LiveWorld is hosting a webinar on Nov. 10th with noted social media analyst Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Group and Jennifer Gordon, director of global advertising for Campbell's Soup, who will be discussing strategies and best practices in the new "social everywhere" marketing landscape.
Since webinars are growing in popularity and many folks might be considering hosting one of these too, I thought it would be interesting to have a chat with LiveWorld's Social Media Evangelist Bryan Person, about the process of organizing a webinar.
Mark: Why did you decide to do a webinar, and what do you hope to gain from it?
Bryan: Webinars are something we've been talking about internally for a while. Here's why we're starting them now:
The "Social Everywhere" concept--where every web page is becoming social--is really gaining steam, and we think it's something that businesses and brands simply can't ignore. By having a webinar this month, we're hoping to alert marketers to an important new trend, and hopefully in time for them to make some changes (if they need to) to their 2010 plans and budgets.
From a selfish point of view, of course, we're hoping the webinar will generate both actual business leads and increased awareness of what LiveWorld offers in the area of social strategy. That doesn't mean we're going to hammer attendees with a running commercial of our products and services; rather, we're hoping that a high-quality webinar program will reflect well on us.
And just from a professional-development and process angle, learning how to actually put on a webinar is a good new skill to add to our marketing arsenal.
Mark: How did you go about selecting the webinar platform? Are there different vendors? What sold you on the one you chose?
I largely have to defer to Jenna Woodul, chief community officer at LiveWorld, on this one, since she did the comparative research. But what we do like about GoToWebinar--the platform we ultimately chose--is that we can host up to 1,000 attendees for the same price. We won't get that many folks this time, but it's certainly something to aim for!
Mark: You decided to bring in guests for this webinar rather than have your own company experts talk on the topic. Isn't the point of a webinar to showcase how much you know about a topic?
My friend Mitch Joel likes to say that being a "champion for your industry" is one of the best forms of marketing, and that's what we're trying to do here. Holding a webinar that's only and all about LiveWorld wouldn't be nearly as interesting as providing a platform/forum for experts from outside to come in and share what they're seeing and experiencing in social media/brand marketing.
Now, to be fair, we are including Peter Friedman, CEO & chairman of LiveWorld, on the panel, but he'll "have the mic" for less time than our two primary panelists: the Altimeter Group's Jeremiah Owyang and Campbell Soup Company's Jennifer Gordon. Jeremiah and Jennifer are both in the trenches of "Social Everywhere" on a day-to-day basis with their clients and customers, so we know they'll offer good insights and analyses. (disclosure: Campbells is a LiveWorld client)
Mark: How long did it take you to set up this webinar? Can you give an estimate of how many hours it takes to put one of these together?
Hmm ... wishing I'd been tallying up the time that we've all put into this over the last month or so. But if I had to guess, I'd say at least 40 hours. And that's not including any of the follow-up work! I expect that we'll become more efficient with our time for future webinars, since we'll more or less know the ropes.
Mark: What didn't you know about hosting a webinar that you wished you did when you started to put this together?
What I'm learning is--or perhaps had intuitively known all along but had to have the lesson drilled home along the way--is what you do after the webinar is just as important--if not more so--than what you leading up to webinar and during the recording itself.
That means, we have to make sure we're diligent about following up with everyone who's registered for the webinar--both those who attended and those who couldn't make it. We'll also have to post a replay of the webinar in a timely fashion on our website, so that it's discoverable through search and by new visitors to LiveWorld.com.
If the webinar is good--and we sure hope it will be!--we want to make it drop-dead easy for more people to find out about it later, and also to share it with others.
Mark: Would you recommend other businesses hosting their own webinars? Why should a brand do one of these?
I would normally start off with an "it depends" answer here, but I know you're not always so fond of such wishywashiness, Mark. So, let me say this: webinars are a great tool for brands and agencies to demonstrate their handle on the important discussions of their industry. And they also offer the promise of lead generation and increased awareness.
But as I've noted above, there's a lot of planning, research, and follow-up that needs to happen to ultimately make the webinars worth a company's time and money.
So there you have it--the inside skinny on setting up webinars. Do you have any questions about organizing webinars? Or maybe some tips to share for others?
I'll write a bit more about my take on the Real Time Web, but will let Marshall describe it in his own words. It might be helpful to take a look at his Human/Machine Continuum to put the real time web into perspective first, to see how our communications using the web have evolved in just a few short years.
What are your thoughts? Are YOU using the real time web? What do you find useful about the real time web, and what could you do without?
Is the real time web actually making your life any better?
When I was a little kid, my family was kind of poor, and I learned at an early age not to ask for things. The answer always seemed to be a big, fat NO.
When my birthday or Christmas would roll around every year, I wouldn't even bother asking for the latest cool toy or new bicycle or any of those neat things that my friends always seemed to get. I’d take whatever came wrapped up in colorful paper and be thankful for it, rather than wishing for something really special. I wanted Rock'em Sock'em Robots but acted happy when I'd get a Slinky instead.
When I confided to my mom many years later that I felt a little cheated for not having some of the cool toys my friends had, she thought for a moment and said in a surprised voice "you never asked for any of those things, so I didn't think you wanted them."
I laughed and replied that I didn't think we could afford them and without blinking an eye, she shrugged her shoulders dismissively and said, "maybe not, but if you don't ask, you don't get."
This little life lesson has an amazing power that many brands engaging in social media never utilize.
If You Build It, They Will Come...and Create.
The promise of WOM marketing is pretty simple--give your customers a venue and some tools, and they will create all kinds of content, interact with others and become ambassadors extolling your brand's virtues.
But what do you do when that doesn't happen? What do you do when you've spent time and money to put a shiny new "Community" link on your site with a few social media tools, and slapped up a Facebook fan page or group, but nobody does anything? There are no comments, no blogs, no videos, no content.
You've provided tools and you've driven traffic, but nothing is happening. It's a ghost town. You wanted the Rock'em Sock'em Robots of a website, and wound up with a Slinky.
Why aren't the visitors doing what they're supposed to do?
Ask...and You Might Receive
The answer might be staring you right in the face: did you remember to ask people to participate?
Now, I'm not talking about the couple lines of text on a web page that go something like "this is your community and we hope you'll join the conversation!"
That's the lazy way of engaging your visitors and not likely to yield results. It's a waste of space on the page that could be used for a more useful link, in my opinion.
The thing is, most people on the internet are busy. They come to a website FIRST for information, not to make new friends. They expect to find content on your website—they’re there to consume your content, not help create it.
So how do you get visitors to go from consumers to creators? Well, it’s pretty simple.
You ask for help.
Ask your site visitors for their help...and their opinions. Those are two things that almost everyone loves to give.
Got A Fence You Need Painted?
I was reminded of this the other day by Bryan Person, our LiveWorld Community Evangelist, who sent me an email asking me if I had any good ideas for a blog topic.
Bryan phrased his question quite innocently, and made it sound like I could really help him out if I could come up with a good blog topic and write about it. He immediately got me thinking and this entry is the result of him asking.
