Logic+Emotion

It's Not The Size of SXSW, It's How You Use It

Before SXSW Interactive had even gotten a chance to take its first breath, media outlets like Mashable were already asking if it had jumped the Shark? The sentiment is understandable. After all these years, SXSW is still kind of enigma. Some call it a conference and others say its more of a festival. Some say this year's SXSW felt "somber" while others asserted that fresh break through technology such as MeerKat, reasserted its relevance as a place where new startups can get their footing and enchant early adopters in the process. Other's still question its value for marketers and agencies (tell that to senior ad execs like Tony Weisman and Bob Greenberg who mingled amongst the geeks).

The truth is, SXSW is what you make of it. If you want to go there and party all day and all night, you can do that. If you want to spend your time going from session to session to find golden nuggets of insights, you can do that too. If you want to network and explore business opportunities—you can also do that. It's not the size of SXSW that matters, it's how you make it work for you. In that vein, here are some of the ways I made SXSW work for me this year. 

Finding Opportunities To Collaborate
SXSW has no shortage of tech companies, platforms or niche players that can make for interesting collaborators. This year I had great meetings with Hootsuite and Spredfast and MeerKat to plant seeds in some cases and in others explore specific opportunities. The face time you can get at SXSW is high quality and the casual setting makes relationship building easy. 

Hosting An Intimate Business Function
Because SXSW can be so overwhelming—it's a great opportunity to create an intimate business environment where professionals can share thoughts and ideas in a salon like setting. This year, we teamed up with Jeremiah Owyang and Crowd Companies and hosted a combination of his council members and some of our clients for an insightful panel featuring executives from Whole Foods, Hallmark and Verizon. Business can be done at SXSW—you just have to plan for it. 

Connecting With Colleagues, Clients & Friends
I'm cognizant that we have all three groups present at SXSW and I make it a point to distribute my time wisely during my few days. Several of our Edelman clients had activations this year and it was great to see how they were doing in real time, while building new client relationships in some cases and reinforcing existing ones. Likewise, many of our colleagues go, and it's a great way to bond with them outside of a formal session. And lastly, there are industry friends I get to see their once a year—a great way to catch up and compare notes. 

Attending Panels
For me personally, it's difficult to squeeze in panels with everything else but I usually manage to get a couple in. This year's highlight for me was Google's offsite "Fire Starters" panel which featured several speakers from the UX, creative and planning sides of the house. I finally got to see Russell Davies speak which was a treat, and in a setting where "new ideas" are prized, his take on "no new ideas" was a good reminder that brands need to work harder at getting the basics right. 

Blowing Off Some Steam
I'm not going to lie—there are some great parties and activities at SXSW. This year I found myself on a dance floor listening to NAZ and in a stadium watching the Flaming Lips do what they do. I also went Spinning with a friend (first time I've ever done that). But the reality is that SXSW is not the only show in town when it comes to parties and entertainment—it goes with the territory and can be fun if you don't overdo it. 

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SXSW Interactive Is Big Business And That's A Good Thing

It's been exactly a week since I returned from SXSW. I would have written something sooner, but this delayed post is a great representation of where things stand in life for me these days. Writing for "personal" purpose takes a second seat to direct business building and running which is ironic because that was kind of the vibe at SXSW Interactive and that's not a bad thing. 

Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of parties at SXSW and a lot of late nights and some blowing off steam. As always, the panels are hit and miss, but even the misses can still be good for business. I attended a session that was essentially an ad for the mobile start-up whose CEO was giving a talk. However, his start-up was solid in premise and I'd heard about it before. And it's on my radar and now I'll be looking for strategic partnership opportunities around it. 

It's been my sixth year going to SXSW. Here's how I spent my time:

Client Meetings & Events
Regardless of your business (platform, brand or agency side) SXSW is a great way to connect and engage with clients. In addition to dinners and One-on-ones, this year I co-hosted an intimate salon with Jeremiah Owyang in Edelman's Austin office where brands such as Samsung, PayPal, Kellogg's and others traded case studies and engaged in meaningful dialogue around the work they were doing and the challenges/opportunities they were engaging with. And we weren't the only ones hosting private client events—a quick chat with an Adweek reporter verified that it was kind of a "thing" this year. 

One On Ones
In order to make SXSW productive in any sense, you shouldn't go there without scheduling one-on-ones in advance. I had some great conversations with industry peers, some who were running really cool activations at SXSW, to emerging start-ups and the occasional conversation that turned into a more in depth meeting. SXSW is noisy, so finding some quiet places to talk shop is a great use of time. 

Brand Activations
There's a lot of brand activity going on at SXSW and it's impossible to catch it all but worth seeing what the brands are doing. Oreo's 3-D printed cookies were hard to miss and Mastercard's partnership with the Mashable house was an interesting tactic compared to American Express who paid for a more traditional sponsorship. Meanwhile PayPal (client) hosted web celebrities and celebrities alike at their blogger lounge. 

Parties
Yes, these still happen too. But like I said, this is my sixth year at SXSW—so parties are now part fun and a whole lot of networking, meeting and greeting and re-connecting with industry friends and colleagues. Parties are great for informal recruiting and in more simple terms—putting faces to names. 

For what it's worth—this year SXSW seemed a little smaller (confirmed)—but I noticed that the trend of more senior people attending is still on the rise. During one lunch with an editor of a large publication, I looked over and saw a table full of top executives from a leading digital agency—right up to the CEO. And this wasn't an isolated case. SXSW = big business now, so if you haven't yet gone you might want to adjust your expectations and book on time because it's not getting any easier to attend. 

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Four Ways I Participated @ SXSW

Photo by Geoff Livingston

The interactive portion of SXSW is over—and by all accounts this year was the biggest (wettest) and probably the most "mature" of the event as more senior individuals from companies across the globe make their Mecca to Austin to network and learn about the convergence of technology and business. Here's a quick roundup of a few things I participated in and what I thought about them:

The Social Business Summit Soars

One of the highlights for me was the Social Business Summit hosted by The Dachis Group which kicked off SXSW. The event is intimate and invite only and I thought it was one of the better "signal to noise" ratio events connected to SXSW. IBM's Sandy Carter did a really nice job setting up the day with her social business construct and the folks at Dachis Group did an exceptional job orchestrating the speakers ranging from big strategic thoughts, to the nitty gritty practice as demonstrated by folks from Discover Card and US Cellular to wrapping up with views on "what's next" highlighting trends such as social shopping. The event caught the attention of Forbes Magazine which did a write up titled "What Do the Extinction of Dinosaurs and Social Business Have in Common?"

SXSW Winners & Losers: Panels vs. Big Data

Legend goes that SXSW panels are hit and miss—and sometimes they even present opportunities to catch up on much needed sleep! I didn't attend many panels this year due to a fairly packed schedule of business meetings, client lunches and dinners and of course our own events, but I did see the interview of Dennis Crowley billed as "Making The Real World Easier To Use". The session was decent overall, nothing groundbreaking—however one thing Dennis talked about that I thought made immediate sense was how location based services like Foursquare can become more utilitarian as they get smarter. For example, as Forsquare remembers places you visit, it could make recommendations on similar places in different locations and serve them up to you. "Big Data", was a re-occurring theme in not only this panel, but perhaps the entire conference. I'd even say "Big Data" was this year's Twitter for SXSW.

Allhat Rides Again 

This year marked our fourth "Allhat" event at SXSW—a tradition which started as a simple "tweet-up" several years ago. By all accounts it was the most well attended event we've hosted and my co-host Richard Binhammer and I were relieved that the weather cooperated. The Sun literally came out minutes after we opened the gate at Guero's. One of the coolest things about the events are the photos people take. You can view some great ones here, here, and here.

Measuring Media (Not Social ROI)
I also participated on a panel titled "Media Measurement: Science, Art or a Load of Crap" where we discussed the intricacies of what to measure when it comes to digital and social data, how to measure it and what it means. Bottom line, this is an area in infancy especially when it comes to the social side, but for whatever reason—our panel didn't cause the same stir as the panel on Social ROI before us. Below are some highlights from our measurement panel:

As usual, SXSW was a flurry of activity and for some an exercise in being both seen and heard. This year, you could see huge efforts from big brands like AMEX with huge activations including celebrities. Even agencies like R/GA got in the mix by driving a big white bus around with their logo prominently placed. At Edelman we sent over fifty staffers and hosted our second "Nightcap" event. To me, SXSW has evolved from a scrappy tech festival where geeks and start-ups gathered, to a high powered networking event which blends social and business seamlessly. It's increasingly important to be at this interesection.

Visual Notes From The Social Business Summit @ SXSW

Rather than write down some notes I thought I'd share a couple of pages from my notebook after the AM session from the Social Business Summit at SXSW. No more updates for a whie as my schedule is packed with business meetings, dinners, events and in person networking. Great summit though.

Weaving The Social Layer Across Your Organization

Next week I am joining thousands of innovators, digital pioneers and social strategists for the interactive portion of SXSW. A highlight of the trip will be joining my former colleagues from social business consultancy Dachis Group who are organizing their third installment of the Social Business Summit—a global series of events which kicks off in Austin. I'll be speaking along side folks like Clarah Shih author of the Facebook Era and who now serves on *Starbuck's board dedicating to navigating social. Other notable speakers include Sandy Carter who has taken the lead on IBM's push for social business integration, Bonin Bough who recently departed *PepsiCo to lead social efforts at Kraft and of course Jeremiah Owyang who has helped define this space.

We Are Here: The Novelty Is Over
I'm starting my premise with the fact that many organizations (especially those who have led in social initiatives) are now past the "experimentation" phase of social disruption. Some are even beginning to take a step back to evaluate what they've done in the past—what worked and didn't and how things need to more forward at scale. For many organizations who have gotten past the unrealistic expectations first experienced when social got traction in their organization, they now understand that the changes needed to take place will be long term, gradual and not exactly glamorous. That said, we have a long way to go, and my take is that social business is really only getting started.

From Silos To Layer: Weaving Social Into Your Organization's DNA
Despite the progress that many organizations, businesses and brands have made over the past few years—the reality is that for many, social integration isn't integrated. It's happening, but typically within silos and some are moving faster than others. Take for example the most recent changes announced by Facebook last week which affect business pages. Some companies responded to the changes immediately while others are still grappling with what they need to do and how they need to do it. Even in the cases where an organization has high proficiency using social in one silo (like marketing and communications) they are grappling with how to apply it to others. There are few examples emerging however which illustrate some convergence—Dominos Pizza for example has recently integrated product development with social marketing in their "Think Oven" initiative which invites customers to submit ideas or predefined participate in projects all via a Facebook app which is built into their business page. What Dominos is doing may be the tip of the iceberg, but getting your customers to work with you for mutual gain is a core value of what social business is supposed to be about.

