tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77764225206516735682024-03-13T00:49:53.756-04:00Media Development | Event Development | The Conference Department BlogThe Conference Department moves minds in positive directions with events and other media developed, promoted and managed to meet the communication goals of our clients – on target, on schedule and on budget.Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-10484029013641489642014-06-13T19:18:00.000-04:002014-06-13T20:09:20.063-04:00The newMeetia Blog Hit ParadeBelow are our greatest hits. Your humble blogger is writing now about <b>turning good information into good politics and public policy</b> at <a href="http://civicdecisions.com/"><b>CivicDecisions.com</b></a> - its a natural evolution given the <b>great clients</b> we've served. If you have any questions or think we might be able to help you <b>achieve your objectives</b>, don't be shy! Call <b>Roger Wilson</b> at (781) 729-8611 or send an email to rwilson (at) civicdecisions.com. In any case ENJOY!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcbEgRhwEDiKVjlnpjfi_LuADuXrWddhIbRzsFy9JVt3KxTfxhrrhdNiDVcwiYnD41iYkpoLuSQcjqHgl1Vj8S7_3pAXD6p1MqAaBD1J-mTABILDYXuagZ4LDNRYtPpwKyDkLIinbnwQ/s1600/califo1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitcbEgRhwEDiKVjlnpjfi_LuADuXrWddhIbRzsFy9JVt3KxTfxhrrhdNiDVcwiYnD41iYkpoLuSQcjqHgl1Vj8S7_3pAXD6p1MqAaBD1J-mTABILDYXuagZ4LDNRYtPpwKyDkLIinbnwQ/s1600/califo1.gif" height="200" width="160" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/11/headline-news-conferences-make-money.html">Headline
News: CONFERENCES MAKE MONEY!</a></h2>
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<b>Media Outlets Embrace Conferences as Profits Rise</b>
was a business page story the NYT saw <b>fit to </b><b>print</b> on Monday between a
stories on the pending Twitter IPO and Gawker gossip regarding the sexual
preferences of media personalities.</div>
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When you see a “<b>GOLD
DISCOVERED IN CALIFORNIA!</b>” headline you can be sure <b>somebody somewhere
is going to make some money</b>. But being one of those somebodies
doesn't mean just rushing in with a shovel. Face-to-face will be <a href="http://bit.ly/F2F_Fundamental">fundamental forever</a>. Live events
will be hot when our <a href="http://bit.ly/F2F_Fundamental">current tablets</a>
are dead museum pieces. However, events are no easier as a business than
other communication medium.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8z3KfrLKN6tPIoUS48k4jSnbmmmz7Ch31ScSx5AXjKNilUuKACcCDvdjWdrlyUO_43A0mVxe7uMdotx1poc2QFOpCnMS4X7J6EW_QxGsNwFgUF7-2qwhZJdQXd1sv-suWh3ErgQ3h2M/s1600/Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg8z3KfrLKN6tPIoUS48k4jSnbmmmz7Ch31ScSx5AXjKNilUuKACcCDvdjWdrlyUO_43A0mVxe7uMdotx1poc2QFOpCnMS4X7J6EW_QxGsNwFgUF7-2qwhZJdQXd1sv-suWh3ErgQ3h2M/s1600/Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg" height="200" width="188" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="30"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/08/david-carr-wonders-what-are-we-thinking.html">David
Carr Wonders: <br />What Are We Thinking?</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<b></b><b>The</b> <b>New York Times</b> <i>Media Equation</i> columnist
David Carr may be stumbling toward your humble blogger’s conclusion of last
month that <b><a href="http://bit.ly/13sw57m" target="_blank">Fear in the
Fourth Estate is Good</a></b>.</div>
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Carr reports
with wonder, the <b>rancor establishment journalists clearly feel</b> for
the likes Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who brokered the publication of
Bradley Manning’s purloined information, and Glen Greenwald, the Guardian
Columnist who broke Eric Snowden’s NSA revelations.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsx6MDmaVbLvP_Jbb5sC9J21-XXm_rFYt6nRXBjlHCLOzPGKmrTiNfvhfKhBh7u6Mar1wYWuEmAFcR_D5x1i78GXy6iTFhm3WCRnjYA5LHE2jLJkvvE6pl-fVIbfHRqg-gLqjjJ4iSYu0/s1600/1001005_10151521730765779_1875765078_n_custom-a314d7b626f970f5811a0fa1ef5f228e336d5d40-s3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsx6MDmaVbLvP_Jbb5sC9J21-XXm_rFYt6nRXBjlHCLOzPGKmrTiNfvhfKhBh7u6Mar1wYWuEmAFcR_D5x1i78GXy6iTFhm3WCRnjYA5LHE2jLJkvvE6pl-fVIbfHRqg-gLqjjJ4iSYu0/s1600/1001005_10151521730765779_1875765078_n_custom-a314d7b626f970f5811a0fa1ef5f228e336d5d40-s3.jpg" height="200" width="147" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="29"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/07/the-face-of-terror-terrorists-as-cover.html">The
Face of Terror; <br />Terrorists as Cover Boys</a></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1sVtVRh70z9PKCBQ_0rAgn519Lo9kFrLRbgx0nqrzvXk1NLz7ZPxxQgTfxa8-vU6y0AJ5COQR03vyw4PGIao_7u0b5-hNk_XF8mB5lbgA1NzY6co5kCn9iknfiRNnWiBjHNZQ12xqBzA/s1600/herringrun13-140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1sVtVRh70z9PKCBQ_0rAgn519Lo9kFrLRbgx0nqrzvXk1NLz7ZPxxQgTfxa8-vU6y0AJ5COQR03vyw4PGIao_7u0b5-hNk_XF8mB5lbgA1NzY6co5kCn9iknfiRNnWiBjHNZQ12xqBzA/s1600/herringrun13-140.jpg" height="135" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="25"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/06/keep-paddling-til-you-hit-beach.html">Keep
Paddling ‘Til You Hit the Beach</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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A state government executive,
serving for an effective Governor, once told your humble blogger that the
Governor continuously urged his cabinet to “<b>run through the tape</b>” with
their initiatives. Your humble blogger recently summoned his aquatic
version of this track aphorism, learned in kayak racing, which applies to event
production.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlxzYrY-IJxOvqxmDk-UggbvyjYp8j-DGfXe3WYsjlxqyg4QJ2Bv1EK5FX2xeI8LbYd2PinbxHif7Am4cSiErl7S4mfmrPtrRVsTCxgjDs3AKDtgyZuFAMT6V346AFPS_Qs6VDJCIm38/s1600/BW+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlxzYrY-IJxOvqxmDk-UggbvyjYp8j-DGfXe3WYsjlxqyg4QJ2Bv1EK5FX2xeI8LbYd2PinbxHif7Am4cSiErl7S4mfmrPtrRVsTCxgjDs3AKDtgyZuFAMT6V346AFPS_Qs6VDJCIm38/s1600/BW+cover.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="28"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/07/lets-have-fun-businessweek-angle-on.html">Let's
Have Fun:<br />Businessweek Angle on the Hedge Fund Story</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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When your humble blogger pulled this week’s <b><i>Bloomberg
Businesweek</i></b> from the courier’s sheath (an unheralded development in
print distribution), my first thought was “<b>This is what happens when the
boss goes on vacation</b>.”<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUhAmIBSo4y217mXUyKlOyWFhq5VCBDMAPgtmssp17vaKiAULZWlbf0ILzyZkuzzDfIHJoa2vBcGAj6-kQRYaN78rj58-_-gUnRfjm_030BlZ3jrJ8_zNYp3qqSgTNz2pQqZcmolY5n6c/s1600/dictionary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUhAmIBSo4y217mXUyKlOyWFhq5VCBDMAPgtmssp17vaKiAULZWlbf0ILzyZkuzzDfIHJoa2vBcGAj6-kQRYaN78rj58-_-gUnRfjm_030BlZ3jrJ8_zNYp3qqSgTNz2pQqZcmolY5n6c/s1600/dictionary.jpg" height="140" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="27"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/07/why-fear-in-fourth-estate-is-good-for.html">Why
Fear in the Fourth Estate is Good</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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There a was a <b>remarkably feeble defense of freedom of
the press</b> in the “Media Equation" column
by David Carr, in the <i>New York Times</i> this Independence Day week, <b>juxtaposing
journalists</b>, whom Carr defines as people “responsible for <b>following the
truth</b>, wherever it may guide them” and <b>activists</b> whom he defines as
people dedicated to “<b>winning an argumen</b>t.”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MpMfPozlcgFjxbaH9pqcq4LPgrweBylgbwFwdjkJ3FHT2UeeorLxEVPHIzJHLBf8m_GqGqFqxDBMRF4GDjXRrqQPUp4rquSIIZXzZtkLwstnazHbfm9hCNSm4ADPLkCOLq__4eBYKdI/s1600/exec_bill-gates_Web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MpMfPozlcgFjxbaH9pqcq4LPgrweBylgbwFwdjkJ3FHT2UeeorLxEVPHIzJHLBf8m_GqGqFqxDBMRF4GDjXRrqQPUp4rquSIIZXzZtkLwstnazHbfm9hCNSm4ADPLkCOLq__4eBYKdI/s200/exec_bill-gates_Web.jpg" height="200" width="142" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="26"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2013/06/content-aint-kingbut.html">Content
Ain't King...But...</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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Your humble blogger got hooked by the subject line of a
recent email from Target Marketing Magazine: “<b>Why Content Isn't King</b>.”
The linked article was a
disappointment but it prompted your humble blogger to examine why I bit on the <b>subject
line bait.</b><br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="24" style="float: right;"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/06/four-types-of-conference-hurt.html">Four
Types of "Conference Hurt"</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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“<strong>Where does it hurt?</strong>” your humble
blogger asked fellow attendees at the Specialized Information Publishers Association Conference
this week in DC. I was collecting <strong>conference pain stories</strong>
to use in my roundtable on “<em>Conference Pain Relief; Developing or
Fixing Business Mo</em>dels.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I suspected, the conference pain fell into four
categories:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIoNOEb-wgc951JWd3b7esLDiEyv3zBiUH18Rb0-JRia1eyR6bxISC3c6XFYYTcr2SHyNjj2VLQf4erdzPjH0O9m2csF8DbxljqAjlJBCEskUM50g1Lzi-hiWeUcDSKRDBipnAaI9sG1g/s1600/body-surfing-in-la-jolla_w725_h544%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIoNOEb-wgc951JWd3b7esLDiEyv3zBiUH18Rb0-JRia1eyR6bxISC3c6XFYYTcr2SHyNjj2VLQf4erdzPjH0O9m2csF8DbxljqAjlJBCEskUM50g1Lzi-hiWeUcDSKRDBipnAaI9sG1g/s1600/body-surfing-in-la-jolla_w725_h544%5B1%5D.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="23"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/05/surfing-next-wave-of-social-media.html">Surfing
the Next Wave of Social Media</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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The tide of social media, which swept in as the recession
was hitting, has recently receded a bit. Some of the mighty waves of expectation
and overblown rhetoric have <b>crashed on the rocks of media reality.</b> Here are a
few data points among the flotsam and jetsam: <br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="22"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/04/simple-science-of-business.html">The
Simple Science of Business</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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Years ago your humble blogger was intrigued when one
individual, a leader in a third-world conflict who espoused and practiced “<strong>scientific
revolution</strong>,” switched sides and changed the course of that war.
Your humble blogger felt compelled to investigate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>The science turned out to be pretty simple</strong>,
when your humble blogger finally located the writings and reports of this
obscure, young, third-world General (no easy task, pre-internet). The
key to winning a war, according to the General, was to know:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk7QAbzExXrayUV4QC9LZehzBpfzNil050JJ2qs4XTLd133dq_ii8mAj6r1WWErVXCcSCcmNTzeHts0AN6ulJdMIA9kGyVZ5oAnLRoWu8akn2sgPlUiYibWid2Mxhhpf_MDDx4ZKAS-E/s1600/ipad2_smartcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk7QAbzExXrayUV4QC9LZehzBpfzNil050JJ2qs4XTLd133dq_ii8mAj6r1WWErVXCcSCcmNTzeHts0AN6ulJdMIA9kGyVZ5oAnLRoWu8akn2sgPlUiYibWid2Mxhhpf_MDDx4ZKAS-E/s200/ipad2_smartcover.jpg" height="97" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="21"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/03/face-to-face-is-fundamental.html">Face-to-Face
is Fundamental</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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The <strong>event slice of the media pie is growing again</strong>
according to sources recently cited by <b>BtoB</b>
and <b>Media Business</b>. Events have been <strong>part of the
communications mix</strong> since before <a href="http://bit.ly/claytablet">clay
tablets</a>. Now we’re all atwitter about <strong>tablet computers</strong> and
<strong>smart phones</strong>. New technologies are absolutely
transforming communication. But events will still be important when we
are looking at tablet computers in the museum beside the displays of “<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/vision-thing-its-not-about-selling.html">micro
computers" of the late '70s</a>, fax machines and telegraphs. </div>
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="20"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/03/learning-from-your-mistakes-by-numbers.html">Learning
from Your Mistakes - by the Numbers</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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There are <strong>good lessons in mistakes and “natural
experiments”</strong> in events and across the media business. The lessons pose
both emotional and conceptual challenges. That’s why <strong>running the
numbers right is highly instructive</strong>.<br />
<br />
<strong>Mistakes in the moment in any live media generate tension</strong> –
you run low on food, cues are missed, wiring is wrong, the award that was
supposed to be at the front of the room was left in the back – whatever.
Somebody miscalculated, didn’t practice, didn’t plan or didn’t execute the
plan. <br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="19"></a></div>
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<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/03/why-your-audience-wants-to-talk-about.html">Why
Your Audience Wants to Talk About Your Content</a></h2>
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You can’t assume your audience wants your information only
for themselves. <strong>People seek information to share and trade</strong>,
primarily in conversation as was discussed at the <a href="http://bit.ly/aU6YAX" target="_blank">Inbound Marketing Conference</a> last fall. This
primal hunt is especially vital to <a href="http://bit.ly/b52ObZ" target="_blank">event curation</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>Content that bears repeating is valuable</strong> to
people. Providing “remarkable content” is touted as a way to generate
online social media conversation that potentially “goes viral” (<a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit22" target="_blank">dirty secret: it rarely happens
without a big boost from mass media</a>). But if information is your product
rather than a means to sell something else, you <em>still </em>should <strong>think
about</strong> <strong>what your audience will want to share and trade
with others</strong>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="18"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/02/good-news-from-egypt-less-than-1000.html">Good
News from Egypt: “Less than 1,000 People Died”</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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“Eighty-five million people live in Egypt and less than
1,000 people died in this revolution,” said Wael Ghonim, according to Monday’s
New York Times. Ghonim, a 31 year old Google executive, is credited with a
key role in the on-line social media campaign that helped topple Hosni Mubarak
last week.<br />
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<strong>Gauging the grief of 1000 families as good news</strong> is a
legitimate <strong>political-economic calculation</strong>. But it underscores
the seriousness of the business Ghonim and his colleagues have undertaken. More
broadly the calculation underscores the seriousness of the <strong>business of
belief which is at the heart of media</strong> in all forms. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvd8oMp9_caNYpNVHX-X-Taz1QiI82V6t2yaz7Zwtvwtbyq9qRfG1IKMn5979phVpl4DR15hdVLwndpxemPBx0m8TkxmHmbmkEbxBXgkyqqFkiBjChRogpaVLYdr3q8hw8DtsGZA-zgw/s1600/channelImportance.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvd8oMp9_caNYpNVHX-X-Taz1QiI82V6t2yaz7Zwtvwtbyq9qRfG1IKMn5979phVpl4DR15hdVLwndpxemPBx0m8TkxmHmbmkEbxBXgkyqqFkiBjChRogpaVLYdr3q8hw8DtsGZA-zgw/s1600/channelImportance.gif" height="185" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="17"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/02/gaining-leverage-on-life-time-value.html">Gaining
Leverage on Life-Time Value</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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You know <strong>engagement sells</strong>. That’s
why you should take a look at a new analysis of <strong>customer engagement</strong>.
