Alfred Waugh, the principal of Formline Architecture in Vancouver, presented the "Indigenuity in Architecture" session at the Wood Design and Solutions Conference held on Feb. 28 in downtown Vancouver...

First Peoples House UVIC

Waugh detailed the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, based in Merrit, B.C., as the basis for his firm's further work on wood projects.

It was decided at first to have two separate entrances, but a First Nations elder pointed out "we've been going through separate entrances for 200 years" so the design changed to one large entrance, along with a circular space in the middle of the structure.

Teepees were used in the Nicola Valley for hunting and fishing which are natural air funnels, and the climate elements of the building used that methodology as a design inspiration. Yellow cedar was also used in the building envelope.

Waugh also designed the First People's House at the University of Victoria, and he said the building's quadrangle shape is meant to integrate and blend in with the surrounding land.

"It's one of the few heavy timber buildings in the centre of the campus, surrounded by concrete buildings," Waugh said.

The building is meant to be a celebration of water, Waugh said, which is an important element to the Coast Salish people. Stormwater is handled on site and the lower roof is a green roof.

The idea of the building is to share culture as students and others walk through the building, Waugh said, and as such has been a success, with both First Nations and other students using the structure.

Longhouse design was another key point of inspiration, but it also worked as a way to enable displacement ventilation. The design allows for passive cooling and uses "100% fresh air." Computer fluid dynamic modelling was used to calibrate ventilation requirements to occupant load.

The main air supply is provided through a "ventilation totem" outside the building, which sends air down to the mechanical ventilation systems.

Wood, Waugh said, was used in the Nicola Valley structure through glulam columns supporting concrete structure.

"A forest of columns replaced the forest of jack pines we had to displace," Waugh said.

Waugh also worked on the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Centre, which is designed similarly to longhouses, and he said the building was meant to be inviting and a way to share culture rather than a "black box."

"We wanted it to be a plank house, but a transparent one," he said.

A hybrid post and beam system inspired by the plank house theme meant using paired glulam columns and beams joined by steel connectors and glulam rivets. It also used a suspended glazing system, which allowed for "shingled glass."

The First People's House on the UVic campus used an interpretation of the slotted post and beam connection for the Coast Salish Long House part of the structure, using glulam columns and beams.

Waugh highlighted the O'Siyam Pavillion in Squamish, which uses curved glulam to create a bandstand.

"It's an expression of the locale, where the mountains meet the sea," Waugh said, and the roof reflects that with its undulating shape.

Waugh also pointed to the Liard River Hot Springs in Liard River, B.C., a project where they were not allowed to use any electrical or mechanical elements. The project was a replacement of existing change room facilities and washrooms, but they made minimal impact during construction to preserve endangered snails in the area. There we no lights allowed, so the structure made use of natural light.

The Indian Residential School, History and Dialogue Centre on the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus is a building meant to highlight a dark period in Canada's history. The idea for the building was for the landscape to "penetrate" the structure, so that it blends with the land and provides areas for outdoor learning.

Source: Journal of Commerce / Blog

In Chicago, there’s a famous restaurant called Alinea. It’s one of only a handful of restaurants in America that have earned the coveted 3-star Michelin rating, making it one of the best restaurants in the world. But if you ask people who’ve dined there what makes it unique, most will tell you that, somehow, it’s not just the food.

Alinea is an experience. The food, artistic and delicious as it is, wouldn’t garner its full effect if each course (there are about 20 in all) didn’t arrive just in time, perfectly ordered, with each dish complementing the one before it and simultaneously enhancing the one scheduled to arrive next. There’s a natural flow to the meal -- a rhythm. Each course serves a purpose, like the individual instruments of an orchestra.

The end result is something enticing, captivating, and memorable -- and fun. Really fun. Most importantly, the end result sells people. It compels them to write glowing Yelp reviews. It makes Alinea the topic of conversation. The end result drives people back again and again.

As a marketer, if you want to sell people like a Michelin 3-star restaurant, you have to execute like one. In other words, you have to 1) produce something remarkable and 2) present it correctly, logically.

If you don’t know how to do that, here’s a proven copywriting formula that will guide you ...

Bob Stone's 7 Step Formula

Bob Stone was a giant figure in the advertising world. His colleagues called him “Mr. Direct Marketing” because he wrote countless successful direct mail pieces, selling everything from surgical dressings to business club memberships.

How did he do it? He had a trick: an adaptable formula made up of seven simple, logical steps he used to hook readers and keep their interest until the last line (at which point many readers did what he asked them to).

Stone’s formula -- referred to by marketers as “Bob Stone’s Gem” -- was originally used to write sales letters and other direct response advertisements. But in the decades since its invention, it’s been proven to work in virtually any type of promotion, from blog posts to landing pages to sales emails. Try it yourself and watch your response rates rise.

But first, let's break down each step. You'll notice that I've provided an example sentence (or two or three) under each to show how a copywriter might use Bob Stone’s Gem to create a blurb of copy (which, in this instance, is selling that beaut of a restaurant: Alinea).

1) Begin with your strongest benefit.