Weaving The Social Layer Will Take Time
Still, the Dominos example isn't a success story as much as it is a mere signpost on the very long and winding road that is social business. Even with the ability to mine ideas from enthusiastic customers via social networks which are part of their lives, there are still operational challenges which include coordinating activities between the marketing department, agency partners, product development, and even legal. Right now, most organizations are making progress in pockets vs. the whole and it's going to take significant time for social to be woven into the fabric, culture and operations of any company. And, it's likely to not happen to all, but will definitely happen to some. The next ten years will be critical for a business in how it handles these disruptions and opportunities. We've now entered the threshold where the "weaving" of social into the fabric of an organization will take vision, time, resource, money, dedication and most importantly—patience.

*Starbucks and PepsiCo are Edelman clients

Ten (Awesome) Things To Do At SXSW

Something our team cooked up for SXSW. I'll be arriving early to speak at the Social Business Summit, hosted by Dachis Group. Also, some of the events I'll be attending are on Pinterest here and here. If you're going, see you there!

 

Social Business In Action: Field Notes

I just finished up participating in one of our events for Social Media Week, a global conference taking place in several major cities around the world. Our panel moderated by colleague Robin Hamman included Euen Semple who previously ran social efforts at the BBC and Vincent Boon from Giff Gaff, while it's still fresh on my mind, I wanted to jot down a few key thoughts:

Social Business Is About Applying Purpose & Intent At Scale
The above diagram is something I started off with and an attempt to describe social business in one visual. At it's core, it's about connecting stakeholders who are critical to the success of your business. And as I've stressed before—it's about executing initiatives leveraging the "3 P's"—People, Process & Platforms. I stressed starting with people.

Social From The Inside Out
Euen said the following:
"There's no point aspiring to be 2.0 outside the firewall when you are still operating at 1.0"
While I would not go as far as to say there's no point, (an organization can learn from external initiatives) I concede that Euen's point is well taken as so many organizations don't internalize social behaviors externally. If you can't walk the walk, how can you talk the talk?

Members Only
Vincent stressed that Giff Gaff customers are viewed as "members" and I simply loved this perspective. It is exactly in line with how "social" has altered our behaviors. Marketing departments always viewed their target as "consumers" but thinking of them as members and co-creators is a really nice way to acknowledge how empowered they are and how this can benefit themselves as well as the business.

Shiny Objects Be Damned
As I write this, I'm looking at a leaderboard created for Social Media Week London which uses Kred to rank "movers & shakers" AKA individuals creating noise this week at the events. It's clever but also a distraction. I referenced some of the efforts Verizon takes to include feedback into their services via forums—as well as levering experts who actively produce content and engage. Often times a social business is one that doesn't attract the most attention, but generates results. Beware the bright and shiny objects that capture attention but don't deliver long term value.

 

Below is a short video of the panel before it started just to give you an idea of what we covered.

People, Places & Events

A few significant events happening over the next few months—here's where I'll be:

Chicago: February 6th, Social Media Club, An Interview With Richard Edelman
Our I'll be interviewing Richard Edelman our CEO in our new office space as we host the Chicago Social Media Club. We will be discussing this Year's Trust Barometer findings. If you can't make it to Chicago, we will be live streaming video the interview at 5:00 CST.

London & New York: February 13-16, Social Media Week
Our London office is hosting a panel titled "Social Business In Action". A topic I'm very passionate about—then off to New York for an invite only wrap party in Edelman's NY Penthouse space. If you'd like to find out more about that event, please contact Libby.

Austin: March 8-12, SXSW
Will be participating in a panel at SXSW, titled "Media, Measurement: Science, Art or a Load of Crap" organized by Trulia's Ken Shuman. In addition, Dell's Richard Binhammer and I are returning to co-host the fourth installment of "Allhat" (more tickets to get released next week). And, Edelman Digital returns with our late evening, Nightcap event to kick things off. 

If you'll be at any of these events, please say hello!

People, Places & Events

Summer is over and Fall is officially into gear (boy is it ever). I actually spent a good part of the summer focusing on a local client and welcomed a little less travel. But now that things are back in swing, well it's time to shake things up a little. Here are a few places I'll be speaking at over the next few months.

New York: Mashable Social Good Summit
Thanks to the folks in our digital health practice, I get to share the the same stage with folks like Lance Armstrong, Geena Davis and Ted Turner. I'll only be up there briefly, but will be sharing some initial finding's from Edelman's upcoming Digital Health Barometer.

DC, Chicago: Lithium Likes To Love World Tour
I'll be joining folks like former Dachis Group colleague Peter Kim along with existing colleagues Michael Brito and Marshall Manson in both the DC and Chicago stops of the "Likes To Love" world tour from Lithium. Will be getting into social business trends setting up the stage for a few in depth case studies from folks like Verizon's Becky Carroll and RIM's (client) Michelle Kostya.

Minneapolis: MIMA Summit
In addition to speakers like Chris Anderson and Avinaush Kaushik, Edelman Digital's own Chuck Hemann will be joining some of the great minds in technology and business at the MIMA Summit. I'll be joining forces with Mullen's Edward Boches where we plan on mixing things up with an "un-panel" or group therapy for would be innovators. We promise it will be fun.

New York: Pivot
Pivot, guided by Brian Solis and featuring some of the brightest minds in the business including Ford's Scott Monty, Charlene Li, and Nestle's Pete Blackshaw should not dissapoint. I'll be discussing the new influencers and why it matters in media and business.

ScottsDale: Constellation's Connected Enterprise
Thrown by Constellation's notable luminaries such as Ray Wang, and featuring compelling speakers such as John Hagel (Power of Pull) and Doc Searls (Cluetrain Manifesto), I'll be discussing the role of "design" in building a social business.

Los Angeles: Blogworld
The industry's best kept secret is Blogworld. It has more substance than SXSW and networking which is smaller, perhaps more focused but just as good. I'll be discussing what Social Business Planning is and how it can be put into action. Look forward to speaking along side a roster that includes friends Ann Handley, CC Chapman, Jason Falls and Liz Strauss just to name a few.

Phew. I need a vacation already. Hope to see you at any of these events and as usual, be sure to say hello.

A Few of My Favorite Things: SXSW Edition

The interactive portion of the infamous SXSW event in Austin is finished and I'm still processing everything that went down. This year, there was no clear emerging platform winner, though the group texting service GroupMe did get a fair amount of buzz. I used the service with a small group of friends frequently while down there and it did come in handy at times. Tech Crunch reported that the big winners were advertising itself, and the iPad 2. But winners and losers aside, I had a productive and action packed time down in Austin these past few days. Here are a few of my favorite highlights:

Favorite Event: Allhat

Yes, I'm going to be biased on many of these—however this year's Allhat was our biggest and best so far. It was the first year that we had a SXSW exclusive sponsor (Chevrolet) which allowed us to do things like have drink tickets in addition to the live music and breakfast tacos and we were still able to retain the chill vibe of the event. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Favorite Act of Compassion: #SXSWCares

I was informed of the SXSWCares initiative in the blogger lounge at the conference center. The initiative was set up in real time to help raise funds for the disaster in Japan. The effort was partially powered by the CauseVox platform (I interviewed the founder) but even more significantly it was fueled by volunteers such as Leigh Durst who passed on many of the parties in order to get this initiative launched and maintained.

Favorite Panel: Lessons Learned From The Arab Spring Revolutions

I caught a handful of panels and found the most interesting and refreshing to be the one on the Arab revolutions moderated by Edelman colleague Russel Dubner. For starters, it included an interesting and well rounded linup featuring Azmat Khan; Habib Haddad, Founder of YallaStartup; Katherine Maher, a technology and international development specialist from the National Democratic Institute; Susannah Vila, Director of Content and Outreach for Movements.org (client); and Mashable’s Community Manager Vadim Lavrusik. The discussion was lively and put forth some interesting insights such as the role emotion played in the distribution of content across the social Web. The panelists also underscored the importance of all digital forms of communication, not just social—such as the use of Google maps and SMS.

Favorite Non SXSW Activity: Riding A Harley


This year I decided to rent a Harley-Davidson Road King for a few days as a way of getting around and also getting away from the crowds. I managed to get out of the downtown Austin area with Geoff Livingston who also rented a bike and we rode through the hill country stopping at a local establishment with over one hundred bikes parked outside. We thought we were dead meat after walking into the place with a bunch of REAL hard core bikers, but they ended up being very nice.

Favorite Conversation: The Future of PR

I teamed up with eBay's Richard Brewer-Hay (Edelman client), to host an interesting conversation on the future of Public Relations. The conversations were informative and vast as we covered ground from traditional versions of PR where agents work behind the scenes to a more integrated model of strategic communications where anyone can act as a spokesperson. The room was packed and we debated the merits between campaigns vs. connections and the realization that with social media we are all just one tweet away from getting fired at worst—and at best, the industry is in a position to lead based on its understanding of relationships.

Favorite BBQ Joint: Iron Works


Sure you can go to fancier places such as Lamberts, but Iron Works is tasty and gives you just the right mix of the basics. Smoked meats, a slice of bread and an ice cold Shiner.


Favorite Band: JT Coldfire

I've seen these guys play in Austin once before and to say they rock would be an understatement. If you like the blues, Stevie Ray, and dudes that play the guitar with their teeth, then you will like JT Coldfire.

Favorite Celebrity Run-In: Danny DeVito


Mr. DeVito was staying at the Four Seasons too and we shared an elevator with him. We then struck up a conversation and chatted a bit about his new YouTube project, then he offered to take pictures. Nice guy.
 
So, those were a few of my favorite things from SXSW. Did you go? What where yours?

The Sociology Behind SXSW Panel Picking

First let me say that the SXSW Panel Picker process and concept is an ingenious marketing idea that incorporates social hooks, buzz, content distribution and most importantly taps into a basic human driving force—competition. In the first week of the SXSW Panel Picker, if you observe closely you'll notice several different promotion techniques. Each teaches us something about how we market ourselves in a digital, social and flattened ecosystem.

Rising Social Tides Lift All Boats
Several peers have taken an approach where they've curated panels from others they either respect or know have formidible networks and are proactively promoting these lists without asking for anything in return. Two great examples of this are from Sarah Evans and her 15 panels to thumbs up list as well as Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker who created a Friends of SobCon panel list. Both approaches execute against the "sharing" principle of social media in which you freely share what you have (in this case an sudience—and it comes back to benefit you.)

The Personal Touch
I've recieved several e-mails and or DMs (direct messages on Twitter) that have given me a heads up on a topic based on my interests. In some cases the individual put forward a reciprocal offer (support me and I'll support you). In other cases the approach was a soft promotion of their panel wrapped around a personalized message.

