Take me to Pivot! - Introducing Jenny Orsatti

Only 5 days now until I have the amazing, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to New York City with 4 of my friends/colleagues/classmates I have had the amazing opportunity to get to know over the past 2 and a half years. We have learned so much together, and have shared a lot of unforgettable experiences and memories together. This conference will be another experience I can add to memory lane.

My name is Jennifer Orsatti, I was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario - just outside of Toronto - also known as the GTA. After finding out about the IMC program at St. Lawrence College, I knew that this was what I was meant to do. I still can vividly remember the first week of school of being so nervous and literally just diving into the program. Sink or swim right? The professors were there for all of the students - and always have been, allowing us to test the water of Marketing and Advertising. Over the past two and half years, I know that we, as a program, are very lucky to have the professors we have for all of our classes. Each one is always striving to do their best in making sure we are learning the most up-to-date trends in the world of Advertising, and being able to participate and attend events that will benefit us for our future paths and careers.

Luckily, I was able to pick up a Marketing job after completing my first year of the program. Instead of going home and picking up a part-time job back in Mississauga, I chose to take this opportunity and take this Marketing job here in Kingston with The Kingston Economic Development Corporation. Sink or swim, right? After being part of FUSE (a mentoring program in our program), I was able to obtain this job through my mentor - who I can never thank enough for this job opportunity. I was able to learn and mature a huge amount. I was able to develop experience, talent and confidence within the world of Marketing from my first Summer Marketing job.

Another amazing experience I had was with my second year placement. I decided to go out on a limb and cold call a company that was just recently new to Kingston. With that cold call, I was able to communicate through email, and even got an interview with the Account Coordinator. From that, I was able to secure a placement position with this company. This experience was undeniably amazing. The knowledge and experience I gained from this company is unexplainable. I was able to see how an agency worked, and it allowed to see what type of job I want for myself when I graduate - which is exactly what I got to experience at this company. Once my 3-week placement was finished, I carried on a voluntary position with the company because I knew I would continue to learn new things about the field, which I most definitely did!

I then took on another job with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation and the Entrepreneur Centre, where I was the Online Marketing Specialist. I was able to develop and schedule creative content on the different Social Media Platforms of the Entrepreneur Centre, along with other tasks. I have maintained this position through the summer and continue to work part-time during school.

I am looking forward to travelling to New York City and taking in all of the information that will be offered at the conference so that I can prepare myself for the successful future that is awaiting!

Take me to the Pivot!
(like 'Take me to the Riot' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxeIivNDtFU)

PivotTalk Episode 2: Creativity or User Friendly Platform

The second episode of PivotTalk has Josh Leclair (@JoshLeclair18) questioning Brian Solis (@briansolis) on the most important part to launching and promoting a social media platform. Focus on creativity or user friendliness of the platform?

PivotTalk Episode 1: Return on Investment or Return on Ignorance

The first episode of PivotTalk has Cory Firth (@cfirth29), Morgan Davis (@Morgan_KEC) and Lindsey Fair (@lindseyfair) discussing what Return on Investment means in regards to a social media campaign.

Is it really Return on Investment or could it be considered Return on Ignorance?

Life after Pivot:

Slowly returning to our normal routine, the privileged students that were able to attend Pivot are seeing a strong parallel between the content we are being taught in class and the hot discussions during the conference. Every day the topic of ‘conversations’, ‘engagement’ and two way marketing are reinforced but what is really being said?

Google's Definition of Engagement

The word ‘conversation’ almost means nothing to the class of 2011 now but it is essential to future and current marketing. That two-way conversation, customer interaction, brand loyalty and company response is so important to what customers want and expect. The fact is it is not JUST a conversation, the key is listening! Companies need to listen to their customers, understand what the compliments and complaints are and understand how to respond to them. Every complaint on Yelp! can not result in a free meal next time, customers want real responses. If the complaint is that the service was terrible or the food was sub-par then staff and products should be assessed not brushed aside as a one time mishap.

“Engagement” is lost and over used. What is engagement?

According to the Magazine Publishers of America; “Engagement is complex because a variety of exposure and relationship factors affect engagement, making simplified rankings misleading. Typically, engagement with a medium often differs from engagement with advertising.”

So, even they don’t truly understand what engagement is, and that is what we as the future marketers of North America need to know and understand.

How do you define engagement?

No wifi. No data. No connection.

5 hours on a train without wifi and I can feel the withdrawal.

The drive went well. Robin, Mooney, Morgan and I bonded over music and driving games. And FYI at the moment I am currently winning with one extra cow.

Many students on the train are enjoying the scenery, writing their papers or getting some much needed sleep. I am currently enjoying some music and writing a blog post to be uploaded once an Internet connection is established at the hotel.

Everyone seems very excited to be headed to PivitCon. I think I am still in disbelief that we made this work. NY here we come!!

Now back to my riveting train ride!

Manda

Its 5:30 am. Do you know where your children are?

They could be just getting up to embark on their much anticipated journey!

PivotCon is a go and we are lucky enough to be heading to Rome this morning to catch a train to New York City!

Everything is packed. Double checked. Hope I didn't pack too much. Business cards are check. iPhone and charger are check. Comfy travel clothes on and Business attire are all packed!

Now for our drive to Rome. I wonder how the border crossing will be. And what tunes we will listen to in the car. It's an all new experience and I can't wait to get to enjoy it all!

Stay tuned to hear about our adventure to Pivot Con!

The Countdown to Pivot Con is on

As I stay awake, prepping for presentations, reading, editing my web site and finishing up this weeks assignments, the only thing on my mind is Pivot Con. The distraction of spending two days with some of the brightest minds in the marketing industry keeps creeping in.

As a marketing student, understanding the concept of how the role social consumerism plays on todays marketing strategy, makes this conference a dream. With the likes of Brian Solis, Marisa Thalberg and Britta Schell in attendance, we are truly fortunate to be a part of such an innovative event, along with 500 of the most creative individuals in the industry.

Wrapping things up at 2:18am, on Friday, October 7th, finalizing last minute web changes and watching the highlights of the Yankees game (guess I won't be catching a game), all I can think about is where I will be in 10 days. Most likely fast asleep in some New York City hotel room, but the way this year is going, who knows.

Thank you Mike Edelhart and the rest of the Pivot Team for giving our #imcslc class a chance to attend this great event. I am truly honoured to be attending @pivotcon on behalf St. Lawrence College and I look forward to seeing you all on October 17th and 18th, 2011.

See you soon