Archive for the 'Events' Category

I am pleased to announce that ZenGuide and Chanda Communications are working with haute couture designer Roubi L’Roubi to create an online magazine, roubiMAGAZINE.com, to showcase the creative and cultural activities, events and personalities that are coming together as part of the Roubi network.

Our first articles for the magazine look behind the scenes at the music and talented individuals involved in the Tune Your Harps concert coming up on Monday 13 November at Claridges. We also interview the conductor Laurence Cummings and violinist Adrian Butterfield.

The concert is organised by the London Handel Society as a fundraiser for its 2008 Festival. There will be a champagne reception and dinner as well. Roubi has designed clothes for musicians and singers and is very much involved in this event on Monday. As he told my colleague Silvia Cambie for her article on the event:

He believes that working with musicians helps to elevate fashion to another level. “Fashion is just another form of art, very much like classical music,” he says. “Highly skilled musicians are the haute couture of music.”

I hope very much you’ll enjoy roubiMAGAZINE.com - and also be able to come and enjoy the music and champagne on Monday.

Following on from my post about the preparations for the EuroComm Conference in Barcelona last month, I’m pleased to report that we have just launched the website and blog for the Conference.

The IABC EuroComm Conference in Barcelona will take place on 4-5 Feb 2008. The website is at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/.

The blog will feature articles and posts on the theme of Innovation through Communication, which is the theme of the conference. We would very much like to engage in discussions and shares view around this theme even before the conference starts so we hope that you’ll come along to visit the blog at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/blog/.

Guest-bloggers include business communicators who will be speaking at the conference - they will be sharing their personal views on the blog in advance of the conference. There is also a core team of bloggers, including IABC members Marc Wright of simply-communicate.com, the online communications magazine, Kevin Keohane of SAS, the branding agency and Yang-May Ooi of ZenGuide, the social media consultancy as well as web usability expert, Giles Colborne of cxpartners, the usability professionals.

We are also inviting business and communications professionals to submit articles around the theme of the conference, Innovation through Communication. You do not have to be a member of IABC and you do not need to be going to the conference to submit an article. We’d just like to hear your views if you have a story or opinion piece that is relevant to our theme. You can find out more through our Article Submission Guidelines

The programme for EuroComm Conference is available at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/programme.html

Registration for the Conference is now open - find out how to register at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/registration.php

For information about discounted accommodation during the Conference, go to http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/hotel.html

by Angie Macdonald

The hype around social media continues to grow as millions of people globally join social networks and online communities. The marketing value of these tools is enormous yet many businesses are still not sure what they are and how they can use them.

On Thursday evening I went along to a talk at the City Women’s Network entitled Social Media: Online Communities and Your Business to hear three experts explain how businesses can take advantage of all that social networks and online communities have to offer.

First up was Giles Colborne, Managing Director of cxpartners who explained what online communities are and how they work. There are many different types of communities on the web; communities of support like the American Cancer Society and Trip Adviser, communities of friendship like Facebook, communities of ideas such as Boxes and Arrows, where professionals exchange knowledge, and finally, communities of expression, as in sites like Flickr and Last.fm.

What makes communities different is the issue of control. Unlike the authoritarian approach of most corporate cultures, control in online communities lies in the hands of the people using them.

The best way to approach starting your own online community is to treat it like organising a party and to think of the kind of people you’d like to attract, from an attentive host to lively social hubs and of course, your loyal friends. It is the type of people who join and participate in your community that will make or break it.

Kristin Berg, Planning Director at Euro RSCG 4D spoke about why communities and social networks are important.

If you are a business, chances are your target audience are already spending their time online in social networking sites like Flickr and Facebook. Word spreads fast in these online communities and companies need to monitor what people are saying about them and try and influence what they can.

Also, consumers are starting to interact with brands online in a manner which involves interaction, involvement and co-creation. The result is that consumers show more loyalty to the brands they feel a part of.

The benefits for businesses wanting to make use of online communities are numerous, including market research, the PR value that comes from being seen as the first to do something and advertising in the form of pre-launch product buzz, as in Microsoft’s new ZuneScene rival to the iPhone.

Companies like Sheraton Hotels and Coca-Cola have created brand engagement and engaged consumers online by asking guests to send in video stories about their trip for the Sheraton website and contribute design ideas for a new Coke bottle. The possibilities are endless.

Yang-May Ooi, Partner at Social Media Consultancy ZenGuide told about The Housing Finance Corporation’s blog or online discussion space, THFC Space, which she was involved in setting up along with CEO Piers Williamson.