Broadcast
Even with social networks firmly in place, we as human beings demonstrate that we like shortcuts. E-mail lists, Facebook status updates (and in some cases Facebook ads), Tweets, Linked In, etc. are all being used a megaphones to "announce" panels. Some broadcast efforts can be very niche (and less of a shortcut). For example, Len Kendall sent e-mails to his distribution list of 365 contributors (though he only did so 40 at a time due to Gmail constraints). While I don't have the data, I'd estimate that some of these techniques can be effective but it also comes down to the quality of the individuals networks as well as the quality of the proposed panel. For example, I've clicked on a link in an e-mail only to not vote up a panel if it was underwhelming. I've also done the opposite. I've at least read all of the e-mails on panels that have been sent my way.

Advocacy
Advocacy can in some ways be divided in paid and earned. I've had PR practitioners submit panels on behalf of their clients and I've also seen people advocating for others simply based on the fact that they feel a certain loyalty or affinity for the panel organizer. Since I'm not paying anyone to help me, I've been fortunate to experience some of the latter via the comments in my own proposal. Both paid and owned can be very effective and likely are not mutually exclusive.

Social Karma
Social functionality such as comment fields enables social behavior such as reciprocity. While it's not unheard of for someone to say a nice thing not expecting anything back, it's widespread that we do, hoping someone will return the favor. Leaving comments and showing support for others in public settings can signal a "favor" which doesn't have to be repaid, but if does will not go unnoticed.

Collaboration
Creating Wikis such as Damien Basile's Google Spreadsheet allows users to add, edit and update panel submissions in a collaborative manner while gibing the curator (in this case, Damien) the social currency for setting it up and adding his panel in the first slot.

I've only scratched the surface on some of the behaviors and techniques I've seen in regards to the SXSW panel picker. They are a sign that the approach works as it activates the network creating interest, as well as narrowing down the large number of submissions. The approach makes for some interesting behavior watching. So what have you noticed?

Why PR's Future May Not Look Like PR

Last year at SXSW, I handed over the panel I proposed to my former colleagues at Dachis Group (Social Business By Design). This year will be different. I've submitted a panel on why PR's future may not look like PR.

The description:
When You Think of PR (Public Relations), your first impression may be of the silver tongued "flack" spinning a corporations' news, putting a positive slant on everything. With advances in networks, online communities and the ability of the average individual to become their own content producer and influencer—the face of PR is changing, shifting the focus from communications to engagement in increasingly public spaces both online and off.

What I'll Cover:

1. What Is PR?
2. How Is PR Evolving?
3. The distinctions between communications, engagement and why it matters
4. Measuring sentiment, share of voice and forms of participation
5. Leverging social and other emeging channels in the management of a crisis

Disclaimer
I work for a Public Relations firm (Edelman) with no formal background in what's traditionally been called "PR". I have a million ideas in my head about where this is all going. If you want to hear them, you'll have to vote.

Media Isn't Social

Several weeks ago I delivered a 16 minute TEDx talk titled "reinventing social media". Typically I like to frame topics outside of the social media bubble, but in this instance the topic itself and the purpose of the talk was designed to get us all thinking about things a bit differently. You see, businesses, brands and organizations are truly struggling with the disruptive nature of social technologies. In fact, the term "social technologies" is part of the problem—we are all fixated on the technologies and meanwhile the real action lies in harnessing the change brought about by human behavior enabled by technology. I used the simple story of how a colleague shared a book with me. The book itself (media) is not social—the interactions, communications, stories and conversations that involve the book are.



But to say "it's about people" is too simplistic. Toward the end of the talk, I made my case that in a couple of years it would be unlikely that I would even be talking about "social media". This thesis based on the belief that "social" translates into the conversion of an organization which requires shifts in culture, technology, process and ultimately behavior. If an organization does not empower its people to behave in a productive and beneficial social manner than can we actually use the word "social" to describe it? If the organization has not begun integrating these changes across several functional groups as opposed to leverging just one (such as marketing) then is it really taking advantage of some of the changes I discuss in my talk?



I believe that the answer is no. It means that one part of the business is behaving a certain way while the others behave differently. This would be like your head looking at the person's face who you are having a conversation with while your body is walking away from them in mid conversation. So in order for "social media" to become reinvented, to go with the theme of the TEDx discussion, it has to change (or we need to). And change as we all know always begins with people—so our focus needs to turn here. Hope you like the talk and as always feel free to share your own thoughts.

People, Places & Events

You may have noticed that I've been doing less speaking (and blogging)—the truth is I'm extremely busy working on multiple initiatives over at Edelman, so I am being selective about any travel I take on. But I will be picking up the pace a bit over the next few months. Here's a short list of places and events I'll be at. If you find yourself at one of them, be sure to say hello.

Ontario, May 17-18
I'll be opening up the Future Flash event discussing the changing role of PR, alongside other folks from places like BBH Labs and AKQA. Future Flash is a Contagious Magazine event.

Montreal, May 19
I'll be joining Steve Rubel and several other Edelmanites for a Social Media Summit (Invite Only).

Porto, Portugal,  June 1
I'll be speaking at Impacto, at the University of Porto Business School. 

Barcelona Spain, June 3-7
This is strictly pleasure—will be visiting Barcelona (have suggestions on what to do?, leave a comment!)

New York, June 8-10
Attending events during Internet Week.

Toronto, June 22
I'll be Keynoting the CMA (Canadian Marketing Association) event on social media/business.

London, June 23-26
Will be in London for business and hopefully connecting with some industry friends.

Washington DC, July 11
I will be speaking at TEDx (and looking forward to it).

Hope to see you at one of these venues!

Social Media Is Dead: Long Live Common Sense

Social Media Is Dead: Long Live Common Sense.

View more presentations from David Armano.

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at a Chicago AMA (American Marketing Association) event downtown. They say it’s the first event fully dedicated to social media. At first I was tempted to do a “101” talk, not knowing what the level of the audience would be. Then I realized that the audience and myself would be better served if I stuck to my guns and made the message accessible. So that’s what I did. In the end, organizations are going to need to modify process, staffing, training, culture and even leadership if they want to integrate “social” in a meaningful way. And it will integrate—we’ve seen this movie before back in the early .com days.

Hope to see you at the event. Please say hello if you can and use the hashtag #socialAMA. If you don’t know what that is, I won’t be helping you out in this presentation (that's social media 101).

Despite Lackluster Content, I'll Be At SXSW In 2011

I'm still Recovering from SXSW. It was everything I expected: bigger and more overwhelming than last year but also just as unique. You've probably heard that the content at SXSW isn't that great—it's not. At least that's what nearly everyone I talked to who attended panels said. The most common phrase?

"I didn't hear anything new"

But this isn't why you go to SXSW. You go there because It's still the only event where you'll be able to connect with literally thousands of your peers in a location that's just as wonderful and weird as our industry. So despite the disappointment on content—I'll be returning. As I suspect thousands will. Why? Well look at the popular social platforms that are winning: Facebook, Twitter and more recently Foursquare. A social platform wins not because of a flawless experience (though this doesn't hurt), it wins because all your peers are on it. As long as SXSW attracts your connections, both personal and business—it will win.

Special thanks to everyone who attended our Allhat 2 event which was about as special as it gets (video above). To my co-host Richard Binhammer from Dell, our sponsors, Edelman Digital (employer) and BlackBerry (client) and everyone who worked behind the scenes.

See you next year.

The Unofficial SXSW Survival Guide

 
Having passed on my slot to the folks at Dachis Group, I will not be speaking this year at SXSW (interactive) but I will be attending. It will be my second time, and I'm happy to share that there will indeed be a sequel to the sleeper hit event last year known as "Allhat". This year we are going with "Allhat II: Return of the Cattle", and it's sure to be even better complete with local live music thanks to the support from Edelman Digital. That said, there were several things I learned from surviving SXSW, and you might want to take some of them into consideration.

Go With The Flow
SXSW can be chaotic at times and with so much going on, you will be tempted to think you can schedule everything and cram it all in. You won't. There's simply too much going on so the best thing you can do is commit to a few "must attend" and be flexible for the rest. It's the serendipity of who you meet and how you spend your time that makes the event special. Also, scanning Twitter will tell you what's hot and what's not in real time.

Extend Your Battery Life
Last year the deluge of iPhone users nearly rendered the network unusable—still there is wifi and certain hours where you can get a strong signal, IF you have battery juice. If you have not invested in an extra battery or iPhone battery life extender, buy one before you go.

Drink Plenty of Water and Pack Some Tylenol
I shouldn't have to explain this one to you. If I do, then you're going to the wrong conference.

Don't Be "That Person"
There is serious internet star power of all levels at SXSW in addition to it presenting all kinds of networking opportunities. This can cause the temptation for people to exhibit what I call "wandering eye syndrome" where you are constantly scanning the crowds for better networking candidates than the one you may currently be engaged it. It's not easy to avoid the temptation to do this, but try to if you can.

Pack A First Aid Kit
This one's kind of random, but I fell into an unmarked hole in a sidewalk and it put a nice gash in my knee. I wish I had one. You can never be too prepared. :-)

Find Small Groups
Packs of people will often gather to get away from some of the crowds and larger gatherings. If you get invited to go along with a smaller group—go for it. Quality is always better than quantity and this applies to SXSW as well.

Mix It Up
SXSW is sort of like Highschool 2.0. People will flock to their own cliques, from the social media crew to the user experience crew, to developers, marketers etc. But they'll all be there. Try to mix it up a bit and spend some time with some folks outside of your immediate comfort zone. It's all about meeting new people and cross pollinating.

Stay Awake and Drink Coffee
Plan for several days and nights of activity with moderate to small amounts of sleep (you can catch up when you get home). It's the best way to make the most of your time and it's only once a year. Plus it's a great excuse to meet people for coffee in smaller settings.

These are a few informal tips—hope they help. See you at SXSW and don't forget to register for Allhat II.

Insights & Opinions From Blogworld 09

Photo credit: Thekenyeung via Flickr

I recently returned from Blogworld 2009, a mix of business, social media and social events which spanned nearly 4 days taking over much of Las Vegas. It was a flurry of activity and got my gears turning—here's a few things that caught my attention:

Sponsored conversations aren't a blogger's biggest concern
One of the panels was dedicated to discussing and debating the notion of "sponsored conversations". To be honest, it didn't clarify much for me and while the recent FTC announcement is worth taking note of, I think bloggers have bigger fish to fry, such generating a quality readership/community in a noisy, saturated market. That said, according to the panel this post is a sponsored conversation and I should disclose that as a speaker, blogworld funded my airfare and hotel stay. Now that that's over with, back to the writing.

Do you believe in life after public relations?
From Ford's Scott Monty (pictured above) to Comcast's Frank Eliason, there were many famliar faces at Blogworld, who frankly deserve to be at any event where all the "social stuff" is evangelized, discussed and debated. They have broken new ground in organizations, working very diligently to do so. I've come to know many of these individuals and consider some of them friends. Though something struck me in listening to Scott Monty's talk; when he was asked if he made any mistakes, he more or less responded that not scaling soon enough was one of them (and he was working on that). In a moment of clarity it hit me that unless companies significantly scale AND integrate social initiatives, the immediate benefit may in fact be good public relations (if you do it right) but perhaps limited to that. I am in no way discounting the value of this—but when thinking about the potential of how a socially calibrated business could operate, it makes me want more. I believe in life after public relations and think the next wave of social will be done at scale in an integrated fashion, somehow directly impacting the bottom line and/or innovating.

