Cooksey Connects

Archive for the ‘Just Because’ Category

This past week, after a summer hiatus from public speaking, I found myself rapidly re-adjusting to a jet-set lifestyle. Wednesday was a return to the stage for Monster’s Making It Count programs at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, OK.

Late in the week, I traveled to Scottsdale, AZ to meet with a company there for a couple of days and learned a couple of fun facts:

1) It DOES rain in the desert. Admittedly, it’s not very much, but when it does rain, it also flash floods. Note to the wise: When you see a valet stand employee in Scottsdale, AZ packing up in the wind, a monsoon is most likely coming. If you’re parked 1/2 mile away, as I was, you’ll want to pay and run to the car ASAP. Seriously…those raindrops are HUGE in the desert!

2) Scottsdale has not only bike lanes, but a horse trail running through town, too! Any questions about this city’s western heritage have now been settled.

3) When you order a new iPod to replace one you’re sure has been lost forever the one you misplaced will show up 20 minutes after the new one is delivered to your door and been synchronized with iTunes.

4) To find opportunities, sometimes you have to trust yourself and take a chance. Stay tuned to Your Success.Your Terms. for the explanation on this one.

In high school, my old Scoutmaster gave me a modem for my computer. When I asked “what is this for?”, he replied with “So your computer can talk to mine.” My response, “Why would I want to do that?”

Fast forward about 20 years and now we all live in a world awash with terms like “viral marketing” and “YouTube” (often used as both a noun AND a verb). Loosely, these ideas stem from unusual attempts of ordinary people (or savvy marketers posing as ordinary people) who post home-made video to the internet for the world to see. Sometimes, it’s a short film, sometimes it’s just plain bizarre and other times, it’s a more serious message. Enter Adam Bahner a/k/a Tay Zonday creator of “Chocolate Rain“, one of the internet’s most famous stories of viral marketing success. See his appearance at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show here:

Why did this video become such a “success”? Well, that’s to be determined. What it DID do, however, was slingshot this grad-school student into international fame and demand by a media hungry audience. All he did was follow his creativity to play up a goofy video and highlight his unusually low voice. What happened next was unpredictable. I just hope in a few years, we don’t find out he’s in a crisis state or rehab due to not being able to handle the end of his 15-minutes of fame and “celebrity” status.

So, the next time you have a corny idea for a video post. Say to yourself: “Self, let’s shoot some video and see if by some random happenstance of events I might wind up getting paid for corporate and media appearances.” Why not!

As many of us have experienced, a ‘going away’ party was held recently at an office near Little Rock, Arkansas.

One of the supervisors called a Wal-Mart and ordered the cake.

He told them to write:

‘Best Wishes Suzanne’ and underneath that write ‘We will miss you’.

As the picture shows, it didn’t quite turn out right.

I sure hope this was a freebie!

Something tells me George Clooney meant this comment to be a bit tounge-in-cheek. You decide.

Take a star from halfway around the world and post their comments on a website written in another language….HA!