Click here to view the embedded video.

Rowan Manahan gives his talk ‘How PowerPoint makes EVERY story better’ at Ignite at the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, in February 2011

Question of the day:

What other tools do you use [...]]]> This humourous, yet brilliant, example demonstrates how how PowerPoint can be the death of even the greatest story.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rowan Manahan gives his talk ‘How PowerPoint makes EVERY story better’ at Ignite at the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, in February 2011

Question of the day:

What other tools do you use instead of PowerPoint to tell your stories?

Click here to view the [...]]]> I WANT TO WORK HERE… Karl, can ya get me in?

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video is a fabulous illustration of a key component in creating a movement.

Have a watch….the transcript also appears below.

Questions of the day

Are you a lone nut, the first follower, the second follower or one of the crowd?

Everyone has a role [...]]]> We deal with leadership, we deal with change, we know how tough both can be.

This video is a fabulous illustration of a key component in creating a movement.

Have a watch….the transcript also appears below.

Questions of the day

Are you a lone nut, the first follower, the second follower or one of the crowd?

Everyone has a role in change…what’s yours?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Transcript:

If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.

The 2nd follower is a turning point: it’s proof the first has done well. Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.

A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.

Now here come 2 more, then 3 more.  Now we’ve got momentum.  This is the tipping point! Now we’ve got a movement!

As more people jump in, it’s no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there’s no reason not to join now. They won’t be ridiculed, they won’t stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you’ll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they’d be ridiculed for not joining.

And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made!  Let’s recap what we learned:

If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.

Be public. Be easy to follow!

But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it? Leadership is over-glorified.

Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:

It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.

There is no movement without the first follower.

We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.

The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

There it was. In print. The brochure arrived.The annual event that I look forward to year after year.

Finally in 2010, after 20 years of membership in the association, I’m achieving a milestone. I’m on the agenda for the 2010 IABC Word Conference, taking place in my home city of Toronto. I won’t be playing the role [...]]]>

There it was. In print. The brochure arrived.The annual event that I look forward to year after year.

Finally in 2010, after 20 years of membership in the association, I’m achieving a milestone. I’m on the agenda for the 2010 IABC Word Conference, taking place in my home city of Toronto. I won’t be playing the role of sage on stage. I won’t be at the microphone talking at an audience for an hour. Instead, I’ll be joining three others in facilitating a conversation.  An approach that I think is far more fun!

I’m both honoured and excited to join an international crew Bryan Person from Texas, Jeremy Schulz from Arizona and Christopher Swan from California in facilitating a three hour Unconference Session, entitled Emerging Communication Channels

Beyond a love for warmer climates, we all share sense for what’s possible, a passion for marketing and communications, an interest in social media, and an obvious infatuation with technology and new ideas. It was these that brought us together at last year’s IABC World Conference. The four of us first met online through the conversations that took place through the outtathegate campaign. That was the start of a great collaborative experience. We continued  our conversations long after the 2009 conference, brainstormed some ideas and then pitched a few to IABC for this year and… tada…this session was the result.

I think this is a prime example of how a conversation between strangers with something in common, backed by the power of social media can lead to an incredible exchange of ideas and the creation of something wonderful.

Just how wonderful? You’ll have to be part of our unconference session to find out!

We’d be honoured if you join our conversation…

Iggy Pintado, or @iggypintado, author of The Connection Generation, a man I have great respect for, was following [...]]]> I finally got to meet the person behind @iconic88. While I don’t usually follow brands or tweeps on twitter who aren’t forthright with providing details about their personal identity, I made an exception in the case of following @iconic88.

Iggy Pintado, or @iggypintado, author of The Connection Generation, a man I have great respect for, was following and recommending @iconic88. So, trusting Iggy’s advice, I hit the follow button too and found that @iconic88’s tweets were usually positive and uplifting, sometimes informative and there were always a number of them to be found in the tweetstream whenever I logged on for my twitter-fix.

At the  recent A List Entrepreneurs function we had the chance to meet the mysterious @iconic88 as Iggy was doing the big reveal! I was really excited about being part of this event. The guest of honour was a genuine and warm hearted person, who was humble and optimistic and undeniably a good soul.

That said, I guess I just had far greater hopes for the event than I realized. It was great to be there for the big reveal, but I really thought there might be more substance to the evening’s discussions.

First off, I was surprised that in an event that was aimed at those who embrace social media (why else would you want to meet the unknown @iconic88). I just assumed that those who embraced social media would also embrace all the transparency and information sharing opportunities that come along with it, but we were told that we couldn’t take video (not that the dark lit room would have allowed it on your basic iPhone). I was genuinely surprised by the announcement asking us to refrain.

The discussions got underway, I was thinking I might learn something about creating a vibrant community on twitter, some real useful bits of information to apply to twitter strategy, some gems that I could employ or suggest to clients or associates.

Instead what I experienced was a very casual discussion between a couple of very nice, very sincere, very well meaning gentlemen. While it was all very pleasant and real, it also demonstrated a few of the things that, (pardon the language here) really piss me off about the discussions that happen around twitter.

I took offense to the warning from iconic88 to be wary of over-tweeting. While I agree over-tweeting is a bad thing, he was not the person to be offering this warning. According to his follow cost stats , his AVERAGE number of tweets per day falls around the 180 mark. Although over-tweeting is something he proclaims he doesn’t do, nor does he schedule his tweets. I want someone to tell me how an average of 180 tweets per day, yes that is 15 per hour, is NOT over tweeting.  And, if someone has a family, a job, a life, how does one find the time to maintain this kind of average?

Then, of course, the conversation went to where it always goes, it turned to the number of followers! Why does it always have to come back to the lowest common denominator — the number of followers? Folks it’s not about the sheer numbers! It’s really not hard to get numbers, but connecting with the right people can be a challenge, but it is the key to unlocking twitter’s real value.

It really is about the conversations! How does anyone profess to have conversations with 30,000+ people? There is so much value to be extracted from twitter usage that is not reliant on huge numbers, but on connecting with those who can offer a valuable exchange.  If you follow the right people, there’s undeniable value in that. So many people miss this in their discussions about twitter. So many of you think more is better, but as most of us travel along the path to reach our twitter goals, more often just means more “noise”.

My final challenge to the evening’s discussion was“ why, oh why, oh why do we keep focusing on the tactic? Why are we so hypnotized by the shiny object?

There were some great people there and I’m happy to have met many of them. I will continue to follow @iconic88 and @iggypintado and a few of the people in the video below, but I will also be sure to  ask them, why we can’t we elevate our discussion as to how  twitter as a tool (‘cause that’s all it is folks) can help us to meet our larger communications, marketing, education, personal development goals, strategies and objectives?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Question of the day:

What would make you follow someone with a high follow cost?

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 [...]]]> 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 [...]]]>

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.

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue [...]]]> 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.

If you’re interested in a similar campaign for your next meeting, conference or summit, I’d be happy to discuss your specific needs.

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 [...]]]> 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!