Now, I’m in the social media business and in fact, it’s my job to regularly come up with new blog topics. But Bryan didn’t motivate like that…he didn’t demand that I create content, he asked.
He made it sound like I could do a good thing for other people if I could write something and what could have felt like a task, suddenly felt like a noble gesture.
It helps that Bryan has a Tom Sawyer kind of charm to him, and I’m sure if he asked me to paint his fence, I’d think I was getting the better end of the deal, and that’s really the point.
It’s not what you ask people to do—it’s how you ask that gets results. Ask in such a way that people want to give.
Oh Brother, Can You Spare a Comment?
If you’re finding that you’re not generating content on your social website, you might start with that simple premise. ASK people to contribute. As a website publisher, you have powerful data at your fingertips that gives you insight into your site visitors. Rather than wait for the visitors to engage with each other, you might consider engaging with them first.
Try This
Look thru your database and see which 25 people have visited the site most frequently. Or get the list of your 50 most active posters—these are folks who have already expressed some sense of attraction and participation with your site.
Ask them directly via emails, surveys or polls on the site,what they are thinking. What they like or don’t like about your site or your products.
Ask if you can interview them and feature them on the site. Ask them their opinions on a few topics and if you have an interesting email exchange with a member, ask them if they would post that thought on your discussion boards, or if they would write a blog article.
Ask them if they would invite their friends to the site, or what would make the site more invite-worthy. Ask them to do something specific for you.
The act of asking shows people that YOU are engaged and want to be more engaged. It sends the signal that “I want to listen to you.” Asking for something specific lets the person being asked know how much effort is required from them and makes it easy for the answer to be yes.
Most people like to help out, even if we’re incredibly busy. We feel good about doing something helpful for someone else, as long as we can see the benefit to helping. So give your site visitors that opportunity to feel good—connect with them and ask them to help out in a small way.
My Momma Always Said...
Remember, just because you ask doesn’t mean that the answer will be yes. But as my mom would say, if you DON’T ask, you won’t get.
What about you? Can you share an example of where you did something a little extra that you wouldn’t normally do—until someone asked you for your help?
I recently gave my team a challenge to develop 'elevator pitches'--short, 45 second introductions of themselves and our company. I suggested 3 scenarios where having something prepared that rolls naturally and easily off the tongue would come in handy:
At a conference of peers, and you get the inevitable questions-- "what do you do?" and "who do you work for?"
In either a business or social situation where you meet someone who might be a potential client and you want to introduce yourself in a personal yet professional way.
When your non-tech family and friends ask you "what exactly do you do for a living?"
As community managers, that third scenario is often the most difficult to describe, because there really isn't an off-line job that mirrors what a CM does.
She's done a brilliant job describing the role and I'm not going to recap her work here--I highly recommend you click on the link and check it out. I don't really have anything to add to her concise description.
Now, I still have to figure out how to put her wonderful CM description into 45 seconds or less so my Dad can understand what I do for a living, but that's another matter.
Rachel poses an interesting question on the topic--how do you prioritize your time as a CM? With so many different aspects to the job, how do you go about managing your day?
And that's what I'm curious to know too. I'm probably not very good at time management, because I find myself working on a Sunday afternoon, trying to catch up to work that I didn't get to during the week. I can get so wrapped up in doing daily maintenance tasks for my clients that I don't always get to the bigger, long term initiatives that will ultimately benefit both the client and my company more.
So here is my question for you, dear readers: How much of your day is taken up with 'mundane' tasks, and how do you carve time out for the bigger projects? I can find myself so occupied with responding to daily emails, looking at metrics and reports, surfing through clients communities etc, that I don't feel like I actually got anything done.
Somebody once said something to the effect of "empty what is full, and fill what is empty."
I take that statement to mean, "do the not-so-obvious when everyone is doing the obvious, and do the obvious when everyone is doing something different." In other words, I don't always go with what everyone else is saying or doing.
If you're looking to develop a community around a brand or an idea, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of 'how to' articles on the internet that can give you solid advice on getting started. That's what's full.
What is empty...or emptier, I should say, are thoughts on what NOT to do when developing a community. So here are 5 things that I recoomend that you should NOT do when trying to develop or grow either an online or offline community:
DONT:
1. Talk with your community in marketing-speak.
Sure, you have an ulterior motive for developing a community--but people aren't "customers", "members", "users" or "clients". They're people. Talk with them the way that you'd talk with your friends, family and co-workers. Be a human, not a marketer.
2. Expect people to behave the way you want them to behave.
Yes, you have an objective for gathering people together and trying to form a community, and you have hopes for how they will act. But you can't force people to do anything, and this is REALLY important when developing a website.
MOST sites want people to register with the site--they want data like email addresses, demographic info, purchasing info for follow up marketing. So they force users to register for the site in order to use the features of the site.
Or they offer very limited functionality and try to funnel visitors to either the registration or purchasing tracks.
This is wrong. UI studies indicate that you have approximately 6 seconds to provide some usefulness to a site visitor or s/he is gone. If you're not providing *instant* value, then you're never going to get the visitor to registration.
Provide value to the visitors at first glance, and then *observe* visitor behavior and try to take advantage of what the GUEST wants to do, not what YOU want them to do.
It's a better, more fruitful experience for all and will lead to repeat visits and deeper engagement with the community/website.
Registration information given because the user had to give it (instead of wanting to give it) is useless and counter-productive. The first time you try to connect with that person, they will remove themselves from your emailing list and will form a negative opinion of you because they will remember that you forced them to give something they didn't want to give.
Give people the opportunity to give you information because they want to, and that information becomes MUCH more valuable.
3. Squash disagreements or negative comments about you.
Okay, it's your website or brand--do you REALLY have to listen to people talk trash about you?
Yes. If you want to create an environment where great ideas will grow.
Nobody likes to hear people say bad things about them, but people only say bad things because they WANT to love you/your brand, but something is disappointing them.
YOU want to please your customers and your friends, don't you?
The only way to know if you're doing that is to create an open, warm environment where people are free to speak their mind.
There should be rules of civil discourse, of course and you should definitely set the rules for the tone of the culture on how to disagree and express opinions.
Controversy and freedom of expression helps bring clarity to issues (not necessarily agreement), allows defenders to come forth and leads to new understanding.
Remember--everyone speaks their version of the truth, so there is something good to be found in every opinion. If you are looking to deliver the best possible product or service, those negative views are telling you where you could be doing better.
4. Feel compelled to ACT on every suggestion or comment from the community.
Someone has to set direction and the practical reality is that you will often get conflicting opinions from members of your community on what 'they' want.
THANK everyone in the community for contributing their thoughts and energy, let them know that they were heard and considered, and give them reasons for why you make certain decisions.
But once you decide to turn left, don't waste any more time explaining to people why you didn't turn right. It detracts from the focus of what you are doing.
5. Be afraid to make mistakes.
There are no guarantees of success in any endeavor--you take the best practices, create an environment for success and make the best decisions you can for the right reasons, and maybe success comes your way.
