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Personalities, Policies & Problems: Companies and Employees 2.0

10.08.24

The annual ritual is upon us – the submissions for next year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) are posted and the voting process has begun.

(Actually, it began a little while back but – you may have noticed the silence recently – I was away on vacation)

This year I’ve thrown my hat in the ring and submitted a SXSW 2011 panel proposal with Scott Stratten (UnMarketing), Chris Barger (General Motors) and Sarah White (HRM Direct) entitled Personalities, Policies & Problems: Companies and Employees 2.0.

The combination of immediacy and near-universal adoption of social media tools in many countries can lead to a communications and HR nightmare if processes and policies aren’t thought-out in advance. Our panel will focus on the internal corporate implications of social media adoption within companies from a variety of perspectives: PR agency, corporate communications and HR. In particular, we’ll consider:

  1. What is the best way to structure social media within a company?
  2. What internal policies do companies need to reduce risk when implementing social media?
  3. Do companies have a right to censor employees’ online activities when not at work?
  4. Should companies block Facebook, Twitter etc in the workplace?
  5. What role can and should social media play in recruiting?

If you like the sound of the panel, you can vote it up at the SXSW Panel Picker site.

While you’re over there, here are a few other great entries to check out:

What do you think? What are your favourite submissions?

(Voting for the panels ends this Friday, August 27)

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Work/Life Balance… or Blend?

10.02.24

How do you think about your approach to your personal time management?

A couple of years ago I heard something on the Manager Tools podcast that made me sit up and think – that you shouldn’t think about “work/life balance,” but “work/life choice.” Their message was that you have control over how you use your time; that “balance” wasn’t the right end goal, but rather you should choose how you want to prioritize things.

Personally, I’ve chosen to prioritize work for the last few years. Balance went out the window, along with many of my other hobbies. I’ve found that choice hard to live with mentally at times.

However, at PodCamp Toronto this weekend, I encountered another way of thinking about things that really made sense to me. As Rachel Segal tweeted, Leona Hobbs suggested we should be thinking about work/life blending, not balance. While I unfortunately wasn’t in Leona’s presentation, the concept itself spoke to me.

This is so simple, it’s brilliant. Unless, through some extreme effort, you can completely shut-out your personal life from your time at work, the two will overlap. What’s more, the more you are passionate about the work you do, the more that “work” BECOMES “life.”

This fits perfectly for me – I often say that my day doesn’t feel like work, and my activities outside work often closely follow the things I do in the office. So, work and life blend smoothly for me – that’s why I’m happy with the choice I made.

Does this make sense to you? How does this fit with how you see your time?

Posted in: events, miscellaneous, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

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Hanging Out With 900 Friends At PodCamp Toronto

10.02.22

This past weekend, roughly 900 people came out to attend PodCamp Toronto 2010.

Since joining the organizing team for the event in 2008, I’ve seen PodCamp Toronto grow from a couple of hundred early tech adopters to a large, diverse group of people from all along the adoption curve. This year more than perhaps any, the sessions reflected that diversity.

Dave Fleet presenting at PodCamp Toronto 2010My highlights from the weekend:

Jerome Paradis presented a mind-expanding take on semantic commerce – the idea that people could purchase from multiple vendors through one website. Effectively turning the e-commerce model on its head, semantic commerce would be driven by APIs from vendors and result in personalized sites for every person. What’s more, it would give consumers control over their own purchase histories, preferences and identities.

Some presentations make you better at doing things; others make you smarter. This one was the latter, and was easily the highlight of PodCamp Toronto for me.

Brad Buset gave a thought-provoking talk on personal privacy. This was the first time I’d seen Brad present, and he did a great job with a timely topic – even handing-out copies of George Orwell’s 1984 to people who hadn’t read it.

Jeremy Wright and Melissa Smich earned a lot of laughs from the audience (and a “hrumph” from me for highlighting photographic evidence of my farmer tan) with their session on Twitter and dating. An interesting presentation format, cupcakes for active participants and the obligatory hashtag-ridden visuals, this was a nice light end to my PodCamp.

Unfortunately, once again I missed Sean Power’s session – this time on Applied Communilytics. I heard it was great; one day I’ll finally see this guy present. At the time, I was attending David Bradfield and Miranda McCurlie’s presentation on when social media become unsocial. The session had a very interesting topic; however, the most interesting part for me was seeing how the presenters have learned from their own past mistakes and grown as a result. Well-attended and interactive, this was another good session.

For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed presenting my session. With a good turnout and great audience participation, I was actually sad when the half-hour was over.

Once again, thanks to all of my co-organizers at this year’s event. I played a small role this year, and the rest of the organizing team did a really great job. Well done, folks!