A blog seemed the perfect platform to replace the quarterly newsletter that was emailed out in PDF form and promote the image of THFC as a modern, forward-thinking financial organisation.

It was decided to target the key influencers in the Housing Finance sector and gear the content towards what the members are interested in. The “bloggers” on the site include the key influencers in the sector as well as THFC staff.

Ensuring the success of THFC Space involves an editorial management policy with a blog editor and the CEO as the Managing Editor, who plays an active role in driving the project forward.

Outcomes of this project have included membership growth, an increase in discussion and increased marketing awareness amongst all at THFC.

The talks were followed by a lively discussion which touched on the issue of security and how to decide which social network to use. All in all, I thought the speakers made the idea of social media and business less scary and more accessible. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and really encouraging to hear such enthusiastic and positive comments around social media from the businesswomen in the audience.

The IABC UK SpeedExperience session last Tuesday evening offered up five round table discussions to members and their guests, including Change Management, Brand Engagement and Social Media. Each discussion lasted 20 minutes and then everyone got a chance to swap groups and go to 2 other discussions of 20 minutes each.

I was invited to host the Social Media discussion, “To Blog or Not To Blog?” and we had three very meaty and engaging discussions. The visitors to my group brought up a range of key issues that I think is worth discussing more widely here as the issues are relevant to both businesses and communicators. So, in no particular order, here’s what came up:

# Many comments boiled down to: corporates and big business find the word “blog” very unnerving. It conjures up images of unsavoury types that “we shouldn’t be associated with” and it’s all self-indulgent personal outpourings of no interest to anyone but the author. I offered a counter view that blogging technology is just a tool that enables you to have an easily updatable online site that you can use as a communication tool. If calling it a blog doesn’t help, you can call it an online magazine, journal, resource, discussion space etc. For a more detailed discussion of this, see my post A Blog by Any Other Name

# “There aren’t any good blogs out there. What value can our organisation gain by having a blog?” . I agree that there’s a lot of rubbish out there - out of millions of blogs, it’s unlikely that all of them are great! Equally, it’s unlikely that ALL of them are rubbish. If your company has a blog, its value lies in what you make of it, how you use it, who you use it to engage with. There are leading thinkers, public figures and business people who blog. There are also those who are experts in their field but who may not be famous who blog to share knowledge and engage in discussion. I’ll be posting links to some great blogs in the next few days - and maybe you’ll be inspired!

# “There’s nothing worse than a blog that’s not been updated for ages - people who blog for their business need to commit the time and energy to maintaining its output.” I wholeheartedly agree. There are ways to manage that commitment - it’s better to write something once a week regulary than over-commit and give up after a few days. If you are going to update just once a week, then say so clearly on the blog and keep to that commitment eg “I will blog every Wednesday”

# “Who is going to read our CEO’s blog? What’s he going to say that’s going to be of interest?” My view is that a commitment to your blog is a commitment to your readers. If your readers are you customers, then it is a direct commitment from the CEO to your customers. If your are thinking of an intranet blog and your readers are the staff, then it is a direct commitment from the CEO to your staff. How valuable is that to the company? Start with identifying you want to engage with and the what will come. Put yourself in your readers shoes and ask yourself what do they want to hear about.

# “My CEO wants a blog but doesn’t have time and wants someone to write it for him. I don’t think ghostblogging works. And it’s not authentic.” I agree. If the CEO is not committed to real communication and merely delegates someone to write something for him/her in his/her name - as if this was just like speechwriting, it’s going to be a failure. However, I believe there is a model where you can facilitate a CEO whose strength may not be in words or storytelling to convey his opinions and vision effectively on a blog. It takes a lot more time and work than the speechwriting model and it’s important to be upfront about the facilitation involved. But it means that someone who may not have the gift of the gab but who has a worthwhile message to convey can participate in this medium.

# “We send out an email every couple of weeks to staff internally. The directors want a blog but we did a survey and the staff want the email and don’t want a blog.” If an email model works, there may be no need to change it. However, bear in mind that emails can get lost under “the crease” after a day or so. It’s also difficult to remember they are there and unread or find them again if you want to refer back to something. You could set up a blog fairly cheaply where the same email message is made into a blog post, with the RSS feed set to deliver email notifications to staff when the blog is updated every couple of weeks. The advantage is that all messages will then be one central, searchable, archivable place. Different departments could post to the same space with categories like “HR”, “Marketing”, “IT” etc, each using different feeds to send out the email to different recipients. This would also be a way to preserve the company’s memory/ knowledge.