You'll never regret building your network
During my presentation, I had just about every tech glitch you can think of. Finally after getting it all working, Mr. klutz (me) kicked the power chord shutting down the computer which hooked up the the projector. There was no way for me to effectively proceed since the talk was completely dependent on visuals. AV had left and I was at the mercy of the audience. I was prepared to go on without slides, but before doing so I asked if anyone from the audience could help. Within a few seconds someone jumped up behind the table alongside of me and after some fancy tech footwork got the system working again. My takeaway? Being a part of a healthy ecosystem means that people will help you when you need it. You'll never regret the time you put into it. On that note, I've shared my slides on slideshare and included them below.

The Value of Visual Thinking in Social Business

Data matters
On the last day of Blogworld I attended Jeremiah Owyang's solo session where he discussed some trends shaping the future of the social Web. There were 3 examples in particular that stood out for me. One was a Volkswagon initiative which would serve you up a vehicle recommendation based on your Facebook data. Jeremiah questioned the validity of this approach when one of his recommendations was a VW Bug, which he assured us would not be his preference. It's clear that tactics such as this are in their infancy. The second was the trend of integrating social sign-ons into Websites. It's a convenience to users but using something such as Facebook Connect in place of something like a traditional e-mail address means Facebook "owns" that data. And lastly, the point of integration was made. What happens when there are multiple systems including social ones mining customer data but they aren't connected? The idea of a social CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system becomes something to ponder.

There were certainly much more, but these stood out for me. I shared a few other thoughts on a brief podcast which David Thomas from SAS featured on their blog.

Our Talks At SXSW

 

We've got three panels up for consideration as part of SXSW 2010.  The team would appreciate your consideration around the following ideas. And who knows—leave a vote and or comment and I'll consider wearing the hat again. :-)

Social Business By Design (Me)

• Description:  The hype around social media has become deafening. Organizations are feeling pressured to "join the conversation” or risk being irrelevant. However, a “social business” has to be designed from the ground up and the top down in order to achieve transformation which scales. Are we ready to move beyond lip service?
• Will address:  What is "social business design"? Why is this important to me? What implications does social business design have for my organization? Why do I need a "social business strategy"? What technologies are relevant? How will this help me with my current social business initiatives? What should I be measuring? Why is this different from what I'm doing now? How will advancements in cloud computing, open source, and mobile factor? Where do I start?

Stop the Insanity: Making Sense of the Social Web (Niederhoffer)

• Description:  As social technologies become woven into our lives, our breadcrumbs become more varied and dimensional. Making sense of this information is challenging- for users and marketers. Methods from social and personality psychology are potential antidotes. Enough with pages views to demonstrate value. How can analysis account for the rich depth of data?
• Will address:  How, besides traditional web analytics, can you demonstrate the value of social technology? Why is everyone obsessed with Influence and Engagement-- does either construct have any merit? What is a good framework to use when thinking about data available through social technology? Which constructs matter when you're "listening" online? As users, how can we make sense of the information we give and receive about ourselves everyday? Are there better ways to present myself online? Quicker ways to perceive others? What can you really know about someone based on their profile, blog, or tweets? What do marketers currently know about us, based on our online communication? What can social scientists tell us about social media? Are there any ways for marketers to go beyond buzz levels and sentiment?

Sponsored Conversations: Good Strategy or Spam? (Peter Kim)

• Description: Does sponsored social media content work? When it comes to pay-for-play, many bloggers see no issue with “sponsored conversations” and point out that it’s happened for years. Others decry this practice as payola and challenge the credibility of those who accept payments. Who’s right?
• Will address:  Should marketers support sponsored conversations? Do bloggers undermine their credibility by accepting payments? Will the FTC ruling have a material impact on this practice? How are large consultancies advising their blue chip clients on this issue? How do well-known bloggers see an impact on their approach? What standards should bloggers adhere to, especially vis-a-vis journalists? Can paying for conversation deliver unbiased content? Does this work as a form of advertising? From those who have participated, what's the ROI of sponsored conversations? Is this an inevitable trend, as Forrester claims? If so, how big will it get?

Thanks - and see you next spring in Austin.

People, Places + Events

Here's a quick rundown of events and locations I will be at over the next few months. If you plan to be at one of the following, please make a point of saying hello.

Social Business Meetup New York, 7/20/09
My colleagues Peter Kim, Jeff Dachis, Kate Niederhoffer and Jevon MacDonald will be hosting a social event around the theme of social business at the Tribeca Grand Hotel (register here) in NYC. Availability is limited and there is no fee to attend this social event. 

Social Fresh, Charlotte NC, 8/24/09
I'll be keynoting the Social Fresh (SoFresh) conference in Charlotte North Carolina. Other speakers include:

• Ryan Boyles, Community Manager for IBM’s Project Zero
• Craig Coblenz of Facebook
• Spike Jones of Brains on Fire
• Olivier Blanchard of Brand Builder Marketing
• Corvida of Shegeeks.net, Mr. Tweet, and one of The Most Influential Women in Technology.
• Adam Covati, founder of idek.net url shortener and pici.me, a twitter photo booth for events
• Alexander Barbara,  founder of EasyTweets
• Tessa Horehled, Strategic Marketer at Drive A Faster Car LLC

Marketing Now! Melbourne Australia, 9/22-9/23
I'll be doing a workshop downunder followed by a short trip to Sydney. Other speakers include:

• Chris Brogan
• Stephen Johnson
• Laurel Papworth
• Darren Rowse
• Jim Stewart
  

Design Research, Chicago Il, 10/1-10/2
I'll be moderating a panel—topic and attendees still to be determined, but if you are interested in design and strategy this is an amazing event.

Blogworld Expo, Las Vegas, NV 10/15-10/17
I'll be at Blogworld giving a talk on visual thinking and how it can be used to enhance your social initiatives including blogging.

Statmats Integrated Marketing Conference, Boston Ma 11/10-12
Delivering the Keynote at the Statmats integrated marketing graduate student conference.

Web 2.0 Expo, New York, 11/16-11/19
I'll be participating in a group session with my teammates exploring the definition and opportunities around what we are calling social business design as well as leading a separate session on thinking visually. Participated there last year—should also be a great event.

If you live in NY, hope ot see you at our event next Monday, if not—perhaps in the outback. :-)

People, Places + Events

Enterprise 2.0, Boston: 6.23-625
Next week I'm off to the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston with my comrades in arms Jeff Dachis, Peter Kim, Kate Niederhoffer, Jevon MacDonald, and Ellen Reynolds.

Dachis Corporation will be present and active. Kate Niederhoffer will be moderating a panel called "Metrics in the Hands of Users: Empowering the Enterprise 2.0 Workforce."  Peter Kim is  moderating two panels, "Lessons Learned From Internal Communities" (#llic) and "Does Social Media and Marketing Matter?" (#e2smm). Like any conference with the phrase 2.0 in it—there will be a "tweet-up", a meeting of the twitter kind. And we will be hosting it. Want to come? RSVP right here:

Boston has plenty of stars to network with while you're in town, like Laura Fitton, Todd Defren, Ann Handley, Chris Brogan, Christine Major, Jeff Cutler, Steve Garfield, Bob Collins, Susan Koutalakis, Alexis Karlin, Doug Haslam, Rachel Happe, Ilya Vedrashko. Many of them will be out this week.

Social Fresh, Charlotte: 8.24
I'll be keynoting the Social Fresh conference in August and really looking forward to it. Venues like this always hold a lot of promise and there are some great speakers there including:

• Ryan Boyles, Community Manager for IBM’s Project Zero
• Jocelyn de Almeida, Senior Territory Manager for MySpace
• Craig Coblenz of Facebook
• Spike Jones of Brains on Fire
• Olivier Blanchard of Brand Builder Marketing
• Corvida of Shegeeks.net, Mr. Tweet, and one of The Most Influential Women in Technology.
• Adam Covati, founder of idek.net url shortener and pici.me, a twitter photo booth for events
• Alexander Barbara,  founder of EasyTweets
• Tessa Horehled, Strategic Marketer at Drive A Faster Car LLC
• Jim Deitzel of Rubbermaid
• Keith Burtis of Best Buy
• Social Media evangelist Wayne Sutton,

If you are going to be at either of these events, please introduce yourself and say hello. I don't bite—hard. :-)

Conversational Marketing Summit 2009

 
Next week I'll be in NYC for the Conversational Marketing Summit hosted by Federated Media. I'll be presenting a case study titled "The Risks And Rewards of Backing A Good Cause" . I hope to share some learning's and insights from our situation with Daniela and her family—the good, the bad, and the unexpected. The event has a great sampling of folks from companies ranging from Intel, to MTV. If you can make it, please stop by and introduce yourself.

Hope to see you there!

Conversational Media Summit 2009

	Magid Abraham President and CEO, comScore
	David Armano Senior Partner, Dachis
	John Battelle Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Federated Media
	Jason Calacanis Founder and CEO, Mahalo.com
	Bill Capodanno Director, Customer Experience Architecture, Microsoft
	Neil Chase VP, Publishing, Federated Media
	David Churbuck VP, Global Web Marketing, Lenovo
	Deborah S. Conrad VP and GM, Corporate Marketing Group, Intel Corporation
	Ree Drummond The Pioneer Woman
	Chas Edwards Co-Founder, Publisher, and Chief Revenue Officer, Federated Media
	Frank Eliason Director of Digital Care, Comcast
	Sean Finnegan President & Chief Digital Officer, Starcom MediaVest Group
	Bonnie Fuller Founder, Bonnie Fuller Media
	John Galvin Marketing Research Director, Intel
	Seth Goldstein CEO, SocialMedia.com
	Steve Governale ED, Interactive and Innovation, AT&T
	Seth Greenberg Director, Online Advertising and Internet Media, Intuit
	James Gross VP, Ad Products and Sales, Federated Media
	Mike Hoefflinger Director of Product Marketing, Facebook
	Reid Hoffman Chairman and CEO, LinkedIn
	Scott Howe Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation
	Jeff Janer CEO, Spring Partners
	Terence Kawaja Managing Director, GCA Savvian Advisors
	Richard Kang EVP, Strategy and Business Development, MTV Networks
	Jim Marggraff Chairman and CEO, Livescribe
	Mike Masnick Founder and CEO, Floor64
	Oren Michels Co-Founder and CEO, Mashery
	Charlie Moran Web Editor and Producer, Advertising Age
	Betsy Morgan CEO, The Huffington Post
	Jim Murphy VP Product Development, AideRSS/PostRank
	Eileen Naughton Director, Media Platforms, Google
	Lou Paskalis VP, Global Media, Content Development and Sponsorship Marketing, American Express
	Dana Perino Chief Issues Counselor, Burson-Marsteller
	Marc Ruxin EVP, Chief Innovation Officer, McCann Worldgroup San Francisco
	Marcy Shinder VP, Brand Strategy and Marketing, American Express OPEN
	Pete Spande SVP, Sales, Federated Media
	Matt Spiegel CEO, Omnicom Media Group Digital
	Max Ventilla CEO, Aardvark
	Brian Wallace Director, Global Digital Marketing, RIM
	Jen Walsh Global Director of Digital Media, General Electric
	Lucas Watson Global Team Leader for Digital Business Strategy, Procter & Gamble
	Fred Wilson Managing General Partner, Union Square Ventures

The Future of Advertising. WTF?