It is consumer-oriented but your humble blogger found <strong>lessons for
B-to-B marketers</strong> about <strong>engagement elements</strong>, <strong>channels</strong>,
and <strong>measurement</strong> in the report.</div>
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<strong>Buyers aren’t</strong> <strong><i>seeking</i>
engagement</strong> for its own sake. They are looking to <strong>fulfill
a need</strong>. But they consistently judge the <strong>key elements of
engagement</strong> across channels according a study offered
by Razorfish. Buyers want to <strong>feel valued</strong>. They
want <strong>efficiency</strong> and they want to be able to <strong>trust</strong>
the seller. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBpWH-e_XAbFQtC_XujitxlGdB8sOWvqy5ZrAYAJwzu1NecJtdBLUyVHEWD_e9cDvIj6YVVV5sOSZFVvpL6CwzI6td9QqAisrTOCobOZScZG1nban09QNxkJ3yiR3PCJrknd_zgtOwko/s1600/steve+garfield2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBpWH-e_XAbFQtC_XujitxlGdB8sOWvqy5ZrAYAJwzu1NecJtdBLUyVHEWD_e9cDvIj6YVVV5sOSZFVvpL6CwzI6td9QqAisrTOCobOZScZG1nban09QNxkJ3yiR3PCJrknd_zgtOwko/s200/steve+garfield2.jpg" height="144" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="8"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/good-bad-and-ugly-at-inbound-marketing.html">The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly<br />at the Inbound Marketing Summit</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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We wanted to share the <strong>smartest </strong>and the <strong>dumbest</strong>
things we heard at the <strong>Inbound Marketing Summit</strong> last week –
fortunately there was stiff competition for the former. We were one of the sponsors
of the event under our <a href="http://www.newmeetia.com/">newMeetia</a>
initiative and we found <strong>plenty of value for marketers</strong> at the
two day event along with a little <strong>malarkey</strong> and lots
of stuff that was just plain <strong>fun</strong>. <br />
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Clearly, <strong>online social
and content marketing is now main stream</strong>. While some speakers
valiantly jousted against straw-man “old marketing” enemies the best
presentations were about <strong>integrating new online marketing with the old</strong>,
<strong>“inbound”(online-inquiry) with “outbound” and online media with offline</strong>.
And the rants against self-discipline were more than offset by practical advice
about how to measure and manage online marketing.<br />
<!--[endif]--><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="16"></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/01/bigger-is-better-why-media-loves.html">Bigger
is Better: Why The Media Loves Facebook Stories</a></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";">It was another <strong>big weekend for Facebook stories</strong>.
“<strong>The Social Network</strong>,”
won four awards at Critics' Choice Movie Awards last Friday and four more
at the Golden Globe Awards Sunday Night. The movie, which has
grossed over $200 million so far, has, according to the </span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";">LA Times</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";"> “won the majority of
critics honors this year, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.,
New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";">Meanwhile,
Facebook was given a <strong>starring
role in the overthrow of Tunisia’s long ruling President</strong>, Zine
el Abidine Ben. The </span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";">LA Times coverage</span><span style="font-family: "inherit","serif";"> with the head "Tunisia protesters
use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help organize and report" was
typical. </span> </div>
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="15"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/01/2011-first-impressions.html">2011:
First Impressions</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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The seers poking at the messy entrails of economic data are
<strong>seeing good signs</strong>. Albeit with varying degrees of trepidation,
they are forecasting noticeable recovery. Based on anecdotal evidence,
<strong>your humble blogger agrees.</strong> <o:p></o:p></div>
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As some of the “old media” bounces back we’ll be able to
more accurately tease out the <strong>long-term secular trends</strong>, set in
motion by new online and mobile media, from the <strong>shorter-term economic
cycles</strong> that the seasoned among us have seen before. </div>
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="14"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/12/what-it-takes-to-make-high-performance.html">What
it Takes to Make A High-Performance Event Team</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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“<b>You can’t begin early <i>too early </i>and you can’t
communicate <i>too much</i></b>,” admonished a savvy collaborator at a
post-event debriefing. Your humble blogger had taken some lumps after running
what he’d thought had been a good team effort. But the maxim to became a motto.<br />
<br />
<b>Event production is a test of group intelligence</b>. Events of any size
take a team to execute. And the effectiveness of the team is not simply a
function of the individual intelligence of people on the team.<br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N5MssjaKGtlo_bo1Vnkn32djZWht0x3bGqIOjAz76AqVQidLh45zufTiHaPUASaPQXBzAjWM6T9_a39LLn_t1TYgkU7yiQKj9a4Hv7BzSbfa2xaWo15vHskAYQR2mWYkNds2KRXUh2Q/s1600/photo_zipcar_mini_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N5MssjaKGtlo_bo1Vnkn32djZWht0x3bGqIOjAz76AqVQidLh45zufTiHaPUASaPQXBzAjWM6T9_a39LLn_t1TYgkU7yiQKj9a4Hv7BzSbfa2xaWo15vHskAYQR2mWYkNds2KRXUh2Q/s200/photo_zipcar_mini_4.jpg" height="155" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="13"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/12/zip-ideas-three-lessons-from-ceo-of.html">Zip
Ideas:<br />Three Lessons from the CEO of Zipcar</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<strong>Scott Griffith</strong>, CEO of Zipcar, recently
offered key lessons learned in the his seven years in the driver's seat of the
company. Zipcar is trying to “<strong>redefine the way people think about
transportation</strong>.” Giffith’s "Zip Ideas" could apply to
media companies in a time when <strong>the way people think about information
is rapidly changing.</strong></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<h2>
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Harrison%27s_Chronometer_H5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Harrison%27s_Chronometer_H5.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="12"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/11/navigating-through-new-media-world.html">Navigating
through a New Media World</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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“<strong>Human API</strong>” <b>(</b>application programming interface)<b>,</b> <strong>mobile</strong>
platforms, new <strong>platform entrants</strong>, and of course, <strong>iPad
apps</strong> were among future hot topics tagged by speakers at the <strong>SIPA
UK Online Publishing and Marketing Summit</strong> last week. This year’s
event focused heavily on the mechanics of <strong>new product launches,
marketing automation, </strong>and <strong>web analytics</strong>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="11"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/11/seven-quick-ideas-on-event-curation.html">Seven
Quick Ideas on Event Curation</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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Most people associate <strong>“curation” with the art of
museum management</strong>. Some might mistake it for a method of meat
preservation. But <strong>curation is now is the term de jour</strong> for the
process of <strong>selecting organizing and presenting content</strong> in
media and, more broadly, merchandise and even food. Lately it has been used to
ennoble the process of making any set of choices that create an experience. <br />
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<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="10"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/vision-thing-its-not-about-selling.html">The
Vision Thing - </a><br /><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/vision-thing-its-not-about-selling.html">It's Not About Selling Content like Hamburgers</a></h2>
<h2>
<o:p></o:p></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmsZxhUHfW3zCjQPjR-u3kbAn3yQgtg5OCiOs1jzF2dnLvyfOUuutjTY4AuunXaNTg6hRjhUPmmfpD-LQQ6XHuiTkhMw4OoBqUJONeiHgQB3ddv2gEtE6nC1idokCqNgbQTBRrIXFYKs/s1600/computerstore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmsZxhUHfW3zCjQPjR-u3kbAn3yQgtg5OCiOs1jzF2dnLvyfOUuutjTY4AuunXaNTg6hRjhUPmmfpD-LQQ6XHuiTkhMw4OoBqUJONeiHgQB3ddv2gEtE6nC1idokCqNgbQTBRrIXFYKs/s200/computerstore.jpg" height="122" width="200" /></a></div>
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"<strong>The Dawn of a New Age, Second Encounter</strong>”
was the promoted theme of the Second Annual Personal Computer Show held in
Chicago, around this time, thirty-two years ago. Your humble blogger was
reminded of that show as I wrote about the <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit25"><strong>Inbound
Marketing Summit</strong></a> recently. The online/smart phone media business
keeps reminding me of the PC business in its early days. But I was surprised to
find that <b>my memory was WRONG in key respects</b>. And I realized I owed a personal
debt.<br />
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<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="9"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/bad-and-ugly-at-inbound-marketing.html">The
Bad and the Ugly at the Inbound Marketing Summit</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUO6fHy_1IH1IdLl_ByGW0KVn1AnF931fPC2gBMkWaNktiQbL7mhSlcnl-VBleOGCiTAYHexbNYlR_UbfbU-mYpoAozrjAnLc1fNRqIUQK44_BTv8OP8j4a3bA5N9GQRENCd-BeBt4DUI/s1600/IMG00216-20101006-1443+%282%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUO6fHy_1IH1IdLl_ByGW0KVn1AnF931fPC2gBMkWaNktiQbL7mhSlcnl-VBleOGCiTAYHexbNYlR_UbfbU-mYpoAozrjAnLc1fNRqIUQK44_BTv8OP8j4a3bA5N9GQRENCd-BeBt4DUI/s200/IMG00216-20101006-1443+%282%29.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>Last week your humble blogger
shared some of the <b><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit24" target="_blank">smartest
things we heard</a> </b>and some of the fun we enjoyed at the Inbound Marketing
Summit which we sponsored under our NewMeetia initiative. But I promised the <strong>Bad
and the Ugly</strong> along with the Good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The dumbest thing I heard at the conference was “<strong>Scale
and media buying power are no longer a decisive advantage</strong>.” The
speaker was David Meerman Scott, Marketing Strategist, Freshspot Marketing,
who, to his credit, was also the source of some smart commentary about "<b>Real-Time Marketing</b>" and
some good fun, including the donning of a tie-dye t-shirt (under his sport
coat) to flog a book he and Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot have put together
about “<b><i>Marketing Lessons of
the Grateful Dead</i></b>.” But the <b>notion that new media negates scale is wishful
thinking</b>.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="7"></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/09/winning-formula-preparation-technology.html">A
Winning Formula: Preparation + Technology + Exhibit Floor Time = Sales</a><o:p></o:p></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlmKDQyXgPASKZf6455KRWRwMCIz7-nN2NDLcFDaZHD_5B2JVJCI3aMe7Y5mMqMaeKOkrt7DV2jjQ4_PrnsjK3gVwkWIEyUB8ALsJQQjVTKlrhNc9nz7O6EDMklAWkzDDI2rHxvJ5rmk/s1600/2010_GPS_0375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlmKDQyXgPASKZf6455KRWRwMCIz7-nN2NDLcFDaZHD_5B2JVJCI3aMe7Y5mMqMaeKOkrt7DV2jjQ4_PrnsjK3gVwkWIEyUB8ALsJQQjVTKlrhNc9nz7O6EDMklAWkzDDI2rHxvJ5rmk/s200/2010_GPS_0375.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a>Yves Matson, Senior Account
Executive at Active
Conversion, knew he had a big opportunity earlier this year. The Global Petroleum Show was
coming to Calgary where he is based. From his experience as an exhibitor in a
previous job, he knew his lead monitoring and demand generation system could
serve some of the more than 1000 exhibitors. So <b>how did he capture this
opportunity</b> in only <strong>nine simple steps</strong>?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdGopsD7JYDSTlofxGK2E1M7uyke4DhPVutZxSA__U5IQAss0qnkmHepSsta-P9GPmO6lQN1dvXFzF0cKdSUCh6O-Sdyvl-YW2_3ZNn68rcWBY-MVF9htKRcsecr36h2NT3uIqor_xZw/s1600/IMG00189-20100914-2026+%282%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdGopsD7JYDSTlofxGK2E1M7uyke4DhPVutZxSA__U5IQAss0qnkmHepSsta-P9GPmO6lQN1dvXFzF0cKdSUCh6O-Sdyvl-YW2_3ZNn68rcWBY-MVF9htKRcsecr36h2NT3uIqor_xZw/s200/IMG00189-20100914-2026+%282%29.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/09/why-junk-web-is-getting-action.html">Why the “Junk Web” is Getting the Action</a></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s not the media but <b>human nature that shapes marketing
principles</b>. That’s why so much of the current web environment feels like “junk
mail,” a medium developed by tracking response.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TPKIWtcKsSJwhC5YsAvfN7zZVN9v_UtzsxrY2bqW6HeBgSgq1OA4LKdRIbyQj2DVaNRwqoCsuGcKy8FeoKBIC6UGOJK56iI_I9f40JNRgRWVQcF5vIxFMQfLg2JU_gLvGJZrm8_y5r4/s1600/Viral+Math+%282%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5TPKIWtcKsSJwhC5YsAvfN7zZVN9v_UtzsxrY2bqW6HeBgSgq1OA4LKdRIbyQj2DVaNRwqoCsuGcKy8FeoKBIC6UGOJK56iI_I9f40JNRgRWVQcF5vIxFMQfLg2JU_gLvGJZrm8_y5r4/s200/Viral+Math+%282%29.jpg" height="154" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/08/urgent-pass-it-on-three-big-sexy.html">Urgent! Pass It On: Three Big Secrets About Going Viral</a></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Myths about going viral are part of the regular fare offered
