Vote on the name for our Signature Event
Dear Fellows, Board and Staff –
We are working on developing a one or two day symposium in November in Washington DC, based on the event we ran in Salamanca in October 2013 in partnership with the 10th Wilderness Conference and which was originally launched at Wild9 in Merida, Mexico. These events were called Wild Speak and featured conservation presentations and discussions with photographers, scientists, members of the conservation community, and other organizations. I can comment directly on the Salamanca event and state without reservation that it was tremendously successful and very popular ( I was not at Wild9, but assume the reactions were much the same).
At this year’s iLCP Annual Meeting for the Fellows in January we announced our plan to replicate this event concept later this year in Washington DC in November 2015. At that time, some concerns were voiced about using the Wild Speak name again which we were planning on doing. As a result, we have been working with a branding and graphic design specialist to come up with alternative options. I am writing to you now to offer you the chance the vote for your favorite event name.
Before presenting the pros and cons of each option, I would like to present our long-term plans for this event. As currently envisioned, this annual symposium in DC will become iLCP’s signature event, paired with the Annual Meeting that will be moved to that time. We feel that there is nothing like this currently existing in the industry. Most photography events either deal with every possible topic under the sun – not just conservation – or if they a nature and wildly orientation, they too focused around “how” a picture was taken, rather than “why” it was taken. Every time I attend an event where there is a mix of iLCP and non-iLCP photographer speakers, it is invariably the iLCP speakers who wow the crowd. A focus on the issues underlying the photography, and especially conservation issues, with amazing photography is why iLCP presenters are the most engaging and why WiLDspeak in Salamanca was so successful. It was chock full of iLCP presenters and partners. We want to capitalize on this and build it out. Eventually, as we did in Salamanca, we hope that other conferences hosts will ask us to bring our model of presenting photography and conservation to their events all around the world (think of the relationship between TedX events and TED). If it works, this will bring multiple and great opportunities for all of you as speakers individually and provide new and different platforms for iLCP to present our collective work.
So, onto the two event name options and their pros and cons:
Option 1: Wild Speak
Pros –
- Already established, especially for those who attended Wild10 (and to some extent Wild9 in Merida).
- We already own the URL
- Conveys idea that is about communications and wilderness/nature
- Rolls off the tongue easily, can be used simply to convey an event as in “Are you going to Wild Speak this year?”
Cons –
- Like “Blue” of marine efforts, “Wild” may be too common in the broader environmental scene (Wild Foundation, WildScreen, WildAid, Wild Earth, Defenders of the Wild, etc)
- Perhaps ties too closely with nature/wilderness, disregarding the connection with cultural conservation, which is part of our mission
- No tie to photography directly, without a tagline. In Salamanca in 2013 we used the tagline “Photography – Conservation – Communications” to better convey what the event is about.
Option 2: ChangeFocus
Pros –
- Conveys the sense that this is about taking action
- Smart reversal of common theme “focus on change”
- Ties in to photography directly
- We can do some interesting motion graphics and plays on words that address all the things the symposium will try to encourage (i.e and for example only: ChangeBehavior, ChangePolicy, ChangeCourse, etc.)
Cons –
- No tie to conservation directly without a tagline
- At first “Are you going to ChangeFocus this year?” might not sound like an event, though presumably that would change with time as people got used to it, just as I am sure first time one heard “google it”, it was unclear as to what was meant.
- URL for ChangeFocus.org is not available and this is the most logical, will need to comprise with other extension like .us (.com not available either)
- Does not build on existing branding that exists with WiLDspeak
Option 3: Wild Focus – a mix of the above two
Pros –
- Ties in to both nature and photography directly, though a tagline will still be needed
- Rolls off the tongue easily, can be used simply to convey an event as in “Are you going to WiLDfocus this year?”
- Builds partially on the established WiLDspeak brand, but still moves away from it – this can be both a positive and a negative depending on how you look at it
Cons –
- like with Change Focus URL for WilLDfocus.org is not available and this is the most logical, will need to compromise with other extension like .us (.com not available either)
- Builds partially on the established WiLDspeak brand, but still moves away from it – as noted above, this can be both a positive and a negative
- As above, “Wild” may be too common in the broader environmental scene (Wild Foundation, WildScreen, WildAid, Wild Earth, Defenders of the Wild, etc) and in particular in this case, is it too close to WildPhotos (though WildScreen is apparently giving up that name – so perhaps not that much of an issue)?
- Perhaps ties too closely with nature/wilderness, disregarding the connection with cultural conservation, which is part of our mission
Conclusion
Please think on the above and what makes the most sense. We need an event name ASAP so that we can start really working on planning. So, there is a deadline of COB next Monday, April the 27th for you to vote on your favorite. Thank you!!!
Thank you!!!
Alex
PS – if you have not yet set up your password, when prompted for one, click on the “Recover Password” icon and that will allow you to set a new password.
Alexandra S. Garcia
Executive Director
International League of Conservation Photographers