If you attended this year’s PodCamp Toronto, what were your highlights?

(Photo credit: Looking over the audience at my session – by evablue)

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Seven Ways To Get The Most Out Of PodCamp Toronto

10.02.16

This coming weekend – February 20-21 – social media enthusiasts from coast to coast will descend on Toronto for PodCamp Toronto 2010. For the third year in a row, I’m part of the organizing committee, although a busy day job means I’ve taken a back seat this year.

PodCamp Toronto 2010Every year this weekend makes up one of the highlights of my event calendar. Whether it’s the chance to absorb new thinking, to catch up with friends, to meet new people or to get feedback from others on my ideas, it’s always a weekend well spent.

As I type, there are 993 registrants for the weekend. We’re likely to hit 1,100 by the time the event hits. The number of people in close proximity can be a little overwhelming, so here are a few tips for getting the most out of your PodCamp Toronto:

  1. Know WHAT you want. There are almost 60 sessions over the two days. Check out the schedule in advance (it will be posted this week) and know what you want to see (*ahem* I’m presenting. Just sayin’…:)).
  2. Be flexible. Remember that PodCamp Toronto is an unconference. The schedule will change – sessions will be added; sessions will be cancelled. Take advantage of this by staying alert and changing your plans so you can check out the best sessions for you.
  3. The Law of Two Feet. This is one of the founding principles of PodCamp. If you aren’t getting what you want out of a session, you can get up and leave. There’s no stigma attached as there is in other events – this is all about you getting the most out of the event. So, if you aren’t getting anything out of one session, leave and check out another one.
  4. Know WHO you want. Check out the registration list and pull-out a list of people you want to meet at the event. Connect with them in advance if you can. Don’t be creepy, but do take advantage of the chance to meet thought leaders in an informal setting.
  5. Participate. PodCamp IS the participants. The sessions, the atmosphere, the after-party :) . It’s all about the participants. If you have a question, ask it. If you have a thought, present it. Get involved. If you don’t get what you want out of the event and you haven’t participated, it’s your own fault.
  6. The Halls! Look around in the halls during the sessions. You’ll see a lot of people sitting around talking. That’s because, while the sessions are fabulous, much of the best activity at PodCamp happens in the halls – separate from the sessions as groups congregate, talk and connect. If you see a bunch of people sitting around, ask if you can join them.
  7. Socialize. PodCamp Toronto is an event itself, but there are plenty of other PodCamp-related things going on before, during and after PodCamp. Watch the #pcto2010 hashtag in the days leading up to the event and during the event itself, and keep an eye on the PodCamp Toronto blog too.

See you there?

Posted in: events, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

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How You Can Help A PR Pro Out

10.02.15

A few weeks ago, Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon contacted me and a few other PR bloggers with an idea – an event where we collaborate in some way to help out those in the profession who’ve lost their jobs over the last year and who are on a search for their next gig.

With a substantial (and deserved) hat tip to Peter Shankman, they called it Help A PR Pro Out day, or HAPPO for short.

Help buttonWe’re coming out of the recession. Companies (including ours) are hiring again. HAPPO is a chance for us to play the role of connecter – to help put PR pros in touch with the companies who need their services.

This Friday, February 19, from 10am – 2pm CT, PR bloggers and professionals will donate their time to help connect PR pros with job opportunities. Sometimes publicly (through their blogs and/or Twitter); sometimes quietly, behind the scenes.

You can get involved in several ways:

  • PR job seeker: Prepare a creative blog post, pitching yourself to prospective employers and share it via Twitter during the event on Feb. 19 using the hashtag #HAPPO. The HAPPO “market champions” will help by retweeting and connecting you with potential employers in your specific market (or markets you’re willing to relocated to).
  • PR agency: Follow the hashtag #HAPPO on Friday, Feb. 19 and share your openings. Market champions will do their best to connect you with talent they think matches your specific needs

Along with Danny Brown, I’ll be helping to connect the two sides of this equation in the Toronto area. If you live in a different area, check out the list of regional HAPPO champions.

If you’re an agency (or private/public organization) with available positions, or are a PR pro on the look for your next gig, leave a comment here or contact me privately if you prefer.

Either way, please get involved.

Posted in: events

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Win A Ticket To The Art Of Marketing Conference

10.01.27

We’re heading into conference season again soon, with a whole slew of events including Social Media Week (next week), PodCamp Toronto (Feb 20-21), SXSW Interactive (March 12-16) all coming up in the next six weeks or so.

One event that’s caught my attention several times is the upcoming Art of Marketing Conference in Toronto on March 2 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. With a great lineup of six bestselling authors, there’s something for anyone working in a communications role at this event:

The good folks at The Art of Productions, who are organizing this event, have offered me the chance to attend this event. What’s more, they’re also giving me one more ticket to offer to a lucky reader of this site.

