Last night's event on Reputation in a Digital Age could be considered a great success if measured (unscientifically) by the fact that many participants didn't get home until way past midnight. The lively Q&A turned into a lively networking session, which moved on to a lively night at a the Charlotte Street Hotel bar.
Some memorable highlights included proposal that eventually multinationals will become so big and complex that they will end up imploding. I loved the observation that that social communication never really changes, so: Blogging is the modern version of medieval villagers disparaging the town-crier!
So much came out of the event and subsequent discussions it is difficult to summarise it all, (particularly because I was one of those who got home at 2am)!
I've asked some of the speakers to send me follow-up information and comments, which I will post on this blog over the next few days. I also will try to post information about blogging and blogging policies, as that seemed to be a very hot topic. Many people also commented that they would be interested in a future event that looks at the psychology and/or sociology behind social networking and social media behaviours.
Looking at my messy notes from last night, the main themes I jotted down during the presentations were:
- Act quickly when your reputation is at risk
- Stick to the truth - otherwise you will be found out, and with emerging online trends, you'll be found out quicker than you think
- You are now engaged in a two-way dialogue. Your stakeholders, now empowered, expect democracy
- Forgot the corporate speak and embrace authenticity
- Most organisations, (and agencies, and consultancies), will require a great deal of change to processes, culture and internal structures, in order to operate effectively in the digital age
The other point is that everyone seems to hate the term Web 2.0 - because it is too techy. Our speakers and participants preferred to describe it as an "extended web", a "new web", a "social web", a "frogspawn"... yes that was actually a suggestion.
It can be very difficult to organise an event such as this one, because the audience will inevitably be a mixture of newbies and experts. Hopefully we were able to provide an interesting evening for all. Thanks again to our excellent speakers - David Bowen, Simon Quayle and Katy Howell. And thanks also to Jacqui Hitt & the IABC events team and David Orford & the CiB team for their time and effort in pulling it all together.
A great way to guard against the hype http://www.flickr.com/photos/14328358@N00/280630529/
Posted by: Kevin Keohane | 17 November 2006 at 18:22