Also, be aware that if you ask people if they want something they already have or something they don’t know much about, they will invariably choose the thing they know. If the directors are keen to have a blog, it may be an idea to trial it for a few months and then gauge the feedback. To ensure maximum return on the trial, you’d need to make sure you have a proper business case and project management structure in place - and get advice from someone who knows how to run a blog from a communications perspective, not your tech guy.

# “I’m starting out building my freelance business. Can a blog help me?” Most definitely. It can help you showcase your expertise and engage in discussions about the hot topics in your field without relying on begging the traditional media to publish your article or interview you. Traditional media is still important but having a direct way to communicate with your clients and potential clients has a lot of value. It’s also a great way to network globally and let’s face it, networking is a very important way to get new business and keep existing relationships going.

Getting proper social media advice

My final impression is that some companies and businesses seem to be interested and excited about engaging in social media but they are being advised by communicators who do not know enough to give them all the rounded advice they need - and communicators are keen to find out more about what’s out there. Some who are looking to engage online don’t read blogs and don’t blog themselves - you need to start reading blogs at the very least if you want to take your first steps in social media. If you’re not sure where to start, you can try my Beginner’s Guide.

Whether you are a business or a communicator advising a business considering engaging in social media, you need to know what the technology can do but you don’t necessarily need an IT/ tech expert. In fact, I would go so far as to say your online communications policy should not be led by your IT department. You need someone who understands communications and how to take advantage of social media online to best engage with your customers, staff or other stakeholders. Social media is not going to replace traditional communications but will complement it and is definitely here to stay - so you need a rounded communications team with both advisors who understand the real world media and those who specialise in online media.

Pic: thanks to estudioquimbaya from flickr.com

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Following the main conference at the London College of Communication (LCC) on Social Media and Photography , there was a good Q&A session. Many of the questions related to photography but it’s the ones relating to social media that I’ve been reflecting on since Saturday.

A professional photographer expressed distrust of social media and also an anxiety about the way free photographs uploaded online by amateurs is threatening people like him who earn much of their living from stock photography. Craig Smith is one of the lecturers at LCC and also a professional photographer. His response was that there will always be competition and that one way to deal with this particular threat is to engage with it and find a way to use it to your competitive advantage.

I agree with Craig and in fact, had a similar discussion with haute couture designer Roubi L’ Roubi about the issue of copying and competition.

One of my clients is photographer Steven Lee who has recently started a blog as a way to share his passion for photography and also to share the process of his recently published photography book. He gives tips on photography as well as writing about photo shoots he has done, focusing on particular challenges during the shoot or his impressions of the event or person he was covering. He also uploads his own photos to illustrate a particular technique or to give a taste of the photo shoot. Yes, there is a risk that his uploaded photos may be nicked and reproduced elsewhere. But the overall effect is to show his work and expertise to his clients and potential clients - as well as giving them a sense of what kind of person he is.

We like to do business with people that we can trust. In our home life, we try to find plumbers or gardeners through word of mouth - we ask our neighbours and friends. In business, we ask for references and recommendations when looking to employ staff or engage contractors.

As someone working in the creative industries, you can show potential clients that you are good at what you do, that you’re reliable, understand their needs, creative, have expert skills and knowleged through online media such as a blog, podcasts, videocasts or photo galleries. By giving away a few free goodies like free photos, you may gain even more in the long term.

Yes, the threat of free stuff by hordes of amateurs is a potential threat. But, interestingly, I asked Steven that same question and he said to me, “No, it hasn’t affected my business at all. In fact, I think it’s good for professional photographers. Yes, everyone can now take pictures and show them off easily but these people aren’t my competition. It just means people are interested in photography more. If you’re a good professional photographer, there’s still a lot of work.” ”

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I really enjoyed the conference at the London College of Communication on Saturday around the theme of Social Media and Photography. It was well-attended by students and also a number of lecturers and professional photographers.

Here is a quick summary of my impressions of each session:

Lucy Soutter - opened with how she was enticed into social media by Facebook because the platform feels truly social, allowing you to see friends’ pictures and get a daily sense of what everyone you know is up to. She then discussed social media in the context of Gutenberg, communications and Marshall Mcluhan.

Alan Sekers - showed how Microsoft was developing PhotoSynth to create 3D renditions of the real world, using tagged photographs from Flickr.com. By searching all photos tagged Notre Dame on Flickr, for example, the developers could piece together different views of the world-famous site from different angles in order to create a 3D version online. Apparently, the BBC did a similar trial project but sent out one photographer to take photos of a manor house but it was evident that this very controlled project lacked the dynamism and life of the more collaborative world-wide multi-user project.

