded out the night by leading a conversation amongst 3 leading men in their industries. I previously wrote about how great of a moderator Ellis Henican is and now Ellen joins the list as one of my favorites. I’m beginning to see a pattern with great moderators. A sense of humor plays a big part in the engagement with the panel and the audience. In an effort to keep something private between the lucky ones that were there last night I’ll keep Ellen’s Bladder joke a secret. Amazing.

Dave Morin, Senior Platform Manager, Facebook
Dr. Anthony Atala, Director, Wake Forrest Regenerative Medicine
John Garing, Chief information officer, Defense Information Systems Agency

These three are also very difficult to paraphrase. Dave is responsible for much of the platform expansion at Facebook. Opening themselves to developers has proven to be amazingly successful for him and his crew. He mentioned he didn’t know what to expect and that the results were a pleasant surprise.

If I understand correctly John Garing is essentially creating his own social network for the military.

His version of cloud computing, called RACE (rapid-access computing environment), acts as an open-source innovation lab for military developers, complete with peer-review certification… says the article Ellen wrote about him.

Although the focus is different, the foundation is the same. It’s about connecting people and ideas.

Dr. Anthony Atala is quite amazing. In his spare time the man decided to “ almost single handedly create the regenerative medicine.” He “ cooked ” up a Bladder and started something amazing. Read more here: http://www.fastcompany.com/100/2009/anthony-atala.

The host

Fast Company.

It took this event for me to understand the difference between Inc. and Fast Company. While I love Inc. Magazine Fast Company now holds a special place in my heart.

ABOUT FAST COMPANY

Fast Company sets the agenda, charting the evolution of business through a unique focus on the most creative individuals sparking change in the marketplace. By uncovering best and “next” practices, the magazine and website helps a new breed of leader work smarter and more effectively.

Fast Company empowers innovators to challenge convention and create the future of business.

The social crowd + The networking crowd

This was an amazing group of people to toast and share desserts with. Every time you turn you were either speaking to MIT heavy weights or directors of marketing for major, MAJOR companies.

I was privileged enough to meet a great designer, Laura Guido-Clark. Check out her site. She did an amazing piece that was on display. I’d buy it if it were for sale. Laura name your price!!!

The venue

Helen Mills Event Space.
137-139 West 26th Street

I met Don Gramercy who works with them. It is a great space and theater. I believe Fast Company has hosted there before.

Difficulty in getting in

Ha.

Future information needed

Create something worthy and Chuck, Ellen, Christine, Mark, Anya, Danielle and the other Fast Company staff members will pick you.

Notables

Of course everyone is a notable at this event yet I met the number one warrior in the crowd. Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco. If you ever go to Argentina please let me know.

Michael Mendenhall of HP.

I heard June Arunga was in the building.

But seriously .. the room was notable.

Last chaser notes

The only disappointing part of the evening was not being able to speak to cover girl Neri Oxman in detail. In the beginning of the conference both of us couldn’t find an open door to get into the building. In retrospect, its ironic considering her profession as an architect. It was a funny little moment I’ll always remember.
Everyone on this list pushes the status quo yet my reaction is that Neri wants to contaminate, butcher and completely do away with anything that is a standard.

“ On the fridges is where disruptive innovation begins.”

She is officially my “push the boundaries, challenge the status quo, who says I have to do it that way, build and destroy to rebuild again” creative thought hero.

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Please check out an event I’m hosting on June 16th. We are bridging the gap between the creative and entrepreneurial world. We will showcase one artist and one start-up business. You’ll be want be there to shake hands and have a drink with fellow influencers.