For the next 15 days, I’m going to participate in Reverb 10. It’s an open online initiative that encourages participants to reflect on this year and manifest what’s next. It’s an opportunity to retreat and consider the reverberations of your year past, and those that you’d like to create in the year ahead. We’re connected by the belief that sharing our stories has the power to change us.

Has something ever presented itself to you and your gut tells you it’s a good thing, but the more you think about it, the more you doubt whether or not it’s a good thing?

Reverb 10 sounds like such a good, purposeful initiative, right away I felt like I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. But the more I thought about whether or not I should do it here, the more I doubted that this was the right forum. In the end, though, I knew I would look back on this and regret it if I didn’t participate. So, for the next 15 days (I missed the first half of December), I’ll be following their “prompts” to guide a blog post. I hope you find it as valuable as I anticipate it being. (And if you want to participate, you can get involved, too!)

Today’s prompt – FRIENDSHIP: How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

This is easy, particularly when I think of the past year on this blog. More than a forum to catch my thoughts, more than the opportunities, more than anything, I’ve been able to create, foster and grow relationships that I didn’t have last year. And a fair number of those relationships have turned into true friendships. Yeah, I know – especially in today’s world where becoming a “friend” is a simple click – that we don’t see each other on a regular basis, and it’s hard to go out and have a beer, but the bond that we’ve created is palpable. It’s that comfortable feeling you feel when you haven’t seen someone in a long time and when you do see them again, it’s as if no time has passed in between meetings. There’s no awkwardness. It just is.

One of those friends is Paul Flanigan. Paul is a marketing/digital signage guy who’s had many years experience in creating/managing/consulting on true digital signage initiatives/networks for many large clients. From that perspective, he’s seen and worked in what I would consider “old school” digital signage/DOOH. But the thing about Paul that has made an indelible impact on me is that he’s a “new school” thinker and this year, he’s been instrumental in reinforcing my belief that there truly is a “new school” way of thinking about digital signage/DOOH (and the entire out-of-home space). He’s a great evangelist on the power of engaging people outside of their home and he’s had big stages to speak on about this. He’s really a force. The more he talks, the more I feel like I’m on the right track. Our perspectives are aligned and that has been powerful to me, particularly on this blog. In the coming year, I can only hope to impart half of the value that this perspective has had on me. Friends are like that – it doesn’t take much to make a large impact.