In the advertising world, features tell and benefits sell. That’s what makes Bob Stone’s Gem so compelling: it forces marketers to focus on and, therefore, highlight the benefits of their product, service, cause, program -- what have you. Of course, features should also be present in the promotion you create but, ultimately, they’re not closers. Only benefits are.

That’s why you have to sculpt your copy around a target persona, highlighting the benefits you know to be most important to her.

In this example, I’ll be writing to Foodie Francis, a married, middle-aged lawyer with two adult children. She loves cooking and is particularly fascinated by molecular gastronomy.

Let’s get started:

    "Dine at Alinea, and join the I’ve-Eaten-the-Best-Food-in-the-World club."

2) Expand on the most important benefit.

Make your main benefit difficult to ignore by describing the actual positive impact it can make on your target persona’s life. Change your reader’s perspective. Plant a seed.

For example:

    "A club that will open your culinary head, forever changing the way you look at food and, perhaps, even the way you understand ingredients."

3) Explain exactly (and in detail) what the prospect will get.

You’ve planted the seed, now water it. This is where you can drop some features. You can do so by painting a picture, which will give your reader something to visualize and gestate. Just don’t over-do it. Leave room for your reader’s imagination. After all, it exists for a reason ...

For example:

    "At Alinea, dine on tempura-fried pheasant breast, while experiencing the delights of a Midwestern fall -- even if it’s January. At Alinea, eat an apple masquerading as a helium balloon."

4) Back up your statement(s) with proof.

By this point, your reader has given you her attention, time, and effort. But she’s not a sucker, you know. She’s a leery, 21st century consumer. And if she’s to be sold, she is going to need some proof.

This is your chance to flash some facts, statistics, testimonials, awards -- anything that’ll give credibility to your claims.

For example:

    "At Alinea, experience the weight of 3 Michelin stars: the bites, the service, the art of it all."

5) Tell them what they’ll lose if they don’t act.

Bob Stone included this step because he knew that people are far more driven to avoid pain than they are to acquire pleasure. As a species, we’re constantly striving to prevent suffering and avoid discomfort. That’s why it’s important to incorporate some negativity into your copy.

For example:

    "But if you choose not to make a reservation, rest assured you'll go on living, laughing, and loving like you always have. Nothing will change. And wouldn’t that be unfortunate?"

6) Sum up the most important benefits.

You just took your reader to the darkside, now bring them into the light again. Recap all those terrific benefits that captivated your reader in the first place, reminding her why she should pull the trigger.

This is your last opportunity to sum up the value your product or service will bring to the reader’s life. This is your chance to push the reader over the threshold, so make it personal and emotional for your target audience.

For example:

    "Because beautiful and delicious and exciting as the Alinea experience is, it's nothing compared to what could be. It's nothing when pitted against the future -- your future -- after your mind is awakened to the potential of ingredients and the possibilities of food."

7) Present your call-to-action.

If you don’t ask your reader to take a specific action at the end of your copy -- if you don’t tell her what to do next -- you might as well have never written it in the first place. I don’t care how compelling your words have been, if there isn’t a clear next-step, your copy is almost certainly going to fail.

So keep your call-to-action simple and direct. Don’t force your reader to think.

For example:

    "Be our guest. Reserve your table on our website, www.AlineaRestaurant.com, today."

The Finished Product

When stitched together, Alinea’s promotional blurb is short and sweet. Depending on the circumstances, it could be expanded or even shortened. But for the purposes of this article, I think it reads just right:

    "Dine at Alinea, and join the I’ve-Eaten-the-Best-Food-in-the-World club.

    A club that will open your culinary head, forever changing the way you look at food and, perhaps, even the way you understand ingredients. At Alinea, dine on tempura-fried pheasant breast, while experiencing the delights of a Midwestern fall -- even if it’s January. At Alinea, eat an apple masquerading as a helium balloon. At Alinea, experience the weight of 3 Michelin stars: the bites, the service, the art of it all.

    But if you choose not to make a reservation, rest assured you'll go on living, laughing, and loving like you always have. Nothing will change. And wouldn’t that be unfortunate?

    Because beautiful and delicious and exciting as the Alinea experience is, it's nothing compared to what could be. It's nothing when pitted against the future -- your future -- after your mind is awakened to the potential of ingredients and the possibilities of food.

    Be our guest. Reserve your table on our website, www.AlineaRestaurant.com, today."

Is this copy going to sell everybody who reads it? Of course not. But then again, it wasn’t designed for everyone. It was designed for Foodie Francis, remember?

So, will it sell her? Perhaps. Nothing’s a sure thing. But thanks to Bob Stone’s Gem, I like my chances.

Written by Eddie Shleyner @VeryGoodCopy | Source: Hubspot

How to Get Unstuck

Why do people feel so miserable and disengaged at work? Because today's businesses are increasingly and dizzyingly complex — and traditional pillars of management are obsolete, says Yves Morieux. So, he says, it falls to individual employees to navigate the rabbit's warren of interdependencies. In this energetic talk, Morieux offers six rules for "smart simplicity." (Rule One: Understand what your colleagues actually do.)

Source: TED / Presenter: Yves Morieux

Everything Starts With An Idea

Here's a twist on Creativity and The Big Idea. Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform. And how does copyright come into play. Embrace the remix.

Source: TED / Presenter: Kirby Ferguson