NewComm Forum 07 Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
Return to the blog index.
Yes I am a bit late on this one....a week late actually, but like many others I wanted to share a few thoughts about New Comm Forum. From a conference blogging standpoint you can look at Joe Thornley and Chip Griffin who did the most comprehensive recaps. Heck, Nathan Gilliat wasn't even there and he has some comments. Nathan was able to follow along virtually.
Todd Defren wrote a comment that was often said among the usual gang.
Many of the veteran attendees noted that the crowds were more “corporate” than ever. This doesn’t mean that the suits want to mess things up; everyone I talked to from the corporate side seemed genuinely eager to learn; to be more open and candid.
While this is true and many of the conversations/topics have been done over and over again....it's all new to the majority of the audience. In situations like this I am more than willing to share knowledge with others.
However, I do learn a great deal. I pay attention to how the audience is receiving and perceiving the content, what questions are they asking, what keeps them up at night, is ROI the only measure in corporate-land, etc.
As an independent consultant I sometimes have experiences with corporations that make me glad I don't work for one, but the audience at New Comm showed that the corporate world is wanting to learn, for their benefit and for the benefit of their customers.
One of the interesting points to come up during Jeffrey Treem's session on social media for employee engagement was that internal implementations of social media tools are great proving grounds.
Often corporate communicators fear the risks involved with social media, however internal instances can have a great deal of control. As the tools are adopted it also helps shift the culture internally. Organizations learn about conversation and interaction with groups outside their normal circles.
That's a good thing.
Just got finished with a great keynote from Dave Weinberger at New Communications Forum. For the audience (that I think is mostly corporate comms...) it was a great message. Shel Israel has some greats notes from the session and so does Joe Thornley.
During Paul Gillin's session...from Tom Foremski (paraphrasing):
What's kiiling the revenue stream for newspapers is search engine marketing and not really blogs or social media. It's easier to sell shampoo via a search result than an ad next to journalism.
I snuck in and took a few shots of Shel Holtz leading the Podcasting Pre-Conference Session to a packed room at New Communications Forum. The next few days should be fun. I've decided I'm going to concentrate more on photography than blogging the sessions. The photoset will be here.
Later today I'll be packing for my trip to Vegas for New Communications Forum. As I have said before, NewComm Forum is one of the best events of the year. Like many conferences it's a combination of great sessions and great people. I jokingly said to a friend, they should just cancel all the sessions and just let us all hang out.
I'm looking forward to seeing: Shel I, Shel H, Mike, David, Brian, Joe, Kami and many, many more friends.
I'll be on two panels and helping with the post-conference wrap-up session on Friday afternoon.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
This is a tough call, because it depends on what you do for a living. The three best *paid* events I went to last year were:
- New Communications Forum
- Gnomedex
- BlogHer
I make the distinction of paid events since there is a bit more of an investment in going to a paid event rather than a local un-conference-type event.
For the past few months I have told anybody I work with in PR that they need to go to New Communications Forum this year. The event is being held March 7-9 in Las Vegas at the Venetian.
All the sessions are great and feature some of the most well-known folks in the PR/social media movement (including some guy named Josh). Like any conference though, the best interaction is during the breaks and dinners...with such a great line-up of folks on hand it's hard not to get something out of it.
The only downside? Deciding between some really great sessions that end up being scheduled opposite of each other.