If you're into sporting analogies--there are 32 teams comprised of professional football players in the NFL. They all have amazing players, dedicated, workaholic coaches and organizations whose sole focus is to win games on Sundays and win a championship.
Yet, only ONE of those teams wins the championship every year, and less than half have a winning season. It's unusual when a team wins a championship two years in a row, so success is a very rare commodity.
So if you decide to turn left over opposition from the community, for example, and it turns out you should have turned right, well....
....admit it, and turn right. The community will forgive you (eventually) and your openness will signal to them that you are engaged *with* them and they will appreciate you for the honesty.
We learn more from our mistakes...remember them longer...and grow more attached people we have suffered with than those we have only succeeded with.
Failure makes you human, being human makes you endearing. And even brands can be endearing.
So if you try some initiative with your community and it doesn't work--that's okay. Try something else. Learn what you can from each experience and continue to *listen* to what your community is telling you.
After all, you are ultimately there to serve the needs of the community, not the other way around.
Those are my Top 5 Things NOT To Do when building a community.
I'm currently entering into final preparations for performing in the musical Guilty Pleasures in Lake Tahoe, Aug. 12-16.
Now, I'm definitely out of my element when it comes to musicals. As an actor, I love doing dramas and comedies. I've sung in shows before, but I'm more of a 'character voice', which really means, as a singer...I'm a hell of an actor. I can act the role well enough that the audience doesn't really care how well I sing.
In this role, however, I get to sing a sweet love song with a woman who quite simply has one of the best voices in Lake Tahoe. This makes me very, very nervous--I love listening to Sharon sing and as her partner, I don't want her song to not go well because I'm weak.
Nothing pulls an audience out of a moment like hearing Sharon singing beautifully one verse, and then listening to a frog croak in the next verse.
So I've been working very diligently on my vocal technique and singing the song, and I have to say that it's been going well in rehearsals.
And then last night, I had a breakthrough that was pretty profound.
There is one particular place in the song where I have problems finding my note and that one spot has been giving me fits. I miss the note half the time, which makes me cringe and it takes me the rest of the verse to get back on key.
Last night, I decided to forget about singing the song and that one particular trouble-spot, and focus more on *performing* the song. Really listening to the words, being moved by the music and letting go to *feel* it and express myself via song.
Really, just trusting the vocal work that I had done without thinking about it.
It went so well, that my song partner got totally caught up in what we were doing and feeling the song, that at one point, she forgot to sing! She was caught up in being in the moment and not thinking about what she was supposed to say next. I was actually kind of happy that she was so into our connection that she lost herself.
Now, that wouldn't fly in performance, of course, but that's not the point. Sharon is a total pro and now that we discovered a deeper connection in the song, she will take that and soar once the show opens.
That's what rehearsals are for, after all. Finding new connections and deeper meaning. And sometimes, when you make a new discovery, your mind just goes blank, it's so powerful.
The trouble-spot went by effortlessly and on-key, and I was on the next verse before I even realized I had just passed the spot that I usually worry about.
The joy of performance is not that you forget that you're under intense spotlights and many people have paid hard-earned money to watch you--you take all of that into consideration. You feel that pressure to perform and be worthy.
But you ignore the distraction of all those external fears and pressure and focus more sharply on just doing what you know how to do.
You lose yourself and become what you are doing.
What's really interesting...and pertinent...is the lesson that in order to perform well, you must trust what you know, trust your training, trust your experience...and then just let it all go and enjoy doing what you are doing.
I stopped thinking about singing my song, my cues, my notes...and just sang...and let the song move me.
I write this as a response to my own blog post regarding 5 Things Not To Do in growing a community. There are many good tips out there on Do's and Dont's that provide a solid background on how to develop communities, and I highly recommend that you read them.
But at a certain point, I'd also like to suggest that you STOP reading 'how to' articles, and trust what you already know.
We ALL belong to communities in our daily lives, be those the local PTA, an HOA, a church, professional association, running club, Scouts organization or what have you. We all belong to *something*.
We KNOW how to develop those types of communities in our daily lives, we know what gets us involved and contributing in those communities or what keeps us on the sidelines.
So if you're in the business of developing online communities using social media, at some point, you'll want to trust that you've done your homework and just lose yourself in the performance of *being* with your community. Forget about whether you're doing everything right...or not...
...and be human. Be a part of your online community the way you are in your real-world communities and lose yourself in performance. Just go with what's actually happening and 'be'. It's a magical feeling.
What do you think--have you ever lost yourself in performance?
Somebody once said something to the effect of "empty what is full, and fill what is empty."
I take that statement to mean, "do the not-so-obvious when everyone is doing the obvious, and do the obvious when everyone is doing something different." In other words, I don't always go with what everyone else is saying or doing.
If you're looking to develop a community around a brand or an idea, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of 'how to' articles on the internet that can give you solid advice on getting started. That's what's full.
What is empty...or emptier, I should say, are thoughts on what NOT to do when developing a community. So here are 5 things that I reccomend that you should NOT do when trying to develop or grow either an online or offline community:
DONT:
1. Talk with your community in marketing-speak.
Sure, you have an ulterior motive for developing a community--but people aren't "customers", "members", "users" or "clients". They're people. Talk with them the way that you'd talk with your friends, family and co-workers. Be a human, not a marketer.
2. Expect people to behave the way you want them to behave.
Yes, you have an objective for gathering people together and trying to form a community, and you have hopes for how they will act. But you can't force people to do anything, and this is REALLY important when developing a website.
MOST sites want people to register with the site--they want data like email addresses, demographic info, purchasing info for follow up marketing. So they force users to register for the site in order to use the features of the site.
Or they offer very limited functionality and try to funnel visitors to either the registration or purchasing tracks.
This is wrong. UI studies indicate that you have approximately 6 seconds to provide some usefulness to a site visitor or s/he is gone. If you're not providing *instant* value, then you're never going to get the visitor to registration.
Provide value to the visitors at first glance, and then *observe* visitor behavior and try to take advantage of what the GUEST wants to do, not what YOU want them to do.
It's a better, more fruitful experience for all and will lead to repeat visits and deeper engagement with the community/website.
Registration information given because the user had to give it (instead of wanting to give it) is useless and counter-productive. The first time you try to connect with that person, they will remove themselves from your emailing list and will form a negative opinion of you because they will remember that you forced them to give something they didn't want to give.
Give people the opportunity to give you information because they want to, and that information becomes MUCH more valuable.
3. Squash disagreements or negative comments about you.
Okay, it's your website or brand--do you REALLY have to listen to people talk trash about you?
Yes. If you want to create an environment where great ideas will grow.
Nobody likes to hear people say bad things about them, but people only say bad things because they WANT to love you/your brand, but something is disappointing them.
YOU want to please your customers and your friends, don't you?
The only way to know if you're doing that is to create an open, warm environment where people are free to speak their mind.
There should be rules of civil discourse, of course and you should definitely set the rules for the tone of the culture on how to disagree and express opinions.
Controversy and freedom of expression helps bring clarity to issues (not necessarily agreement), allows defenders to come forth and leads to new understanding.
