Daily Archives: March 28, 2008

Rock Stars at PSFK NY

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There were some serious rock stars at yesterday’s PSFK planner and strategy conference in NYC, but the best part of the conference is trying to figure out who they are. Some guest speakers have done great things, others represent successful coms, edus and nets, still others are emerging – not fully baked. You judge them by their deeds, what they say, the insights they provide and, frankly, their salesmanship.
 
Eric Ribert, an executive chef at Le Bernardin, is a rock star. Putting him on the program was the work of a rock star.  Eric’s gem? “I don’t use customer feedback” to help me decide gastronomic direction. “I do it to please myself.” (Dude, that’s art.) Artists drive culture, if you ask me.
 
A young man from ETSY.com, Robert Kalin, was smart, confident and a hip-shooter. He started out by saying Second Life sucked (my words) and, little did he know, the unflappable gentleman to his left from NASA was about to present the merits of Second Life in his strategy (oops.) Mr. Kalin never missed a beat, never backed down. Rockstar.
 
Steve Bryant NY editor of the Thrillist.com, Mike Hudack founder of Blip.tv, Noah Brier, planner at Naked and Marc Schiller CEO of ElectronicArtists also answered the rock star bell. I liked their freshness of thought and foresight.