Paul Tebbs - examined the Flickr site of Miss Aniela, which starts off as a typical “what I did in my holidays” style site and has evolved to more self-conscious, arty type self-portraits. This started a debate of whether having 2 million visitors makes her work “art” and why there was no critical response on her site - and I think by “critical” they were referencing “critical art theory” rather than “yo, your site sucks” type of criticism.

Yang-May Ooi - I asked: in an online world where content is freely available and freely distributed, what value could be gained by creative artists and those working in the creative industries? I think that beyond financial value, there are other values that you can gain online if you can engage creatively using social media - these other values, like kudos, fun and creativity, can add to whatever work / product you are creating offline by increasing your exposure to a very wide audience, in particular, if you can bring people together through a sense of community and peer-to-peer engagement.

Roger Hargreaves - showed a selection of photos from Flickr as a curated exhibition of Americana. Those amateur photos blown up onto a huge screen looked like pictures in an art gallery and showed moments into American private lives. They had a haunting and strange beauty that drew you into these lives, part documentary/ photo-journalism and part intimate portraits. This prompted a debate on whether these photos could be art if they were not self-consciously referencing previous artists/ photographers before them.

Craig Smith - talked about the incident of the whale that came up the Thames earlier this year which was splashed across the BBC news pages online. The BBC, on their website, called for people to submit their photos of the whale and the public duly complied and flocked to the Thames in droves to take photos of the whale. Their presence along the river then became news in itself and the BBC then featured news items and photos of the people taking photos of the whale. His thesis was that photography is a social media in itself by being a media that can call people to action.

These notes are from memory and no doubt filtered through my non-academic appreciation of the issues. If any of the speakers happen to be reading this and would like to draw out in more detail the central theme of their talks, I would love it if you added a comment - or emailed me your remarks. In particular, if I’ve not quite summarised accurately what you said, please do let me know!

All in all, I found the day very interesting and it certainly made me think about the way I view images online and offline. It was also a privilege to have the chance to hear academics - students and lecturers - engage with each other at that thoughtful and intellectual level that is increasingly rare outside of colleges and universities.

Some photos from the day are on my ZenGuide Flickr account, for those delegates/ speakers who’d like to download them for their own albums. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get very close to the stage so the pics are not great and we didn’t manage to take pics of all the speakers as some of them found the flash photography distracting.

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I’ve been invited to chair one of the discussion round tables at this event organised by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), UK later today.

Here is the blurb:

“Have you ever asked yourself:

# Is it really possible to manage change?

# Can our employees also be our brand ambassadors?

# To blog — or not to blog?

#Engagement — just the latest word for motivation/ commitment/loyalty?

#Can internal and external communication ever be aligned?

# Where can communication help in a crisis?

Come along to Speedexperience—Share the Knowledge to discuss these and other issues with experienced practitioners…

The date: Tuesday 9th October
The time: 5.45

The format: welcome drink, speed experience table discussions start 6.30 and end 7.45 with the opportunity to continue the discussions/informally and network over a glass of wine and nibbles.

The place: The Churchill Room (HMRC Parliament Street in Whitehall). From its historic balcony Sir Winston waved at the cheering crowds at the end of World War 2

The cost: £20

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How to book: http://iabcexperiencenetworking.eventbrite.com”

It may be a bit late to book online but if you are keen to come, contact Susan Walker via email: commevaluation[at]hotmail.com

Photo: thanks to wikipedia.org

spdex

I’ve been invited to speak on Saturday at the Social Media and Photography one-day conference at the London College of Communication (LCC), part of the University of Arts, London. My brief is to give an overview of social media for the students at LCC while other speakers will be looking more specifically at photography within social media, such as Flickr and Photosynth.

Here’s the summary:

“Forms of social media, in which the user is also the author, are transforming the role of photography in contemporary culture. On sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, MySpace and Second World users generate and share content, eemingly side-stepping the influence of corporations, governments and editors&;though new forms of censorship are on the rise. What attitudes and assumptions are built into the structures of existing forms of social media? What can we learn about ourselves, our moment in history, and about photography (and video) from looking at social media more carefully?

Speakers will include Roger Hargreaves, Yang-May Ooi, Alan Sekers, Craig Smith, Lucy Soutter and Paul Tebbs.”

The conference is organised by my friend Lucy Soutter, an art photographer and a lecturer in photography at LCC, and the other speakers are her professor colleagues. I’m looking forward to hearing what they are going to talk about as it will be a great opportunity to learn from some academic experts.

In my session, I’m going to focus on what social media means for creative artists and those working in the creative industries, especially where a lot of content on the web is created for free and distributed for free.