The Future of Advertising. WTF?

View more presentations from David Armano.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some not so old friends and giving a talk on the "Future of Advertising" hosted by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm qualified to talk about the future of anything least Advertising, especially since my background prior to all the "social" has been primarily in Web design. I've never even worked on an ad. But, what the hell, I gave it a shot. The above slideshow illustrates a few things I'm thinking of as it pertains where things could be going.

Short story? The Ad industry, like many is in the throes of significant change. Agencies and clients are shifting gears from high production value, "360 degree campaigns" and opting to explore new areas to see what works (and measuring along the way). Users on the Web have developed a taste for authentic communication, often produced by their peers who are very capable of doing this (blogs, reviews, forums etc.). Word of mouth (both positive and negative) spreads more rapidly than ever before and traditional online advertising (such as banners) are largely ignored and rarely clicked on. Many organizations haven't adapted, still working with production staff that may not have the appropriate skill sets or agility to create lightweight initiatives that can turn on a dime. Many organizations still segment groups into "creative", "copy" "strategy", etc.  The reality is that digital keeps forcing these disciplines to collide as seamlessly as technology can be mashed. Organizational disciplines are evolving as well. When a product community helps influence the development of your products is that marketing, R&D or both?

Marketers are fighting to be heard, and few are empowered to actually influence the development of products or services. Meanwhile, some organizations have figured out how to amplify the value of their products and services through their most vocal and connected consumers. Except we're not really consumers anymore are we? We've adapted as well—or at least our behavior has.

Technologies that influence our behavior (like getting us to watch videos on our phones or PCs, update our status daily and spend countless hours managing our online identities) are dictating our future right before our eyes. Whether it comes from Madison Ave, Silicon Valley or somewhere across the globe is irrelevant.

Anyway, hope the slides reflect that. Would be curios to get your thoughts. I can always make a few tweaks before tomorrow.

Word Of Mouth Visualized: The Winning Entry

Several weeks ago, I extended an invitation to visualize the concept of "word of mouth". The winning participant in this exercise will receive a free pass to WOMM-U happening in South Beach, Miami. (a 1,500 value for non WOMMA members). After reviewing all of the submissions (you can view them in the comments) I've selected Mario Vellandi's depiction of "word of mouth" (above).

Here's why I like it. Mario breaks it down into three potential scenarios. Promoters, passives and detractors. I think the visual shows that passives who have mediocre experiences don't talk about them and so there is no conversation around the subject (this is where most word of mouth marketing initiatives fail). Promoters have a good experience and tell people about it, while detractors who have a bad experience with something tell even more people about it. There seems to be a bit of truth to this and I like the fact that Mario captured the double edged sword of it. Word of mouth isn't always positive, it's often negative and that's where there's opportunities to engage detractors, change opinions and improve products and services. In fact, that could be another scenario displayed in the visual.

But I like what Mario did and I understood it immediately which was the main quality that made it a win for me (and let's face it, the middle finger was a nice touch). So congrats to Mario for a job well done and for taking the time to participate. I'll be reaching out to the event organizers to let them know. Congratulations and enjoy South Beach

Highlights From Marketing 2.0, Paris

(Ford's Scott Monty surrounded by Edelman Execs on the Red Carpet)

I recently wrapped up a week in Paris mixing a bit of both business and pleasure. The first two days of my week were spent at the third annual Marketing 2.0 conference held in Paris for the second time in a row. While the structure of the conference was a bit loose and the wifi nearly non-existent, the event itself was excellent and one of the better events I've been to in a while. I credit the planning that went into hand picking a very interesting and diverse set of speakers and case studies ranging from companies such as Nike, Lego, Southwest Airlines, Jagermeister, Virgin, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and Facebook and Ebay just to name a few. I spoke on a panel with Steven Erich from Crispin on the second day of the event. The event was intimate, with just about 200 attendees from all over the world. This also added to the strength of it. Coming off the heels of SXSW, it was nice to be a part of something smaller, the content was very digestible because of it. Here's a few highlights that stood out to me.

Embracing Your Brand's "Freaks"
Konnie Kalcher from Lego (Lego means play well in Danish if you put the words together) talked about how the company has from a culture that believed it understood it's product the best, to one that works less in silos and has begun embracing their most fervant brand fans, and engaging them through programs such as the Lugnut enthusiast community. This was probably the one aspect of the talk that stood out to me and it apparently struck a chord with others as well. As Konnie's talk turned to questions, the word "freak" was being bantered around to describe some of the hard core Lego enthusiasts. In fact, there are some people who do spend nearly their entire days obsessing about nothing but Legos. But Konnie's story was one of a brand that realized that there is more value in harnessing the energy of "Lego freaks" vs. ignoring them. Their input is now included in product development—something that Lego hasn't done in the past. Now think about this—Lego is one of the few brands out there that is actively engaging their fans in the creation of their products. This goes well beyond the marketing of the product and directly in the the design of it, if not influencing the culture of their business. This is something that trancends marketing as most people tend to think of it.

Richard Owen from Satmetrix spoke right after Konnie and focused on "word of mouth" as "promoters" willing to advocate for your brand. What stuck out most about his talk was the fact that it's possible to amplify this aspect around products even if they aren't as "sexy" as a brand like Lego. His example of the Intuit community demonstrated that people can be passionate about nearly any topic. Even taxes. I really liked what Richard had to say about advocating for a brand:

"people are becoming more prone to actually advocating—not just having the capacity"

Richard cited some studies with numbers to back this up, and while the talk didn't get into it specifically—the opposite must also be true, that people have the capacity and are prone to criticizing your brand. It's this type of criticism that have ignited efforts from companies such as Dell in the past. Bottom line, the Web is a niche medium, fueled by passionate people. They might seem like "freaks"—but they can be your brand's best friend if you can figure out how to make their passion work for your business.

The ROI of Putting Your Pants On 
(from left to right, Schick, Monty, Berg)

One of the best panels of the entire event consisted of Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines, Scott Monty from Ford and Charlie Schick of Nokia. Each participant on the panel gave a very insightful insiders perspective on the social initiatives within their organizations including case studies and challenges. Scott Monty recalled a story of a series of interactions that he had with a woman on Twitter who lost her son in a car accident (he was driving a Ford).

"there was no way way that anyone was going to change how she felt about the brand despite our safety record"

After spending some considerable time talking with the woman in a personal fashion, Scott described how her perception began to change—she had even Tweeted publicly that she was willing to give the brand a second look. This is the type of story that makes the Web social, hearts and minds that are influenced one at a time, The opposite of mass media—and a great illustration of what I like to refer to as "micro-interactions". Scott also stressed his role within Ford and his current state as a department of one at the moment, which is most certainly soon to change as the company scales their initiatives. One of the more memorable quotes from Monty came during Q&A when asked about how Scott deals with the ROI and measurement question that inevitably comes with any investment in social initiatives to which Scott answered:

"What's the ROI of your e-mail account? What's the ROI of putting your pants on in the morning"?

Don't Control The Conversation, Lead It
Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines (above) also shared some great case stories ranging from the the airline's efforts to engage customers via blogs, Twitter. Facebook etc. The key word here is engage Southwest Airlines has been on Twitter since 2007 (I've referenced them repeatedly as I am a customer) and Paula pointed out that although the company wasn't sure how to leverage the channel initially, they've since dedicated one person out of their now six person emerging media staff who is dedicated full time to responding to customers on via Twitter. Paula and I grabbed lunch together on day two and we talked about the challenges all organizations face when wading into the waters of the social web. Since the medium requires actual people to be responsive and talk back, it doesn't look like tradition marketing, PR or other forms of communications but virtually cuts across all these disciplines incuding customer service. But during Paula's talk she reiterated that Southwest doesn't try to control the conversations that inevitably arise around them—but citing recent incidents, they have learned that they can indeed lead them by engaging critics and telling their side of the story.

From One Big Idea To Many Little Ones
On day two I split a panel with Steven Eric of Crispen Porter & Bogusky where I felt both our talks dovetailed nicely. While mine focused on interactions, Steven stressed that Crispin strives to test out lots of "little ideas" to see what works as opposed to focusing on "big ideas that in theory, drive brand communications. This view is a bit revolutionary in a field where the "big idea" is treated somewhat like a sacred cow and sought after like the holy grail. My favorite example from Steven's talk may have been one you've never heard of. "Flame"—a fragrence thet created for burger king which smells distinctly like grilled burger and smoke. Evidently, they sold out of the limited supply rather quickly.

There were many other worthwhile talks during the event, but these are a few highlights that stood out for me. If you can make it to Europe next year, I'd recommend checking this event out. The setting and speakers make for quite an experience.

Visualize Word of Mouth, Get A Free Pass To WOMM-U

recent submission from Patrick

The folks over at WOMMA (Word Of Mouth Marketing Association) are up to something pretty cool. From May 13-14, they are putting together "WOMM-U" in South Beach Miami . I've been invited to attend, have my costs covered and in return I can give out a complimentary pass to the event to one of my readers (a $1,500 value for non WOMMA members). But I'm going to make you work for it. If you'd like a free pass, you'll need to do a visual representation of what you think "word of mouth" looks like. The visual can be a sketch, a photo montage, or a simple diagram using basic shapes. Use whatever tools you feel comfortable using. Upload your visual either to Flickr (tag WOMM-U-viz there and #womm-u-viz for Twitter) or somewhere else and provide a link in the comments here. I'll give it about 3 weeks and announce a winner in an updated post.

Hope you can participate—think of it as a crash course oin visual thinking. Below is some more details on the event:

"WOMM-U is a 2-day comprehensive and interactive educational experience from WOMMA. It’s built around giving you the real-world knowledge you need to execute exceptional word of mouth marketing programs that are most effective in today’s recession economy.