Remember--everyone speaks their version of the truth, so there is something good to be found in every opinion. If you are looking to deliver the best possible product or service, those negative views are telling you where you could be doing better.
4. Feel compelled to ACT on every suggestion or comment from the community.
Someone has to set direction and the practical reality is that you will often get conflicting opinions from members of your community on what 'they' want.
THANK everyone in the community for contributing their thoughts and energy, let them know that they were heard and considered, and give them reasons for why you make certain decisions.
But once you decide to turn left, don't waste any more time explaining to people why you didn't turn right. It detracts from the focus of what you are doing.
5. Be afraid to make mistakes.
There are no guarantees of success in any endeavor--you take the best practices, create an environment for success and make the best decisions you can for the right reasons, and maybe success comes your way.
If you're into sporting analogies--there are 32 teams comprised of professional football players in the NFL. They all have amazing players, dedicated, workaholic coaches and organizations whose sole focus is to win games on Sundays and win a championship.
Yet, only ONE of those teams wins the championship every year, and less than half have a winning season. It's unusual when a team wins a championship two years in a row, so success is a very rare commodity.
So if you decide to turn left over opposition from the community, for example, and it turns out you should have turned right, well....
....admit it, and turn right. The community will forgive you (eventually) and your openness will signal to them that you are engaged *with* them and they will appreciate you for the honesty.
We learn more from our mistakes...remember them longer...and grow more attached people we have suffered with than those we have only succeeded with.
Failure makes you human, being human makes you endearing. And even brands can be endearing.
So if you try some initiative with your community and it doesn't work--that's okay. Try something else. Learn what you can from each experience and continue to *listen* to what your community is telling you.
After all, you are ultimately there to serve the needs of the community, not the other way around.
Those are my Top 5 Things NOT To Do when building a community.
It's said that relapse is a part of recovery, so I'll just chalk up my blogging absence to a long relapse.
Life has caught up with me and in the past few months, I've simply found myself too busy with work, the death of my mom and working on a theatrical production to keep up with my blogging activities.
I'm back, and will continue the 12 Step Social Media program in the coming days. But first...
Jono did an amazing job of organizing a free 'unconference', attended by 200 or so community managers and developers, many of whom came from the open source community.
My main role leading the sessions as I perceived it, was to instigate and moderate--challenge the 'conventional wisdom' (ie: you MUST be on Twitter) and prod the smart people in the room to come up with solutions to common problems.
I was really pleased when http://coolastory.blogspot.com/">@sujamthe came up and introduced herself after my first session to tell me that she liked the way that I conducted the session and it inspired her to lead a session as well. I also discovered that she leads Twitter meetups in the South Bay and that introduction led to my meeting @pcrampton, which in turn led to an afternoon and evening of deep discussion on measuring communities that led to the topic of the second session regarding metrics.
The metrics session went well--the conversation was lively, some practical tips were shared and nearly 75% of the attendees were still deep in conversation 15 minutes after the panel ended.
That response really told us that there is a lot of interest (and NEED) among community managers for some direction when it comes to measuring communities both qualitatively and quantitatively. So now we're looking at extending THAT session possibly into an all-day conference on community metrics. (ping me if you're interested in helping organize an event!)
It's really amazing how one small thing can lead to so many bigger things at these events.
Problems CM's Everywhere Face
I discovered there are MANY common problems among community managers. Chief among them:
Not enough time. Communities/relationships take time and it's a messy job that doesn't fit neatly into predictable blocks of time (like coding). Most CM's are tasked with many functions as part of their job.
Which tools/platforms are the most effective & efficient to use? Where do you get the most bang for the buck? (Answer: it depends. Of course.)
Metrics are the 800 pound gorilla. Nearly all CM's struggle with developing metrics that gives REAL information. Most metrics are devised to satisfy either marketing or upper management that the community yield is worth the company investment, but what management wants is often misguided to what the community is actually doing or good for.
What I Learned at #CLS
I came away with enough fodder for several blog posts, but here are a couple of things that stick out in my mind:
Developer and open source communities have *incredible* passion and energy--probably more so than branded communities. Their energy level is palpable. Sometimes fierce.
Developer and open source communities take the concept of 'purity' VERY seriously, which makes managing their communities something of a challenge. It's an almost anarchistic environment and they like it that way.
These community members feel very, very protective of the communities that develop, and they struggle with how much guidance or control is appropriate in their communities.
It seems to me that branded communities like and expect a certain level of control by the brand in their communities. Yes, the members own the community, but they also understand that it will be policed and managed by the brand. Branded communities don't like to feel manipulated, but they seem to accept some degree of control better than open-source/developer communities.
Women Are Geeks Too
There were more women at this conference than most, and they wanted to educate the guys on how to bring even MORE women into conferences. The ratio was roughly 75% male to 25% female, and the consensus among the women was that the 'normal' ratio is around 90/10.
Lastly, in one session, we practiced developing a 45 second elevator pitch to describe what you do that is interesting and invites more conversation but doesn't make you sound like a robot or like you're selling something.
It's a LOT harder than it sounds. But invaluable.
I *highly* recommend people take a couple of hours and develop 3-5 different elevator pitches slanted towards different type of people you're bound to meet.
Mine still needs more refinement, but I was a lot better after the workshop and I'll keep practicing. It's really a very necessary skill to distill who you are and what you do into a 45 second message.
We all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you happened to stumble upon someone really, really important in your field and only had 45 seconds to talk with them about what you do, what would YOU say?
It's said that relapse is a part of recovery, so I'll just chalk up my blogging absence to a long relapse.
Life has caught up with me and in the past few months, I've simply found myself too busy with work, the death of my mom and working on a theatrical production to keep up with my blogging activities.
I'm back, and will continue the 12 Step Social Media program in the coming days. But first...
Jono did an amazing job of organizing a free 'unconference', attended by 200 or so community managers and developers, many of whom came from the open source community.
I dove in and led two sessions--one called "Social Media Snake Oil" and the other "Metrics That Matter". (note to self--remember to ask someone to take notes-I forgot to get notes of the first session, but did get them for the Metrics panel.)
My main role, as I perceived it, was to instigate and moderate--challenge the 'conventional wisdom' (ie: you MUST be on Twitter) and prod the smart people in the room to come up with solutions to common problems.
I was really pleased when @sujamthe introduced herself after my first session to tell me that she liked the way that I conducted the session and it inspired her to lead a session as well. I also discovered that she leads Twitter meetups in the South Bay and that introduction led to my meeting @pcrampton, which in turn led to an afternoon and evening of deep discussion on measuring communities that led to the topic of the second session regarding metrics.
The metrics session went well--the conversation was lively, some practical tips were shared and nearly 75% of the attendees were still deep in conversation 15 minutes after the panel ended.
That response really told us that there is a lot of interest (and NEED) among community managers for some direction when it comes to measuring communities both qualitatively and quantitatively. So now we're looking at extending THAT session possibly into an all-day conference on community metrics. (ping me if you're interested in helping organize an event!)
It's really amazing how one small thing can lead to so many bigger things at these events.