I’ve seen a few other contests for tickets to this event, so I’ll change the format up a little and give some love to other blogs. For a chance to win the ticket, just leave a comment on this post and include a link to a recent blog post you recommend other people read, and say why you think it’s worth checking out. It doesn’t matter whose site it is; just make it a good one!

I’ll pick a winner on Feb 8, so make sure you enter before then (and make sure you include a real email address when you submit your comment or I won’t be able to contact you!).

Note: This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Tamara Gruber on winning the ticket!

For those who’d rather be sure of getting their ticket, readers of this site can use promo code SK23 to get their ticket at $50 off, for just $349.

In the meantime, check out the video for the event:

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What’s Your Motivation In Social Media?

09.09.21

“Why are you here?”

This was the question that social media potty mouth smart guy and best-selling author Julien Smith asked in a thought-provoking session at PodCamp Montreal this weekend.

Julien Smith and Tara Hunt at PodCamp MontreakJulien gave us three options:

  • You
  • Them
  • The Game

You

If you’re into social media for you, you’re in it to better yourself. Perhaps that’s through gaining attention, building your network or developing your skills. Either way, you’re in it primarily for yourself.

Them

If you’re into social media for “them,” you’re in it for the community. You do it to help others; for a feeling of belonging. Perhaps that leads to personal benefit down the road, but right now that’s not the objective.

The Game

If you’re in it for “the game” (not meant in a negative sense), you recognize that there’s a system at play. You’re likely coming at this from a business perspective and trying to figure out how that system works so you can work within it as best you can.

Julien’s thought was that if you focus on one of these three motives and become an expert at one, you will be more successful than if you spread between the three.

My take

I struggled when it came to my turn to answer the question:

  • I constantly look to better myself, whether it’s floating thoughts for your input here, exploring new avenues at work or attending conferences like PodCamp, where I meet new people and learn from the conversations. I find it incredibly frustrating if I finish a day feeling that I haven’t achieved that.
  • I find helping others extremely satisfying. I enjoy speaking at conferences because I enjoy seeing lightbulbs go off in peoples’ heads. I wrote my ebook on communications planning because I wanted to help people do this difficult task the right way (in my opinion, anyway). One of the most satisfying parts of my job is helping other people to understand social media a little better.
  • I make my living from social media. I came into this career out of a strong interest and enthusiasm for social media’s potential, but the bottom line is it now pays my bills. I can’t help but be motivated by that to an extent.

Julien acknowledged that in reality you’re unlikely to just relate to one of the three motivations. Meanwhile, I overheard numerous discussions where people posited that ultimately everyone is motivated by themselves – whether it’s personal success, the network and self-fulfillment benefits of helping others, or the business motivation of doing succeeding in “the game.” Tamsen McMahon also suggested that if you want to help others, you need to improve yourself first.

Why are you here?

I agree with all of those ideas to an extent but for myself, I think personal improvement has always been, and continues to be, my primary motivator in everything I do.

I put 110% into everything. Sometimes that leads to me burning out on hobbies, but if I don’t go at things with that level of intensity I lose interest. The one thing that I haven’t burned out on so far is self-improvement. That doesn’t mean it’s only about me – I love the sense of community and, as I said, I enjoy helping people – but I think if I improve myself I’m able to help others better and to better in my job (“the game”).

Does that make sense? What about you? What drives your interest in social media?

(Thank you to all the PodCamp Montreal organizers – Sylvain Grand’Maison, Julien Smith, Mitch Joel, Bob Goyetche, Jean-François Blais, Laurent LaSalle, Laurent Maisonnave, Caroline Fontaine, Mélanie Millette, Harold Boeck and Michelle Sullivan- for another successful event this weekend. I know from PodCamp Toronto that it’s a lot of work; you did a great job.)

Posted in: events, podcamp, podcampmtl, social media

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Where Will You Be This Year?

09.03.17

I’m no A-list jet-setter, but I’m speaking at a several events over the next couple of months.

In case you’re in the area, I’ll be speaking at the following events:

 

I’m also attending the Mesh Conference in April and Podcasters Across Borders in June.

If you’re able to attend any of these events, please say hi!

I haven’t thought much past the next few weeks in terms of events. Where will you be this year?

What are your “must attend” events this year?

(Image credit: Keith Burtis)

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National Post Covers PodCamp Toronto

09.02.28

Reporters from the mainstream media like the Globe and Mail and the CBC, like Mathew Ingram and Angela Misri, aren’t just attending PodCamps now; they’re covering it them, too.

PodCamp Last Saturday, during the first day of PodCamp Toronto 2009, I took some time out and spoke with David Lipson, a reporter for the National Post.

