It’s a phrase I heard come out of the mouth of a client recently. And it’s been stuck back in my head ever since.

Think about it. Passion is a buzzword today. People are looking for passionate fans. They want to create passion around their brand. Have passionate employees. The list goes on and on.

But passion is an interesting emotion. We can have life-long passions. Or find new ones along our journey. But what’s even more interesting to me is that passions do progress. For example, you can be passionate about a certain kind of music, which leads you to find an undiscovered artist that you become passionate about, which may even lead you to pick up an instrument, which you grow great passion for as you delve into a whole new world.

Passion can also grow deep about one particular thing and stay on that narrow path. I never even thought about the subject of child sex-trafficking until I met the people at Love146. To see their passion to end what could be considered the single most horrific thing taking place in the world today, lit a fire in a lot of us at Brains on Fire. And the more we learn about how to abolish child sex-trafficking, the more passionate we grow about the cause.

So when we talk about passion, we might want to find out what KIND of passion we’re talking about for our companies and clients. It just may a new way to connect with those passionate fans on a particular level instead of throwing tactics to the wall and seeing what sticks. Passion progresses. Don’t forget.

Wow.

Geno and I got back from Orlando yesterday after spending some time with a lot of smart, engaged folks at BlogOrlando. This was my first experience with an ‘unconference’ or even a format that remotely resembled an unconference. And I’m impressed.

The day got started with the wisdom of Jake McKee. I’ve heard Jake present a handful of times and I really think that one of the things that separates good speakers from great speakers is that you can learn something new everytime you hear them. And that’s definitely the case with Jake. Him and Brains on Fire are definitely singing from the same hymnal. I almost jumped out of my seat when he started talking about how companies have to find a higher calling because it’s so in line with our belief of reframing the conversation. Great stuff.

Then the breakouts came. I pretty much stuck to the Communications/PR track, but there were A LOT of great sessions to choose from. In the Comm/PR route, the good people at Sony talked about the comeback story of the Playstation blog and some of the functionality they’ve added along the way as well as what it’s like being the keeper of a corporate blog.

I was up next talking about ‘Word of Mouth and Social Media ” What’s the Mix?’ I must admit, I was excited when Josh Hallett asked Geno and I to come and lead sessions ” right up until I heard that I would be leading a session in an unconference format and to not prepare a lot of slides. So I did my best to obey. There was a lot of great input from many different perspectives in the room and I’m thankful for all the engagement. Very cool.

I could go on and on about how great Phil Gomes of Edelman was or all the great people that I got to meet, but I won’t. Instead I’d like to briefly mention the one thing that really stuck with me besides all the insight from the great session leaders.

BlogOrlando is free. Yep. Free to attend. They don’t pay the speakers and they don’t buy food, etc. So the cost is low for them to put it on (thanks to the sponsors). I’ve never been to a free conference before. And the difference of engagement levels between a free conference and a fee-based one is night and day. I guess it might be because everybody that’s there WANTS to be there. They CHOSE to go. They CHOSE to give up a Saturday and engage other passionate people. I’m afraid most conferences I go to are full of people that have been sent there from their company. They’d rather be checking emails or anywhere else. But it’s part of their job description or a requirement. The result is sometimes a very low engagement level. BlogOrlando was the exact opposite.

Just a thought.

Many thanks to Josh Hallett and all those that made BlogOrlando 3 possible. It’s a day that will stick with me for a long time to come.

PS - The guys at Izea live streamed a lot of the sessions. You can find them archived here, including some bits from my session.

About 5 years ago, after years in the marketing industry, I almost left this business entirely. For those of you out there in blogland who don’t know me personally, here is my view of the world (taken from the ‘about me’ section of my personal blog):

I am single mother. I have two amazing kids. I live with an equally amazing man I love and adore. In a simple two story pink house. I own my own business. I hate debt. The only personal debt I believe in having is for the home I live in. I like yoga and good wine. I love my life and try really hard to keep it really simple. Some days I am better at that than others.

Okay. Let me add this to that: I am not really a stuff person. Never have been. I try hard not to create needless piles of paper or purchase things if I don’t need them. When I do buy something, I buy it to last. I bank online. I get very little mail. I don’t use plastic bags. I don’t drive a hybrid, but I am looking into it. So you see, I don’t like to junk up the world. Which brings me back to the main point of this blog.

I almost walked away from this business because I couldn’t get right with creating pieces of paper trying to convince folks they needed something. From advertising to brochures to direct mail, I’ve have done and seen it all. (Direct marketers actually celebrate 3% response rates. Do that math: If you send out 500,000 TARGETED direct mail pieces that means that 485,000 are totally useless. Trash. WHAT is that really about for goodness sake?) I also hate the terms “target market” or “cost per acquisition”. Your customers are real live human beings, people! People with passion, lives and dreams.