Problems CM's Everywhere Face
I discovered there are MANY common problems among community managers. Chief among them:
--Not enough time. Communities/relationships take time and it's a messy job that doesn't fit neatly into predictable blocks of time (like coding). Most CM's are tasked with many functions as part of their job. --Which tools/platforms are the most effective & efficient to use? Where do you get the most bang for the buck? (Answer: it depends. Of course.) --Metrics are the 800 pound gorilla. Nearly all CM's struggle with developing metrics that gives REAL information. Most metrics are devised to satisfy either marketing or upper management that the community yield is worth the company investment, but what management wants is often misguided to what the community is actually doing or good for.
What I Learned at #CLS
I came away with enough fodder for several blog posts, but here are a couple of things that stick out in my mind:
1) Developer and open source communities have *incredible* passion and energy--probably more so than branded communities. Their energy level is palpable. Sometimes fierce.
2) Developer and open source communities take the concept of 'purity' VERY seriously, which makes managing their communities something of a challenge. It's an almost anarchistic environment and they like it that way.
These community members feel very, very protective of the communities that develop, and they struggle with how much guidance or control is appropriate in their communities.
3) It seems to me that branded communities like and expect a certain level of control by the brand in their communities. Yes, the members own the community, but they also understand that it will be policed and managed by the brand. Branded communities don't like to feel manipulated, but they seem to accept some degree of control better than open-source/developer communities.
Women Are Geeks Too
4) There were more women at this conference than most, and they wanted to educate the guys on how to bring even MORE women into conferences. The ratio was roughly 75% male to 25% female, and the consensus among the women was that the 'normal' ratio is around 90/10.
5) Lastly, in one session, we practiced developing a 45 second elevator pitch to describe what you do that is interesting and invites more conversation but doesn't make you sound like a robot or like you're selling something.
It's a LOT harder than it sounds. But invaluable.
I *highly* recommend people take a couple of hours and develop 3-5 different elevator pitches slanted towards different type of people you're bound to meet.
Mine still needs more refinement, but I was a lot better after the workshop and I'll keep practicing. It's really a very necessary skill to distill who you are and what you do into a 45 second message.
We all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you happened to stumble upon someone really, really important in your field and only had 45 seconds to talk with them about what you do, what would YOU say?
Yesterday, I mentioned that 'old school' marketing is like an addiction--it's a habit that feels good, produces a familiar feeling, but ultimately is self-destructive and damaging to creating healthy relationships.
Step 1: Acknowledging the Addiction
I suggested a homework assignment to identify specifically what (or who) in your company exemplifies the addictive behavior that is standing in the way of developing a more social brand.
It's important to admit that something is getting in the way. It's not a pleasant task. But like an alcoholic who must first admit that s/he has a drinking problem in order to overcome it, you must identify what must change in your company culture before deciding how to change it.
Here are some common obstacles I've seen. Maybe you recognize one of these?
A legal department that thinks the company will be held liable for anything published on your site, and thus believes they are protecting the company. Typically, every bit of content on the site must be approved by several channels prior to posting, and every innovative idea that arises is often met with the phrase "we have to run that thru legal first."
A general fear of what the customer might say. What if people say bad things about your product on your web site?
Marketing wants to control the brand image and portray the product how they want it perceived.
A person in power/decision maker who just doesn't like or use the internet.
Business objectives that try to dictate or push the customer to desired behavior rather than offering options for the customer to do what THEY want to do.
Most of these obstacles really come down to this: fear of losing control.
Step 2: Believe in a Higher Power
Okay, so now that you've named and identified the addiction. Let's say that your company is addicted to fear. Or addicted to control. (same thing, in my book) If you've got a different addiction, mention that in the comments section below, and we'll work with that instead.
So now we know the addiction. Does acknowledging it make it go away? Is the world suddenly full of fluffy kittens, golden rays of sunshine and your company is magically ready to embrace social media?
Of course not. It's not that easy. But identifying the addiction is a step towards identifying what trumps the addiction.
If we are to overcome fear or a loss of control, we must replace that with a higher power, something that trumps fear in the cosmic game of rock, paper, scissors.
Rock Beats Scissors, Scissors Beats Paper, Paper Beats Rock...What Beats Fear?
So rock beats scissors, paper beats rock and scissors beats paper...fear beats control...but what beats fear?
Knowledge.
Now, knowledge alone won't make an addict see the light and proclaim "I'm an addict and must change my ways." I'm about to post some links to some great case studies that show the benefits of social media marketing.
Follow these links and you'll find sterling examples to demonstrate to the fearful that social media marketing DOES work, has profound benefits and that online communities are more powerful than traditional customer channels.
But those case studies won't be enough to actually change the mind of your CEO, legal department or EVP of Marketing to embrace social media.
The knowledge that others have used these tools with success will start to calm some of the fears, but won't be enough to actually change an opinion. I know we'd like to think we are ultimately rational beings, the reality is that emotion (pleasure) trumps knowledge any day of the week.
So remember this: Fear trumps control. Knowledge trumps fear. Emotion (pleasure) trumps knowledge.
If you want to convince an addict to admit their addiction and change their behavior, first appeal to their fears, then their intellect and then the emotion of pleasure. In that order.
Hey, This Higher Power Stuff WORKS.
This is your homework assignment--pick out 3 case studies of the 100's listed here that are applicable to your business sector and objectives. Don't worry if you don't know your exact objectives yet--just pick out 3 case studies that seem to fit.
This compilation of case studies is courtesy of The Interactive Insights Group, and is an exhaustive list of successful social media campaigns and sites across all commercial and non-profit industries.
(Make sure you visit their site and leave a "thanks" for compiling the list. It's a fantastic resource and no easy task to put together. Saying thank you is part of your karma. Make sure you do it.)
Once you've picked out your 3 case studies, you will write a total of 3 paragraphs for each case study:
a paragrah summarizing the objective and result of the campaign
a paragraph describing how this campaign is relevant to your company
a paragraph on what you would hope to acheive by running a similar campaign for your company
These 9 paragraphs will become the basis of your appeal to a higher power--the power of knowledge. We'll be working with this appeal to knowledge for awhile, so spend some time getting these paragraphs right.
How am I doing so far? Are you finding this 12 Step Plan useful?
One of the things that's been bugging me about the SXSW Interactive conference was the generalization of advice given in most of the sessions I attended. Actually, that bugs me about MOST conferences I attend.
What Is Moderation? Not Enough Excess?
I think when people pay money for a conference, they attend because they are looking for specific help to a specific problem they face at work. At conferences, however, presenters often give a broad overview that you could get from reading a book, and usually only take 3-4 questions from the audience on specific problems.
I realize that there isn't time to help everyone one-on-one at a conference, but I can read a book and figure stuff out on my own time. I don't need to spend $450 or so to have someone tell me, for example, that a community should be moderated for a more pleasant user experience.
I want to know, what exactly is moderation? What does moderation entail? How many hours per day does it require? What *specific* guidelines should I have in place? What are the pros and cons of having topical moderation? What do I do when a flame war breaks out? Should my CEO be posting on the boards?
