Valentine’s Day greetings to you. How did it go – gifts, dinner, surprises?
I’m writing this after a 6-hour commute with my toddler, followed by 5 hours of sleep. So I’ll get straight to the point.
Two interesting things from last week.
I visited Dubai for the first time to attend STEP Conference and represent dadan (I head marketing there). Dubai’s vibe is real — not every day your morning taxi is sandwiched between two Rolls-Royces like it’s normal traffic.
Met wonderful people from Sweden, Sri Lanka, India, the US, Croatia, Finland and more. Apart from a solid sun tan (thanks to an outdoor booth), here are a few takeaways if you’re attending events like this.
- AI still makes people go gaga. Whatever you’re building or pitching, show where AI fits in.
- Visually compare yourself with competitors. Events are noisy — don’t explain, show.
- Don’t chase business cards. Build relationships and note something personal for follow-ups. Alexi loves the sun, Phillip had a killer olive suit, Nathan sounds like he has a podcast mic in his vocal cords.
- Use sunscreen.
Second interesting thing
I posted a long-form YouTube video after 18 months. It took me less than 40 minutes.
Here’s the exact workflow:
- Create slides in Canva.
- Record using dadan’s online recorder for a clean layout.
- Connect iPad to annotate directly on slides.
- Use ChatGPT for title + thumbnail copy.
- Use Lovart AI to generate thumbnails (this blew my mind).
I’ll keep experimenting with this model for educational content and see where it goes.
What I didn’t do this week, my daily video streak broke. I’m not sulking, but it’s a reminder that systems must evolve beyond one person.
See you next week.