Two things you may not know about me:

1. I have FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) about almost EVERYTHING.
2. Occasionally, I’m overwhelmed by all the latest advances in the marketing, advertising and design industries.

If you worked at C2, you might hear me bemoan having to learn about new disciplines like augmented and virtual reality, complain about understanding how to vet talent skills in user experience tools like InVision and Sketch, or curse the latest acronym dropped on me by a client – like SFDC (Salesforce dot com)… ok, this one is more “new to me” than new. I’m a bit late to the use of Salesforce as a web development platform.

STOP! MY BRAIN IS FULL.

Truthfully, my brain is not so full that I’m prevented from learning about all these fabulous, emerging technologies. I just get a bit overwhelmed about what to learn, how deep to go and where to find the best, most relevant and accurate information to consume.

Suddenly, World Cup Soccer comes to town! FOMO takes hold – people in jerseys, screaming and setting off seismometers with excitement over their country’s win. I want to be a part of it and understand all the hoopla. I don’t think I have the bandwidth to dive in and get engaged enough to really understand all the players, dynamics and details. However, I have a plan. Coincidentally, it’s very similar to the plan I execute when I have to learn new technologies and advances within the creative industry.

Find an expert! When I need to learn, I like to go where the experts are, IRL (In Real Life) and online. Which leads me to share with you a list of my top seven resources for learning new creative industry stuff and tell you about my plan to learn more about World Cup Soccer.

Expert creative, technical and development resources IRL:

1. Attend the local MeetUps found on Meetup.com. C2 hosts a couple…
1. Milwaukee Graphic Design/Adobe Users Group Meetup
2. BrewCity UX Meetup
2. Recently there was a Meet the Meetups event which gave a voice to 19 tech meetups and their sponsors. I attend a few of the groups featured at the event.
3. A former Meetup, Milwaukee Web Pro, organized by Nick Jaeger, has evolved into a whole new platform, called Thinkminded. The launch party was an amalgamation of smart and creative people. Check out their upcoming events focused on AI!
4. Professional organizations! I’m a joiner (there’s that FOMO again). Most of these groups do monthly education or social sessions that cover emerging tech or other relevant issues in the industry.
   1. 414digital – digital marketing
   2. Ad2 Milwaukee – YP group for advertising
   3. AIGA-WI – design
   4. BMA-Milwaukee and BMA-YP – B2B marketing
   5. Fuel Milwaukee – YP group for advertising
   6. Newaukee – celebrators of social and professional awesomeness of MKE
   7. PRSA – public relations
   8. United Adworkers – advertising

   We make it easy for you – find a compilation of all Milwaukee area creative industry happenings on C2’s Event Page!

Online resources that take get to the point!

1. Smashing Magazine
2. Ad Age (which also comes to the office in print)
3. Medium.com (I get the weekly email summary of the channels I follow)
   1. Creativity channel
   2. UX collective channel
   3. Design channel

   World Cup Soccer
   This week I scheduled some coffee meetings at the Nomad Nacional, where they’re showing World Cup Soccer matches all the time! I plan on getting there a bit early and soaking up the atmosphere and staying a few minutes after my meetings to talk to the fans about who they follow and what they love about the games, players, etc.  I went for lunch a couple weeks ago; they have GREAT food and the ambiance is so fun and unique. It’s a pop-up event space and well worth a visit.

   So that’s my plan. How do you keep up with all the emerging, changing and sometimes overwhelming industry technology? Let us know in the comments!