Building Alliances

Event Success through New Tools and Technologies

Brian Duggan — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:41:18 +0000

Our 2^nd Annual Core Conversation at SXSW on Events and Technology (#EventTech) was a great success.

The strength of the session is the interactive format, so there are no slides to share. Rather, my colleague Loic LeMeur ( @loic) and I guided the discussion, and welcomed tons of questions and great ideas from an enthusiastic audience of event producers, sponsors and technologists.

Some highlights:

“The role of technology is a huge opportunity, and a huge challenge, for all our events.”
—Brian Duggan

Here is a good write up from BizBash on our session:

…and a Storify from Tonia Ries with some of her highlights:

And after the session, I sat down with some new friends from European Television, (Laurens Vreekamp & Michiel Rovers) to fill in between the lines via a video interview:

And in closing I’ll just share:

“These days it’s about the juxtaposition of offline and online—how that fits together. We don’t have all the answers—we are at the very beginning.”
—Brian Duggan

Twitter for Events

Brian Duggan — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:43:35 +0000

With new technologies developing every day, events are becoming more
complicated. I was delighted to address that difficulty, and present
my thoughts around “Twitter for Events: From Training Wheels to
NASCAR” at a Corporate Event Marketing Association briefing held at
Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco last week.

The presentation covered a range of topics, including:

1. How Twitter and other technologies have changed our Events more
radically than we yet realize.

2. How events will play a more crucial role in our businesses going
forward, as a proving ground where we can build the necessary muscles
for real time marketing. (Think Oreos at last week’s Super Bowl.)

3. As the boundaries of time and space around Events blur, it offers
more opportunities for Events to provide fuel for the Content
Marketing “engines” within our organizations, which will result in
increased relevance for Events, and for Event Marketers.

To get a more in depth look at the topics, you can browse my slides
from the presentation on Slideshare.

I’ve also shared a few quotes from the event, both mine and some of my
colleagues from Twitter, over at ConferenceBites. Enjoy!

Twitter for Events: From Training Wheels to Nascar from Brian Duggan

Save The Date!

Brian Duggan — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:32:41 +0000

Technology is changing the event world and we are all scrambling to keep up.

If you produce events, sponsor events, or offer new technologies that can improve the event experience, I want you to join us for an important dialog taking place at SXSW on March 9^th.

I will be hosting, along with Loic LeMeur, founder of LeWeb, an interactive core conversation on Event Success Through New Tools & Technologies. We especially want to invite the Community of Event Producers, Event Sponsors and Technologists to participate with us in the discussion.

Events have changed. The challenges involved with marketing them, sponsoring them, or simply figuring out which to attend, have been transformed. New technologies are rewriting the rules and we are all playing catch up.

At our second annual interactive core conversation we seek to explore best practices, case studies and new tools for succeeding with live events. We will once again bring together top event producers, sponsors and technologists in a conversation about how these new tools can increase the success of our events, both for those that put them on, and for those that attend.

Read the full description of the panel on the SXSW website.

Last year’s inaugural discussion included participants like Robert Scoble, IAB, Lanyrd, Reed Exhibitions, The Gates Foundation and many others, sharing perspectives on topics like event programming, networking, live-streaming and better supporting both sponsors and attendees. You can see our full 2012 write up here

Last year’s inaugural discussion included fresh perspectives on topics like event programming, onsite networking, live-streaming and better supporting both sponsors & attendees (see our write up here) from participants like Robert Scoble, IAB, Lanyrd, Reed Exhibitions, SponsorHub, The Gates Foundation and many others.

We hope you can join us in March in person. But either way, let us know of your interest in the comments below or email me at brian@buildingalliances.com and we can add you to our list of business leaders interested in being part of this conversation as it unfolds both online and at leading events like SXSW.

Thanks, and we look forward to the continued dialog!

The Best of Social Media Strategy

EricaChase — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:08:46 +0000

Social media is unquestionably important in any business strategy. The best practices of social media are still under debate, with the best minds in active discussion. These tips are the best of September and October’s conferences.

“You must ask questions instead of just making statements or it’s going to be you and a bunch of crickets.”
~Steve Green, NetUpNow; Social Media Week

“Having the right people following you is more important than the number of people following you.”
~Andrew Barber, Fake Shore Drive; Social Media Week

“Integrate social into your business don’t integrate your business into Facebook.”
~Pam Moore, CEO Marketing Nuts; iSummit

“Your customers tell better stories than you. They use better words and carry more credibility.”
~Nick Kellet, listly; IMS Conference

“Recognize that no one really knows this space. We’re all learning, we’re all making mistakes.”
~Shiv Singh, Pepsico; IMS Conference

“You start slow and build your way to the top, can’t expect 10,000 followers the first day.”
~Paul Adams, Facebook; Pivot Conference

“Just because thousands of people are at your party, doesn’t mean they had a good time. It’s not just about volume.”
~ as tweeted by Ji Lee; Advertising Week

“If you throw enough nerds at a problem, they’ll solve it.”
~ Chris Hardwick, Nerdist; Advertising Week

“You can no longer buy attention, you have to earn it.”
~ David Jones, Havas; Advertising Week

When in the course of human events…

Brian Duggan — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:50:46 +0000

I’m at a point in my life where I am thinking about what is really important.