That is why I love what we are doing these days. Helping companies create meaningful relationships with their customers. Helping them find and celebrate the passions they share with their customers. Yes, we use on-line tools and off-line tools (some of which are made of paper). But we are using them to create relationships that ignite movements. And relationships, if nurtured and handled right, seldom end up the trash can. It is meaningful and worthwhile work in a world where human connection is the one of the main things we all long for and the one thing, money — or ads or direct mail — still can’t buy.

I know we have shared the story of Love146.org on this blog before. But it bears repeating.

The organization formerly known as Justice for Children International works toward the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation through prevention and aftercare. They came to Brains on Fire in the summer of 2007 with a problem. A not-for-profit organization in Texas (different mission) was using the same name and the confusion prompted a needed, but unwanted name change. They asked for our help. Busy and reluctant to raise our hand at first, we agreed to a meeting. Their team flew in. We were blown away with their story and a relationship that has changed the course of both of our organization’s lives forever… began. Some things in life are just meant to be.

Here is a quote from that day about their desire for the new name:

‘ When people hear the name, we don’t want them to hear the name, we want them to hear the call.’

So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. EVERYONE at Brains on Fire poured themselves into finding a name and laying the foundation for an organization that would do just that.

Last week, our friends at Love146 sent us this update:

From the Executive Director, Rob Morris:

‘We are daily discovering the genius behind the Love146 name and “brand” you unearthed for us. I remember you addressing our initial concerns of the obscurity of a name like Love146. You said it will create intrigue and force “the story”…”her story” to be told. Well…it’s happening. Just thought you should know.

A few examples:

* We recently created cloth patches with the number 146 printed on them for bands to sell at concerts or pin on their clothes . The cloth patch is very similar to the one that the young girl (#146) in the brothel wore. There is a popular band called Paramore that is partnering with us right now and the band members are wearing the patch during their shows . When I met with the band earlier this summer, I told them that this is the kind of patch that I’ve seen girls wearing in the brothels where they have had even the dignity of their name taken from them and are being sold by number. So when they wear the patch they are remembering the forgotten and honoring a young girl only known as 146. This will create a lot of awareness for not only the cause but our organization, as people are wondering what the number means that they see the band members wearing on stage. And so her story…our story…the story of these broken little ones is being told. They speak about her and our work at every concert. A voice for the voiceless . As well as honoring to a young girl who will never know that her story is still being told all over the world and is inspiring a movement to end this modern day slavery! The band played on the MTV Video Music Awards show this past Sunday night, so lots of exposure. I’ve attached a few pictures of the band and you will notice that they have the 146 patches on. I’ve had a couple of great meetings with them and they really get it.

* Also the clothing company Hurley has created a special edition “hoodie” for the band and the proceeds from the sale of these will go to us. This will be a significant amount of money as each individual hoodie is $60.

* A Church in Long Island, New York was just given a winning 3 million dollar lottery ticket by a member of their congregation. The Church in turn is donating $200,000 of it to us. This made big news, so the Pastor has been on Good Morning America, The Early Show, etc. talking about us. Great awareness! Here’s a clip from GMA:

* The owner of Porsche racing is giving us the opportunity to design a Love146 Porsche race car to wrap for the upcoming Lemans in California as well as the 24 hour Daytona race in January. This will be broadcast on NBC. So our design guy Ben is having some fun with this one!

* Baume and Mercier, the luxury watch company has become a corporate sponsor and is creating a photo exhibit for us. They hired a Pulitzer prize winning photographer to travel to SE Asia to create the project from our work, which will feature stories of hope and restoration.

I could go on. But this is just a sampling of some of the good things happening. You are such a huge part of this, and I just wanted to say thank you again.’

So go buy a hoodie or a patch. Watch the video. Send them some love for all they are doing. Make a donation. Help us spread the story of Love 146.

Just got a an interesting email from my friend (and Brains on Fire’s founder), Mike Goot:

“I just finished reading a fascinating account of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, called The Devil in the White City. In it, Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect for the Exposition (who also designed New York’s Central Park and all the gardens at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville), sent the following note to Daniel Burnham, lead architect, advising him on how to boost the Fair’s attendance, which initially was well below their expectations:

It was critical, he argued, that the organizers concentrate not on promotional schemes, but on making improvements of a kind most likely to enhance the stories fairgoers took back to their hometowns. “This is the advertising now most important to be developed; that of high-strung contagious enthusiasm, growing from actual excellence: the question not being whether people shall be satisfied, but how much they shall be carried away with admiration, and infect others by their unexpected enjoyment of what they have found.”

Amen, Brother Olmsted.