by new marketing gurus. “You create great content, and show it to ten friends
who show it to ten friends and pretty soon it goes viral and a million people
are looking at it.” Too bad <b>the real world doesn’t work this way</b>. So, what are
the true secrets?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWju_KI1P7KjkyK0-0n5mzWHpNmv_dj5AmSe1mdxhy-R9uSbi3E5CcX5t4zhEpTqcB0-TdHf9YksBxY678qT-_Vyb_gyq25AWZZxVaFthEjD7w5l-HwHdABfzEmgnjhnuQmd8hM8DvQQ/s1600/dark-skull2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcWju_KI1P7KjkyK0-0n5mzWHpNmv_dj5AmSe1mdxhy-R9uSbi3E5CcX5t4zhEpTqcB0-TdHf9YksBxY678qT-_Vyb_gyq25AWZZxVaFthEjD7w5l-HwHdABfzEmgnjhnuQmd8hM8DvQQ/s200/dark-skull2.JPG" height="200" width="138" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/08/web-aint-dead-long-tales-of-chris.html">The Web Ain’t Dead - The Long Tales of Chris Anderson</a></h2>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Ludicrous” is how a savvy reporter of media trends
describes Chris Anderson's latest big idea: “<b><i>The Web is Dead</i></b>” advanced recently
in <b><i>Wired</i></b>. People like <st1:city w:st="on">Anderson</st1:city> have made good careers by generating
<b>plausible and interesting</b> “big ideas.” But they are not producing reliable
knowledge about the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72DIIBC-nptLbjTilpZB0JMprHrX5WHmK4EpOiLPyeEcmVjIbCOgeSOq7UGNKJsZ2LViSKxkdyIeKa2s8nUAW0rUKPMM2d0or0k9ybuTTuCRb1B76pKNl0d36TRqsRle3S6oZYesAnXc/s1600/2011_Mercedes-Benz_CL-Class_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72DIIBC-nptLbjTilpZB0JMprHrX5WHmK4EpOiLPyeEcmVjIbCOgeSOq7UGNKJsZ2LViSKxkdyIeKa2s8nUAW0rUKPMM2d0or0k9ybuTTuCRb1B76pKNl0d36TRqsRle3S6oZYesAnXc/s200/2011_Mercedes-Benz_CL-Class_01.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/08/marketing-impressions-still-matter.html">Marketing Impressions Still Matter </a></h2>
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<o:p></o:p>The current faith in our new media and new information
technology tools seems uncomfortably like the faith in “smart bombs” early in
the second <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region>
war. The new technologies are formidable to be sure but they <b>hardly “change
everything.</b>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/07/new-study-digital-dazzle-wont-last.html">New Study: Digital Dazzle Won't Last Without Results... </a></h2>
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Virtual media is being quickly adopted by event marketers, a
new Center for Exhibition Research (CEIR) study indicates. But the <b>measurement
of investment results is lagging</b> in virtual and other types of Digital media
the study finds. The findings are based on an online survey, now in its second
year, of show producers, corporate marketers and advertisers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwz8wx3xZQjhJ8hfmDNDWLD8d1SNoTnW0Bo_DyG-zyZokOwrBX2YN7tEzbsONxe2XFndb36l-8Jm6i9qxLxK8SRJFDBIzl7gMJpHZQZocOAZMKT1JUn06TYmp-xdc_Z_3KaN0d0RObXk/s1600/flag-c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidwz8wx3xZQjhJ8hfmDNDWLD8d1SNoTnW0Bo_DyG-zyZokOwrBX2YN7tEzbsONxe2XFndb36l-8Jm6i9qxLxK8SRJFDBIzl7gMJpHZQZocOAZMKT1JUn06TYmp-xdc_Z_3KaN0d0RObXk/s200/flag-c.jpg" height="142" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/07/solution-to-media-overload-declare.html">Solution to Media Overload: Make Every Day Independence Day</a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We hold this truth to be self-evident, that <b>free people must
think for themselves</b>. While I have written about the positive impact of Way Too
Much Information (WTMI) others see media overload as a problem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSaFVt0vWu11qDR5H4Qqn2RhEpTWZI5D9Wpp_jXAf9pj5Gspod8AUKCD-Fjo7q7KOcfxpCUSrATGFEvGoJkVkIJ0_Uyzss80v8021x6ZivunlGormB1oIs00Fw-pe9zigTTE3SUfPlOEM/s1600/New+Integration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSaFVt0vWu11qDR5H4Qqn2RhEpTWZI5D9Wpp_jXAf9pj5Gspod8AUKCD-Fjo7q7KOcfxpCUSrATGFEvGoJkVkIJ0_Uyzss80v8021x6ZivunlGormB1oIs00Fw-pe9zigTTE3SUfPlOEM/s200/New+Integration.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/06/customer-is-terrible-thing-to-waste.html">A Customer is a Terrible Thing to Waste </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>The notion of using new media to move prospects into and
down the “<b>sales funne</b>l” has been repeated ad nauseam lately (often with the
same thin anecdotes as “evidence”). It is refreshing to have the argument
turned <b>upside down</b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSxmJHW4Ymo8d30Dcm-NRVQo058M-AMVNXybqZNoUkmXfC4tDhALR5-80cDDS45AMmSZug6a6DM0Kcy7ATtAApVA4X6X9Tjqn0Q9McTJ1pMqxUdxobnxAuc141OhWBZZ9Z9TBCpPwuyw/s1600/Free-platypus-picture5.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSxmJHW4Ymo8d30Dcm-NRVQo058M-AMVNXybqZNoUkmXfC4tDhALR5-80cDDS45AMmSZug6a6DM0Kcy7ATtAApVA4X6X9Tjqn0Q9McTJ1pMqxUdxobnxAuc141OhWBZZ9Z9TBCpPwuyw/s200/Free-platypus-picture5.bmp" height="128" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/06/what-platypus-can-teach-publishers.html">What Publishers Can Learn from the Platypus </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Live events are a “huge” part of “<b>content that you can
experience</b>," according to Larry Weber, author of Marketing to the Social
Web and a new book, <b><i>Stick & Stones</i></b>. Real-time, experiential and rich media,
he says, are parts of a new “World 2.0” spawned by today’s communications
technology.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/05/future-of-f2f-how-to-save-events.html">The Future of F2F: How to “Save” Events </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Event spending is under attack. The purveyors of “inbound
marketing,” SEO, and various forms of lead-generation and tracking, are
advocating reallocating event marketing budgets to fuel online growth. New
simulated or <b>“virtual” events</b> offer information seekers and marketers some of
the benefits of events at lower cost. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1Ixnt8eprzCM507s0WfYUu48jAqugFLv-1cER6mSyTourAqDY8hgaTyX_Wwvv_GHazS4fqv76awgP3qgwV4uGNpcLbZIZO84oh5Ge2mmd6uBBBXor3cxbHJRZSA1XRKaxgozfv2MNhs/s1600/pretty+face.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1Ixnt8eprzCM507s0WfYUu48jAqugFLv-1cER6mSyTourAqDY8hgaTyX_Wwvv_GHazS4fqv76awgP3qgwV4uGNpcLbZIZO84oh5Ge2mmd6uBBBXor3cxbHJRZSA1XRKaxgozfv2MNhs/s200/pretty+face.bmp" height="134" width="200" /></a><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/05/non-profit-fund-raising-warm-fuzzy.html">Non-profit Fund Raising: The Warm Fuzzy Formula </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep influencers in mind, <b>make the benefits emotionally
appealing and be systematic </b>if you want to motivate adults to come out and
donate money to your cause. As a board member of a local non-profit, I saw how
an event promotion on a tiny budget executed by volunteers could work like a
charm. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/04/media-strategy-dot-com-deja-vu.html">Media Strategy: Dot Com Déjà Vu? </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are you feeling Dot Com déjà vu? You are not alone among
media and marketing people if the current wave of Next Big Things is making you
queasy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>A little skepticism is in order</b>. Nobody really knows how all
this Great Stuff will work or what will survive. This early in the economic
cycle we have room to maneuver and try new things, but most of us still have a
business to run and bills to pay. Five quick thoughts: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/03/got-content-seven-ideas-for-monetizing.html">Got Content? Seven Ideas for Monetizing with Events </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The current lingo for pounding coin out of content is
monetizing. The old term was <b>making money</b>. However you phrase it, new events
are a key opportunity for old and new media alike as the economy begins to
turn. Monetizing sounds sanitized but
<b>making good content profitable is usually a messy muddle</b>. Events could be your
best way to package your content for a price. Here are seven quick thoughts to
help you succeed: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/03/attn-media-entrepreneurs-dont-take.html">Attn: Media Entrepreneurs, Don’t Take Risks! </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The best media entrepreneurs don’t take risks. They <b>take
what other people think are risks</b>. Bernie Goldhirsh, the founder of <i><b>Inc.
Magazine</b></i> and a quintessential entrepreneur, was one of the most risk-adverse
people I’ve ever had the privilege of working for.</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/03/better-faster-and-cheaper-events.html">Better, Faster and Cheaper Events </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I met the CEO of Kaon Interactive, Gavin Finn, the other day
at Mass Innovation Nights (a great local event) and immediately found <b>yet
another reason to get excited about the future of face-to-face</b> events. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/02/are-you-hungry-for-sale.html">Are You Hungry for a Sale?</a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some people think “selling” is a dirty word. That’s why a
phrase caught my eye as I scanned the posts of an online discussion group:
“<b>People are hungry to be SOLD</b>,” asserted Dwight Ingram, an experienced
direct-marketing pro.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<b>Business starts with a sale</b>.” was my motto in the early
days of my event business. A savvy event guy told me I had it wrong. “Business
starts with value,” he piously insisted. But I’ll stick to my guns. Until you
get someone to buy, creating value is a hobby.</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/02/events-for-love-and-money-book-review.html">Events for Love and Money, Book Review </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For IT consultant and computer science professor Adrian
Segar, the journey started with a bad conference experience. Determined to do better,
he set out to create an event that would truly serve him and his peers. Now,
seasoned by years of experience and research, he has written a book:
<i><b>Conferences that Work, Creating Events that People LOVE</b></i>. It’s a good practical
guide for running participant-directed conferences. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/01/if-youre-spinning-out-gas-it.html">If You’re Spinning Out, “Gas It!” </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Gas it! Gas it! Gas it!” radioed a spotter to the lead
driver as the car went into a sudden spin coming off a corner. It was the final
lap. Under full power, the open-wheel, rear-engine race car did a full 360 but
somehow emerged from a huge cloud of tire smoke headed in the right direction.
The driver held on to win the race. After I happened to see this spectacular
save on TV, I posted a little card in my office as a reminder of the vivid
lesson it imparted: If you’re spinning out, “Gas it! Gas it! Gas it!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/01/in-2010-think-about-political-economics.html">In 2010, Think About the Political Economics of Information </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You might say it started with event-magic in 2004, the year
Facebook was founded. On a cool, damp July night in <st1:city w:st="on">Boston</st1:city>,
a tall, handsome, (secretly) cigarette-puffing <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Chicago</st1:placename></st1:place>
professor-turned-politician, skilled in the ancient art of oratory, delivered
his first nationally covered speech.</div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/12/sez-who-will-wtmi-cure-gullibility.html">Sez Who? Will WTMI Cure Gullibility? </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>Being bombarded with way too much information (WTMI) may
help us learn to be more skeptical and ask more frequently, “Sez who?” The
constant barrage of WTMI could push business and consumer information users to
rely more on personal connections, develop critical judgment of sources of
information, and revive relationships with trusted brands. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/12/sorry-but-in-media-size-does-matter.html">Sorry but in Media, Size Does Matter </a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some mavens of new media see a nirvana of social networks
and small media entrepreneurs replacing big bad old media. The visions get
romantic, with the media equivalent of microbrewers toppling the giants. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In reality, we could soon see <b>massive consolidation of new
media into new giants</b>. It’s impossible to predict the timing of such a
consolidation, but the implications for B2B are huge. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/11/success-with-your-business-model-its.html">Success with Your Business Model - It’s Not Just About Money</a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our advice is the same across platforms: if you are trying
to build, rebuild or tune your business model for an event or any other media
product, first figure out what you want to say, and then figure out how to make
it pay. Use this approach and your satisfaction is guaranteed. </div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/11/what-we-can-learn-from-loyal-attendees.html">What We Can Learn from Loyal Attendees</a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t take notes at a conference, I write a to-do list,”
a company president and regular conference attendee told me. “I get started on
execution while I’m still at the event,” he explained. You can improve your
retention rate by learning not simply why your loyal attendees return but also
how they achieve the benefits that draw them back. </div>
<h2>
<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/10/there-will-always-be-place-for_26.html">There Will Always be a Place for Face2Face</a></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The panic in traditional media today is painfully evident.
