Category Archives: Travel

The Power of Story

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Matt Gustavsen

On a daily basis, we listen through various presentations filled with engaging facts and inquisitive statistical data. Most of these bulleted data points get lost in the magnitude of facts thrown at us over a 45 minute period. When this is over,  you might ask yourself–what the hell just happened?

Non stories may provide important information, but stories have a unique power to move people emotionally and move them to take action. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Tell to Win by Peter Guber. A book about purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Think about when you watch a great movie. You listen intently for two hours straight. Not talking, commenting, moving or worrying about the world around you. You’re fully engaged in the story being told.

Last week, I attended the Mckee Story Seminar in New York city. Four intense days of listening to Robert Mckee speak about the principles involved in the art and craft of story design.

Here are some things I learned that could be applied to all writers telling a story:

  • Writing story is an art form
  • Quality story structure demands creativity; it cannot be reduced to simple formulas that impose a rigid number of mandatory story elements.
  • Write alternate scenarios for each draft
  • Never repeat yourself – it gets boring
  • Trash something if it’s not great
  • It’s all about turning points
  • Characters need to experience things they have never experienced before
  • Conflict is to story as sound is to music
  • Don’t write what your audience expects
  • Write vividly

These are a just a few things I learned at the seminar and if I list everything, I’m sure most of it would just get lost in the magnitude.

Posted in Books, Film, Hart-Boillot, Miscellaneous, Travel, Writing | Leave a comment

An Interview With Garrett(s)

Posted on May 25, 2011 by gcampagna

Fenway Photo

Hello world! I’m Garrett, the new intern at HB. I happen to hail from Illinois; I’m a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign. In order to introduce myself to the HB blog readers I have conducted an interview with myself (below). Under normal circumstances, interviewees are interviewed by an interviewer that is not the same person as the interviewee. However, since the other HB employees are hard at work (as they always are), I have assembled a list of questions to interview myself with. Read on to see the interview, in its entirety.

Continue reading →

Posted in Design, Hart-Boillot, Sports, Travel | 1 Comment

Traveling Green – Behavior Might Trump Destination

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Nicolas Boillot

I sleep in a hotel at least two nights each week. To get to my regular hotel, I drive two hours plus, and roughly once each month I travel to more distant national and international destinations.

My room, two nights per week

Despite this carbon-intensive lifestyle, I make efforts to minimize my impact. Sadly, I’m bucking the trend, according to two Virginia Tech students whose study, “Guests’ green habits slip during hotel stays”, notes that “consumers who engage in environmentally friendly behavior at home behave differently when staying at a hotel.”

Aside from driving a five-year-old Toyota Prius, I have developed numerous hotel habits that help minimize my impact. A brief search on “green traveling” revealed no obvious online resource to point to — most green travel tips are focused not on the traveler, but on the destinations. Here are a few tips for greening up your travel, whether your destination is green or not. I make a practice of each of these, and none of them makes traveling any more difficult. Continue reading →

Posted in Clean Tech, Green Living/Working, Hart-Boillot, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art History Flash Back

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Christine Tesseo

Years ago, I would visit art museums, knowing details about famous artists’ masterpieces… how quickly our lifestyle changed when we settled down and had a family.

Last week, we returned from our first vacation since having children. We spent time camping, crabbing, boating and eating our way through Mount Desert Island. Fortunately, the President’s visit didn’t impact our trip.

We then ventured to Rockland, home of the Farnsworth Art Museum – we walked through town, viewed sculptures by local artists, and poked our heads into galleries. The sculpture that most caught my attention was Robert Indiana’s famous LOVE pop icon on the corner of Main and Park Street. A long-time resident of Maine, Indiana originally designed the ubiquitous icon for holiday cards. This summer, The Farnsworth Art Museum is showcasing his new work as well as variations of his long-familiar themes. Indiana’s show, “Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope Lodge,” is his first public exhibition in five years, and includes a documentary film on Indiana by filmmaker Dale Schierholt.

Posted in Design, Travel | Leave a comment

Sipping Wine, Helping our Planet

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Amanda Jayachandran

In need for a relaxing vacation? I have just the place! A week ago, I returned from a trip of rest and relaxation in Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley and San Francisco. My time at the vineyards was spent sipping wine and picnicking with delicious warm pesto bread, rosemary cheese, a creamy sheep cheese, fresh apricots and of course, chocolate.

While driving with the windows down over rolling hills of grape vines, I began to take note of the advancements in science and technology that the vineyards have incorporated.

One particular vineyard I visited, Grgich Hills Cellar, has an impressive commitment to sustainability and biodynamic farming. Installed on the rooftop are waterproof solar panels that generate 150kw of clean energy on a daily basis. The winery only needs 120kw, so the winery receives rebates for the additional energy generated. The winery saves about $70,000 a year!

The biodynamic farming technique at Grgich relies on natural cycles of the earth and cosmos, as well as natural farming techniques over artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The winery uses a mixture of dried horsetails and chamomile as an alternative to harmful sprays. The difference between biodynamic and organic farming is that biodynamic recognizes cosmic forces and uses them to enhance and balance the vine growth. Biodynamic farming treats the Earth as a living organism.

