GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 4 “Success”

[Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2 Session 1 "Connect", Session 2 "Twist", Session 3 "Make"]

Session 4: Success

Speakers: Nayla Al-Khaja, Marissa Mayer, Garrett Oliver, Bob Mankoff, Chip Conley

Nayla Al-Khaja, producer and director

• Nayla is from Dubai, the first producer and director in the United Arab Emirates
• 35 years ago UAE was a blank desert. Now it’s a big city. 30% of the world’s cranes are there currently
• “My country is 32 years old. Oldest building is 20 years old. Now everything is becoming plastic. It’s like one big shot of Botox”
• “We’re losing our culture and identity…80% of the people living there are expatriates. Most people speak more than 4 languages”
• She wasn’t allowed to travel alone as a woman, so she paid a man to marry her so she could study film in Toronto
• She was determined to create films about stories from her homeland. She succeeded. “You can move mountains with films…it’s mobile
• She got a divorce (took 7 min, a lot easier in Dubai). Her dad and brother have disavowed her for being a professional woman, by her mom is supportive
• Demonstrating traditional Arabic dress, how those who are less religious wear it vs those more religious
• Her next film is about how Arab women go on their first date. Dating is a taboo, done in secret
• She works with a team of only five people. She writes, but really needs screenwriters. Anyone interested?
• There’s no film equipment in Dubai. She flies everything in
• She’s 30 and has a 10:30 curfew. She can’t travel anywhere alone, basically ran away to be here

Doug Quin came on stage briefly to play recorded sounds from New Zealand, Alaska, the Amazon. What a cool guy

Marissa Mayer, VP Search and UX at Google

• Marissa spoke at GEL in its first year. Google only had 1,000 ppl then. 20,000 now
• “How to create emotional experiences on our website that let users connect with us”
• Talking about iGoogle as a big stride towards that.
• On May 21 “Doodle 4 Google” will display the chosen logo submitted by public school student
• Google Health: put your health records online. Which vaccinations are you do for? When do you need to refill a prescription?
• She pitched universal search to execs. She thought it would take 18 mos to implement but it took 5 yrs. Launched last May.

Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery

• Garrett is also one of the founders of the Slow Food movement in the U.S.
• Comparing himself to other speakers, all very successful: “We only have one office in one country…but I make beer. I win”
• Drank beer in college: “We drank Budweiser when we had money.” Mickey’s Big Mouth otherwise



• By the way, Garrett is wearing a t-shirt that says Black Chocolate Stout. And he’s black :)
• About the crap in supermarkets: “A loaf of bread does not stay fresh in a bag for 2 weeks. The stuff in the bag is not bread”
• Similarily, 90% of the beer offered at supermarkets is a “facsimile”
• Fact: people moved from hunters and gathers to settlers so that they could grow enough grain to make beer
• Buy Garrett Oliver’s book The Brewmaster’s Table; my beer teacher Marnie Old at French Culinary Institute recommended it too
• Brooklyn is the only brewery in the U.S. to do bottle re-fermentation: beer is called Local 1
• People may not have trained palates, but they have taste. Brooklyn doesn’t do focus groups; they brew what tastes good to them

Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of the New Yorker

• 1,000 cartoons a week come in to the New Yorker
• Four types of cartoons — Normal vs abnormal for caption and picture
• Pupil size significantly expands at the moment that you get the joke
• Arc of incongruity: Confusion, nonsense, absurdity, realistic humor, close to normal
• Bob showed tons of New Yorker cartoons, wish I could have captured them all

See them all at the Cartoon Bank

Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality

• Chip’s talk is about “Peak Experience”
• Happiness: how to find it for yourself and your company
• He created the Phoenix Hotel at 26 to allow rockers to stay, other hoteliers didn’t want them there
• Wanted to embody “You are where you sleep.” Funky, hip, young-at-heart, irreverent, adventurous
• Hotel Avante welcomes more Google guests than any other hotel even though 5 hotels are closer to their campus
• His Hotel Vitale is for the BoBos (Bourgeois Bohemians) “Post W, pre Four Seasons” Urbane, enlightened, nurturing, modern, fresh
• In 2001-2005, San Francisco’s hotel industry took the worst hit of anywhere in the country since World War II.
• Chip went to the self-help section and found Maslow. Hierarchy of Needs pyramid made him realize Joie de Vivre = self-actualization
• Employee Relationship Truth pyramid. Job at the bottom (money), Career in the middle (recognition), Calling at the top (meaning)
• Peak experiences for the employee creates peak experiences for the customer
• Customer Relationship Truth pyramid. Meets Expectations (satisfaction), Meets Desires (commitment), Meets Unrecognized Needs (evangelism)

What a fun day. Such a great variety of speakers. Enjoyed the Brooklyn beer and got the chance to chat with Garrett Oliver. So cool!

NOTE: You can see all my photos of the conference or check out the photos by professional photographer Gene Driskell.

[Also check out other GEL 2008 posts: Day 1; Day 2 Session 1 "Connect", Session 2 "Twist", Session 3 "Make"]

Related Posts:

• GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 3 “Make” April 27, 2008 | 5 comments
• GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 1 “Connect” April 27, 2008 | 6 comments
• GEL 2008: Day 2, Session 2 “Twist” April 27, 2008 | 8 comments
• Gel conference videos now online February 18, 2009 | 1 comments
• IDEA 2009: Social and Experience Design – Day 2 September 17, 2009 | 1 comments

About Whitney Hess

Whitney Hess is a coach and writer helping product teams and senior leaders make better decisions through the principles of user experience. She believes empathy builds empires.

Follow @whitneyhess