The watchword of the day is “digital.” Old marketing and media assumptions are
being tossed out. It’s not just a cyclical situation. It’s a secular change in
the sense of a long-term, large scale phenomenon as big as the advent of radio
or TV or even movable type. So why am I sure that events aren’t going the way
of print media?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-26198972399506109132013-11-01T12:08:00.000-04:002013-11-01T12:30:30.149-04:00Headline News: CONFERENCES MAKE MONEY!<b><a href="http://nyti.ms/1iAu5wC">Media Outlets Embrace Conferences as Profits Rise</a></b> was a business page story the NYT saw <b>fit to print</b> on Monday between a stories on the pending Twitter IPO and Gawker gossip regarding the sexual preferences of media personalities.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH4JlB5GgAV-q-A8V6_eby9Q3mOuh8dmxIn5ixugpAuvhU6DVcJEWP-P5pu9O4WaWr_DCyLzKHKxz6jyAXkb8cg7B-WEIXBdOZlHkmcW9yTuBdoa5O6ffxYQXhNH4Ua-YxwmIgQJ2VUcg/s1600/califo1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH4JlB5GgAV-q-A8V6_eby9Q3mOuh8dmxIn5ixugpAuvhU6DVcJEWP-P5pu9O4WaWr_DCyLzKHKxz6jyAXkb8cg7B-WEIXBdOZlHkmcW9yTuBdoa5O6ffxYQXhNH4Ua-YxwmIgQJ2VUcg/s320/califo1.gif" width="254" /></a></div>
When you see a “<b>GOLD DISCOVERED IN CALIFORNIA!</b>” headline you can be sure <b>somebody somewhere is going to make some money</b>. But being one of those somebodies doesn't mean just rushing in with a shovel. Face-to-face will be <a href="http://bit.ly/F2F_Fundamental">fundamental forever</a>. Live events will be hot when our <a href="http://bit.ly/F2F_Fundamental">current tablets</a> are dead museum pieces. However, events are no easier as a business than other communication medium.<br />
<br />
One has to take NYT stories like this one with a grain of salt, given the <b>patterns of pillow talk and mutual grooming</b> that influence the way the media cover stories about themselves. But the reporter, Leslie Kaufman, cites some <b>remarkable facts about consumer media branded events:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Atlantic Media</b> now puts on over <b>200 events</b> a year; their leading brand, the Atlantic attributes <b>20% of its revenue</b> to events</li>
<li>The <b>NYT</b> has expanded from one conference in 2011 to <b>16 this year</b></li>
<li><b>Fortune's</b> event’s business is “<b>growing at 60% annually</b>”</li>
<li>The non-profit <b>Texas Tribune</b> pulled in <b>$800,000 through events in 2012 </b>vs. “Corporate gifts” of $1 million </li>
</ul>
<br />
Kaufman also notes that the <b>Huffington Post</b> is getting into the game and that <b>so-called "digital-only" sites consider events to be “critical to their plans.”</b> The American Press Institute is “studying the profitability of the events business,” according to Kaufman.<br />
<br />
Kaufman portrays the newspaper business as particularly hungry having seen <b>advertising revenue drop 55% </b>from 2016 to 2012. She reports of gold in the conference hills. Kaufman quotes Ned Desmond of <b>TechCruch</b> about a single large conference bringing in “eight figure” revenues, (translation: over <b>10 million dollars</b>).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ty8ttj__NxGnK6ha8G9pII3uKq1UCQ4dJib2mnNDGMCd3hwNJ4XVMZuKAwXgDx5zv_dwM4n_CuXVh9_B_b_Sl2-eAot445EsROnZgD-hJjDRCCzVMPw2jNRj7Xot3uwiQVsVXTEC1mA/s1600/working_sluice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ty8ttj__NxGnK6ha8G9pII3uKq1UCQ4dJib2mnNDGMCd3hwNJ4XVMZuKAwXgDx5zv_dwM4n_CuXVh9_B_b_Sl2-eAot445EsROnZgD-hJjDRCCzVMPw2jNRj7Xot3uwiQVsVXTEC1mA/s320/working_sluice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
There is <b>more than just money in conferences</b> according to Kaufman. She cites editorial and strategic marketing benefits such as attracting new segments of customers.<br />
<br />
<b>Conferences are now “another social platform</b> with Twitter, Facebook and online video” writes Kaufman. Suddenly journalists see being on stage as “live journalism.”<br />
<br />
<b>The power and profitability of events is not really news</b> to those of us who have been mining the event vein for a while. And <b>there will always be a <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit1">place for face-to-face</a></b>. But if everyone is rushing in, <b>selling shovels may be a better business than digging for the gold</b>.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-10765361836064969692013-08-28T15:54:00.000-04:002013-08-28T17:12:03.529-04:00David Carr Wonders: What Are We Thinking?The <b>New York Times</b> <i>Media Equation</i> columnist David Carr may be stumbling toward your humble blogger’s conclusion of last month that <b><a href="http://bit.ly/13sw57m" target="_blank">Fear in the Fourth Estate is Good</a></b>.<br />
<br />
Carr <a href="http://nyti.ms/13SYoNB" target="_blank">reports with wonder</a>, the <b>rancor establishment journalists clearly feel</b> for the likes Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who brokered the publication of Bradley Manning’s purloined information, and Glen Greenwald, the Guardian Columnist who broke Eric Snowden’s NSA revelations.<br />
<br />
In his <a href="http://nyti.ms/165Dp4S" target="_blank">previous column on this subject</a>, Carr tried to <b>distinguish between “journalists” and “activists.”</b> Now he posits an “<b>emerging Fifth Estate</b> composed of leakers, activists, and bloggers who threaten those of us in traditional media.” These taxonomies are important to Carr because he continues to cling to the notion that journalists, as members of the fourth estate, are a special, legally protected class.<br />
<br />
The Fourth Estate is a class of people and institutions with an <b>important but <i>unofficial</i> role in governance. </b> The <b>fourth estate derives its power from independently supplying citizens with information</b> they want, including information about government which government may wish to withhold. Originally defined by the technology of printing, the class has expanded to radio, film and TV mediums. Carr feels he has to invent a Fifth Estate because <b>he is not yet ready to admit Internet upstart leakers, activists, and bloggers to his class</b>.<br />
<br />
But <b>Carr feels conflicted</b>. He quotes <b>Daniel Ellsberg</b> of Pentagon Papers fame as saying “With Snowden in particular you have a <b>split between truly independent journalists and those who are tools</b>- and I mean that in every sense of the term – of the Government.” Carr suggests that establishment media would <b>win Pulitzers and Peabodies for breaking the same stories</b> that sent Manning to jail and Snowden into comrade Putin's free-press-loving embrace.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrk0GC4hLAtGpL8orsYqRsOFIl5HVCiFvm2u4m39_g4dk5HlxkTQY4CKKLhTp7TCpF1HmVHcIxli17qZwVAmS8A9Ku-YaVE-Hg_it-NJ4Pzkd7g4Yw0qT6zBiMvWtOy6CEbbfYZ-azq5A/s1600/Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrk0GC4hLAtGpL8orsYqRsOFIl5HVCiFvm2u4m39_g4dk5HlxkTQY4CKKLhTp7TCpF1HmVHcIxli17qZwVAmS8A9Ku-YaVE-Hg_it-NJ4Pzkd7g4Yw0qT6zBiMvWtOy6CEbbfYZ-azq5A/s320/Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg" width="300" /></a>At the root of Carr’s dilemma is a common misinterpretation our constitution, which states in its first amendment:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.</span><br />
<br />
We have<b> conflated "the press" as a communication technology with 'the press" as a particular class </b>of people engaged in journalism. “The press” in context of the first amendment is a <b>means of expression, like speech and assembly</b>. It seems unlikely that the authors of the amendment would have penned a reference to a specific class of people between general references to speech and assembly. <br />
<br />
Thomas Paine wrote in, “<b>Common Sense</b>,” his pamphlet of 1776, "<b>a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.</b>" Our long habit of conflating a communication technology, “the press,” with a political class of people who employ the technology has left us unprepared for the implications of a new communication technology.<br />
<br />
When John Peter Zenger, a newspaper printer, was charged, in 1734, with seditious libel for printing stories of corruption involving the Royal Governor of New York, <b>his defense was that he had printed the truth</b>. According to the Judge, such a defense had no standing in law, but <b>the jury ignored the judge and found Zenger “not guilty.”</b> Similarly the Judge in the Daniel Ellsberg case made the <b>extra-legal judgment </b>that <b>Ellsberg could not be convicted for telling the truth about government lies</b>.<br />
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<br />
“<b>What are we thinking?</b>” asks Carr at the close of his column. But he has already answered his own question. He portrays an establishment press that feels <b>comfortable with government restrictions</b> but <b>threatened by more courageous competitors</b>.<br />
<br />
The cold and harsh reality of the <b><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit6" target="_blank">political economic equation</a> </b>is this: The people’s desire for truth about their government can only be met by a <b>press that is willing to defy their government</b> in order to get it. Ironically, the only protection the press can have, if it is to function as the fourth estate, is the politically potent <b>power to persuade large numbers</b> of fellow citizens and fellow journalists to stand on the side of truth.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>True</i> journalists have to <b>make common cause </b>with <strong>truthful leakers, activists, and bloggers. </strong>The<strong> hacks</strong> can serve only as <b>government tools</b>.<br />
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Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454901444105502679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-14068715515822930552013-07-19T12:44:00.000-04:002013-07-19T12:51:33.435-04:00The Face of Terror; Terrorists as Cover Boys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-78516081941137821502013-07-12T10:47:00.001-04:002013-07-12T10:52:01.650-04:00Let's Have Fun: Businessweek Angle on the Hedge Fund StoryWhen your humble blogger pulled this week’s <b><i>Bloomberg Businesweek</i></b> from the courier’s sheath (an unheralded development in print distribution), my first thought was “<b>This is what happens when the boss goes on vacation</b>.”<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAG209GFw-8x8RgHKhWf8ZTH72mB8cvilWhl0RR82C-j77IX3VYn9RCcGA9eA_1WVUbcInDNB5qWjQ1QqpUYvU4GEcS4ZkhzLLJAdAK3J0VrWBW2rorXaXDW4yLZMGphgcz3bOiJ4Ur6Q/s1600/BW+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAG209GFw-8x8RgHKhWf8ZTH72mB8cvilWhl0RR82C-j77IX3VYn9RCcGA9eA_1WVUbcInDNB5qWjQ1QqpUYvU4GEcS4ZkhzLLJAdAK3J0VrWBW2rorXaXDW4yLZMGphgcz3bOiJ4Ur6Q/s400/BW+cover.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This cover turns the famous <a href="http://bit.ly/1dqRE8A">Rolling Stone campaign </a><br />
on its head, comparing the flaccid reality of hedge fund <br />
performance with its robust reputation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But still, as I chuckled, your humble blogger quickly opened the magazine to the “<a href="http://buswk.co/12wfwSa"><b><i>Cover Trail</i></b></a>” which purports to cover the cover development every week. The “<i>Cover Trail</i>” is a <b>humanizing element</b>, showing what the boys and girls at <b><i>Businessweek</i></b> are thinking. One might assume they are all boys as one can almost hear the puerile laughter at Bloomberg HQ - there is no masthead to be found but the credits posted on <a href="http://bit.ly/10R2nGE">CoverJunkie .com</a> include women.<br />
<br />
Your humble blogger thinks this one will <a href="http://bit.ly/viralmagic" style="font-weight: bold;">go viral for the usual reasons</a><b> </b>although only briefly.<br />
<br />
The bigger story of <b><i>Businessweek</i></b> is about effective design (especially heavy use of charts) and good writing. Your humble blogger recalled recently, as I experienced the <b>anticipation</b> of opening this magazine, that I had felt the same <b>sensation</b> years ago, at the sight of <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit11">Bernie Goldhirsh’s</a> <b><i>Inc. Magazine</i></b> poking out of my mail box before I had the privilege of working for Bernie. Ironically, Bernie's passion for competing with <b><i>Business Week</i></b> probably lead to one of his more costly mistakes, <b><i>Business Month Magazine</i></b>.<br />
<br />
This is a <b>fun business</b>. Every once in a while it is good to <b>let it all hang out</b>.<br />
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Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454901444105502679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-85573989555469883262013-07-03T13:25:00.000-04:002013-07-09T22:37:17.296-04:00Why Fear in the Fourth Estate is GoodThere a was a <b>remarkably feeble defense of freedom of the press</b> in the “<a href="http://nyti.ms/165Dp4S">Media Equation</a>" column by David Carr, in the <i>New York Times</i> this Independence Day week, <b>juxtaposing journalists</b>, whom Carr defines as people “responsible for <b>following the truth</b>, wherever it may guide them” and <b>activists</b> whom he defines as people dedicated to “<b>winning an argumen</b>t.”<br />
<br />
“Taxonomy is important,” he writes “…because when it comes to divulging national secrets, the law grants journalists <b>special protections</b> that are granted no one else.” Mr. Carr cites no law which your humble blogger believes may be due to the fact that <b>no such law exists</b>. Shield laws in quite a few states favor journalists, but it is through <b>political power not legal code</b> that the press avoids prosecution for disclosure of classified information.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">A journalist is simply<br />“a person engaged in journalism"</span></td></tr>
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A journalist used to be defined as “a person whose occupation is journalism,… the collecting, writing editing and publishing of news or news articles through newspapers or magazines “(per your humble bloggers hard-used 1969 copy of the <i>American Heritage Dictionary</i>). Today, Merriam Webster defines a <a href="http://bit.ly/17Jc6k8">journalist</a> as “a person engaged in journalism,… the collection and editing of news for presentation through the media”<br />
<br />
By higher authority than David Carr, the intent to find <b>truth has not been added to the definition</b> but "occupation" has been broadened to "<b>engaged</b>," "publishing," to "<b>distribution</b>," and "newspapers and magazines" to "<b>media</b>." In further discussion "news" is also broadened to include “<b>related commentary</b> and feature materials.”<br />
<br />
<b>Truth only enters</b> the definition of journalism <b>as a conceit of journalism schools</b>, the University of Minnesota in Mr. Carr’s case, and the <b>marketing position of media</b> such as Mr. Carr’s employer, the <i>New York Times</i>. What Mr. Carr is apparently trying to do is parse, <b>on the basis of intent</b>, an argument against <i>The Guardian’</i>s reporting by Glenn Greenwald of Edward Snowden's revelations about the <b>NSA’s use of telephone and internet data</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>The NSA revelations are making many in mainstream media uncomfortable. </b>No one is questioning the truth of the NSA revelations – only the right to voice them. Mr. Carr’s contortions (although he pretends to concede the point in the column) have to do with <b>claiming, for the New York Times and establishment journalism</b>, the authority to use their own (well-intended and well-informed) editorial <b>judgment about what should be public information</b> while <b>denying the same power to competitors or mere citizens</b> who dare to exercise their own (misguided and argumentative) judgment about what should be public.<br />
<br />
The NSA revelations highlight <b>an uncomfortable, larger truth about the modern media equation</b>. Private speech, personal movement, and media consumption used to be difficult to monitor and relatively simple to protect. Now, with new information technology, it all has become much harder to defend from prying eyes. Increasingly we are <b>relying on the good intent of our government and the private companies</b> who can peer into the patterns of our lives.<br />
<br />
The broader <b>political-economic equation</b> however, remains grounded in human nature. <b>Good intent is a weak factor</b> in political-economic calculus whereas <b>self-interest is paramount</b>. <br />
<br />
To <b>avoid squirrelly twists</b> like Mr. Carr's, we are better off placing the enlightened <b>self-interest of media elites</b> squarely on the side of <b>free expression</b>, <b>open competition</b>, and a <b>balance of powers</b>. When it comes to divulging state secrets, members of the <b>media must fear the same risk of prosecution as any citizen activist</b> and be <b>willing to fight</b> for their own and thus everyone's freedom.<br />
<br />
It is <b>citizens</b> and <b>journalists, <i>as citizens</i></b>, that <b>have the <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit18">responsibility for following truth</a></b>. And <b>freedom of public speech</b>, although subject to some limitations, <b>belongs to us all</b>.<br />
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Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454901444105502679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-84571778670487862042013-06-27T13:06:00.000-04:002013-06-27T13:15:41.321-04:00Content Ain't King...But...Your humble blogger got hooked by the subject line of a recent email from Target Marketing Magazine: “<b>Why Content Isn't King</b>.” The <a href="http://bit.ly/18iHsRs">linked article</a> was a disappointment but it prompted your humble blogger to examine why I bit on the <b>subject line bait.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Target Marketing Magazine knows their readers. I clicked through seeking support for my beliefs. I've argued (and posted regarding “<a href="http://bit.ly/eventcuration">Curation</a>”) that “<b>Content ain’t King, content is noble. Cash is King.</b>” This was a way of saying that success, for most enterprises, is measured in currency. <b>Currency, not content, rules.</b><br />
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People in direct response who read Target Marketing are probably sick of hearing “Content is King.” But my subsequent research helped me appreciate an alternative view.<br />
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<b>Bill Gates is often credited with coining “Content is King”</b> in a <a href="http://bit.ly/122F09o">remarkably prescient essay</a> in 1996, (The year the Conference Department started business). It appears that others advanced the phrase before him but Bill Gates had the power to project the message. <br />
<br />
Gate's message, 17 years ago, was that the Internet provides a new <b>distribution system</b> for information and that the value of the Internet system will be derived from the value of the information distributed, the content. What he predicted was that countless opportunities would be created by the technology, to sell information in new ways (thanks to <a href="http://bit.ly/12t0FHE">Craig Bailey</a> et al for tracking this down).<br />
<br />
<b>Utility then is at the essence of the phrase</b>. Like new communication and transportation networks before it, postal services, canals, railroads, telegraph, telephone, radio, TV, etc.<b> the value of the Internet is in what it conveys</b> to and about the users. Your humble blogger, a committed <b>media utilitarian</b>, can hardly argue with the point.<br />
<br />
<b>The problem comes when the phrase is misused</b> to imply that content or “great content” will do all the work; that “great content” is your key to success in selling content or using content to sell something. It is like saying what you need to succeed in the restaurant business is “great food.” Great content or great food is a small piece of the puzzle.<br />
<br />
Dethroning content has been your (now humbler) blogger’s way of putting the <b>focus on the rules of the game</b>. It is not that I don’t care about content. My personal motto, for years across all media, has been “<b>First figure out what you want to say, then figure out how to make it pay</b>.” The payoff is usually in currency but it could be in votes or some other metric of success. <br />
<br />
What we used to call editorially-driven media<b> </b>products are often the most effective because the editorial commitment tends to make the product more valuable for customers. However an <b>“editorial success” is an old euphemism for something that doesn't make money</b>. Without a rich patron, an editorial success will die young.<br />
<br />
So <b>content is noble</b>. King Currency cannot rule without the support of his noble court. <b>Turning good information into good business is like assembling a puzzle</b> – in the future your humble blogger will be more careful to observe that <b>noble content is a key piece of that puzzle</b>!<br />
<br />Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08454901444105502679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-33942640641522906592013-06-14T13:21:00.000-04:002013-07-12T13:56:18.383-04:00Keep Paddling ‘Til You Hit the Beach<div class="MsoNormal">
A state government executive, serving for an effective
Governor, once told your humble blogger that the Governor continuously urged his cabinet to “<b>run through the tape</b>” with their initiatives. Your humble blogger recently summoned his aquatic
version of this track aphorism, learned in kayak racing, which applies to event
production.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN53XXp60ysrVYrmmoulFVBsRykPfiJeTFAu2UcM0JnNPOu4US6pP7kMj9-Bge8bBfuoLc48UiGeDqSZF6tF1XT58zL2LDqr2sWQdnj637wWXPYendRc5j7fuDlPdM7R5KaufPg-6qfu8/s1600/herringrun13-140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="http://erikruthoff.com/" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN53XXp60ysrVYrmmoulFVBsRykPfiJeTFAu2UcM0JnNPOu4US6pP7kMj9-Bge8bBfuoLc48UiGeDqSZF6tF1XT58zL2LDqr2sWQdnj637wWXPYendRc5j7fuDlPdM7R5KaufPg-6qfu8/s320/herringrun13-140.jpg" title="Photo by Eric Kruthoff used with permission" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everyone is paddling hard at the start of the event</td></tr>
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With the <a href="http://mysticriver.org/">MyRWA</a> Herring Run & Paddle finish line in
sight, I reminded myself “<b>Keep
paddling ‘til you hit the beach!</b>” I knew that that the end looked closer than it
was and that I might be able to pick-off a competitor or at least knock minutes
off my time by keeping up my pace and focusing to the finish. I came so close to passing three guys that even
though I was exhausted after racing for 12 miles, I was wishing for a longer
race!<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Every event is a show</b>
and in show business, you can’t stop <b>performing
until your reach the finish.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Plan to
end strong</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We've all had fiascoes at
the start of an event and any pro knows about the importance of detailed
planning, drills and rehearsals to make sure the first experiences of a live event
are good ones.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">But </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">too often people let events fizzle</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> by failing to apply the same
level of attention to the final impressions.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Make sure
your contracts fit the plan</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Your
arrangements for venue, permits, onsite services, and transportation need to be
checked against your final plan.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">You don’t
want to have your grand finale cut short because the buses are leaving.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Keep it
crisp.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Even if your event involves
participants relaxing at the end, keep all program elements tightly scripted
and well supported.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Keep the body
heat up.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">If your venue is outdoors
make sure it is not going to be uncomfortably cold. Don't let your participants feel lonely - adjust your venues for the normal
declines in numbers toward the end.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Keep the
spot light on your program.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t
neglect lighting especially in outdoor venues.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t allow distractions like a noisy breakdown operation to mar your
conclusion.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Keep
testing all equipment. </b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Your tech.