Today the Post published the piece, entitled “Out from behind the laptop.”

As a PodCamp organizer and as an attendee, it’s amazingly gratifying to see the event getting mainstream attention, even if it forces me to remember the demonically-possessed projector screen in my first presentation:

Inside one of the classrooms, Fleet’s PowerPoint presentation on social media analysis began to deteriorate when a projector went haywire. Someone in the audience yelled out: “There is chalk and a board!” The room erupted into laughter at the thought of using the primitive writing device on a pristine board that probably hasn’t had a nail screech across it in years. After a couple of minutes of stalling, Fleet finally asked: “Can someone get on Twitter and get a tech guy over here?”

Sigh.

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Key Points From FacebookCamp Toronto 5

09.02.25

Over the last couple of years, Facebook has developed from an interesting, promising social network startup to a true powerhouse. Interest in the site has grown exponentially and every move it makes is closely scrutinized. Given this, I was excited to attend FacebookCamp Toronto 5 on February 24.

First up on the night was Facebook representative Matt Wyndowe. His presentation focused on an update on Facebook’s overall status, then a quick overview of the benefits of Facebook Connect.

Facebook Stats

  • Facebook’s rate of growth is increasing exponentially;
  • 175 million people logged-in to Facebook in the last 30 days;
  • The average Facebook user has 120 friends; in Canada that is higher – 150-200;
  • One in two Canadians are now on Facebook;
  • Half of those Canadians are on Facebook every day;
  • Canadian users average 2.7 visits per user per day;
  • 70 per cent of Torontonians using the Internet are on Facebook

Facebook Connect

  • Facebook Connect, according to Matt, has three key benefits:
    • Sharing identity/login with one click;
    • “Social filtering”;
    • Rapid, widespread distribution of content.
  • Instead of the time consuming process of creating new accounts on sites, users can sign-in to Facebook Connect-enabled sites by connecting with their Facebook accounts. 
  • Users’ profiles will then be populated with their personal information and, where applicable, their Facebook friends and their key public activity can be shown to the new user. This prevents the frustrating process of building a new profile and network on each site.
  • Users’ activities on websites can be pushed back to Facebook and displayed in their news feeds. In the example given, a clear opt-out was offered for this.
  • Stories that are published on news feeds get an average of 1-3 clicks per story, and are also commented-on (which spreads the content further).

Facebook Connect Results

  • In three months since its launch, 6,000 sites adopted Facebook Connect;
  • On average, registrations to websites using Facebook Connect rose by 20-100 per cent. Sites such as Gawker and Valleywag saw increases of 45 per cent;
  • People registered using Facebook Connect create 15-60 per cent more content;
  • Each story published to Facebook is seen by 30-40 people, and receives 1-3 clicks back to the site.

Whopper Sacrifice – Notes from a Case Study

Widely covered back in early 2009, Whopper Sacrifice encouraged Facebook users to “sacrifice” ten Facebook “friends” in exchange for a free Whopper sandwich. A few key points from the case study presented, which I found fascinating:

  • Unlike many initiatives, the Whopper Sacrifice micro-site drove traffic to the Facebook application rather than the other way around.
  • 60,000 people installed the Facebook application in the first ten days before it was shut down.
  • There is no way to delete friends through the Facebook API; the developers had to find a way to seamlessly take people outside the app and back  into Facebook in order to delete friends.
  • Facebook users sacrificed 233,906 friends in ten days. Burger King issued 24,000 coupons for free Whoppers.
  • The application was truly viral – each new user brought in 1.96 others, so it quickly spiralled.
  • According to Roy Pereira, the presenter (who I also spoke to after the event), Facebook asked the developers to remove the functionality that alerted users that their friends had deleted them. 
  • Just 10 days after its launch, Burger Kind shut down the application. Facebook did not shut down the application. The developers made that call as they had almost reached their maximum number of free Whopper coupons.
  • The shut-down page encouraged visitors to send an “angry burger” (see image above) to people who had “sacrificed” them. This was a straight digital marketing ploy – there was no Facebook application for this.
  •  The mainstream media attention around the app created an exponential cycle that drove attention. Pereira credits mainstream attention for the success of the application.
  • After I requested clarification after the session, Pereira confirmed there was no PR budget for the initiative, and no ad buy. The maintream media coverage was generated by the application and controversy.
  • Witty text copy is important (e.g. “XYZ likes you but likes Whoppers more”). The team experimented with different copy and discovered that, down even to the Facebook news feed level, wording changes mattered.

Those are my key points from FacebookCamp Toronto 5. There were two other speakers, but those were less relevant for me.

Were you there? Does this match what you thought of the sessions?

Posted in: facebook, facebookcamp

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