Yes, I understand that the answer to each of those questions CAN be "it depends". Which is of no help to the person shelling out scarce dollars to attend a conference. The person presenting is supposed to be a Master Practitioner. At the very least, I would want a very specific list of questions that I need to answer in order to proceed.
The typical response of "your community should be moderated" is just not helpful enough.
12 Steps and Tips You Can Use
Well, I'm going to try and fix that and provide solid, practical and detailed tips on how to use social media to develop online communities using the principles of a 12 Step program. I've been in the business of developing online communities for 10 years, and I have a few experiences that just might be useful for others.
Now, a 12 Step program is typically associated with recovery from addiction and getting on a more productive life path. So in my use of the 12 Steps, I'm going to assume that companies are addicted to 'old school' marketing, production or communication techniques and need to be broken of this addiction.
The principles of a 12 Step Program are founded on:
admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion
recognizing a greater power that can give strength
examining past errors with the help of a sponsor
making amends for these errors
learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior
helping others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions
Can you recognize how these principles might be applicable in your company?
Step One: Admitting Addiction
Does your company have an addiction or a compulsion to a particularly destructive behavior?
Maybe it's that your company is too much under the influence of the legal department and free exchange of information is prohibited for fear of liability. Or completed projects never get an internal review for lessons learned because that's 'not billable time.' Or maybe business objectives overrule design principles, because the business folks want to force the users into a particular experience rather than let the user *choose* their experience. (and thus the business people ensure the failure of their own objectives)
When it comes to using social media or developing strong relationships with their clients, MOST companies have an addiction that prevents them from getting closer to their customers. These might be addictions to personal power, control, fear or an aversion to change, but whatever the addiction, there exists an "us vs. them" mentality.
The company is us. The customers are them. But there is rarely a "we" that embraces the customer as an integral part of the company. (notable exceptions: Nike, Southwest Airlines, Apple)
Your Homework Assignment
1) What is the most significant obstacle in the way of your company using social media?
2) Can you list 1-3 things that your company is addicted to that is preventing your company from establishing real relationships with your customers? Is it a person? A culture? A department?
Identify it. Give it a name. You won't know what to change unless you can name the addictive behavior. Please use the comments section to 'fess up to your addiction, but if your obstacle is a specific person, please use a psuedonym.
Tomorrow: Recognizing A Greater Power That Can Give Strength (or: Case Studies in How The Collective Rules)
Finally home and mostly decompressed from SXSW. Long travel day yesterday--I missed a flight for the first time in my life!! Totally got caught in Austin traffic and it took an hour and a half to make what should have been a 20 minute trip.
Yeah, I know, I should have left earlier. I had a SXSW recap breakfast with Bryan Person and then caught the Birth of Cool exhibit that I missed on Monday, lost track of time and left for the airport later than I should.
How nerdy am I--missing a flight because I was at the museum. I am definitely not 'cool'.
Anyway, lots of really positive things at SXSW.
Special Recognition Goes To...
1) The SXSW organizing committee.
The event is very well produced and staffed. The volunteers away from the registration and information areas weren't all that knowledgeable and the signage/maps of events could have been better, but really, that's nit-picking. The web site was excellent, you could organize events online and sync them to your mobile calendar, the printed materials were outstanding. There was a wide variety of conference topics, social activities were great, special areas like the trade show, screen burn gaming area, blogger lounge and podcast areas were nice on-site getaways.
Special kudos for the designers of the pocket guide, which was truly a useful guide. Best I've ever used at an event.
2) Twitter.
Love it/hate it/indifferent. I feel all those things about Twitter, and at SXSW, it finally proved itself to be a very useful tool for me. Whether you were connecting with a friend because the cell phone coverage was sketchy, looking to find out what the hot panels were, searching for content in a session you missed or just participating in a backchannel conversation during a talk, Twitter really proved it's utility.
I know some people who weren't at SXSW complained about being inundated with tweets, but on the other hand, I also know a lot of people who didn't make the conference who felt like they got a lot of value by following the twitter-stream.
I still get annoyed by people using Twitter to give a blow-by-blow description about the party that they are at or who they are downing shots with, but who am I to judge?
Well, I'm me, and I rule. So stop it. No one cares who you are drinking with or that you are about to go sing karaoke.
2) Most Use(r)ful: Designing for the Wisdom of the Crowds by Derek Powazek . He's funny in a nerdy way, and chock full of useful information on letting users influence design. After all, it's called User Interface, right? Plus there were some really good notes and slides.
3) Most Validating: Managing Expert Clients by Kali Cover and Marili Cantu. These two laid out very practical how-to advice on managing client relations. Lots of nodding of heads in the audience when discussing the special challenges we face helping clients. The notes are by @MeganGarza.
Most Disappointing Panels
I don't want to call anyone out in public because any disappointment I had was *mine*, and I'm sure that for every panel I was in that I thought wasn't fulfilling, there were people in the room who thought it rocked.
Still, here are some things that disappointed me that ANYONE who speaks at a conference should heed:
1) Title are important. If you have a totally kick-ass title for your panel, your presentation should rock too. A provocative title means you will have bold opinions and definitive stance. A title with a question in it should ANSWER THE QUESTION by end of the session. (you'd be surprised how infrequently this happens) A vague title that requires a subtitle to explain what the topic is really about isn't going to get many people to your session.
2) It's not necessary that EVERY panelist responds to EVERY question. I saw a lot of time wasted and thus, not a lot of information being shared in panels where the moderator would pose a question and then the other 4 panelists would give their answers and they were all saying essentially the same thing.
If there is strong disagreement on the panels, that's good and makes for a lively discussion. Everyone agreeing with the first response and then saying why they agree pretty much wastes everyone's time.
I would rather see more points covered than making sure everyone got equal time.
3) Have enough topics to cover the time allotted. I saw several one hour sessions where there were maybe three bullet points covered in the entire hour. I wasn't sure if that was because that's all the moderator could think to cover, everyone just kept rambling in their responses or what.
But each case felt like a waste of an hour. I don't mind getting only one good takeway out of an hour presentation, but if you only cover three things, you're cutting down your odds of getting something awesome in there.
More isn't necessarily more, but less isn't always more either.
4) A presentation isn't a lecture, it's a performance. Please don't just talk about what's on your Powerpoint slides. If that's all you're going to do, just post your slides somewhere and let us get on to someone more interesting.
YOU are as important as your material. I hate to put any pressure on anyone, but if your name is in print, I'm expecting you to entertain me in some way. Be provocative. Witty. More knowledgeable than anyone else out there...be extraordinary.
5) Announce a sensible Twitter hashtag at the beginning of your presentation. If you don't know much about Twitter, then ask someone in the audience to set a hashtag.
Hashtags are how we are going to find notes and information from your presentation afterwards and Twitter just may become the new search. People are tweeting about your presentation and we want to find those notes later.
A clever hashtag like #cake draws a laugh from the crowd attending, but when you try to find a bit of information from that presentation 3 months from now or you weren't at the conference and the topic was really Building a Brand are you really going to look for #cake?
