Mark Odegard—Past President, 1985-86 February 19, 2014

Back in the early 80s, right before the group changed from Minnesota Graphic Design Association to AIGA, we were a solid club, with a large membership. We had our fall retreat at Lutsen Lodge which was magical, on the Lake Superior. The speakers flew into Mpls, then changed planes to a little 8 seater and flew to Devils Track Lake near Grand Marais. We had to park a car with the lights on at each end of the runway. Bruce Rubin was at one end, me at the other. The speakers looked out the window in the night and were amazed at the low tech lights.
The first night at Lutsen, around 11PM, the northern lights appeared, and put on an other-worldly show. The Lodge meeting room at that time could only hold about 100 people, we maxed that out. I remember we had it at Lutsen for several years and we threw some of the MGDA officers into the pool. Because of the size, and all staying there it was very intimate.
I wanted to have another event in the cities for the members who could not afford the Lutsen conference, so I asked the Walker if we could have an event there. That was the beginning of Insights Lecture Series. The very first speaker was Jamie Odgers, and he was flying in from LA, with a stop over in Denver, and a winter storm delayed all flights out of Denver for 2 days, so he could not make the event. The Walker was upset with us that first week, because we had to cancel the very first lecture. He came at the end of March instead.
Laurie Jacoby and myself thought the group should get together several times during the year, so we planned the luncheons at IMS with local speakers. The first couple lunches were rough, did not have enough food, no microphone, no tables set up, and RSVP was off, this was pre-computer days, but by the 4 month we had it down, and the luncheons were a great success. I am very proud of starting Insights and the Luncheons, even with a few early bumps, it got everyone together.