San Diego Networker

If you're new to San Diego, looking to network in the industry, or want to get involved in the community, here are a few local associations worth checking out:

San Diego Ad Club offers some fantastic networking events, as well as learning opportunities from industry greats like Alex Bogusky, Dan Wieden, Jeff Goodby and Mike Hughes. Their events are always top-notch, as are Sheila and Cindy. I also love their designer the last two years for their yearly big Ad Auction and Gala... maybe you've heard of her. *cheeky grin* If you're a young professional or recent graduate, check out the active San Diego Ad2. There's always something good going on with the Ad Club, like the Addys Raid and Derby. - San Diego Ad Club on Twitter -

AIGA San Diego is a phenomenal resource for designers in the community. From portfolio reviews to a breakfast club, they offer a variety of events that cover graphic design, web design, social media, interactive media, print screening and the yearly local Y Conference. AIGA SD offers a lot of meaningful opportunities to get involved and make a difference alongside some really cool people. - AIGA San Diego on Twitter -

San Diego American Marketing Association is helpful for those interested in marketing. From luncheons to education bootcamps and networking mixers, they offer some insightful events that can help you get connected to those in the industry. The main AMA site, Marketing Power, is quite helpful- check out their Resource Library. If you join, their monthly print subscriptions are great. - San Diego AMA on Twitter -

PRSA San Diego offers a fantastic mentoring program. I did mine with Fleishman-Hillard to learn more about the PR side of the industry we work in and it was invaluable. The mentors are high level professionals from top PR agencies and they are held accountable by the association to cover certain key topics during your time together. The PRSA also has some great roundtables, happy hours and, of course, the Bernays Awards. - PRSA San Diego on Twitter -

For those of you in San Diego county, Incitrio agency produces an awesome resource for locals in the industry. I try to keep up-to-date on what is happening each month with the AAF's Ad Club and our AIGA chapter, followed by the AMA and PRSA, but all of the associations can be a test of dueling acronyms in your planner. Incitrio puts all of these associations, events and more together in a Herculean feat of a monthly newsletter, along with job openings and award submission deadlines. They have events from over 15 local associations! The newsletter looks like this:

Incitrio is run by the talented Angela Hill who you can talk to @incitrio and has won awards like the American Web Design Awards, took the gold in Neenah Paperworks Contest, and has work in the LogoLounge Master Library of Initials & Crests book. To sign up for the newsletter to stay on top of all of the events in San Diego, there's a link off their main site on the right side.

Last, just for the fun of it, check out this cool site I stumbled across today:

LiveSurface Layered Image Library offers stock images to put your projects on with all of the .psd layers already done for you in perspective. It's a brilliant idea for a comp to a client or for your portfolio if you're in a time crunch on an awesome project. It's got shoes to billboards to buses, oh my!