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Let the Adventure Begin

Tomorrow is a big day for me. More than a year ago, I made a very hard choice to leave the non-profit sector when I was recruited for an amazing opportunity at Microsoft. The past year has been a total trip (more on that later).

Despite the fantastic experience I had working for Microsoft, I find myself blogging about the end of that all too short experience as I prepare for my first day with Autism Speaks as their first ever "Chief Community Officer." I have a really good idea conceptually about what this position could become both for myself and more importantly for Autism Speaks and ultimately what we will be trying to "unleash" within the Autism Community. That said, we'll see where this journey takes me, it's sure to be interesting!

I had been writing a "fairly successful" blog called npMarketing (check it out if you get a moment) but am going to blog here instead and will do my best to convert the readers of that blog to Mindnumbing Thoughts. I continue to blog more for myself than for anyone but will resume sharing my thoughts about the state of marketing, branding and online communities in the non-profit space. I know, you are all thrilled. In any case, stay tuned.

As for Microsoft, I had been compiling a list of "slang" words and phrases, some of which I started to use myself (organizational culture is a strange and wonderful thing). Here are my top 5 favorites with some loose translations:
  1. "Net Net" - The bottom line of a situation
  2. "Right" - I believe this to be a tech sector phenomenon - I blogged about this years and years ago here (way back in 2001)
  3. "Eye Chart" - A PowerPoint specific term used during a presentation. Typically, an eye chart is a slide that has so much data on it, the presenter blows by it while saying something like "This is an eye chart of all our brand logos."
  4. "Marketing Side" - Used when making a distinction between sales and marketing typically - this could even be derogatory depending on who is doing the talking.
  5. "Whack Whack" - Used as shorthand instead of "WWW" to tell someone an URL for a web site. Common usage is "Go to 'whack whack' marketing" to get the information.

All in all, a year + well worth spent at Microsoft learning about myself and building on my experiences in building and "hosting" online communities.

As for the non-profit sector and Autism Speaks, more to come as I get settled. Wish me luck, and if you are in NYC, please do look me up.

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Comments

Carey Paris said…
Welcome back! Man, I am excited you are heading back to non profit. We should play a round of golf soon.

Carey Paris
6:54 AM
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