Social Media-based WOMM presentations and workshops with the most important platforms engaging consumers like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Eons, Twitter, blogs, Widgets & Applications, Mobile, Video on the Web and more*. (this is a mix of platforms that have presented before or will present in 2009)

Intimate roundtable deep-dives with WOMM experts like you. Each table is topically driven and allows practical marketer-to-marketer conversation about. Topics include:

·        Year 3-5 of your WOMM program

·        Optimizing your Twitter efforts

·        Activating WOM in Social Networks: Advanced Social Media

·        Managing Reputation at the Speed of Social Media

·        Selling-in Word of Mouth Programs to the CMO, the Communications Officer, & CEO

·        Evaluating the Social Media Toolbox

·        Finding Influencers that are really influential

·        Creating a brand movement

·        Driving B2B WOM and recommendations

·        How Advertising fuels WOMM

·        Integrating WOMM in complex 360 programs

·        Measuring performance in Marketing

·        KPIs to make a Brand Marketer Proud

·        Measuring ROI in Customer Service

The Bare Feet Tweet-up. Network meetup, you guessed it, on the beach. Connect with marketing colleagues from national brands and WOMM specialists on the beach. All you have to do is follow the Twitter hashtag during the event….

The Brand Council By The Beach. If you are part of a brand – big or small – join WOMMA’s Brand Council seminar that is exclusive and specifically set up for brands."

Sound like a good time?  Get those pencils out!  And have fun.

Marketing 2.0 + A Trip To Paris

Tonight I'm off to the Marketing 2.0 conference in Paris, France. With speakers from companies like Nike, Lego, Ford, Virgin, Southwest, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Nokia and more it promises to be a solid event. I'll be talking a bit about "micro-interactions" and how I believe this is important to the future of markeitng. I will be joining Crispin's Steven Eric where we'll be discussing the roles creativity and interactions in advertising. Where they differ and possibly overlap.

More importantly, after the event I'm taking some time off with my better half to take in the sights and sounds of Paris. We've just dropped the boys off at their grandparents house and are ready for some time away from them!  If you are going to be at the marketing 2.0 event, please let me know and be sure to say "salut"! Oh, and if you have any suggestions as to things to do while in the great city of lights, let me know with a comment.

SXSW In Pictures

Friend and fellow visual thinker Dave Gray recently uploaded a few of his visual notes from SXSW which includes a creativity panel featuring Merlin Mann John Gruber and the Friendship is Dead Salon I co-hosted with Russ Unger. He did a wonderful job capturing some of the key takeaways in that conversation in a unique and engaging way. I especially like the argyle/hat Venn diagram. For more visual goodness of SXSW, check out the sketchnotes from Mike Rohde. They speak for itself.  

People, Places + Events

Just a quick update of places I'll be either speaking at or attending. March is going to be an exceptionally busy month! If you plan on attending any of these events or just happen to be in town, please seek me out and we can try to meet.

3/09/09 // New York
Parsons "At The Edge" Innovation Lecture Series
I'll be joining forces with BusinessWeek's Bruce Nussbaum, giving a talk to his innovation class at Parsons School of Design.


3/14-17th // Austin
South By Southwest Interactive (SXSW)
I am participating in several panels and events at SXSW. You can find me at the following:

3/14  6:30-7:30 PM Friendship is Dead with Russ Unger (Salon)

3/15 Cogaoke (Event—throw me a vote if you like this blog!)

3/16 All Hat, No Cattle (Event)
I'm co-hosting this event with Dell's Richard Binhammer (RichardatDell)

3/17 Social Media For Social Good (Panel/Event)
On this panel I'll be discussing how we can use the social Web for good things, citing our experience raising nearly 17k for Daniela and her family. Panelists include Scott Goodstein, Beth Kanter, Stacey Monk, James Young and Randy Zuckerberg. The panel will be moderated by Jeff Pulver and Tikva Morowati.

3/18 Mashable Party

I'll be teaming up with Scott Henderson and Beth Kanter on project to help some folks out. More information to come on that later.

3/30-31 // Paris
Marketing 2.0
I will be talking about Micro-Interactions alongside folks like Scott Monty of Ford, Martina Zavagno of Nike, Paula Berg of Southwest Airlines and Conny Kalcher of Lego.

4/27 // Minneapolis
Future of Advertising Series
I still have no idea what I'll be talking about at the College of Art and Design. Got any suggestions?

Behind The Scenes At The NBA All Star Weekend 09

While I'm not at the NBA All Star weekend, I am engaging and monitoring some of the conversations around it (while still trying to have a life). I won't be able to tune in tonight. But as I'm going through our efforts (adidas + Riot) of covering the event through the eyes of Dwight Howard, I came across this video where Dwight is looking over some uploads and playing around on Twitter. Cool thing was that I actually spotted one of our adidas clients in the background—someone I have worked with in a previous job. It's nice to see clients, athletes, agencies etc. all coming together to pull this kind of thing off.

All of the media being we are producing over All Star weekend can be found here.

People, Places + Events

Here's a brief overview of where I'll be in the coming weeks/months. If you plan on attending any of these events, please let me know so we can meet.

1/22/09 // Chicago
Motion Graphics Festival Chicago
I'll kicking off the festival with a talk on Thinking Visually
BlogWell
I'll be live-twittering my head off in the afternoon listening to case studies from Home Depot, Mayo Clinic, H&R Block, Sharpie, US Coast Guard, Allstate, Walmart, Procter & Gamble.
Chicago Social Media Club
I'll be talking about personal branding in a digital age.
(yes, these are all the same day, kill me now)

2/27/09 // Chicago
Loyola University
I'll be attending Oakner day at the University speaking with students

3/09/09 // New York
Parsons "At The Edge" Innovation Lecture Series
I'll be joining forces with BusinessWeek's Bruce Nussbaum, giving a talk to his innovation class at Parsons School of Design

3/14-17th // Austin
South By Southwest Interactive (SXSW)
I'll be joining Russ Unger to discuss, debate and deliberate the meaning of friendship in our core conversation titled "Friendship is Dead".

3/30-31 // Paris
Marketing 2.0
I will be talking about Micro-Interactions alongside folks like Scott Monty of Ford, Martina Zavagno of Nike, Paula Berg of Southwest Airlines and Conny Kalcher of Lego.

4/27 // Minneapolis
Future of Advertising Series
I have no idea what I'll be talking about at the College of Art and Design. Got any suggestions?

I've got a few other events I'm working out the details on, but these are definites. Please let me know if you would like to meet. If you'd like to have me speak at an event, contact me here.

People, Places + Events

I just wrapped up an action filled week at the Forrester Forum, where I got to meet some great folks for the first time like Bryan Person, who interviewed myself and Deb Schultz (above). Here's a few other places I'll be along with people I've met and stuff we've done together. If you are going to be at any of the events, let me know.

Measuring "Social"
Mark Rogers, CEO of Marketing Sentinel interviewed me for a short podcast where we discussed the idea of measuring things like engagement in the social space. I'm not a measurement guy, so I did the best I could. Listen to it here (mp3).

Amsterdam Bound
I'm off to Amsterdam again for business the week of November 3rd.  If you're in town, let me know—maybe we'll get some folks together and drink Heineken.

WOMMA 2008
I'll be participating on a panel at this years Word Of Mouth Marketing Association. It's a town hall format, so it'll be interesting to say the least I'm sure.

Phizzpop
On November 20th I'll be participating in the Microsoft Phizzpop design challenge in Chicago (register here). This time as a judge. Phizzpop is a Microsoft sanctioned event where design teams get a limited amount of time to solve a design problem using Microsoft tools to execute. This year's problem is Olympics related.

P&G / "Boston Tweetup"
I'll be speaking at another P&G employee event on December 11th in Boston. There is a "tweet-up" happening on December 10th. Details are here.

Marketing 2.0: Paris
I'll be joining a small army of speakers at the Marketing 2.0 conference in Paris in March. Marketing 2.0 is billed as follows.

"The Marketing 2.0 Conference brings the intelligence, innovation, and leadership of the Marketing, Media and Internet industry together in one place at one time to learn from best practices and the successful use of the new marketing tools like Social Networks, Mobile Marketing, Internet TV and Video as well as Word-of-Mouth Marketing. The Summit is known for its interactive format, stressing interaction and participation on both sides: the speakers and the audience. Through insightful plenary sessions, cut-through-the-hype onstage conversations, and "show me" presentations as well as in-depth workshops, visionaries and executives, experts and researchers from the Marketing and Internet businesses will come together to explore and present their unique insights in how to use the whole new collection of marketing tools and how brand marketers could benefit from it."

Really excited about this one.

Age of Conversation 2


And last but not least, I have joined some bright minds for a very good cause contributing a chapter and cover art for the Age of Conversation book. All proceeds go to Variety and the contributers include:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Hope to see you in person if we're at the same place at the same time.

Forrester's Consumer Forum + The Convenience Quotient

Next week I am attending and leading a discussion at The Forrester Consumer Forum. I was able to get a sneak preview of one of the keynotes from James McQuivey, Ph.D. and VP principal analyst at Forrester. The them of the conference is staying ahead of consumers by predicting what the future consumer might look like.  James talk is going to be pretty interesting in part because what he did was look to the past (a great way to predict what might happen in the future) and he identified some data points which ultimately lead to the above Framework which outlines the four universal needs which are unchangeable. They are:

Connection
Uniqueness
Comfort
Variety

James outlined that each of these may play a significant role based on current conditions. So for example, in a recession, comfort may be more important as a need. In boom times, it might be uniqueness that needs to be dialed up. But what I found MOST interesting was the way James describes the idea of convenience:

"People share a set of universal needs – satisfy those needs with convenience and you will win"

This particular statement stood out for me, because I see convenience as an often time overlooked value meaning that you can hit any and all of the above needs, but if you don't make it convenient for consumers, customers, users you'll be less likely to satisfy any of these universal needs. In other words, convenience is not a need itself, but a vehicle to satisfy a need. That's the basis behind "the convenience quotient". James says they will be blowing out this model and testing it over the years.

Anyway, sounds pretty interesting. The Forum will also include the Groundswell Awards which will be live streamed at the Groundswell blog.  We will also be doing some streaming for Critical Mass over at our Always In Beta site which will be re-designed for the event.  Lastly, there will be a major "tweet-tup" happening on Monday night. See details here

If you are going to be at the Forrester Consumer Forum next week, please look me up and say hello. Hope to see you there!

People, Places + Events

Just a quick update on some events I'll be a part of over the next few weeks:

IDEA 2008
I'll be kicking off the IDEA conference next Tuesday morning and joining a great roster including Dave Gray, Jesse James Garret, Bill DeRouchey, and Jason Fried among others. IDEA is positioned as follows"

"This conference addresses issues of design for an always-on,     always-connected world. Where "cyberspace" is a     meaningless term because the online and offline worlds     cannot be made distinct. Where physical spaces are so     complex that detailed wayfinding is necessary to navigate     them. Where work processes have become so involved, and     so digitized, that we need new processes to manage those     processes."

Forrester Consumer Forum 2008
I'll be having a conversation at this year's Forrester Forum with Deborah Schultz on the topic of "Return On Insight". Deb has done some interesting work with P&G on their Social Media Lab and we'll be discussing the effect of social media both inside and out of organizations. Here's how we are billing the talk.