The outcome is a winery that acts as a large, pulsing, self-contained, self-sustaining eco-system.

If you have the opportunity, make a trip to Grgich and taste the highly praised Chardonnay with a buttery and subtle oak flavor. Or, as founder Mike Grgich describes the oak taste, “layers of  bouquet, complexity, and a little bit of extra joy to the finished product.”

If you have been to the area and have some preferred spots – or noticed your own use of sustainable agriculture or energy usage, please feel free to comment and tell us about it.

Posted in Clean Tech, Food and Drink, Hart-Boillot, Travel | 1 Comment

Grown-Up Fieldtrip

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Amanda Jayachandran

In the art world, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is considered one of the nation’s most esteemed art schools. Although I would never trade the education I received at GW (Go Colonials!), I’ve always been curious about RISD. I recently took a road trip and visited the prestigious school. Despite the pouring rain, cold, and miserable weather, the school’s creative energy broke through the clouds and provided an incredible experience.

While on-campus, I spent most of my time at the Musuem of Art. The most moving piece was a project by twelve RISD students and artist Pat Steir. It was a series of wall drawings that completely covered a 4,000 square foot room. The pencil drawings were drawn directly on the wall and were an examination of the human body. The drawings explored different shapes of eyes, ears, noses, lips, and other features. Imagine a wall entirely covered in eyes – round, winking, sad, excited, gleeful, and scared, all staring back at the viewer. It was a wonderful study of the expressions of the human body.

As designers, it is key to explore the complexity of every line, crease and wrinkle and the emotions they evoke. Every element of a design should have meaning and therefore every line should be treated with the utmost importance.

Posted in Design, Hart-Boillot, Travel | 1 Comment

EMC World 2008

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Kevin Hart

Not too long ago we returned from EMC World 2008 in Las Vegas. We were lucky enough to work with EMC to produce hundreds of projects for this international conference. From invites to signage to booths to programs, we helped EMC to develop a cohesive and sophisticated look across the different EMC World mediums.

The conference kicked-off with an excellent concert from the Goo Goo Dolls. Their performance helped set the tone for a great week – one full of training, development, competition, and plenty of the EMC energy we’ve grown to love.

Posted in B2B Technology, Design, Hart-Boillot, Travel | Leave a comment

Our Body: Inside and Out

Posted on July 2, 2008 by Amanda Jayachandran

The Body Worlds exhibit has been on display in many cities for quite some time now. I finally had the opportunity to visit this exhibit at the Maryland Science Center over the weekend.

The Body Worlds exhibit is an educational display featuring actual organs and bodies from persons that donated their bodies for this cause. The specimens on view are examples of the technique called Plastination. Invented by a scientist and anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977, Plastination is the method of halting decomposition and preserving anatomical specimens for scientific and medical education.

The exhibit made me realize what an amazing creation our body. I also left the exhibit feeling the desire to respect my body and care for it better.

If you have the chance, I highly recommend this exhibit. It’s not gory and the bodies are treated with care and respect. The Massachusetts exhibit is now closed, but you can check out other cities at http://www.ticketmaster.com/bodies.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Travel | Leave a comment

Explosive

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Justin Hastings

I recently returned from a vacation at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The many highlights included roller coasters, fireworks, and a new a car stunt show. I managed to capture some video of the show’s final stunt – enjoy!

Posted in Hart-Boillot, Travel | 1 Comment

Facing your fears

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Perrin McCormick

I am afraid of many things, including elevators, rats, high places, speed, and flying. I force myself to face most of my fears, especially if there is what I consider to be a significant payoff at the end of the fear tunnel.

On vacation in Puerto Vallarta last week, I heard about a zip line course that everyone loved. I knew my husband would love this outdoor adventure and decided to give it a whirl at Los Veranos Canopy Tours. As much as I didn’t want to fly between the trees 150 M above the ground, I wanted to do exactly that. In this case, the payoff was knowing that I could do it and telling friends about my accomplishment! Even better, I can show them the video! Watch me soar!

One fear I omitted from the above list is failure. That fear is a handy one to have, as it forces me to stretch for new accomplishments, as with the zip line. It also helps me ensure that I give 100 percent to everything – from my work at Hart-Boillot, to planning a party, or even soaring 150m above the forest floor!

Have you faced any fears lately?

Installing Quicktime is necessary to view this video.

Posted in Hart-Boillot, Miscellaneous, Travel | 2 Comments

Take a vacation

Posted on February 2, 2007 by Perrin McCormick

Last weekend I joined my mother and aunt in Scottsdale, AZ for a short vacation. I was only there for three days, but ohh, how much you can pack into a few days. Despite all that we did (shopping, a spa visit, the Desert Botanical Garden, and a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, Taliesin West), it was still incredibly relaxing and restful. Here is one of the many cacti we saw in the garden. If you are interested in more pictures from my trip, view my photo album on my personal blog.cactusI don’t have an exact statistic, but do know that each year, a huge number of Americans don’t use all their vacation time. Time away from the office helps me recharge, which ultimately allows me to do my job in a better way.What are your vacation plans for 2007?

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment