Click here to view the embedded video.

While his presentation style is undeniably understated, his observations and insights are powerful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the day:

In the last bit of the video he [...]]]> Robert Scoble, blogger and entrepreneur  discusses how ideas spread. The public session was part of the Stanford GSB marketing course, the Power of Social Technology.

While his presentation style is undeniably understated, his observations and insights are powerful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the day:

In the last bit of the video he refers to an intimate dinner conversation, if shared with the right four people, you could change the world.

Who would you like seated at your table?

As stated in their history,

TED was born in 1984 out of the observation by Richard Saul Wurman of a powerful convergence between Technology, Entertainment and Design. The first [...]]]> What’s the consummate conference experience? TED of course.  TED has become synonymous with innovation, inspiration. It thrills and inspires audiences around the world to join in the conversation.

As stated in their history,

TED was born in 1984 out of the observation by Richard Saul Wurman of a powerful convergence between Technology, Entertainment and Design. The first TED included demos of the newly released Macintosh computer and Sony compact disc, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines with his newly discovered fractals and AI guru Marvin Minsky outlined his powerful new model of the mind.

This year’s conference is next week and its theme is what the world needs now… I know what you’re thinking, the song is running through my head too,but it’s more than love, sweet love. What the world needs now is …ideas, creativity and innovation. There’s too little of those things too!

I’ve never attended TED in person, but it is on my bucket list.  However, I have experienced it through the resulting podcasts, their online presence and others who share in its appeal. I’ve witnessed the magic of TED speakers who have moved me to action, brought me to tears or lead me to a greater understanding or appreciation of things, events or concepts. I hold this conference up as the yardstick for all conferences.

Pssst…all you in the conference business… there are lessons here to be learned here if you’d just invest the time to learn them.

Firstly, perhaps you can glean a little something from the winning TED recipe that includes:

• a basic premise and fundamental goal (to present “Ideas worth spreading”),
• the adherence to a consistent format from year to year and around the globe,
• a line-up of superior quality of speakers where the magic is in their diversity (perspectives from industries including; medicine, government, technology, philanthropy, media, science, music, marketing, just to name a few), and
• talks that are all, in one way or another, inspiring, innovative and revolutionary.

As a result, the demand to attend and to speak at TED is staggering. It has become annual global phenomenon. Why wouldn’t it? These “ideas worth spreading” ignite innovation, stir passion, inspire action and evolve the conversation to a higher level.

So, listen up all you conference organizers, regardless of what industries, geographies, or topics your conferences cover, you can borrow a page from TED.

First off, define your purpose, test your ingredients, aim high and develop the winning recipe that will accomplish it.  There are a plethora of goals that you’ll want it to achieve  with your conference (from gaining visibility, facilitating member networking, providing value to the membership, recognizing and advancing the profession, to, yes, MAKING MONEY!) so spend time defining them. Set clear objectives. And do this in SMART terms.

And, if MAKING MONEY is a priority, why not take another lesson from TED. In addition to creating a fabulous conference experience, why not add your own version of the latest TED offering of  The Associate Membership Program.

They are offering a discounted conference fee for those who can’t actually make it to the conference, but want to share the experience of TED as it unfolds with a group of associates, family, or friends of their choosing.

It has always been my belief that there are tremendous untapped revenue streams that can be easily applied to conferences of all topics, geographies and sizes, with a little pre-planning and vision, some tech-savvy support and sound strategic marketing (ahem, here’s the shameless plug).

Why, when so many of  you conference organizers are clamoring to get butts in seats and create decent revenue streams from these events they spend months (and sometimes years) planning, you aren’t also embracing innovative ways of extending the conference conversation, is beyond my bottom line focused comprehension.

One thing I think the world needs now is flexibility that will open us up to consider other options for accomplishing our goals, to broaden our vision and our minds and lead us into doing new things in new ways. I guess that’s why I think that what the world needs now….is also… TED.

Questions of the day

Have you attended TED? Viewed a TEDTalk? What are your favourites? How did the experience change you?

What Matters Now is the latest free  e-book from Seth Godin and friends -it’s provocative, insightful, inspiring and just plain powerful!

Download it, read it, live it….just trust me on this…this IS what matters now.

The IABC NSW (Sydney) chapter offered a scholarship to help a lucky chapter member defray the costs of attending the IABC World Conference 2009 in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to receive the award this year. So, a huge “THANK YOU” goes [...]]]> The outtathegate case study from IABC’s 2009 World Conference in San Francisco

The IABC NSW (Sydney) chapter offered a scholarship to help a lucky chapter member defray the costs of attending the IABC World Conference 2009 in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to receive the award this year. So, a huge “THANK YOU” goes out to the IABC NSW chapter. To show my gratitude, I wanted to share the wealth.

As was part of the scholarship agreement, I was happy to provide a conference report upon my return. But, I wanted to do more. So, I decided to use the power of social media to share the conference highlights with the NSW chapter, conference attendees and anyone else who was interested. With that thought, outtathegate was born. I created an integrated social media campaign consisting of blog posts, podcasts, tweets, flickr photos, delicious links, audio Boos, gmail conversations and video.

My hope in developing it was that it would become a crowd sourced project where other conference delegates will provide content by sharing their comments, highlights, ideas and feedback. I felt that together we could create a vibrant citizen community that participated in meaningful conversations that continued on long after the conference ended.

Campaign Goals

1. To connect the NSW IABC chapter members with highlights from the World Conference as they happen
2. To test the power, the possibilities, the parameters and the overall success of an integrated social media campaign focused on a specific purpose
3. To promote the conference conversations before, during and after the event
4. To create deeper connections with both the local Sydney IABC community and my international communications peers
5. To increase my own understanding of the power of social media in communications

Campaign Components The campaign integrated the following components to create the conference conversation blog, @outtathegate, the conference hashtag – #iabc09, a dedicated email address – outtathegate@gmail.com, a flickr photo feed, skype- outtathegate, YouTube, Ning, the delicious tag – outtathegate, business cards, word of mouth, IABC issued emails and I even wore a couple of outtathegate t-shirts!

Campaign Tools It’s a good thing I carry a large bag because, while I ”parked” the Dell Inspiron 17” laptop and the Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headphones, I still toted an ipod, Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones, the handy little Flip video camera, my Nikon D80 and a bright smile and an outgoing personality around with me.

The Contributors A campaign like this is successful because of the contributions of many. To all of you who shared your greetings, ideas, insights, tips, suggestions, observations and inspiration, “thank you”. I am grateful that you shared your unique voices and participated in the outtathegate conversation.

The Conference Highlights The highlights were many and varied; including: grumpy old men, silly string, meeting heroes, golden gate bridge and gold quill photos, generational communications, measurement tips, dispelling CEO fears around social media, saving the planet, second life, tweetups and greetings from the incoming chair, I hope you’ll visit the outtathegate blog and the outtathegate Ning to experience them for yourself.

Overall, the top eight themes I observed from this year’s conference are:
1. Awesome people
2. Ideas, innovation and bold creativity
3. Technology , web 2.0 and social media
4. Authenticity
5. Collaboration
6. Humour and fun in the workplace
7. Diversity
8. Sustainability

For the details around how I saw these themes play out, please read the full post.

The Top 10 Lessons Learned from the outtathegate campaign

1. Traditional best practices like creating clear strategy/objectives, developing strong branding, integrating various media and encouraging interactivity remain relevant
2. Lots of preparation and planning allow you the freedom to be spontaneous
3. You must determine your campaign priorities – you just can’t do it all
4. People want to help and contribute, so let them
5. You can guide a social media campaign, but you can’t control it (but that’s half the fun)
6. Tagging is a brilliant invention and the only way to process/share vast amounts of data
7. Some people are very comfortable with Social Media, but the masses, sadly, just aren’t there yet
8. The conversation is infinitely enhanced by more voices
9. Technology is a means to an end
10. This all would have been so much easier with an iPhone!

The project succeeded in capturing and sharing a great deal of the fabulous content, people, events and ideas that came outtathegate. It achieved its overall aim to provide a snapshot of the various components that worked together to create a meaningful and memorable conference experience.

That said, there really is nothing like being there – I’m grateful I had this chance and hopefully I’ll see you all in Toronto!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the Day

What applications can you see for the innovative techniques used here?