"Today’s evolving consumers are sophisticated, informed, fickle, and multifaceted. And they’re just getting started! To stay ahead of the (r)evolution, organizations will need to break down their internal silos and adapt to new ways of connecting, communicating, and listening. As companies toss focus groups aside for other forms of input, “netnography” and communities can yield rich insights that lead to future product and service innovations. But to do this, organizations need to rethink return on investment (ROI) from the ground up to rapidly launch and iterate efforts before they get dismissed. Learn how P&G is getting a “return on insight” through initiatives that will help it connect to the ever-evolving customer.”

WOMMA Summit 2008
I'll be joining a "town hall" style panel at the WOMMA (Word Of Mouth Marketing Association) summit in Las Vegas.

If you are going to any of these events, be sure to look me up!

Live From Web 2.0

I'm attending and speakiing at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. I'll write about it later, but for now here's a quick podcast I did with the folks from Blogtalk Radio. 

Brand "U.0" + The Chicago New Media Summit

Brand "U.0"

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: personal branding)

Next Monday I'll be kicking off the Chicago New Media Summit with a talk called "Brand U.0". As far as I can tell, the Chicago New Media Summit is styled somewhat like TED, with a high volume of presentations lasting around 20 minutes.  The back story for the presentation comes from an article I originally wrote for Ad Age in which I said:

"The hallmark of any great brand is authenticity -- just ask Harley-Davidson, Coke or Apple, especially when all of these brands lost their way and learned from it. Same thing applies to Brand You. In every tweak or a template, upload and keystroke, you have an opportunity to be authentic or disingenuous. Know what makes you special and unique, and tap into those qualities as you build your personal brand online. Most people can spot a fake when they see one, so remember that being genuine is more important that presenting yourself in an artificially glossy manner. It used to be important for bloggers to "find their voice" -- now it's relevant to all of us.  

These are a few things to consider, and you don't have to be Robert Scoble or Seth Godin to benefit from them."

I think personal branding is a behavior we'll see for quite some time. Just take a look at how much time is being spent by kids on their own profiles—and of course, you don't have to be a kid to have your very own "brand" online. If you are attending the event, be sure to say "hello".

People, Places + Events

September 3
Next week I'm off to Proctor & Gamble (a Critical Mass client) to do a talk and participate in a day of internal work sessions that will be attended by approximately 400 P&G employees. P&G is taking the rise of social networks and how this is influencing consumer behavior pretty seriously and that will be the theme for the day. I've been participating in their internal "Social Media Lab" where there are a lot of ongoing conversations and sharing going on and I've found it to be quite insightful. Deb Schultz has been working with Procter & Gamble in this initiative.  Rumor has it, that there will be a karaoke meetup in Cincinnati on the evening of 9/3.  For more details follow me on Twitter.


September 15
I'll be doing a 20 minute talk at the Chicago New Media Summit which is a first ever event of the likes in Chicago. If you are in the area, this might be worth looking into.

September 19
I'll be joining an all star lineup for OREILLY's Web 2.0 Expo held in NYC. This is one I'm really honored to be a part of and I think I'm looking forward to listening and learning than I am talking. 

Hope to see you at any of these events. Especially karaoke night in Cincinnati. :-)

Micro-Interactions at SXSW

I'm hoping to bring the gospel of micro-interactions (vs. advertising) to SXSW, but will need your help if you'd like to see me there.  If that sounds good to you, vote here.

Lots of other great panels as well.  Here's a few you should look at.
Convincing With Pictures, Dan Roam
Start Small, Stay Small, Jeffrey Zeldman
Being a UX team of one, Leah Buley
Friendship is Dead, Russ Unger
From the Roman Agora to the Mobile Web, Chris Carfi
Making Whuffie, Tara Hunt
Is the Mouse Dead Yet?, Chris Bernard
Embracing Your Customer Evangelists, Mack Collier
Curiosity Marketing, Rohit Bhargava
Your Brand is Not My Friend, Alan Wolk

There are many more—too many to mention, if you have a panel that you'd like to get some exposure to, please leave a link in the comment section here and I promise to get it out on Twitter. Hope to see you in Austin!

People, Places + Events

First off, apologies if I've had to cancel a scheduled appearance with you.  I've gotten some great speaking invitations recently from places ranging from Google to events organized by PSFK, but had to turn some stuff down. It's been a busier summer than I anticipated and I'm trying to keep the plates spinning the best I can.  That said, here's a few events I'll be speaking at in the coming months.

Sept 15-19
Chicago New Media Summit
I'll be talking about personal branding and Chicago.  Who wants to help me put my deck together? :-)

Sept 16-19
Web 2.0 Expo, NYC
There will be some great speakers here, I'll be talking about micro-interactions.  All before lunch.

October 7-8
IDEA
I'll be joining some of the brightest minds in the user experience profession right here in Chicago for a couple of days of yummy UX brainfood.

October 28-29
Forrester Consumer Forum
This is still up for grabs, but I'm proposing to do a panel and perhaps bring the Wheel of Marketing Misfortune to life (one that you will be able to spin). Think prizes people. Prizes.

If you are attending any of these events, come find me.  If you are planning a future event and think I'd be a good fit, shoot me out a note.

People, Places + Events

A lot of stuff going on in the next couple of months, here's a quick breakdown of things to come:

June 12: Blogger Dinner/Tweetup
A bunch of social media types will be in Chicago for Blog Council and we'll be getting together for cocktails etc:

Colonel Tribune -- and the Chicago Tribune – is organizing an informal meetup Thursday, June 12 from 6 p.m. to whenever at Clark Street Ale House, 742 N. Clark.
Full details here:

June 16: Widget Web Expo / IXDA NYC
I am moderating a panel at Widget Web Expo including the following fine professionals:

David Malouf, Interaction Designer, Motorola Enterprise Mobility
Matt Dickman, Vice President, Digital Marketing, Fleishman-Hillard
Steve Rubel, SVP, Director of Insights, Edelman Digital
Ian Schafer, CEO and Founder, Deep Focus
Stephanie Agresta, InternetGeekGirl.com

And I will be talking about "Micro-Interactions" at NYC's IXDA event in Soho.  There will be a social gathering after and all are invited.  See details here.

July 17: PSFK San Fransisco
Really excited about this one.  I'll be participating in an interactive discussion with execs from Virgin and Facebook around experience design etc. PSFK San Fransciso has a really amazing line-up including Chris Riley from Apple, Gareth Kay from Modernista! and Rohit Bhargava author of Personality Not Included.  Check it out.    

September 16-19: O'Reilly Web 2.0 Expo
Special Thanks to Chris Fahey for inviting me to Web 2.0 in NYC.  I'll be presenting Micro-Interactions in no doubt a more refined version.

If you are attennding any of these events, let me know.  Best way to get a hold of me these days when on the road is Twitter.

Hope to see you.

People, Places + Events

Here's a quick breakdown of events I'll be attending/participating at over the next few months:

May 22-23 Strategy 08
I will be covering one of my favorite events of the year via Twitter. Speakers include AG Lafley, Roger Martin, Bill Buxton, Bruce Nussbaum, and Claudia Kotchka among others.  Follow me on Twitter here.

May 29th: Tech Cocktail
I'll be speaking on a panel titled "Creating A Brand & Leveraging New/Social Media For Your Business".  Tech Cocktail is taking place in Chicago and will include Jason Fried of 37 Signals, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Frank Gruber among others.

June 5-6: The Conference Board
I'll be co-leading a workshop for a powerhouse audience including senior execs from fortune 500 companies.  The workshop will be titled, "Positively Influencing Brand Behavior".

June 16-17
I'll be speaking at Widget Web Expo and have assembled a fine panel of professionals including:
Brian Morrissey: Adweek
David Malouf: Motorola
Ian Schafer: CEO, Deep Focus
Steph Agresta: Internet Geek Girl

Our panel will discuss "micro interactions" from the perspective of portable, distributed content and functionality.  We'll discuss the potential or lack of for all this to go mainstream.  Other speakers include Forrester's Josh Bernoff, Stowe Boyd, and Marc Canter to name a few.

If you are going to any of these events, please look me up!

People, Places + Events

Here's a quick update of places I'll be in the next few months.  If you are going to any of these events, please look me up!

Blogger Social
April 4th-6th
I'll be joining a group of friendly and highly connected individuals in NYC for a mix of conversation, cocktails and I'm sure industry talk as well.

IIT Institute of Design Strategy Conference
May 22-23
I'll be live Twittering from one of my favorite events of the year.  This year's conference will include P&G's AG Lafley, Microsoft's Bill Buxton and BusinessWeek's Bruce Nussbaum to name a few.  Several weeks ago, I was interviewed by ID student Ash Boopathy and will be featured in some of the print material given out at the conference.  Here's a sample from the interview:

AB: Give me your favorite example of a company or project that used design to figure out "where to play" or "how to win".

DA: Interesting timing on this question.  I used to reference the Motorola RAZR as a textbook example of the power of design.  The story had all of the right ingredients: A brand that needed a breakthrough product, a prototype that pushed the idea forward, an end product that had reflective emotional appeal and influenced the design of other products.  But it’s worth taking a look at Motorola today which is currently having difficulties finding a buyer for their handset division.  Somehow along the way, they could not disseminate the success of the RAZR and the story ironically becomes a case study for the limitations of design.  I still believe design can be transformational, but it cannot be divorced from the corporate culture or values that a company
believes in.

The Conference Board
June 5-6
I'll be co-leading a digital customer experience workshop to senior level marketing and brand execs.

Widget Web Expo
June 16-17
I'll be moderating a panel to discuss the current state of content and functionality distribution.  The panel is still coming together, but Adweek's Brian Morrissey will be on it (see Brian, you can't back out now!)

Hope to see you!

Wanted, Panel for this Topic: "Beyond Gimmicks"

Several months ago I was asked by Celia, one of our internal marketing/PR peeps to submit a panel idea for upcoming conferences.  She's been shopping it around, but so far—no takers, which I think is a shame because a lot of folks are talking about this exact topic.  So, if you are involved in planning an upcoming event and see a fit for this, please let me know. It will be quite easy for me to assemble a quality panel around this topic, I'm sure.  :-)

Beyond Gimmicks: Why Behavior-Changing Experiences Will Rule in a Fragmented, Digital Age
What’s the buzz all about? Marketers are obsessed with generating it. Buzz that is. Going “viral” has become the ubiquitous holy grail of not only digital marketers, but offline as well. Create something so clever, so disruptive—that people will talk about it and (hopefully) share with others is one of the most common requests from clients—“give us a subservient chicken”. But what’s in it for the customer? Time and attention starved consumers, users and even social media participants are becoming wary of thinly veiled disguises at getting them to help make something go viral. What’s a marketer to do? Our panel will discuss alternatives to buzz marketing and dig into why it’s so important to provide value in an increasingly fragmented world where people can forget about your brand and why it matters in a nanosecond.

