What a great day at the SME Technology Summit 2009 This was an AWESOME way to kick off the month. HUGE thanks go out to @trib aka Stephen Collins whose generosity made it possible for me to attend. “You da man!”
So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue – well chosen! The Insight Exchange team ran a great conference and they diligently made sure that the speakers and delegates alike enjoyed the day’s experience.
The keynote speakers – Tim Pethick and Mark Pesce were both compelling and knowledgeable. I thank them for sharing their experiences, their thought provoking ideas and predictions for the future. It was obvious to those in the room that a future that relies heavily upon technology is as real for SMEs as it is for large multinationals.
I came away from these sessions reassured that I am one of the lucky ones. I get this stuff. I already have many of the skills necessary to participate and even lead in the use of technology in meeting the strategic marketing and communications agendas of organisations, large, small and anywhere in between.
Throughout the day, I jumped across all three tracks (Marketing, Social Media and Effectiveness) in the sessions
I attended. I noted a number of tips from the presenters, learned of some terrific examples, many of which were tweeted by a vocal group of us who populated the hundreds of tweets that became the #smetech hash tag dialogue.
I also came away with a long list of things I must learn/do more about – including:
• investigating freelancer.com (and other such offerings) as both a buyer and supplier of services,
• joining the Australian Business Women’s Network and possibly AIMIA
• diving deeper into the sea of analytics
• continuing my own efforts in blogging, podcasting, tweeting and so on…
• pursuing potential opportunities with a number of the presenting companies
• and furthering the conversations/connections, online and off, that began face to face today with a number of fabulous and talented people
Attending an event like this really brings home the need for both community and conversation in our professional lives. I’m grateful I could take advantage of this opportunity. Now, it’s time to leverage it and see how far I the journey will continue past this first step!
Thanks to the organizers, the venue staff, the speakers, the sponsors and the many delegates who all did their part in making the day worthwhile.
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