Now, I'm not picking on that particular panel--there were several others I attended that were also inappropriate. This particular panel just illustrates the point most clearly--NO ONE will think to look for #cake to search for the golden nuggets that really were presented in a panel on building a brand presence.
If the point is to share information with those who aren't there, then please choose a hashtag wisely.
Great Connections
1) I loved meeting the Southwest Airlines new media team. Southwest is doing some really cool stuff in the social networking/online community space, and they clearly 'get' this media. It's refreshing to see a corporation that knows how to have fun and be social with their customers.
2) Also enjoyed meeting @LPT--another person at a major corporation that is utilizing social media well, albeit different in tone than Southwest. Her blog is a good, thoughtful read.
3) I was amazed by @carbody, and she really opened my eyes as to what being a 'digital native' means. I watched her effortlessly tweet, listen, take notes, engage in conversation, email, add followers, fact check and absorb everything around her as easily as breathing. I don't even think she is aware of how extraordinary she is-but she is so fluent in this realm that it was truly inspiring.
I chatted with her during the breaks and found her to be quite thoughtful, eloquent, knowledgeable, passionate about social media and her clients and just a down-to-earth, charming person.
4) I was also lucky enough to chat with Andy Carvin of NPR and chat about the future of journalism and some directions NPR will be heading. He's a very thoughtful, forward-thinking person, and NPR is also doing some exciting things with social media.
If you're not an NPR fan now, you should check 'em out! It should be a daily stop for news and entertainment.
What I Take Away From SXSW
1) Inspiration. It was a pleasure to see so many passionate social media practitioners in one place and learn by watching as well as participating. I have many new ideas and information to share with my team, my company and my clients.
2) Have a plan. I went totally free-form. I wasn't sure of what to expect, so I didn't plan much beyond where I was staying. I got a lot out of it by just wandering around and going with the moment, but probably could have gotten a few more connections, developed a few more relationships and learned a few more things by being more organized.
3) SXSW parties are not a good way to connect. They are good for having fun (you can never go wrong with free booze and food!), but it's tough to have meaningful conversations with music blaring.
4) Go with someone. I traveled solo for this, and it can be an extra struggle/effort to constantly meet people. I'm kind of strange, maybe. There are times when I can be very outgoing and love to meet people, AND when I'm in a big crowd, I can also just sort of sit on the sidelines and watch.
I didn't find many people at SXSW who made much of an effort reaching out to me (other than Bryan who I work with, and thankfully, he seems to know a lot of people), which meant that I was the one constantly going out of my way to meet other people.
That's not a horrible thing, just something that takes some effort. I'd recommend going with a friend--it's a better shared experience than solo.
5) Pace yourself. The smartest thing I did was get away from the conference for an afternoon and just enjoy Austin. The energy at SXS Interactive is very palpable and eventually becomes overwhelming. Don't be afraid to get away--Austin has many other nice attractions. Get 8 hours of sleep and drink plenty of water. It's a grind, not a sprint.
6) Blue Bell ice cream. This was recommended to me by a Texas native and I first thought it was just another "everything is better in Texas" kind of suggestion.
Nope.
Blue Bell is REAL ice cream. Made from real cream. Waaaaaaaaaaaay better than Ben and Jerry's, Haagen Daaz or any other ice cream you've had.
Really. It's that good.
The Conclusion
Yep. It's totally worth the money. I got enough ideas, inspiration and new friendships that totally made the trip worthwhile. I highly recommend attendance if you're currently using social media or are thinking about it.
Interesting day today--it's the last day of the Interactive festival, the first day of the Music festival and St. Patrick's Day. Busy.
And somehow, I forgot that last tidbit and didn't pack anything green for the trip. I claimed that the green neckband on my festival pass counted. Lame, I know.
Lots of folks left yesterday, and even more today. Still plenty of people around, but the energy was considerable less frenetic. People are tired and more focused on the content today.
The Mediocre
1) Like many others I talked with, I'm a little disappointed that the content is uneven. Some panels are really good, in-depth and useful. Those are like an ice-cold glass of iced tea on a hot summer day.
2) Many panels have good speakers but just don't go deep enough into the material to be useful for the type of people at this conference. This is not a beginners conference. If you're here, it's because you're serious about interactive, gaming or social media.
The material should reflect the talent level of the people here. A lot of what I saw was pretty basic. I'll recap the 'winners' tomorrow. I've left feedback on the SXSW site for the other panels, so I don't feel a need to call anybody out in public. I'm sure there are a lot of backstories to some panels that I don't know about.
3) The worst is the bait-and-switch with panel titles, which is more common than it should be. I was in three sessions where the title was very provocative, but the moderators either never lived up to the title, or worse, asked a very specific question in the title and didn't answer it. Or led to the conclusion that the question is unanswerable right now.
Random conversations with folks indicated this was a more widespread problem than you would think. So, here's a note to anyone ever presenting at a conference: If you've got the moxie to create a really provocative title for your panel,then BACK IT UP WITH A KICK-ASS SESSION.
But let's not be a hater. There were a LOT of really good things today.
The Good
1) Connections! I hung out with @BryanPerson quite a bit today and met a lot of people. Seems like Bryan knows everyone. We had breakfast with the @SouthwestAir emerging media team (including this red-headed leprachaun). They are doing some very cool things with social media and have a great culture there. I got a few good ideas from them.
Bryan had a list of like, a gazillion people to meet during the 5 days of the conference, and at the end of today, he proudly showed me that he had met all but one. (note to self for next year: have a plan)
Bryan doesn't look like a schmoozer, but I tell you, he's got those Boy Scout good looks and is a charming guy. No wonder he won an award as one of the top 25 Social Media professionals in Texas this year. (not to mention he picked up the tab for breakfast, which makes him VERY socialble, in my book)
2) I also met @CarrieBugbee who totally RAWKED THE HOUSE in her panel about being one of the 'voices' behind the Mad Men Twitter characters. (and I even got her autograph!) Didn't get to sing karaoke with her, though. Maybe next time.
3) Got my second free meal of the day meeting (I still take a starving-artist's delight at getting free meals, what can I say?) with @withoutayard who not only is a former Austin local with a LOT of knowledge of the music scene, but is also a great promoter for Toronto as a travel destination. It's now high on my list of places to visit.
4) Met too many other people in casual conversations to list. Random strangers seemed more accessible to chat with today. Lots of ruminating on the conference today, which I will summarize tomorrow. Bryan and I will be getting together to recap and brainstorm more on some cool takeaway ideas we had today.
We both found some inspiration during the conference, and suffice it to say that I learned a lot, had a good time and would definitely recommend others to come here.
5) And of course, I have to give a shout out to my house mate Bruce, his awesome dog Rosie, and Coco Ono, who became my cat away from home. It's been pretty cool living like a local away from the downtown party scene and not out of a hotel.
Day 4 started like every other day has so far--late. Time and I have not been very good friends this trip.
Since I think the point of an interactive conference is to...well...interact, I spent the morning having coffee and chatting with my housemate Bruce. He does some work setting up eBay stores for small businesses and we had a really good strategy/brainstorm session on how he could help a particular mom & pop kayak shop use social media to develop an online community that might help grow their business.