Suggested Moderator:
David Armano, VP, Creative for Critical Mass
David has over 14 years experience in the creative field with the majority of his time spent in digital marketing and experience design. An active thought leader in the industry, David authors the popular Logic + Emotion blog currently ranked in the top media + marketing blogs according to Advertising Age. David’s writing and visual thinking has been cited by Forrester, The Boston Globe and landed in BusinessWeek on several occasions including their “Best of 2006”. Prior to Critical Mass, David served spent time as a creative lead at notable firms such as Digitas and Agency.com—putting in a combined tenure of 8 years in the large digital agency environment. He led multiple initiatives for clients such as HP, Allstate, Fifth Third Bank, Miller Brewing, Grainger, and Bally Total Fitness.

See You at MIX 08

I'll be in Las Vegas tomorrow for MIX (speaking on Wednesday).  If you're going and want to meet up, the best ways are via Twitter (@armano) or e-mail.

Should be a great event.  Hope to see you.

Me, Mix 08 + My Vegas Persona

Meet Rusty Armano.  He's me.  Well, sort of.  He's the Vegas version of me.  Which means he's suave and loves the nightlife.  And next week he's going to MIX 08 to "mix" it up with the like of Guy Kawasaki, Hugh McLeod, Robert Scoble and many others.  I'm speaking at MIX 08 and among other things will be Twittering under my Vegas persona.  If this all sounds a bit interesting, you can follow "Rusty" here.

I'll also be uploading photos from MIX 08 on the My Vegas social network.  If you're interested in seeing what happens in "My Vegas", go here, sign up and send me an invite.  You'll be part of my "entourage" and will be able to check out what I'm interested in doing there.

Lastly, there are some great ways to keep up with MIX from MIX 08 on Twitter, to their blog.  And of course there's always "Rusty".  Hope to see you if you plan on attending.

People, Places + Events

Here's a few upcoming events I'll be either speaking at or attending.  If you are going to be at any of these—let me know!

Mix 08: March 5-7
I'm doing "The Fuzzy Tail" at Mix 08 and speaking alongside the likes of Guy Kawasaki, Lou Carbone and even Steve Balmer (Developers!... Developers!!).  The full list of speakers can be viewed here.

SXSW: March 7-11
This is currently still in the air, but I may or may not attend a Dell event. We'll see.

AdAge Digital Marketing Conference March 18-19
AdAge is holding their Digital Marketing Conference in NYC and I'll be on the following panel:

Making Social Media & Marketing Work
Social media and marketing is no longer an 'emerging media' buzzword, but a discipline that nearly every marketer has embraced.  What tactics are smart marketers eyeing? Where does the discipline lie within an agency? What kinds of new social media models will emerge in 2008?

Panelists include:
Michael Barrett, Chief Revenue Officer, Fox Interactive
Colleen Decourcey, Digital Chief, TBWA
Eric Plaskonos, Director of Brand Communications, North America, Philips Electronics

Blogger Social 08: April 4-6
I'll be in NYC for the first Blogger Social.  Looking forward to meeting many of you for the first time!

IIT Institute of Design Strategy Conference May 22-23
One of my favorite events of the year, I'll be a member of the unofficial press soaking up lots of brainpower from folks like A.G. Lafley, Bruce Nussbaum, Claudia Kotchka, Roger Martin and more.

Let me know if you'll be at any of these.  Hope to see ya.

Interaction 08 In a Word: Better

Source Kevin Mullet, The Essence of Rich Interactive Experiences

As a self-proclaimed synthesizer, I'm always on the lookout for patterns.  There were lots of them at Interaction 08 which just wrapped up over the weekend.  The first pattern was the obvious—everyone there seemed to experience a type of "euphoria" which came from the realization of what they are.

'I'm an interaction designer—and this is what it means—and these people share my values".

The people at interaction 08 came from a number of different backgrounds.  Graphic design, Information Architecture, Industrial Design, Programming, Development,  Web Design, and others that I'm probably missing.  Everyone seemed to share the same struggle—what exactly do we call what we do and how do we evalngilize the value we provide?

And that's exactly what the conference and more importantly the IXDA community is all about.  But there was another pattern that I was interested in.  From Bill Buxton, to Gretchen Anderson, to Chris Conley, to Sarah Allen and even myself—there were clues that interaction design is more than just a practice, it's an integral part of a much bigger ecosystem in which the sum of the parts is ultimately more influential than the individual parts.

For me, the unofficial theme of the event was designing the holistic experience, which can include interaction, drama, storytelling, utility, community, purpose, and many other qualities that add meaning to our lives.  The above visual which I've borrowed from Kevin Mullet captures some of this holistic thinking nicely.  It's the combination of design, engineering and marketing which really matters.  It's the intersections if usefulness, usability and desirability that matter—not putting the emphasis of one over another.

Adam Greenfield calls this "Total Design"—but what we call it is less important that actually doing it.  In fact, while I was happy to see that people at the conference were identifying themselves as "interaction designers"—I didn't want to lose sight of the fact that while this is important—what's also important is thinking about how what we do fits into the bigger picture.

At the beginning of my talk—I said that I wasn't sure what to call myself.  But this doesn't mean I don't know who I am or what my role is in the world of creativity, design and interaction.  As interaction designers—or whatever we want to call ourselves, our goal should be to make things better.  We can make people feel less frustrated, more empowered and confident.  We can make people more productive, less stressed.  We can actually make lives better.

For me—interaction 08 in a word is better.

Better means more integration with technology—with marketing and even sales.  Better means thinking + doing.  Better means improving craft as well as ideation.  Better means reaching out to other disciplines and making connections that will lead to better experiences.

Like Mullet's diagram above—I came to similar conclusions as I pondered the role of experience design within the agency ecosystem.  I started with a sort of hub and spoke model—but then evolved to the "clover" metaphor.  For me, Experience Design was a part of the bigger living organism:



In the end, for me—Interaction 08 was a better way to move a discipline forward.  Like many of the attendees—I've found myself relating to this group more so than other organizations.  I guess that's a good start.  Or maybe it's just better.

The DaVinci Code

I'm speaking at the first ever Interaction 08 conference in beautiful Savannah Georgia.   Part of my talk will include references to Van Gogh and DaVinci.  What do they have to do with my topic?  Guess you'll have to wait to find out.  Here's what I'll be talking about:

Experience Design, Convergence + The Digital Agency

Experience changes everything. A design shop creates a marketing campaign. A marketing shop designs the user interface for a mainstream video game console. A big brand agency coordinates the design and construction of a concept retail experience. What’s going on?
 
This presentation will take a look at the increasingly blurring roles of individuals and organizations as we pursue the planning, design and development of experiences. We’ll discuss the evolution of skills and backgrounds and attitudes that it takes to thrive in an increasingly fragmented world where the lines between marketing, technology and even design seem fuzzy. We’ll take a look at some social features we designed for the Nasa website re-launch initiative and how we began thinking past the browser and into the mobile environment.

See you in Savannah!

People, Places + Events

Update:
Looks like I'll be speaking at IxDa 08 after all.  Here's my topic:

"Experience changes everything. A design shop creates a marketing campaign. A marketing shop designs the user interface for a mainstream video game console. A big brand agency coordinates the design and construction of a concept retail experience. What’s going on?

This presentation will take a look at the increasingly blurring roles of individuals and organizations as we pursue the planning, design and development of experiences. We’ll discuss the evolution of skills and backgrounds and attitudes that it takes to thrive in an increasingly fragmented world where the lines between marketing, technology and even design seem fuzzy. We’ll take a look at some social features we designed for the Nasa website re-launch initiative and how we began thinking past the browser and into the mobile environment."

IxDA Interaction 08 (Feb 8-10)
I'll be heading out to Savannah Georgia on February 8 for IxDA Interaction 08.  Not speaking there, but I'll be doing my other favorite activity—listening.  Interaction 08 is billed as follows:

"Join several hundred Interaction Designers from around the world as we address the design of interactive systems of all types: applications (web and desktop), mobile, consumer electronics, digitally enhanced environments, and more. Start your year off with stimulating talk, fun parties, and smart discussions about our growing field."

MIX 08 (March 5-7)
I'm off to Vegas to join the folks from Microsoft (and Guy Kawasaki) at MIX 08 where I'll be giving my talk on The Fuzzy Tail.  I'm really looking forward to this.  Like most huge organizations, Microsoft is likely filled with both silos and pockets of innovation.  I'm curious to see how the talk will go over.  Guess we'll find out.  Here's what Microsoft's user experience evangelist, Chris Bernard has to say about the event:

"MIX is probably my favorite event that Microsoft hosts all year. This year the 72 hour conversation gets far most interesting with the additional of a focused MIX UX track that will feature folks like Lou Carbone, David Armano, the fine folks from Adaptive Path and designers from our Office, Surface and Media and Entertainment teams."

SXSW, Digital Marketing + Blogger Social (March-April)
I'm still undecided on SXSW, and recently got an invitation to attend a panel at Adage's Digital Marketing 08—but I'll be at Blogger Social '08 for sure.  Should be fun.

If you're coming to any of these events, let me know—it would be nice to meet in person.

Upcoming Events

Dec. 5th
Just a quick  update on some upcoming events I'll either be speaking at or attending.  On December 5th, I'll be giving a 20 minute pep talk at the Phizzpop design challenge in Chicago.  The talk will be framed around an updated version of "Experience Design and the Digital Agency".  Phizzpop is sponsored by Microsoft and is described as follows:

"The PhizzPop Design Challenge pits top interactive, Web, and design agencies against one another to push the limits of technology and creativity in a battle royale. Think Mad Max for design.
The regional teams have been selected and will duke it out in New York, Boston, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles, with the regional winners competing against one another, and San Francisco winner AKQA, at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, TX."

Nov. 27th
On November 27th, I'll be in breathtaking Banff Canada for CanUX where I'll be getting a little fuzzy.  By now, you should know what that means.  ;-)

March 5-7
Then in March I MAY be speaking at Mix 08.  This is also a Microsoft-related event and will include the likes of Guy Kawasaki among others.  Still figuring out details, but will let you know if this comes to fruition.


March 7-16
Lastly, and I'll need your help in this one: I would like to attend SXSW.  CM has identified this as a conference to attend, but alas, my proposal wasn't accepted.  BUT, it would be a much easier sell if I could be on a panel.  So if you're looking for a creative/designer/marketing/blogging/social media/ kind of guy for your panel.  I'm your man.  All I require are purple M&M's.  Lots of 'em.  :)


April 4-6
Lastly, I'll be at Blogger Social '08 hanging out with lots of people who I connect with digitally on a fairly regular basis.  It's not a conference.  It's a get together.  I have a feeling that this is the only event that where hugging will be mandatory. 

Hope to see you at any/all of these!