THE LAB:GALLERY Presents INTERSECTION February 10-March 2, 2012
Brian & NYC Team Take Chevy Roadtrip to SXSWi
Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by AdamWallace in Community, Events, Hotel
Brian Simpson (@bsimi) of the Roger Smith Hotel (@RSHotel) left today as captain for the New York team (#NYChaos) for the Chevy Road Trip to South By South West (#ChevySXSW). The team will be driving to Austin, TX and have to complete a series of challenges along to way and they are competing against teams from all other areas of the country.
The New York team, NYChaos, has four other people in addition to Brian: Jessica Randazza, Sarah Simmons, Nick Mcglynn, and Khayyam Wakil.
Stay in touch with the teams trip and adventures here: http://nychaos.tumblr.com/
Also become a fan of our Facebook Fan Page NYChaos
…and to all of our NYC friends coming to SXSWi please support us and help us win! There are bragging rights at stake here and we know none of you want to lose to Detroit, Chicago,
North Carolina, Florida, Atlanta… need we say more 
GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THE SEVEN OTHER TEAMS !!!
- Team North Carolina: @jakrose @waynesutton @theRAB @nikisnotes
- Team Detroit: @balanon @bchesnutt @walkerau @davemurr
- Team Atlanta: @tessa @kimber_regator @linneamc @scott_regator @chris_regator
- Team Chicago: @timjahn@michaelcourier @pragerd @TheScottBishop
- Team Lansing: @betsyweber @callkathy @snagit @mulka
- Team San Diego: @brassfield @briandrandles @venesslynn @stolenumbrella @jessiemarcel
- Team Florida @tammycamp
‘Social Media’ is so 2009
Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 by BrianSimpson in Community, Hotel
In 2009 we all, and I mean ALL, jumped on the runaway train called ‘Social Media’. Now before you attack me I will admit SM changed my career, my way of doing business and my life, all for the better. I became well versed on Twitter and its idiosyncracies, I learned the importance of creating sets on Flickr, I discovered that with a single post to Tumblr I could bombard all my communities with silly links and most importantly I discovered Blip.fm where I could either send out songs that made people dance in their chairs or be completely annoyed by my taste in music. *just blip’d out Lola Live by the Kinks* All of this was great, it is still great and I have fine tuned my skills in communicating online, I think we all have.
To start 2kx (2010) I thought long and hard about what I had actually learned in 2009. Not what on-line skills I had learned, I wanted to truly question myself and figure out if I had grown as a person in any way that I could carry over and exploit for the next twelve months. It actually came to me when I was talking to one of my new friends about how shy I am. She laughed and said “yea right”. I tried to defend my claim and explain my shyness… I failed miserably. “I WIN!” she exclaimed. This was my moment of clarity. Between my recent ass kicking of cancer
What does not kill you makes you stronger
and my new-found voice on-line I had broken out of a lifelong shell of meekness. I had acquired a confidence that was lost when I stopped racing for the National Cycling Team.
Bringing Back This Intensity
Now I am back, confident – not cocky, pushing the limits – not wreckless and ready to embrace the extended community that we are constantly building here at The Roger Smith Hotel.
'75 Over Time Square
What I learned was that by changing my typical mode of communication I was able to find new skills and cross these skills into real life. It reminds me of the time I broke my back and lost feeling in my legs. Even after surgery I had massive loss of nerve sensation and the doctors told me that alternative nerves would start to become more active and create new paths giving me back muscle control and the ability to function. They were right. The skills I now use in real life conversations were always there, it took my on-line voice to find them.
Thank you to all the people that helped me find my voice, confidence and passion in 2009. In 2kx I am going to take more risks, be personally more vulnerable than ever, fail a bunch, have monumental successes and come out the other side a better person for it. I challenge you all to do the same.