crews may be thinking about the big job of breaking down but everyone needs to focus on the more important job of </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">ending
right.</b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Don’t let your team go home early, in spirit or in reality.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">If you are presenting or sponsoring an event make sure your visible representatives are still visible at the end.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">At the end of a conference I advise my team, and especially the most senior people to be right at the door thanking participants and encouraging them to return again.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Keep selling as long as you see a customer.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Take advantage of </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">event magic</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> as long as you are <a href="http://bit.ly/F2F_Fundamental">face-to-face</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><strong>Don’t schedule a debriefing too early.</strong></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Nobody (least of all your humble blogger) wants to hear what went wrong right after the show.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Instead keep thanking everybody for what went right.</span>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<ul>
</ul>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidry5F4o1QU95i_rZRZkrgI7dC8LarFyPyrjJsvLOASeaIJn0lOfeVfn6DvVrOU_uxMaDI-LH0I075HB3Wd4EsqW5JQh-h0tpuDZ-B_72DQB1AFNZwidJkV1CWyHnR1dK1Pu-fPcfSyJk/s1600/herringrun13-141cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidry5F4o1QU95i_rZRZkrgI7dC8LarFyPyrjJsvLOASeaIJn0lOfeVfn6DvVrOU_uxMaDI-LH0I075HB3Wd4EsqW5JQh-h0tpuDZ-B_72DQB1AFNZwidJkV1CWyHnR1dK1Pu-fPcfSyJk/s320/herringrun13-141cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Congrats to Andrius Zinkevichus won the 12 mile race with a time of
</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1:36:47 which is an 8:04 minute per mile pace!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Ending well is one of
the most important parts </b><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">of any communication or experience.</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> Let me end by reinforcing that I am here to
help. If you have any questions about </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">moving hearts and minds with events</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> give
me a call at (781) 729-8611.</span><br />
<div>
</div>
Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-91905577947010235702011-06-09T12:44:00.005-04:002011-06-09T12:54:58.162-04:00Four Types of "Conference Hurt"<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“<strong>Where does it hurt?</strong>” your humble blogger asked fellow attendees at the <a href="http://sipaonline.com/" target="_blank">Specialized Information Publishers Association</a> Conference this week in DC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was collecting <strong>conference pain stories</strong> to use in my roundtable on “<em>Conference Pain Relief; Developing or Fixing Business Mo</em>dels.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As I suspected, the conference pain fell into four categories:</div><ol><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Lost opportunity</strong>; the nagging failure to grow a conference business</div></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Lost sleep</strong>; anxiety and overwork associated with a conference or line of conferences</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Lost dollars</strong>; events that cost more than they took in</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Lost reputation</strong>; events that damaged the brand</li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Losing opportunity or losing sleep</strong> were the primary complaints of the publishers who admitted to experiencing conference pain .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few said they actually lost money but several said their margins didn’t seem consistent with their efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Damage to the brand was mentioned as a fear but not as an experience.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“<strong>Conferences have been my least favorite but most profitable line of business</strong>,” confessed one publisher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fear of risk, distaste for the demanding nature of the business, and lack of resources were the primary road blocks to starting or growing a conference line.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Clearly however, <strong>conferences are worth getting right</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several publishers said their conferences were critical to their business and very profitable.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The <strong>future growth of events</strong> was reinforced in a general session when panelists John Suhler, CEO of Veronis Shuhler Stevenson and Don Pazour, CEO of Access Intelligence both strongly endorsed conferences and trade shows as paths to profits. <a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2011/03/face-to-face-is-fundamental.html" target="_blank">Face-to-face is a fundamental medium.</a><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Pain is the symptom of a flawed business model</strong>. The central point of your humble blogger’s roundtable was that there are countless ways to adjust a business model to your specific niche and that there is a profitable and relatively painless solution available to almost any information company.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-14943099161470656192011-05-11T12:14:00.001-04:002011-05-11T12:16:35.519-04:00Surfing the Next Wave of Social Media<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The tide of social media, which swept in as the recession was hitting, has recently receded a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the mighty waves of expectation and overblown rhetoric have crashed on the rocks of media reality. Here are a few data points among the flotsam and jetsam: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikgMah2mlgvgHLtFl_NdF9QJdsMWQadjYwXhRCSzj4VdOkVSWxDtOIscXtyAlQOmfM8aLybUTIJKtvfS7AIvBF28YZX1WWBzf3StzekV39jQ-Fn0-62sXkFucAMAATqse6Q4TdqitchAc/s1600/body-surfing-in-la-jolla_w725_h544%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikgMah2mlgvgHLtFl_NdF9QJdsMWQadjYwXhRCSzj4VdOkVSWxDtOIscXtyAlQOmfM8aLybUTIJKtvfS7AIvBF28YZX1WWBzf3StzekV39jQ-Fn0-62sXkFucAMAATqse6Q4TdqitchAc/s400/body-surfing-in-la-jolla_w725_h544%255B1%255D.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Your humble blogger heard Harvard professor <a href="http://hvrd.me/Christakis" target="_blank">Nick Christakis</a> in a webcast of the <a href="http://bit.ly/wellbeing-christakis" target="_blank">Healthways Wellbeing <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Summit</place></city></a> (select his session to view) the other day taking about influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <strong> </strong></span><em><strong>Note to event people:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the setting was interesting; a conference seemly staged more for internet broadcast/replay then as a self contained event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The production was TV-like with two cameras actively zooming in and out and panning across the scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The set was more elaborate than the typical conference set and TV-style audience, small but animated was sprinkled around the room in couches and easy chairs, probably because the numbers were lower than originally expected.</em></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">One of Christakis’s topics was the <strong>relatively weak influence of internet networks</strong> vs. “real networks.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Online networks have the most influence when they reinforce relationships which also exist off-line, according to Christakis.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The <strong>moral neutrality of networks</strong> was another topic Christakis touched on, asserting that “networks magnify whatever they are seeded with.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evil ideas can be transmitted as effectively as good ones according to Christakis, in contrast to the many apostles of social media who give it some kind of crowd (mob?)-sourced moral superiority.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The number of <strong>households with TV’s</strong> in the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">US</place></country-region> <a href="http://nyti.ms/tvdecline" target="_blank">declined</a> for the first time since in 20 years. Nontheless Americans <strong>jumped from the little screen to the big screen</strong> upon learning of the recent killing of Osama Ben Ladin in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Pakistan</place></country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>President Obama got the <a href="http://politi.co/audiencerecord" target="_blank">biggest TV audience of his presidency</a> for his announcement of the raid that resulted in Ben Ladin’s death. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The New York Times reported yesterday about the <a href="http://nyti.ms/tightnetworks" target="_blank"><strong>next wave of social networking services</strong></a> for smaller more specialized networks most notably Path which raised $11 million in VC money and GroupMe which raised $10.6 million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the report these services “do a better job of mimicking offline social networks” than Facebook or Twitter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger has <a href="http://bit.ly/capitaladvantage" target="_blank">opined before</a> that <strong>access to capital is a profound competitive advantage</strong> for an early stage company – we can expect to hear more about at least these two.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Meanwhile LinkedIn is hoping to raise $274.4 million in their IPO announced Monday According to the NYT, the <strong>major VC investors are holding on to their interests</strong> which means the “smart money” thinks the best is yet to come at least for the big players in the field.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">So while the tide has receded, as they say in the earthquake zones, <strong>don’t run down on the beach</strong>, the really big waves could still be on the way.</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-37967744082096971312011-04-13T11:31:00.000-04:002011-04-13T11:31:58.002-04:00The Simple Science of Business<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Years ago your humble blogger was intrigued when one individual, a leader in a third-world conflict who espoused and practiced “<strong>scientific revolution</strong>,” switched sides and changed the course of that war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger felt compelled to investigate.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>The science turned out to be pretty simple</strong>, when your humble blogger finally located the writings and reports of this obscure, young, third-world General (no easy task, pre-internet).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to winning a war, according to the General, was to know:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ol style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>How many fighters you have</strong></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Where and when their last action was</strong></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>What the outcome of that action was</strong></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">By focusing on these factors, one man changed the balance of power in his country.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Facts have power</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Early in my business career, I learned how to be influential in corporate meetings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found that if I brought one relevant fact to a typical meeting, I was often one fact ahead of most everybody else in the meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the fact helped solve a problem, I could be of true value to the organization.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 4.5in;">There is of course <strong>truly deep science underlying many businesses</strong>; material science in manufactured products, biological science in pharmaceuticals and agriculture; information science across many industries; chemical science in countless industries. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many specialties beyond the grasp of most people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <strong>basic science is something we can all practice</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">This week, is the <strong>150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the world renowned <place w:st="on"><state w:st="on">Massachusetts</state></place> Institute of Technology</strong>, chartered by the Commonwealth to further <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">the <strong>“advancement, development and practical application of science in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce.”</strong> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking of the wonders that have emerged from MIT, it is worth noting that the science of business for most of us is still basic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has to do with focusing on certain key facts and <strong>marshalling those facts logically and creatively to solve problems.</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><strong>“How many, where, when?” and “What happened?” remain key questions</strong> of scientific inquiry in business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While our business environments are flooded with all manner of assertions and suppositions, often pushed by strong egos and interests, <strong>simple science can usually win</strong>.</span></div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-83714917359065250202011-03-30T19:16:00.004-04:002011-03-30T19:33:18.318-04:00Face-to-Face is Fundamental<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The <strong>event slice of the media pie is growing again</strong> according to sources recently cited by <a href="http://bit.ly/BtoBMar14">BtoB</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/mediabusMar14">Media Business</a>. The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) reported 2010 increases over 2009 of exhibiting companies, 2.1%; revenue, 4.2%; professional attendance, 5.4%; and net square feet, 5.6%. Reed Elsevier and United Business Media have been buying events while shedding print properties. A Communications Industry Forecast from Veronis Suhler Stevenson projects tradeshow spending in excess of B to B e-media and print ad spending by 2014.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEBaRdxAjIcK-V_Fh5BsOAD5Xo_68QqeuKxGB5t7s2KS5jRjCm7l_-NkP95IEohlo4KHBE5dNvLvTfliixMUIHCZLc4SA2r87O7k8GfSu5_OkdDPFUt7iwwxwftJhv31onm293fXSPnc/s1600/Tablet_Rimush_Louvre_AO5476%255B1%255D+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNEBaRdxAjIcK-V_Fh5BsOAD5Xo_68QqeuKxGB5t7s2KS5jRjCm7l_-NkP95IEohlo4KHBE5dNvLvTfliixMUIHCZLc4SA2r87O7k8GfSu5_OkdDPFUt7iwwxwftJhv31onm293fXSPnc/s200/Tablet_Rimush_Louvre_AO5476%255B1%255D+%25282%2529.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Clay Tablet from Egypt<br />
ca. 2270 BCE. </td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk7QAbzExXrayUV4QC9LZehzBpfzNil050JJ2qs4XTLd133dq_ii8mAj6r1WWErVXCcSCcmNTzeHts0AN6ulJdMIA9kGyVZ5oAnLRoWu8akn2sgPlUiYibWid2Mxhhpf_MDDx4ZKAS-E/s1600/ipad2_smartcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSk7QAbzExXrayUV4QC9LZehzBpfzNil050JJ2qs4XTLd133dq_ii8mAj6r1WWErVXCcSCcmNTzeHts0AN6ulJdMIA9kGyVZ5oAnLRoWu8akn2sgPlUiYibWid2Mxhhpf_MDDx4ZKAS-E/s320/ipad2_smartcover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apples iPad2 Tablet 2011<br />
(Courtesy Apple)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Events have been <strong>part of the communications mix</strong> since before <a href="http://bit.ly/claytablet">clay tablets</a>. Now we’re all atwitter about <strong>tablet computers</strong> and <strong>smart phones</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New technologies are absolutely transforming communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But events will still be important when we are looking at tablet computers in the museum beside the displays of “<a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/10/vision-thing-its-not-about-selling.html">micro computers" of the late '70s</a>, fax machines and telegraphs. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Events are the original media of <strong>one-to-many communication</strong> and the original <strong>social media</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People are social by nature. We thrive on real social interaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because events are truly interactive, B-to-B media CEO’s, including Bob Carrigan of IDG and David Levin, CEO of UBM, expect events to remain key to their businesses.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Events move minds</strong>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other media seldom has the same total effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you recall a recent learning experience you’ve had? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are like many people some of your most profoundly moving experiences are associated with events. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You react most strongly when your senses, of sound, sight, tactile feeling and even smell are all engaged. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At an event you are moving around; doing things with other people: asking and answering questions, face-to-face. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Participation motivates and mobilizes us all.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Events build trust</strong>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trust speeds the development of relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think of business contacts you’ve made in the past year, how they started, and where they’ve led.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chances are, while you’ve made new contacts from many sources including online social media, the ones that have progressed <em><strong>most rapidly to mutual benefit</strong></em> began face-to-face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trust is also <strong>essential to building loyalty for your organization and brand.</strong> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Events can make money for you</strong>, directly if you are in the media business or indirectly if you use events as a marketing-communication tool. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In either case, amid an ever-widening array of communication options, events remain key to effectively cementing <strong><em>high-value relationships</em></strong> with your audiences or prospective customers.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Events evolve</strong> - today’s newest media maybe tomorrow’s clay tablet but <strong>face-to-face interaction will never be obsolete</strong>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the B to B field, email has largely replaced direct mail for attendee promotion and social media has become a significant contributor; virtual technology has become a substitute for some kinds of meetings and lead generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specific forms and business models of events continue to change, but face-to-face persists as a powerful media. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Face-to face events remain fundamental</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Events must be a primary part of your integrated communication mix, if you’ve got a business message for employees, customers, prospects, or broader audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d appreciate hearing about your success and your problems with events by comment below or directly by phone or email.</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-16954758244652450972011-03-16T14:51:00.001-04:002011-03-16T14:54:54.479-04:00Learning from Your Mistakes - by the NumbersThere are <strong>good lessons in mistakes and “natural experiments”</strong> in events and across the media business. The lessons pose both emotional and conceptual challenges. That’s why <strong>running the numbers right is highly instructive</strong>.<br />
