What would your mom say about your portfolio?

Portfolio Night Round-Up

Portfolio Night 8 is history and by all accounts it was a great event. I had a chance to chat with a number of attending Creative Directors and the feeling was unanimous: the work is remarkably better this year. Now, call me biased, but I honestly think that is a reflection of what's happening down at the Lakeshore Campus and here's why: there was a far stronger showing by Humber than any other school. Sure there was representation by Seneca, George Brown, Georgian, Miami Ad School and Creative Circus - but Humber outweighed everyone else by almost 2 to 1. I think we're onto something here.

As you've probably noticed, I'm a big fan of collectively learning from each other's experiences. So with that in mind I've asked those who attended to reflect back and offer up some advice for next year's participants.

What I found interesting, is what some of you may find frustrating: there's conflicting advice. So what worked for some people, didn't in fact work for others. The biggest battle seems to be what format to show your book. Digital or printed.

Laura Kitching

• When selecting the ads to put in your book, make sure that all of them are your absolute best work. Anything less than your best will stand out and bring your book down a notch.

• Last year (PN7) I showed my book on my laptop and this year (PN8) I showed a hard copy book. I think the physical book was better, people were less hesitant to touch it, flip back and forth through the pages and compare various pieces. I found that people only really looked through my digital book once or maybe twice - there is something nice about holding a physical book... or so I've been told.

• I stayed long after my session and managed to see a few more CDs and meet new people. I think it's beneficial to hang around afterwords because you never know who you'll end up talking to and where that may take you. It's actually interesting, the people I was least excited to talk to, proved to be the most insightful, helpful and beneficial in the long run - and if I hadn't stayed I would never have learned that.

Starring in your own ad

When executing an ad, part of your job is to direct the talent. However you may run into scenarios when time or money dictate that you actually become the talent.

Today for example, while at a music session I was asked to step behind the sound-proof glass and offer up my vocals for a sound effect in my own spot. It's a small part, but my Mom will be beaming with pride nonetheless.

Moving forward I'll ask that you address me as per my one and only acting credit: screaming construction worker.  Click below to hear my starring role.



Much the same, yet quite a bit more interesting, is a story about Jordan Cohen who's currently interning at Y&R Toronto. As if it's not enough that I get him to pick up my dry cleaning and bring me coffee, I also demanded he play the starring role in an ad for Portfolio Night.

Jordan can rest easy knowing that he will be forever immortalized in the program book for Portfolio Night 8 - which is distributed to Creative Directors and students all over the world.

Big thanks goes out to photographer Tyler Gray and Westide Studio for not only creating a beautiful shot, but also pulling together this shoot in a matter of hours.