I’ve just returned from chilly, yet beautiful Boulder, CO where I was auditing a workshop called “Upgrade to Digital” at Boulder Digital Works.

As you may know, BDW is a unique program at the University of Colorado focused on digital business and creative, founded principally with the support of Crispin Porter + Bogusky. SoDA is also a sponsor and, Odopod’s President, Jay Wolff, has joined their board of advisors.

A few weeks prior to my trip, Allison Kent-Smith, Senior Director at BDW, approached Odopod about the idea of leading a remote workshop for the program in San Francisco. We enthusiastically agreed, and arranged to attend one of the current workshops in preparation.

The 2-day session, headed by notable CP+B employees, Scott Prindle and Joe Corr was an appreciable mix of presentations, group exercises and lively discussions on the state of digital marketing. The 40 or so attendees were far ranging – from senior level agency professionals and marketing managers to university professors, entrepreneurs and traditional media publishers.

After a round of introductions and a broad survey to kick off the day, an impressive line up of guest speakers took the group on deeper dives into a variety of topics including; Social Media, Mobile and Search. On day-2 OneRiot co-founder, Robert Reich, hosted a session on the Real-Time web zeitgeist.

The subject surfaced an interesting mix of anxiety and childlike zeal. During the presentation one attendee told the group that he had actually time-stamped his twitter posts to go live while he was at the workshop. And in fact, he was tweeting "now" as he spoke to the room, “without touching a thing”. Another attendee quickly countered that since it was prescheduled, it wasn’t really part of the Real-Time Web. A good point.

At the conclusion of the workshop it was clear that there’s a real appetite for the topics across a spectrum of professional vocations. All in attendance were very interested in reviewing the latest trends and fully understanding the ever-shifting digital landscape.

For it’s final exercise, breakout groups tried their hand at developing strategies and concepts for integrated cross-platform digital executions for a fictitious client. The results varied, but it was certainly a noble pursuit – particularly after just a day and a half of sessions.

Fig. 1 / Boulder Digital Works’ HQ is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Boulder. Nestled just above the Ten Ten Brasserie.

Fig. 4 / Matt Howell from Modernista! and Joe Corr from CB+P moderate a discussion on the digital production process.