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<strong>Mistakes in the moment in any live media generate tension</strong> – you run low on food, cues are missed, wiring is wrong, the award that was supposed to be at the front of the room was left in the back – whatever. Somebody miscalculated, didn’t practice, didn’t plan or didn’t execute the plan. <br />
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When you are in the hot seat, fixing the immediate problem, it’s hard not to get a little curt, and it’s easy to blame others. This complicates the after-action analysis. <strong>Specific detail and quantification makes it less personal.</strong> <br />
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<strong>Bigger mistakes usually manifest more slowly.</strong> Marketing deadlines get pushed back for what seem like good reasons. Key indicators are ignored, or erroneously interpreted; your product drifts off the intended focus or markets change and leave your media product positioned for yesterday. Numerical discipline helps you recognize slow but persistent change.<br />
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<strong>“Natural experiments” are often hidden</strong> in benign variation. Business is better in some regions then others. A marketing effort does a little better or worse than average. An audience responds more positively in one instance than another. Numbers reveal opportunity.<br />
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While the race is on, <strong>the best response may be counter intuitive</strong>. If you are spinning out of control, <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit7" target="_blank">sometimes you have to “gas it” to recover</a>. In any case you may not have time to think much. Training is necessary for times of deep crisis.<br />
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However, <strong>trusting the numbers</strong> during a crisis or when <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit3" target="_blank">planning your next move</a> is often the best way to guide yourself out and learn from the mistake or natural experiment. <br />
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Often mistakes involve not trusting the numbers out of <strong>fear or wishful thinking</strong>. The most common scenario is judgmental adjustments – a little padding here and there for safety or a gratuitous allowance for a shortfall. These judgments are often repeated and compounded, killing margins and driving actions off track.<br />
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Natural experiments are situations where inputs are varied unintentionally. They can go <strong>unnoticed if you always look at overall numbers and not the details</strong>. And variation is often misunderstood. <strong>Causation and correlation are easy to confuse</strong>. Human nature and <strong>human interest</strong> get involved, e.g. successful salespeople see themselves, not their assigned accounts as their source of success. <br />
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You <strong>can’t assume accuracy in your numbers</strong>. People code and count things differently. Performance numbers get “gamed.” Conversions and aggregations introduce error. Things get mislabeled. Time periods don’t match. It pays to test any numbers you use until you are sure what they mean and how reliable they are.<br />
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But, especially where things go wrong, or results vary, <strong>your best source of new tactics and strategies</strong> to prevent failure, replicate success, grow or maintain your business and make it more rewarding and less stressful is in <strong>creative, quantified analysis of the facts.</strong>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-30139736215559104572011-03-04T19:40:00.001-05:002011-03-04T19:48:24.417-05:00Why Your Audience Wants to Talk About Your Content<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You can’t assume your audience wants your information only for themselves. <strong>People seek information to share and trade</strong>, primarily in conversation as was discussed at the <a href="http://bit.ly/aU6YAX" target="_blank">Inbound Marketing Conference</a> last fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This primal hunt is especially vital to <a href="http://bit.ly/b52ObZ" target="_blank">event curation</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Content that bears repeating is valuable</strong> to people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providing “remarkable content” is touted as a way to generate online social media conversation that potentially “goes viral” (<a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit22" target="_blank">dirty secret: it rarely happens without a big boost from mass media</a>). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if information is your product rather than a means to sell something else, you <em>still </em>should <strong>think about</strong> <strong>what your audience will want to share and trade with others</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Whether “<strong>useful or bizarre,</strong>” according to Pablo Boczkowski, a professor at the Northwestern University School of Communication, “<strong>what the mass public wants is something to talk about</strong>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger heard him at an MIT Comparative Media Studies Forum:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"<a href="http://bit.ly/mitmediaforum" target="_blank">Online News: Public Sphere or Echo Chamber?"</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Similarly, Eric Ly, co-founder of Linkedin and the founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.presdo.com/about" target="_blank">Presdo</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>credits NPR’s online success to their focus on news that “<strong>our friends will want to talk about</strong>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric spoke in a recent <a href="http://bit.ly/harSCV" target="_blank">TSNN</a> webinar promoting the <a href="http://bit.ly/mtosummit" target="_blank">MTO (MeetingTechOnline) <city w:st="on">Summit</city></a> – an event coming up in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Chicago</place></city>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Trade information consumers are not that different</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly business or professional consumers seek to improve their work performance directly with information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, they also seek information they can share and trade, in order to <strong>maintain and build their professional networks</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>The promise of quickly providing a “talking knowledge</strong>” of a specialized field was the unique selling proposition of a trade event your humble blogger successfully promoted for many years, in the field of state and local government policy and purchasing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of information sharing and trading took place right at the event, because so many key people in the field attended, but the formal program gave attendees an authoritative overview designed to help them in their various professional circles outside the event.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Provocative and memorable talking points</strong> not only give recipients something to impart to others, they give recipients <strong>a common bond</strong> with others - a sense of “being in the know.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> That's one reason s</span>ports news is popular in the mass market..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the bonding capacity also applies to specialized interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger in recent conversation started to quote the former Comptroller General of the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">United States</place></country-region>, David Walker, (not exactly a household name) and was pleasantly surprised to have the quote completed and correctly attributed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The connection of common interest was thus established.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Across all media and especially at <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit1" target="_blank">face-to-face events</a></strong>, where the the social side is instantaneous, content developers should never assume that their audiences want entertainment <em>strictly</em> as a personal experience and utility <em>only</em> for direct application.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least equally strong is the <strong>audience desire for content that can be used to strengthen ties to other people</strong>. Feel free to mention this idea to a colleague! </div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-35071201398041949482011-02-17T15:53:00.002-05:002011-02-17T21:18:27.940-05:00Good News from Egypt: “Less than 1,000 People Died”“Eighty-five million people live in Egypt and less than 1,000 people died in this revolution,” said Wael Ghonim, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html">Monday’s New York Times</a>. Ghonim, a 31 year old Google executive, is credited with a key role in the on-line social media campaign that helped topple Hosni Mubarak last week.<br />
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<strong>Gauging the grief of 1000 families as good news</strong> is a legitimate <strong>political-economic calculation</strong>. But it underscores the seriousness of the business Ghonim and his colleagues have undertaken. More broadly the calculation underscores the seriousness of the <strong>business of belief which is at the heart of media</strong> in all forms. <br />
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The wave of change in North Africa and the Mideast is a <strong>story about media as well as about politics</strong>. As the story of mass protest in Tunisia broke in the U.S (a month after it Al Jazeera started covering it nightly), it was played as another <a href="http://bit.ly/eCtKbG">Facebook story</a>. Your humble blogger has opined before about the value of viewing today’s shifts in media through <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit6">political-economic lenses</a> rather than peering at the phenomenon, one-eyed, through an economic monocle. <br />
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<strong>Our trade, in media, is moving minds</strong>. Political-economic exchange rates render all costs and benefits “fungible” or inter-changeable. Political-economics fundamentally concerns the interaction of destructive forces, productive forces and the motivating factor of belief. Thus <strong>media is central to political-economics</strong>.<br />
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In Egypt, <strong>a full spectrum of communications,</strong> from “eye catching posters” to Facebook groups, deployed by anti Mubarak forces and major news outlets, mobilized masses of Egyptians to create the experience and spectacle of protest events. This sudden recognition of the possibility of change was achieved with limited expenditures of productive or destructive force, and was critical in precipitating Mubarak’s ouster.<br />
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The works of <a href="http://bit.ly/sharpbio">Gene Sharp</a> reportedly influenced the communication strategies of the leading anti-Mubarak groups according to the New York Times. Sharp, an advocate of non-violent strategies and tactics to promote freedom and democracy writes that “<strong>the means do exist for populations to free themselves</strong>” but that members of an oppressed population must first recognize of their own real power to contribute to collective action.<br />
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<strong>At our best, in media, we are empowering people with good information</strong>. Officially, “you can make money without doing evil” is proclaimed by Mr. Ghonim’s employer, Google, as one of <a href="http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html">Ten Things We Know</a>. The unofficial “<strong>Do no evil</strong>” is more direct but still seems timid. "<strong><em>Do good"</em> seems more to the point</strong>. That's why your humble blogger has always seriously endeavored to <strong>turn <a href="http://www.conferencedepartment.com/index.htm">good information into good business</a></strong>.Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-61670096127175312852011-02-03T14:20:00.005-05:002011-02-03T14:39:56.184-05:00Gaining Leverage on Life-Time ValueYou know <strong>engagement sells</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why you should take a look at a new analysis of <strong>customer engagement</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is consumer-oriented but your humble blogger found <strong>lessons for B-to-B marketers</strong> about <strong>engagement elements</strong>, <strong>channels</strong>, and <strong>measurement</strong> in the report.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Buyers aren’t</strong> <strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">seeking</i> engagement</strong> for its own sake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are looking to <strong>fulfill a need</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they consistently judge the <strong>key elements of engagement</strong> across channels according <a href="http://liminal.razorfish.com/?page_id=11" target="_blank">a study offered by Razorfish</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buyers want to <strong>feel valued</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want <strong>efficiency</strong> and they want to be able to <strong>trust</strong> the seller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Your B-to B segment may not match the consumers studied, but <strong>online and mobile social media are not currently important engagement channels</strong> for consumers according to the Razorfish study. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The survey indicated that the most important engagement channels are <strong>“transactional email, company websites, traditional word-of-mouth and face-to-face conversations with a company representative.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strong><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ5D8kAeCrxuNFmXHGsu-w6zgLV3Tf38ArMq_HenROJfu3EcocEcM5BYCCi9PN859F3T-zgxRrPyJ7Be1ueOikbC1tb_D0IGcjdvjmE-zrgmNvXvgGX4AOIwp-0c9ZJkPJPxQZXioKXU/s1600/channelImportance.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ5D8kAeCrxuNFmXHGsu-w6zgLV3Tf38ArMq_HenROJfu3EcocEcM5BYCCi9PN859F3T-zgxRrPyJ7Be1ueOikbC1tb_D0IGcjdvjmE-zrgmNvXvgGX4AOIwp-0c9ZJkPJPxQZXioKXU/s400/channelImportance.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Engagement Channel Importance </span></strong><b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><strong>by Age Segment <br />
(used with permission, Liminal: The 2011 <br />
Razorfish Customer Engagement Report)</strong></span></b><span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Commonly touted <strong>online engagement measures fail</strong> to measure important elements of the <strong>engagement experience</strong> according to the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You should question whether <strong>seller-centric measures</strong> like time spent, site visits, downloads, page views, search keywords and session length tell you how the prospect or customer <strong>feels </strong>about the engagement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">You should <strong>factor “influence” into Life-Time Value</strong> (LTV) of a customer to weigh your engagement investment decisions according to the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LTV is a metric long used in subscription, conference attendee and other direct marketing to estimate return on marketing spending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger has reported on how <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit24"target="_blank">Paul Gillin at the Inbound Marketing Conference</a> advocated the use of LTV in calculating the ROI of online social media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Razorfish study proposes a different acronym but it makes sense to call the influence adjusted LTV “<strong>leveraged live-time value</strong>”<strong> (LLTV) </strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>High-influence, high LTV (high LLTV)</strong> prospects and customers give you <strong>more return on engagement</strong> investment according to the study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Devoting extra resources to influential prospects and customers is hardly a new marketing idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The report mentions Oprah Winfrey as an obvious target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a business-to-business context, independent “thought leaders” industry luminaries, etc. are routinely cultivated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But looking at <strong>classes of influential prospects and customers</strong> is an extremely useful concept.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">There are <strong>other angles on influence</strong> in consumer marketing. The authors of <em>The Influence of Affluence</em><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(originally published as <em>The Middle-Class Millionaire</em>), Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff posit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that the “working wealthy” exert influence <a href="http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/community/columns/other-columns/e3ia17936baf4363f1985f7e0d76c2b9c17"target="_blank">“far beyond their tax bracket”</a> among consumers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the B-to-B context aren’t the entrepreneurial “middle-class millionaires” also <strong>influential within their industries</strong> way beyond the scale of their companies?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The <strong>influence factor applies across channels</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inventive B-to-B marketers will want to look beyond online and mobile social media (the focus of the Razorfish analysis) for ways of identifying and quantifying influence; especially since neither the key elements of engagement nor the most important channels currently favor online and mobile social media.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>B-to-B events incorporate the key elements of engagement</strong> identified in this report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Events make participants feel <strong>valued</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Events are <strong>efficient </strong>sources of information and solid contacts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And unquestionably, events establish<strong> trust</strong>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>B2B events work through channels that people value highly</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real social interactions of events foster traditional <strong>word-of-mouth</strong> and provide opportunities for <strong>face-to-face conversations with company representatives</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><strong>You can use Leveraged Life-Time Value</strong> (LLTV) to rationalize what you intuitively know – that certain types of prospects and customers are worth high engagement investment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LLTV gives you <strong>new reason to invest in both new social media and in the <em>original</em> social media - <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit1"target="_blank">face-to-face events</a></strong>.</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-64056797685957699412011-01-19T19:51:00.005-05:002011-01-19T20:25:59.458-05:00Bigger is Better: Why The Media Loves Facebook Stories<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was another <strong>big weekend for Facebook stories</strong>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<strong>The Social Network</strong>,” won four awards at Critics' Choice Movie Awards last Friday and four more at the Golden<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Globe Awards Sunday Night. </span>The movie, which has grossed over $200 million so far, has, according to the </span><a href="http://entertainment.latimes.com/awards/2011/01/the-social-network-wins-the-critics-choice-movie-award-for-best-film-.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">LA Times</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“won the majority of critics honors this year, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association., New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, Facebook was given a <strong>starring role in the overthrow of <place w:st="on"><country-region w:st="on">Tunisia</country-region></place>’s long ruling President</strong>, Zine el Abidine Ben.