Good stuff, and it was nice to connect. We've chatted a few times since I've been here, and I feel like I've made a new friend. We found each other via Craigslist--I'm renting a room in his house for $400 for the week, instead of the $200 per night that the hotels are charging.
Yippee for social networking. By the way--check out Jeremiah Owyang's blog on how connection is evolving. It's a look at how we're liable to connect on adventures like this in the near future.
Hive Mentality
I didn't mind missing some of the morning sessions--it's a bit of grind being inundated with so much information and buzz. One term being bandied about in social media circles these days is the 'hive' mentality, and that's really evident here.
Following the Twitter-stream of SXSW live and in the 'backchannels' of a conference is like tapping into one HUGE thought-stream.
(the backchannel is the unspoken conversation by the audience while the panel is going on. Often snarky, sometimes off-topic, it provides both a source of notes for the topic and a feeling of what people really think about the session, like passing notes in a classroom)
It's both fascinating and overwhelming--like a sci fi story where you can hear everyone's thoughts. Trends, patterns and organization forms out of all the chaos, but there is a lot of noise to filter too, and that process can be very mentally taxing.
One of the useful things about the hive mentality is that it can help crystallize and validate your own thoughts. It's nice to know that you're not the only one feeling something. My own feelings of being slightly overwhelmed and TOO immersed at SXSW were echoed by a check of the twitter-stream.
Well the sun came out today, and after a really good panel session on dealing with difficult clients (one of the best panels I've participated in this week), I decided to get away from the noise and explore Austin a bit.
@MarkWilliams Day Off
I started with a Mexican Martini at the Cedar Door and almost ended the day right there. A Mexican Martini is a margarita-flavored martini that arrives in a 16 oz glass. Since the place was slammed with customers, food service was very slow and I had time to nearly finish my drink before eating anything, sparing me the waste of food absorbing the alcohol entering my bloodstream.
An instant stress-reducer.
Texas Art and Culture
From there, I had intended to stumble to the Birth of Cool exhibit at the Blanton Art Museum, but my motor skills having mysteriously diminished at lunch, I wound up taking the cute 'Dillo (short for armadillo) trolley for just 50 cents crosstown.
Unfortunately, I didn't catch that the art museum was closed on Monday's, but it happened to be across the street from The Bob Bullock State Texas History Museum, which WAS open. Apparently, the good people of Texas only need art 6 days a week, but they'll talk about themselves any ol' time.
The BBSTHM was pretty cool. It's named after a former Texas state Lieutenant Governor, by the way. I've always wondered just what exactly a Lieutenant Governor does, and now I know. They build museums and name them after themselves. I learned a lot of local history, like how Texans took the land from the native Indians, then Spain and later Mexico. Did you know that Texas used to be an independent Republic?
Texans are proud of their state and history, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were willing to display some not-so-proud momentos of their history, like this:
I spent a few hours in the museum--it's rather extensive and I was not able to see it all in that time. If you go, (and I recommend you do), plan on leaving at least 4 hours for the visit.
Local Austin
I was lucky that Bruce was willing to play tour guide and show me a little bit of the local scene away from the downtown area, and took me on a short hike to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin. From there, we went to Zilker Park Disc Golf course (I didn't have any discs with me, but might try and play tomorrow morning) and Barton Springs.
Finished the evening up at the fabulous 'locals only' Magnolia Cafe with VERY tasty dinner of Jamacian jerk pork chops with collared greens and garlic mashed potatoes, topped off with local brew of Fireman's #4.
By this time it was 9 pm and I was gassed. Went home and finished off my pint of Blue Bell Chocolate and Cherry ice cream, which just might be the best ice cream in America. Really, it's that good.
One more day of SXW. Let's hope I can make it to the finish line!
In the midst of all the hyper-activity of SXSW, here are a few moments of sheer beauty that I've come across--little snapshots that existed only for a second or two and then vanished.
Tiny stolen moments in the cacophony that surrounds SXSW...little intimacies I wasn't supposed to see.
These are the ones that go in my treasure box.
1) The 30-something woman--a senior manager at a very large corporation, influential in her field and sought-after as an expert and speaker--who had dreams of being a professional dancer as a child. Attending an awards ceremony held in a ballet studio, gazing in the mirror and assuming first position, checking the curvature of her arms and the correct angle of her feet.
She subconsciously slips in a demi-plie; a respectful curtsy to the gods of Dance like she was trained to do many years ago. For the briefest moment, her eyes sparkled, her soul twirling and leaping with her dreams remembered and she became a little girl who loved to dance more than anything else in the world.
Then she laughed, and talked about something else. But she was still dancing on the inside.
2) Riding the bus, catching the eye of a very pretty transsexual heading for home after a night out. She gave me a smile, I smiled back and then she turned her head away and wouldn't look at me for the rest of the ride. Maybe a little fearful that I would uncover her secret under the harsh lights of the bus interior?
During the ride, I thought about her and how much courage she had--I wonder if I would have that much courage to be who I am in public, if 'who I am' is that far outside of the norm? Her hands gave her away--large, weathered hands with a bit of grease still under the cuticles. Man's hands, probably a mechanic.
When I left the bus, she finally looked at me again and gave me a flirtatious smile with a little toss of her hair, and looked away again shyly.
Just like a girl.
3) The middle-aged Latina waitress at the end of her shift in a still-busy Mexican restaurant late Sunday night. Harried, still serving tables and trying to finish her work and close out so she could go home, she would be occasionally be overcome by the music from the live salsa band and break out in fierce moments of dance once she got off the floor and was hidden from view in the waitress station.
Music so powerful, so ingrained in her soul, that even when tired and given the chance to rest, she danced.
4) A random connection that happened because of mistaken identity. Standing in the doorway of a room, waiting to leave for the day, a woman approaches me joyfully, with a smile and a big greeting. Then realizes I'm not who she thought I was. We laugh and chat to get over the awkwardness.
Turns out we have much in common professionally, and the person she was there to meet was someone that I wanted to meet too. In the midst of our 'professional' conversation, I mention that I came to the world of social media via the theater.
"Really?", she asked, eyes sparkling. She leaned in slightly towards me, and lowers her voice just a bit, as if she were to share a secret. "I'm a jazz singer." Her body seemed to relax a bit, lighter, like a heavy cloak had been removed from her shoulders.
We are all so much more than what we appear to be.
5) A recipient of an award recognizing work in the social media field, responds to the audience asking for a speech. Unplanned, unscripted, she fumbles a bit for words--she's not used to public speaking. "I don't want to be a rock star", she says. "We're in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are a lot of people out of work."
She pauses a moment, looking for eloquence. Her heart wants to speak, her mind struggles to find the right words to express the depth of her feeling, but she's uncomfortable at a microphone, there are lights shining on her and 75 people are looking at her, waiting for her to say something.
Somewhat awkwardly, she blurts, "We're in trouble, people. Let's help each other out." To rousing applause from the audience.
The words are always perfect when spoken from the heart.
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