-So, why did the Art Directors Club move its awards show from NYC to Miami? Executive director Ignacio Oreamuno explains. link

-The Cannes Lions crew has launched a new, three-day academy called Made @Sweden to talk Swedish creativity. link

-To continue in the awards theme, here are your winners from the 2013 International ANDY Awards. link

-Alastair Duncan, who co-founded Jaguar’s global in-house agency Spark44, has been tapped to create a London-based shop for Connect Advertising and Marketing.

-If you have a few minutes to spare, listen to comedian Reggie Watts narrate The Price of Carbon for the Climate Reality Project (above).

So, we went to Saatchi & Saatchi NY’s “7×7″ Advertising Week event just a couple of hours ago to represent our old editor/partner-in-crime MVH, who of course returned the favor by pointing out yours truly just before his speech in front of the whole audience (say 200-250 strong) at B.B. King’s in Times Square. Anyh0w, Saatchi NY’s CCO Con Williamson, the first of the “7,” prefaced things by discussing his travels to the agency’s New Zealand office, witnessing a rugby match and how this applied to winning a certain global account yesterday, though he didn’t say which  (*cough* Trident *cough*).

Following his rather humble intro, Williamson ceded the mic to Fast Company editor Jason Feifer, who provided an anecdote on how he actually learned he had lost his sense of smell (and taste). He might have gone over his time limit, as most did, but Feifer’s speech was more like a medical case study, in which you realize the tricks our own minds can play on us when it comes to our senses.

Anyhow, there was also Contagious director Jess Greenwood, who in her speech compared being tops in marketing/advertising to baseball (it appears the young lady is a rabid fan judging from her slideshow and her knowledge of the last perfect pitch as well as the dissing of the Boston Red Sox for their collapse at the end of the season).

In addition, the audience heard a diatribe about bald discrimination from Headblade inventor Todd Greene (nice touch with the Curb Your Enthusiasm clip), a biography from legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen (complete with a ton of his awesome pics in a slideshow) as well as Mr. Van Hoven’s impassioned speech about online privacy and human rights (he’s come so far *tear*). But, Saatchi saved the best for last with comedian/musician Reggie Watts, who’s actually from Seattle but could’ve had those unfamiliar with him fooled with his perfect British accent and fluid way with words. For his triumphant conclusion, Watts (below) went into music/hip-mode and used his FX boxes and sampler to create a tune to encapsulate the day’s events. It was fun and jammy and was completely out of context, which is just the way it should be.

Despite the various tangents of the hour-long event, we appreciate the fact that somehow every speech was tethered tightly or (very) loosely to advertising and marketing. On to the Battle of the Ad Bands tonight.

We think it’s just sheer coincidence (on second thought, maybe not) but for those of you who want to avoid long-winded panels during Advertising Week, there are a couple of somewhat similar options thanks to CP+B and Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Depending on how bad your short-attention span is, the former is offering its “Six Minutes Each” event, which is a follow-up to the agency’s apparently popular “Five Minutes Each” panel at Cannes and lets you listen to Crispin’s top brass including Jeff Benjamin, Chuck Porter and Rob Reilly discuss hot industry topics.

Of course, if you can last an extra few minutes, there’s Saatchi’s event called “7X7,” where, you guessed it, you can hear seven people talk for seven minutes each. Saatchi’s offering has a more eclectic lineup than Crispin’s, though, as it features a range of guests from comedian Reggie Watts to Contagious director Jess Greenwood to this familiar face below. Hmm, which do you prefer, or would you rather just skip both?