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The </span><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/tunisia-students-using-facebook-and-twitter-to-organize.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">LA Times coverage</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> with the head "Tunisia protesters use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help organize and report" was typical. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These stories reinforce <strong>a key fact about media economics</strong>: there is almost infinite positive return to scale in media. </span><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2009/12/sorry-but-in-media-size-does-matter.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The bigger a story gets, the more profitable it becomes</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The massive audience of Facebook makes anything about Facebook into a good story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the fact that people follow Facebook stories begets new stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right now, anything with a Facebook angle will get an audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the mild interest of millions can be powerful.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A big story earlier in the month was the <strong>Goldman Sachs investment of $450 million in Facebook</strong> implying a $50 Billion valuation of Facebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hefty, though well shy of AOL’s peak of $166 billion before the </span><a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/04/media-strategy-dot-com-deja-vu.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">dot com bust</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">; still a spectacular number <strong>for us all to talk about</strong>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It grew to such a big story that Goldman Sachs was forced on Monday to ditch plans to peddle the shares to US clients for fear of triggering a de facto public offering in the eyes of the SEC. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>A big story doesn’t have to be true to sell, just good</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your humble blogger finally saw "<strong>The Social Network"</strong> with his date, along with a full house, Saturday night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story of <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Accidental_Billionaires">The Accidental Billionaires</a></em> is good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The less juicy story of a prodigy programmer, tutored from childhood, already an entrepreneur and recognized by leading firms and publications while still a student at an elite private prep school, seeped in the academic research of social networks at a top college, quickly recognizing a promising phenomenon and successfully securing access to capital (the most important competitive advantage an early stage company can have) would be a harder sell.</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>The Facebook story of <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Tunisia</place></country-region> should be tempered</strong> by an accounting of <strong>TV coverage</strong> and of who has <strong>the tanks</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to look at the <a href="http://blog.conferencedepartment.com/2010/01/in-2010-think-about-political-economics.html">political economics</a>, not just the popular narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The New York Times did note in coverage on January 14, that Al Jazeera has been airing nightly coverage of the unrest in Tunisa for the past month and that many in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Tunisia</place></country-region> “credit Al Jazeera’s broadcasts with forging the sense of solidarity and empowerment that moved Tunisians across the country to take to the streets simultaneously.” And an article on the 16th noted that General Rachid Ammar, whose “for president” web page had 1,700 “likes” on Facebook (count ‘em) had pulled army tanks and personnel from from downtown Tunis (no count given).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Your humble blogger will leave the big valuation story for others to figure out. Suffice to say we haven't seen the last chapter. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>The media loves Facebook stories because we all do</strong>. Being part of <strong>something big</strong> whether it is a big event or the next big thing is something <strong>most people “like.”</strong></div></div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-16940879815022723732011-01-07T17:55:00.000-05:002011-01-07T17:55:25.722-05:002011: First Impressions<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The seers poking at the messy entrails of economic data are <strong>seeing good signs</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Albeit with varying degrees of trepidation they are forecasting noticeable recovery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Based on anecdotal evidence, <strong>y</strong></span><strong>our humble blogger agrees.</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">As some of the “old media” bounces back we’ll be able to more accurately tease out the <strong>long-term secular trends</strong>, set in motion by new online and mobile media, from the <strong>shorter-term economic cycles</strong> that the seasoned among us have seen before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">However, there’s <strong>no “easy street” around the corner</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be no quick return to proven formulas in information/communication markets that seemed to mint money without much risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor, with few lucky exceptions, will the glib new “grab market share” models pan-out.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Easy, though, is overrated</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best information businesses your humble blogger has had a hand in have been tough and complicated and therefore <strong>defensible, durable and rewarding</strong>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In this New Year of 2011, we’re looking forward to <strong>working with other media utilitarians</strong>, working across media platforms and <strong>using new tools to make money</strong> the tough, sometimes complicated, not-so-easy, old-fashioned way!</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-76893720434625798392010-12-22T12:15:00.002-05:002011-01-03T23:05:09.076-05:00What it Takes to Make A High-Performance Event Team“<b>You can’t begin early <i>too early </i>and you can’t communicate <i>too much</i></b>,” admonished a savvy collaborator at a post-event debriefing. Your humble blogger had taken some lumps after running what he’d thought had been a good team effort. But the maxim to became a motto.<br />
<br />
<b>Event production is a test of group intelligence</b>. Events of any size take a team to execute. And the effectiveness of the team is not simply a function of the individual intelligence of people on the team.<br />
<br />
<b>Collective intelligence can be measured and reliably associated with group performance</b> according to a study recently covered in the <a href="http://bit.ly/BG-groupintell" target="_blank">Boson Globe</a>. Collective intelligence “is not strongly correlated with the average or maximum individual intelligence of group members but is correlated with the average social sensitivity of group members, the equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking, and the proportion of females in the group,” according to the abstract of the study which was published in <a href="http://bit.ly/Sci-groupintell" target="_blank">Science</a>. The female factor fell away when controlled for social sensitivity. <br />
<br />
<strong>Teams of individually intelligent players can be collectively weak-minded</strong>. When unexpected problems test the typical event team of specialists, too often the response is a <strong>collective deer-in-the-headlights standstill</strong>. In these situations <strong>somebody needs to step forward</strong> and focus the group on generating a solution.<br />
<br />
<strong>Effective problem response may be <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit7" target="_blank">counter intuitive</a>.</strong> The study apparently found that “overbearing leaders” tended to reduce group intelligence. This is evident on event teams that hesitate to act on urgent problems while waiting for the leadership to "call the shots." But the coverage of the study did not mention <strong>socially sensitive leadership as a catalyst for problem solving</strong>. <br />
<br />
<strong>The leadership factor in collective intelligence will emerge</strong> in further study, if your humble blogger’s observations of event teams are correct. <strong>A socially sensitive leader can raise the collective intelligence of the group</strong> simply by being part of the group and by example, influencing others. But leadership is also critical in <strong>guiding group processes to a conclusion</strong>. A formal leader does not have to be the one leading the show, but <strong>leadership is a key on any event team</strong>, especially when the team faces a new or unexpected problem.Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-72370114357555184212010-12-07T17:35:00.003-05:002010-12-08T10:19:53.091-05:00Zip Ideas: Three Lessons from the CEO of Zipcar<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Scott Griffith</strong>, CEO of Zipcar, recently offered key lessons learned in the his seven years in the driver's seat of the company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zipcar is trying to “<strong>redefine the way people think about transportation</strong>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giffith’s "Zip Ideas" could apply to media companies in a time when <strong>the way people think about information is rapidly changing.</strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N5MssjaKGtlo_bo1Vnkn32djZWht0x3bGqIOjAz76AqVQidLh45zufTiHaPUASaPQXBzAjWM6T9_a39LLn_t1TYgkU7yiQKj9a4Hv7BzSbfa2xaWo15vHskAYQR2mWYkNds2KRXUh2Q/s1600/photo_zipcar_mini_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-N5MssjaKGtlo_bo1Vnkn32djZWht0x3bGqIOjAz76AqVQidLh45zufTiHaPUASaPQXBzAjWM6T9_a39LLn_t1TYgkU7yiQKj9a4Hv7BzSbfa2xaWo15vHskAYQR2mWYkNds2KRXUh2Q/s200/photo_zipcar_mini_4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
Giffith has led Zipcar from a three-year-old, struggling start-up to an a 150 million dollar company, still without profits, but a market leader on the verge of an IPO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For an audience of fellow <place w:st="on"><placetype w:st="on"><strong>University</placetype> of <placename w:st="on">Chicago</strong></placename></place> grads, including your humble blogger, he boiled his lessons down to three ideas:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><ol style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Branding: Keep it Simple</strong></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">What he means is keep the idea of what your brand provides clear and easy to understand; e.g. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zipcar is a <strong>car sharing service</strong> that provides a <strong>less expensive</strong>, <strong>more convenient</strong> <strong>alternative to ownership</strong> for urbanites, businesses and university communities.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><ol start="2" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Sell the steak, not the sizzle</strong></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">A quick look at the <a href="http://www.zipcar.com/" target="_blank">Zipcar website</a> is helpful in understanding this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The online pitch includes two pairs of <strong>bare legs sticking out of a station wagon</strong> (“if your boss asks, you were on a sales call”), two twenty-something “dudes” with <strong>expressions more evocative of a roller coaster ride </strong>than a car ride (“as a matter of fact I do own the road, just not the car”), etc. so <strong>he’s hardly opposed to using sizzle to make a sale</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what he is saying is that management attention and resources should be focused on the <strong>execution of the experience</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><ol start="3" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><strong>Innovate Yourself</strong></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">“If <strong>alarm bells</strong> are going off all around you,” <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Griffith</place></city> said, “<strong>you may be the cause</strong> of the alarm.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This rings true to your humble blogger. I’ve observed that the common denominator in repeated problems I see, might be the observer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Griffith</place></city> credited his awakening on this point to his personal fight with cancer and his brother’s supportive but challenging intervention: “I know you’ll get through this Scott, but you need to think about what <strong>kind of person you want to be on the other side</strong>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Griffith advocated both personal and professional self-innovation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZf_pmK6lc_fgc1kYyTsbiZGYktUEfJf01XmTE49XOAp9zeWd6LNayFMXBF6atcc9LUrJ_w3JYhmcGmCGUssE41yZ4lVOM_O-m8Hl8KjnhK5O9zx-IDk3_X5WD0QDyvexRQAnTxmmpc4/s1600/photo_zipcar_mazda3_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZf_pmK6lc_fgc1kYyTsbiZGYktUEfJf01XmTE49XOAp9zeWd6LNayFMXBF6atcc9LUrJ_w3JYhmcGmCGUssE41yZ4lVOM_O-m8Hl8KjnhK5O9zx-IDk3_X5WD0QDyvexRQAnTxmmpc4/s200/photo_zipcar_mazda3_1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>When you are working to turn <strong>good information into good business</strong> (which is the key part of our simple statement of what <em>we </em>do) these three lessons are worth keeping in mind; <strong>retain a simple view of what you do</strong>, how you do it and for whom; <strong>keep a firm grip on basic operations</strong> that create the value you sell; and constantly <strong>improve not just your organization and its products but your own character</strong> <strong>and capacity</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Next time you see a Zipcar, take a moment to recall these “Zip Ideas.”</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-79315807139624790132010-11-24T19:29:00.013-05:002010-11-24T23:01:49.755-05:00Navigating through a New Media World<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">“<strong>Human API</strong>” <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(</b><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">application programming interface)</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">,</b> <strong>mobile</strong> platforms, new <strong>platform entrants</strong>, and of course, <strong>iPad apps</strong> were among future hot topics tagged by speakers at the <strong>SIPA UK Online Publishing and Marketing Summit</strong> last week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year’s event focused heavily on the mechanics of <strong>new product launches, marketing automation, </strong>and <strong>web analytics</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <city w:st="on">London</city> conference was put on by the <country-region w:st="on">UK</country-region> branch of the <a href="http://sipaonline.com/" target="_blank">Specialized Information Publishers Association</a> (SIPA <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">UK</place></country-region>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Your humble blogger was there, representing our <a href="http://www.newmeetia.com/" target="_blank"><strong>newMeetia</strong></a> initiative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the distance from home, I knew instantly that I was with kindred spirits, entrepreneurial media utilitarians, very much like the SIPA members in the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">U.S.</place></country-region><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only adjustment was getting used to hearing expressions like “<strong>brilliant</strong>,” “<strong>dodgy</strong>,” and “<strong>jolly</strong>.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The conference offered many practical lessons but the <strong>experience of the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">London</place></city> region was itself a powerful lesson</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In a vibrant city, s</span>urrounded by the evidence of over two thousand years of human history one gains a perspective on the breaking news and trends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The swirling change; the rise and fall of individuals, tribes, and empires; the roar of commerce and rush of technological change all seem less important than the consistencies of <strong>human nature, both brilliant and dark</strong>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The <strong><a href="http://www.nmm.ac.uk/places/royal-observatory/" target="_blank">Royal Observatory at <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Greenwich</a></place></city> provided perhaps the most powerful lesson of the trip</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the middle of the my trip, I finished the book <strong><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Longitude</i> </strong>about centuries of search for a solution to the problem of finding longitude and especially about John Harrison, a self-educated carpenter-turned-clockmaker who came up with a practical solution in the 1700’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><place w:st="on">Harrison</place> spent most of his life perfecting a timepiece accurate, durable, and cheap enough to be used to calculate longitude at sea. Marine navigation caught my interest years ago when I saw how much <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit11" target="_blank">Bernie Goldhirsh</a>, the founder of <u>Inc.</u> Magazine, relished plotting his course, under sail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between business meetings, I set out to have a look at <place w:st="on">Harrison</place>’s prototypes on display at the Observatory. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Harrison's_Chronometer_H5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" ox="true" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Harrison's_Chronometer_H5.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> I didn't get to see Harrison's last effort, H5, which is <br />
housed in the Clockmakers Museum at Guildhall in <br />
London</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
Two prototypes, dubbed H2 and H3 are <strong>remarkable contraptions</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gears of wood and metal, bobbing brass weights, and levers and springs were crafted by <place w:st="on">Harrison</place> to achieve unprecedented accuracy in marking time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These clocks still work today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <place w:st="on">Harrison</place> was not satisfied until he produced H4, barely bigger than a pocket watch, and accurate to within seconds over the length of a long sail voyage.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>H4 became the prototype</strong> for further simplified and improved clocks which could be produced in volume and which became known as <strong>Chronometers</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially once key patents expired, chronometers became essential equipment on board ships and remained so until replaced by satellite navigation systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The advanced technology spread to common watches and to the timepieces many of us wear on our wrists today.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
