Ad Congress Virgin No More...

Yup, yup. I'm no longer an Ad Congress virgin.

As I've said last week, I was lucky enough to be sent as a delegate to the recently concluded Ad Congress in Subic last week. The four-day event was held at the Subic Bay Convention Center. The venue was a really good one. The food was also great. The tons of freebies given to delegates was fantastic. Haha! And the event itself was filled with learning. Of course, I'm not sure if the previous Ad Cons were similar to this one. (I hope I get to attend the next one in 2009. Hehe!)

The VVIP (as in very, very important person) at the Ad Con was Neil Gaiman. Uhm, save for Coraline, 300 and Beowulf (the movie), I don't really know much about Gaiman's work. I knew about Sandman, but I haven't read it.

Even so, I got to pick up several notes to keep in mind from his talk. His topic focused was about imagination. Gaiman underscored the importance of imagination and creativity not just for writers, but for every person on this planet.

He said that it was important to constantly ask, "What if it doesn't have to be like this?" To do this, "someone had to imagine." He also mentioned that escape is good, whether it's through traveling or some other activity, because it allows a person to gain new skills and perspectives.

Gaiman said, "The best part is the return because the place you get back to isn't the place you've left." The reason? Because of all the new learnings.

Several weeks ago, I attended the "Why Not? Forum." The forum gets people to start asking, "Why not?" in an effort to get them to take some action. Gaiman's recommended question was, "What if?" or "Wouldn't it be interesting if...?"

Gaiman said that it is important to look at things you've seen for a thousand times and then looking at it for the first time, to see something new. He also added the importance of dreaming big. "Think huge. Walk towards what you want to do. Walk towards the mountain, and keep the hugeness of all the things that one wants to do."

Naturally, Gaiman's speech was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.

Thank you, Neil Gaiman, for all these inspiring words.