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For those attending the conference, you can download the slides from my presentation Social Media: Free for All? - the password will be available at the conference.

lccsm

You might like to come along to a discussion panel at the City Womens Network (CWN) on “Social Media: Online Communities” on 18 October ( 18.30 - 20.30pm). I’m one of the speakers along with a number of other web, digital marketing and business PR experts.

Here’s the blurb:

Using social media to build an online community around your business can be an effective way to retain clients, bring in new ones and raise the profile of your enterprise. In this panel discussion, we explore practical steps you can take to create and manage an online community relevant for your business.
We are proud to have selected a panel of speakers:

Yang-May Ooi, founder of social media consultancy ZenGuide and experienced blogger, will talk about strategies to keep your visitors coming back to your site and to develop your brand’s presence online.

Giles Colborne, President of the UK Usability Professionals’ Association and Managing Director of cxpartners, will guide you through the roles and responsibilities in managing online communities.

Kristen Berg, marketing strategist, looks at some examples of how brands have used communities, the strategic role they play and the potential value to the company.

Silvia Cambié, Director of Chanda Communications and Chair of CWN’s Membership Committee, will be moderating the session.

Organised by the Membership Committee. For more information, contact the organiser, Silvia Cambié, on silvia[at]chandacom.com.

Venue information:
Hosted by CO3 Limited
First Floor, Downstream Building No. 1, London Bridge,
SE1 9BG London, GB
nearest tube is London Bridge.

Time: 18.30pm
Date: 18 October 2007

Members: £20
Non-members: £25 (men welcome as guests)

It would be great to see you there. If you’re coming, email me and I’ll let the organisers know.

Last week, I gave a presentation at the Copyright Licensing Agency’s annual open meeting about The Impact of Web 2.0 on copyright issues. It was a packed hall with over 180 people, many of them standing. The delegates ranged from authors and content producers to publishers and librarians and knowledge management professionals in education and business organisations. Althought I couldn’t make it for the whole of the round table discussion on digital information and copyright chaired by Chris Bryant, MP, I managed to catch the tail end of it. I also had the chance after the event to speak to a few of the delegates, including representatives from the BBC, a photographic rights agency, a publisher and a corporate knowledge management professional.

I’m jotting down here some of my impressions of the issues from the conference - these are no more than impressions and vignettes of the discussions as they were aired and raise more questions for debate rather than giving firm answers.

• The government is making funding available for schools to help students become more internet- and social media- literate but there are apparently delays due to concerns about schools using materials off the internet in breach of copyright. However, there are apparently special sites offering copyright-free material for schools and educational establishment for just this purpose. But, overall, can the government with all its unwieldy bureaucratic machinery be the right instrument for change is the fast moving area of online technology and networked communication and enterprise?

• Is digital rights management here to stay? Or will content producers like the BBC have to accept the fact that they will have to let go off their rights to a product some time after it’s been produced?

• At the moment, the likes of the BBC can still find a market to sell its high quality products like its natural world series etc due to the fact that pirated versions on the internet are of low quality. It is probably not long before the technology will be freely available to upload high quality pirated versions online. What then for the original content producers?

• Is there a future for book writers when digital readers become more widely available? At the moment, book lovers are still attached to the physical book but as the young techno-loving iPod wearing millenials and their children start to outnumber us oldies, will they adapt more enthusiastically to electronic book readers? If so, will that be an opportunity for “bijou” writers who don’t produce blockbusters to gain a wider readership through digital distribution because they won’t be at the mercy of the bookshops for distribution? Or will it be a threat because their work can now be easily copied and freely distributed illegally?

• Chris Bryant mentioned the estate of German playwright Bertolt Brecht. The estate were apparently restrictive for a long time in granting rights for Brecht’s works to be used, quoted, performed or edited. For example, his plays in their original would run for over 3.5 hours which is difficult to market to today’s theatre-going audiences. However, they have recently been more open in rights granting and the result has been that more Brecht plays are being performed and the increased exposure generally from the dissemination of his works through freer rights has resulted in greater revenue returns for the estate.

• The panellists in the main discussion all called for flexibility in managing copyright - yes, it is important to protect and value the products of creativity and hard work but in this digital age, it’s important to be flexible to enable the sharing of information and knowledge.

• I was struck by the comment of a university representative about the difficulties of printing off 50 copies of an online article to include in a student pack for discussion on one of the university’s courses. It’s ironic in that the founding principle of the World Wide Web was that the technology was meant to make information freely available for all…

What do you think? Have you had experiences around copyright issues and social media or online digital technologies? I’d love to hear your views - please add a comment or email me.

Photo: of Sony Digital Reader thanks to askdavetaylor.com

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