Encircled by the Observatory's loudly ticking display of the march of 18<sup>th</sup> of century technology, and knowing a little of the longitude story with all its hard fought battles, your humble blogger was struck with <strong>commonalities to our own age of change.</strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Today we are <strong>navigating through a new media world</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><strong>Claims of solutions</strong> to our business challenges, <strong>dismissive commentary</strong> about every experiment and <strong>countless counter-claims</strong> abound. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> At least one thing is clear:</span> the future of media and communications involves new digital platforms which are better, cheaper and more portable. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Perhaps soon we <strong>simply will wear a media device</strong>, instead of a watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the people who figure out successful new <strong><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit3" target="_blank">information business models</a> integrated with these platforms</strong> will probably be<strong> practical entrepreneurs, learning by doing</strong>, like the members of SIPA and like the determined clockmaker, John Harrison.</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-3834574843482985902010-11-10T13:28:00.003-05:002010-11-10T16:26:58.117-05:00Seven Quick Ideas on Event CurationMost people associate <strong>“curation” with the art of museum management</strong>. Some might mistake it for a method of meat preservation. But <strong>curation is now is the term de jour</strong> for the process of <strong>selecting organizing and presenting content</strong> in media and, more broadly, merchandise and even food. Lately it has been used to ennoble the process of making any set of choices that create an experience. <br />
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<strong>The term “curation” originally appealed to media mavens</strong> as a way to impart museum dignity to the process of aggregating online content. In the fashion trades, where your humble blogger suspects the modern usage originated, “curate” is used interchangeably with <strong>“edit”</strong> as a fancy way to say <strong>“select carefully”</strong> (see a <a href="http://nyti.ms/ch6giP">humorous article</a> about this by Alex Williams last year the NYT).<br />
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<strong>“Event curation” is worth thinking about</strong> even though it might sound a bit pretentious for show biz. After all, creating good events is a lot tougher than lining up a few links or arranging the soft goods “just so.” Whether your event content is entertainment, participation, or information, or some combination of the three, here are <strong>seven quick thoughts about event curation</strong>:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">1. <strong><u>Content ain’t king</u></strong>. It’s a noble and necessary part of a winning event. However, the score of the game is rarely kept in content measures. Know how the score is kept and what your content is expected to accomplish. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">2. <strong><u>Start early</u></strong>. Good content takes time to develop and the details cascade into countless other aspects of event execution, especially marketing. You are working to a fixed date. Rushing greatly increases risk.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">3. <strong><u>Don’t proceed linearly</u></strong>. Not every avenue of content exploration will pan out. For instance, in an informational event, invite more than one speaker per slot simultaneously so you have options as the program develops.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">4. <strong><u>Stay flexible</u></strong>. Take full advantage of the live, real-time nature of events. Build quick reaction into your curation process. Make room for hot developments around your content as well as for the usual problems.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">5. <strong><u>Know and believe in your own content</u></strong>. Don’t be afraid to invest in learning. “Content farms” and “conference mills” operate on the theory that content is a low value commodity that is not worth deep consideration or appreciation – it shows in their products.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">6. <strong><u>Be a media utilitarian</u></strong>. Incorporate whatever it takes to <strong>move minds (and hearts) effectively</strong> and make sure every media you use - print, live action, visual display, online, mobile, etc. - works together and really contributes. Don’t waste effort on conventional or wiz-bang stuff that isn’t clearly useful.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">7. <strong><u>Focus on the experience</u></strong>. A great concert is tough to enjoy if the seats are uncomfortable or the room is too hot. You may not have control over all elements of an event experience but use your influence to integrate the content into the full experience. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<strong>Purposefully creating a full experience is the essence of event curation</strong>. Feel free to comment with your ideas and questions.Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-26802767504624888982010-10-27T17:08:00.002-04:002010-10-27T23:25:29.960-04:00The Vision Thing - It's Not About Selling Content like Hamburgers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmsZxhUHfW3zCjQPjR-u3kbAn3yQgtg5OCiOs1jzF2dnLvyfOUuutjTY4AuunXaNTg6hRjhUPmmfpD-LQQ6XHuiTkhMw4OoBqUJONeiHgQB3ddv2gEtE6nC1idokCqNgbQTBRrIXFYKs/s1600/computerstore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmsZxhUHfW3zCjQPjR-u3kbAn3yQgtg5OCiOs1jzF2dnLvyfOUuutjTY4AuunXaNTg6hRjhUPmmfpD-LQQ6XHuiTkhMw4OoBqUJONeiHgQB3ddv2gEtE6nC1idokCqNgbQTBRrIXFYKs/s320/computerstore.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Franchised computer stores spread rapidly in the late '70's</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>"<strong>The Dawn of a New Age, Second Encounter</strong>” was the promoted theme of the Second Annual Personal Computer Show held in Chicago, around this time, thirty-two years ago. Your humble blogger was reminded of that show as I wrote about the <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit25"><strong>Inbound Marketing Summit</strong></a> recently. The online/smart phone media business keeps reminding me of the PC business in its early days. But I was surprised to find that my memory was WRONG in key respects. And I realized I owed a personal debt.<br />
<br />
“<strong>Selling Computers like Hamburgers</strong>” was the editor’s title for the my account of that 1978 show. I was writing for a lowly rag but my writing caught the attention a recruiter and led to my first corporate job. The article’s title alluded to the franchise business model of Byte Industries, a young computer store dealer coop which had just been purchased and re-launched as a franchiser by Logical Machines Corporation. These names, like most of what I reported on then, are now in the footnotes of computer history but I still found lessons in the yellowed old piece, fished out of my memorabilia box.<br />
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<strong>The PC business was clearly red hot</strong> back in 1978 but very <strong>few knew just how to make money at it</strong>. <i>I remembered that</i>. The coming use of the personal computer as a <strong>business tool</strong> was the heart of my story. Hobbyists made up the bulk of the market at that time. I reported that swarms of small business owners were at the show, searching for ways to take advantage of the new technology, and were regarded by most vendors as the source of future growth in the market. <br />
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Few then seemed to appreciate <strong>how quickly the business use of computers was going to grow</strong>. <i>I remembered that</i>. Less than a year after incorporating, Apple Computer (now simply Apple) had the biggest and best display of the show. I interviewed Apple’s Director of Sales, Gene Carter, a computer industry veteran who went on to become a VP before leaving Apple in ’84 to join the team that developed Microsoft Works at Productivity Software. I <em>remembered</em> that contrary to others at the show Carter felt that there was little practical use for a PC. The PC, he felt, was a tool for learning “<b>computer literacy</b>,” That phrase became etched in my mind.<br />
<br />
What I’d <em>forgotten</em> was the <strong>powerful vision behind the phrase “computer literacy.”</strong> Looking back, his vision far outweighs Carter’s <strong>timing error about business utility</strong>. “We are selling now to the leading edge of what will be a vast market for personal computers” Carter insisted. “These people are the innovators in their groups. What they are seeking is <strong>computer literacy</strong>. They will serve as advocates for the application of this technology.”<br />
<br />
Something <strong>far more awesome than a business trend</strong> was evident. A <strong>new age</strong> was truly dawning. I’d <em>forgotten </em>the <strong>sense of awe I felt at that show</strong>. I’d <em>forgotten</em> about the significance of seeing ten year olds tickling terminal keys with ease or witnessing a boy remove the cover of a computer to explain to his father how it worked.<br />
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Today, there is too much talk about <strong>selling content like hamburgers, mass produced for online mass consumption</strong>. The concept is as appealing many of us as a Big Mac - satisfying in some ways, profitable perhaps, but <strong>not what we live for</strong>. However, providing people with <strong>vital information and tools to learn</strong> more is <strong>truly awesome</strong>. <br />
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A deep sense of <strong>wonder</strong> and the <strong>shared dream of a new mass literacy</strong> <strong>drive the dedication</strong> of many of us in the media business today. It is a <strong>great time to be in this business</strong>! And thanks, Gene Carter, for <strong>expressing your vision</strong> and for sitting through a cub-reporter interview, in Chicago, thirty-two years ago!Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-81420350904614787672010-10-19T14:04:00.005-04:002010-10-19T14:21:15.014-04:00The Bad and the Ugly at the Inbound Marketing Summit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Last week your humble blogger shared some of the <b><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit24" target="_blank">smartest things we heard</a> </b>and some of the fun we enjoyed at the Inbound Marketing Summit which we sponsored under our <a href="http://www.newmeetia.com/" target="_blank">NewMeetia</a> initiative. But I promised the <strong>Bad and the Ugly</strong> along with the Good.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUO6fHy_1IH1IdLl_ByGW0KVn1AnF931fPC2gBMkWaNktiQbL7mhSlcnl-VBleOGCiTAYHexbNYlR_UbfbU-mYpoAozrjAnLc1fNRqIUQK44_BTv8OP8j4a3bA5N9GQRENCd-BeBt4DUI/s1600/IMG00216-20101006-1443+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUO6fHy_1IH1IdLl_ByGW0KVn1AnF931fPC2gBMkWaNktiQbL7mhSlcnl-VBleOGCiTAYHexbNYlR_UbfbU-mYpoAozrjAnLc1fNRqIUQK44_BTv8OP8j4a3bA5N9GQRENCd-BeBt4DUI/s320/IMG00216-20101006-1443+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">It was weird to see so many attendees nose-down to their PC<br />
screens. Like students in college lecture halls, many seemed <br />
to be, as we charitably call it, "multi-tasking."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The dumbest thing I heard at the conference was “<strong>Scale and media buying power are no longer a decisive advantage</strong>.” The speaker was David Meerman Scott, Marketing Strategist, Freshspot Marketing, who, to his credit, was also the source of some smart commentary about "<a href="http://bit.ly/Real-time" target="_blank">Real-Time Marketing</a>" and some good fun, including the donning of a tie-dye t-shirt (under his sport coat) to flog a book he and Brian Halligan, CEO of <a href="http://bit.ly/hublink" target="_blank">Hubspot </a>have put together about “<a href="http://bit.ly/Deadhead" target="_blank">Marketing Lessons of the Grateful Dead</a>.” But the notion that new media negates scale is wishful thinking.<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit4" target="_blank">Size matters in media</a></strong>. The technology has changed but not the fundamental <strong><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit6" target="_blank">political economics of information</a></strong>. Scott’s illustration of how a David can slay Goliath with new media was the oft-repeated story of “United Breaks Guitars,” a video that went viral. What the story actually proves is that the <strong><a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit22" target="_blank">secret to going viral</a></strong> is to get picked up by big media. <strong>Scale can fail</strong> but, everything else being equal, <strong>big is still a better bet</strong>. Venture firms have rushed money into selected low/no- revenue new media companies like Facebook and Twitter to gain the decisive advantages of scale. They fully expect a future payoff.<br />
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The second dumbest thing we heard is that <strong>one can “curate content” with an investment of only 20 minutes a day</strong>. The speaker was Pawan Deshpande, CEO of HiveFire. I may be misquoting because what he undoubtedly meant was 20 minutes a day with <a href="http://bit.ly/Contentcure" target="_blank">Curata</a>, a HiveFire service designed to help organizations with content aggregation, production and distribution for marketing purposes (starting at around $1,500 a month). <br />
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<strong>No one can “curate” anything well without serious contemplation</strong>. While the Curata service is currently being used to produce surprisingly good looking online content, (<a href="http://bit.ly/GreenData" target="_blank">sample here</a>; testimonials on their home page) the implication that a reputation for content can be earned and sustained with a minimal time investment assumes that the “curator” doesn’t need to learn continuously but only needs to tweak search criteria once in a while. Its like <strong>bad journalism, automated</strong>. And Deshpande’s concept of “curation” is based on the dubious assumption that people will keep originating and posting worthy content without some system of compensation from content marketers. <strong>Real thought leadership requires <em>original </em>thought and research</strong>. “Curation” may be the single subject of a future post.<br />
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The <strong>ugly part</strong> of the conference came from speakers who worked too hard to project an <strong>anti-establishment, spontaneous and outrageous persona</strong>. One’s material has to be good to make the pose work, especially in a business context. Scott Stratten, president of <a href="http://bit.ly/Unmarketing" target="_blank">UnMarketing</a>, carried it off most successfully with his harsh critique of conventional marketing. He garnered a lot of laughs and twitter traffic with comments such as “we suck at now, why worry about next?” At times however, some speakers seemed only course and tasteless. One speaker reported her mental reaction to a request for an honest appraisal of her product “I’m on salary, bitches!” Some thoughts are best left unsaid. Another big name disappointed everyone sitting around me in one session with unprepared prattle and puerile humor from the podium.<br />
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The <a href="http://bit.ly/bloghit24" target="_blank"><strong>good news</strong></a> is that online social and content marketing are rapidly becoming main-stream. The flip side of becoming main-stream is a <strong>new level of accountability</strong> for clear thinking, respectful conduct and real results. So another piece of good news is that there is <strong>still room for improvement</strong>.Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7776422520651673568.post-44369815808437921782010-10-14T14:00:00.004-04:002011-02-03T14:32:35.963-05:00The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the Inbound Marketing SummitWe wanted to share the <strong>smartest </strong>and the <strong>dumbest</strong> things we heard at the <strong>Inbound Marketing Summit</strong> last week – fortunately there was stiff competition for the former. We were one of the sponsors of the event under our <a href="http://www.newmeetia.com/" target=" _blank">newMeetia</a> initiative and we found <strong>plenty of value for marketers</strong> at the two day event along with a little <strong>malarkey</strong> and lots of stuff that was just plain <strong>fun</strong>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBpWH-e_XAbFQtC_XujitxlGdB8sOWvqy5ZrAYAJwzu1NecJtdBLUyVHEWD_e9cDvIj6YVVV5sOSZFVvpL6CwzI6td9QqAisrTOCobOZScZG1nban09QNxkJ3yiR3PCJrknd_zgtOwko/s1600/steve+garfield2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBpWH-e_XAbFQtC_XujitxlGdB8sOWvqy5ZrAYAJwzu1NecJtdBLUyVHEWD_e9cDvIj6YVVV5sOSZFVvpL6CwzI6td9QqAisrTOCobOZScZG1nban09QNxkJ3yiR3PCJrknd_zgtOwko/s320/steve+garfield2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><strong>Good Fun: Steve Garfield Helps Us Set a Simultaneous <br />
Video World Record at the Inbound Marketing Summit </strong> <br />
(see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqrRjp_CJio">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqrRjp_CJio</a>)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Clearly, <strong>online social and content marketing is now main stream</strong>. While some speakers valiantly jousted against straw-man “old marketing” enemies the best presentations were about <strong>integrating new online marketing with the old</strong>, <strong>“inbound”(online-inquiry) with “outbound” and online media with offline</strong>. And the rants against self-discipline were more than offset by practical advice about how to measure and manage online marketing.<br />
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<strong>Mobile and online marketing fit naturally with marketing in other media</strong> according to Tim Hayden, Chief Strategy Officer and Partner, <a href="http://bit.ly/BlueClover" target=" _blank">Blue Clover Studios</a>. We should keep in mind that “<strong>ninety percent of Word of Mouth takes place offline</strong>,” he said, citing <a href="http://bit.ly/KellerFay" target=" _blank">Keller Fay research</a> based on continuous monitoring of the brand conversations of 36,000 survey participants. Experiences like live social <strong>events, tradeshows, sampling, stunts, tours, retail, and guerilla actions are highly influential</strong> according to Hayden. He also mentioned <strong>outdoor</strong> at least twice - your humble blogger noticed compelling outdoor while creeping through Boston on the way to the event (including a very distracting billboard flashing that IT IS NOW ILLEGAL TO TEXT WHILE DRIVING IN MASSACHUSETTS).<br />
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“<strong>We’ve been seduced by the illusion of accountability</strong>” in online media asserted Tom Webster, Vice President, Strategy of <a href="http://bit.ly/EdisonResearch" target=" _blank">Edison Research</a>. “Any given metric is meaningless until you prove it isn't” he insisted. “If you're only measuring the effect of your tweets on twitter, then you're measuring if you're good at twitter.” It is time, he stated to “stop measuring tweets and start measuring people” before, during, and after online media actions. Webster concluded that the hard work of <strong>relating online marketing to marketplace results</strong> is far from finished.<br />
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<strong>Effective B-to-B content marketing should non-promotional in tone, relevant, solution-oriented, well written, supportive of your business objectives, and provide factual proof</strong> according to Maria Pergolino, Director of Marketing at <a href="http://bit.ly/Marketo" target=" _blank">Marketo</a>. She defined content marketing as the “<strong>creation and sharing of content for the purpose of promoting a product or service</strong>.” Proof is key to credibility in such content, she explained, because <strong>content consumers are justifiably skeptical</strong>. Pergolino provided a live example of how to manage, reuse and adapt content to new opportunities by explaining how she put her presentation together and by distributing a two-sided laminated <a href="http://bit.ly/b2bcheatsheet">Marketing Cheat Sheet</a> that summarized her key points. Two attendees told your humble blogger that her presentation was "the best of the show."<br />
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<strong>Social marketing ROI is easily calculated</strong> using formulas provided by Paul Gillin, Principal of <a href="http://bit.ly/Gillin" target=" _blank">Paul Gillin Communications</a>. He closed the event with a surprisingly well-attended and <a href="http://slidesha.re/GillinROI" target=" _blank">straight-forward tutorial</a> on the topic. His simple math was based on <strong>lifetime value of a customer</strong> and <strong>conversion rates</strong> which have long been essential metrics of subscription and catalogue marketing. Gillin's underlying assumption is that social media leads are similar to leads from other sources which has to be proven in any given instance. But other presenters provided evidence that social media-sourced leads are in many cases <em>more</em> likely to convert and remain loyal so his assumption may understate the ROI.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Stay tuned for the <strong>bad and the ugly</strong>. As always your comments are appreciated.</div>Roger Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15960983361275148643noreply@blogger.com4