brass Blog

I’m back in Corvallis again, after a short stint in Aspen/Snowmass Colorado. I was asked to present for 4.5 hours, 2 in the morning and 2.5 in the afternoon as a resort just outside of Aspen. The hotel was literally located on the side of the mountain. I was able to snowboard from the hotel down to the lift. Sick.

One of the more amusing parts about some of the presentations I give is the differences between communication among generations. Often times the audiences I speak to, are people that are in their mid-50s and older. The language they use, and the language I use, are very, very different. To illustrate this point, I use these funny slang cards, which are basically slang flashcards that are absolutely hilarious. You can buy them at www.knockknock.biz. These cards have words like tight, play, sick, bounce, front etc. with synonyms, definitions and use in sentences. I give the audience 11 words to define, and they then share with the group.

After going through this exercise, I make sure to tell the group to never repeat the words again at risk of sounding completely out of context. Naturally people still use the words. When it became break time, one gentleman who I would guess was in his mid 60s said, “I gotta bounce and go get some play.” I did my best to not bust up laughing. And if you don’t know what it means, don’t ask.

The next day I hit the slopes while listening to a little Dave Matthews. There hasn’t been much snow lately, and it was in the 40s, so snow was slushy at the bottom, and icy at the top. Still, I can’t complain, I was snowboarding in Snowmass, CO with a free lift ticket.

The craziest thing to me still is that I can make phone calls from the top of the mountain 12,000 feet up. With technology today, someone can be completely mobile and run a business. I could literally be snowboarding and riding up the lifts, using my Bluetooth wireless ear piece, with my cell phone in my pocket, 12,000 feet up on a mountain. Crazy…

I included a few shots for your enjoyment. The first is a shot at sunrise, around 7 am from the balcony of my hotel room overlooking the lift. The second photo is a shot of close to the top of the mountain nearly 12,000 feet up, and the last is a shot of the Rockies

Next week it’s to Columbus, Ohio and Palm Springs.

Sunrise

12K-High

Rockies

The only word I can find to describe this past week is surreal. Steve and I just got back from the annual GAC conference in Washington DC. In a nutshell, it’s the biggest credit union conference of the year–jam packed with thousands of CEO and key decision makers. Exactly one year ago, we had released our first issue of brass, were not allowed to exhibit at the GAC, and were lucky if we knew 10 people at the conference. We would sit in the lounge, hoping that someone would make introductions.

A year later, things were a different story. Due to all of the speaking engagements I’ve had over the past year, everyone knows about brass. And if they hadn’t, the person next to them had. People were handing out our business cards for us, often times asking for 3 or 4 cards. I probably averaged 4 hours of sleep a night while I was there for the 5 days, a necessary evil in the world of conferences.

The GAC conference was a huge eye opener for me. A year after having been snubbed and not allowed in the conference, we were now officially a player in the game. We’d reached the next level. The question was no longer if brass would be successful, but more so how to keep making it successful. I am convinced that the only thing that could possibly keep from getting to the next level, is us. We must learn to evolve and continue to grow.

After returning from the GAC conference, our circulation officially hit the 100,000th subscriber mark, with over 60 credit union partners across the country. It gives me the chills every time I think about it. And this is just the beginning?