Ever heard of Burning Man?

[John Patterson]

Ever heard of Burning Man?

Probably, but if not, it is a creativity festival that takes place each year in the desert (see photo).

Now, for those who have been, the above explanation probably left you ready to spit nails. It is difficult to describe Burning Man, and as it says on their website:

"Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind"

In the same vane, I have had scores of people try to get me to clarify the question: What is The Chicago Convergence? I have advice coming from every angle saying it needs definition.

I don't deny that there are scores of viewpoints, seas of opinion and chaos in abundance, but The Chicago Convergence is what it is. It is many things to many people and it has always been intended to be that way. The Convergence belongs to it's members and it sees about 1000 page views a day, 13,515 video views and 2312 members. Not bad for a pile of chaos 10 months old.

Clearly, it is about Chicago and it's digital prominence, it is about discovery, connecting and enabling people to produce expanding results through collaboration. There are likely 15 other things it's about too.

Now, having said all that, we are working with brand specialist Marshall Ross of Cramer-Krasselt and Jim Cohen of Spark to boil this thing down to it's essence. The work is a bit like peeling back your skin to see what is at the chewy center, but very worth the time it has taken. Why are we doing this? Because we want to express the Chicago Convergence in the world (as it is) with clarity.

It has never been difficult for me to understand what it is or why - but it needs a way to get communicated so others 'get it'.

Last Friday, we saw four distinct 'Brand Worlds' produce by Cramer-Krasselt that express The Chicago Convergence in wonderful and exciting ways. The work being done, the language and imagery is extraordinary and will help catapult The Convergence to a professional brand image worthy of global attention (and likely a much much larger amount of chaos).

Stay tuned as we continue to unveil the future.

[Dan Holt]

This is something I actually posed to Greg Spero as part of the Facebook Leadership team on Thursday in an email: "I thought maybe since this is suppose to by our Convergence, that we try to maybe pose the question what the Convergence means to you? and try to get that question out to as many people in the Facebook community as possible and have them create short videos answering back. Could be a good way to spread the Convergence virally. Maybe we have them send the videos to us and we post them up everywhere to virally get the convergence out. Maybe we question about the 2016 Olympics in there as well and have them answer how new media could affect and enhance the Olympic games? Just some ideas I was thinking about on the way to work. Needs some fine tuning but could be a direction to take."
I think it could be a good way to get some feedback on what outsiders as well as insiders think the Chicago Convergence is all about. It could open new doors and it's always good to get some outside criticism. I think the steps posed and being taken as stated here are great but what I pose could be good supplementation as well.