November 8+9, 2012, MTCC, Toronto – Register today!

We invite visual communicators everywhere to assemble in Toronto this fall for the Association of Registered Graphic Designers' 13th annual DesignThinkers Conference, as we discussed the unique insight and problem-solving processes of the designer.

Extra Events

DesignThinkers Opening Party
Nov 8, 2012, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Thompson Hotel, 550 Wellington St W, Toronto

The Opening Party is a chance to schmooze with your creative colleagues and DesignThinkers speakers.
Workshop: Best Practices for Proposals, Estimates and RFPs
Nov 10, 2012, 1/2 day
How many design proposals have you seen, besides your own? Well that’s about to change. In this interactive workshop with Ilise Benun, founder of Marketing-Mentor.com, you’ll learn best practices for writing winning proposals and have a chance to review actual proposals. (You can even submit one of your own for anonymous critique.) We’ll cover:
- • Pre-Proposal: Learn to evaluate the quality of a project before deciding which to invest your time in. Then, learn techniques for gathering the necessary information to accurately estimate a project.
- • Proposal Document: We’ll look at real examples of winning proposals and discuss what to include (and in what order) and • what to leave out.
- • Proposal Presentation: Finally, we’ll review best practices for presenting proposals so you have a chance to negotiate and don’t fall into the black hole (and never hear from them again).
Workshop: How to Market with Content
Nov 10, 2012, 1/2 day

Should you have a blog, a newsletter and a web site too? How do they all work together? And what about social media? Do you need to use all of them to be doing 21st century marketing? And how do you use them to actually get business?

These are some of the questions we’ll be addressing under the umbrella of “content marketing” – generating and disseminating information targeted to your ideal clients and prospects. And how do you create “content” when you’re busy running your business? Where does it come from and what should it be about?

Attendees will learn why positioning oneself as an expert and marketing with content is the best way to get the best clients. You’ll also see actual examples of effective content marketing by designers and design firms and learn the share step by step process they used to get there.

There will also be a very hands-on section of the workshop where each participant will get a chance to brainstorm their own content ideas and get feedback on them. Participants will leave the session with a one-page content marketing plan, knowing which tools to use, in what order and exactly how to use them.

Blog

Juniper Park Featured in May/June 2012 Issue of Communication Arts
Think back to the 2010 DesignThinkers campaign and you will likely remember a simple, strong, bold aesthetic. The campaign was inspired by the very process it represents: design. Capturing the early-stages of the design process, it featured raw backgrounds, bright colours and thought-provoking statements including, ‘Design is Thinking’ and ‘Design Should Have a Voice’.

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