As I try to sort out everything that is coming at me , I realize I need better filters to separate out the signal from the noise. Honing in on the truly meaningful is one of those filters.

I’ve been thinking about events in this context. Given that I make my living supporting events and those that sponsor them or make new tools to improve them, I am paying attention to what is important in the world of Events. I’ve come to 3 conclusions:

1. Events are meaningful.

Sounds obvious to say out loud but I think it’s good to recognize the important role Events play in bringing people, ideas & experiences together. Whether as an engine of business in the B2B space or an engine of fun and entertainment on the consumer side, Events are making a difference in people’s lives.

2. Events are even more meaningful today.

As we become a more and more online world, our hunger for in-person connection seems to be growing. For all the information we can access and the “connections” we can make online, the power of in-person relationships remains unsurpassed.

3. Events stand at the threshold of being something extra-ordinarily different than they have ever been.

Twitter and other social tools have already radically changed events, shattering their usual boundaries of time and space, in ways we have barely begun to recognize. Events are becoming a hybrid of online and in-person interaction that allows us to combine the powerful aspects of both.

I read recently that we “use events to mark everything from the birth of a child to the birth of a country” which I think gets to core of it. Events matter, as they always have and always will. That still leaves quite a bit of filtering for me to do as I try to hone in on what’s most important–but helps me recognize I’m at least on the right playing field!

If Content is King— Sponsorship should be its Throne!

Brian Duggan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:58:03 +0000

Recently, the leaders of two different technology events each told me exactly the same thing—they have completely revamped their sponsorship sales approach and have made customization key in all their sponsorship efforts going forward.

And not just on the simplistic level of understanding a Sponsor’s need for brand positioning or new leads—they are looking to offer much more. One of the producers went so far as to say that they are moving beyond the creation of white papers, into full-fledged book publishing on behalf of their largest tech event sponsors.

This may be further than most event management producers are ready to go, but I believe the principal expressed is going to increasingly drive our industry: Events have to do more for their Sponsors!

The lead generation and branding benefits we have relied on in the past are now just the table stakes. Increasingly sponsors will be, and should be, demanding true “Content Marketing” programs from the events they participate in.

Sponsors are taking to heart the dictum “Brands are Publishers” and the need to provide value to their audiences. This creates a hunger for content to fuel their social marketing engines.

They’ve got Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, blog posts, SlideShare & You Tube channels, Google plus feeds, LinkedIn status updates, Pinterest pages, and more every day. Where does the content come from to fill all this? Especially content that offers relevant value that moves the needle with their customers and prospects?

Smart event producers are recognizing that we can help our sponsors successfully meet the challenges of content marketing. Our events include video, social media, written reports, photos, blog posts, etc… and these assets, if packaged correctly, can provide huge added value for our sponsors as fuel for that Content Marketing engine.

How do we make this new approach real, and profit from it? We’ll address that (along with some leading examples) in part 2 of this post.

Designing the Next Big Thing

Brian Duggan — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:29:03 +0000

Part 3 of 3: Highlights from July and August Conferences
The pervading question in tech conferences is how do you design the next big thing. For many, the process starts with solid design. Advice ranges as to how to package, when to ship out, how to time product in the market, but a common thread of advice bind together the discussion. Like in social media marketing, the customer is king. Knowing the customer, and listening to what they say when iterating the product was a theme through the July and August conferences.

“Good design for me starts at the point where you pick the problem that you are trying to solve.”
~ Rebekah Cox, Quora; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“I am not saying the voice of the consumer isn’t important, but these old processes (focus groups) are not going to show you what’s next.”
~ Yves Behar, FuseProject, Jawbone; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“The design of a product includes the ENTIRE experience, from the packaging to the unboxing to the installation to the product.”
~ Tony Fadell, Nest; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“It’s good to be early, but to be way too early is really challenging.”
~ Bill Gross, Idealab; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“What you say about your product is bullshit, what your customer says is true.”
~ April Dunford, Rocket Watcher; International Startup Festival

“One of the biggest challenges in design is helping our clients know what to leave out. Simple is tough.”
~ Mark Curtis, Fjord; Mobile Beat

“Too bad you can’t hook up a heart rate monitor to users. It should always be emotional.”
~ Ketan Anjara, Cardflick; Mobile Beat

“Consumer mindset sometimes needs time to develop, it’s all about timing.”
~Leah Busque, Task Rabbit; Google I/O

“Live and die by the data. Wishful thinking isn’t useful.”
~Leah Busque, Task Rabbit; Google I/O

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like…design is how it works”
~ Steve Jobs quoted on BlogHer stage, Retweeted by Nicole Bullock (Lead Media Partners); BlogHer

“9 out of 10 people use the Internet to find information. make your site informational.”
~ Mark Kilens, Hubspot; Inbound 2012

“Give your point of view when you blog! People can get the news elsewhere.”
~ Dan Zarella, Hubspot; Inbound 2012

“You are what you publish.”
~ David Meerman Scott, Marketing Strategist; Inbound 2012

“I give away a lot of my thinking everyday on my blog, and I still get hired. It builds trust.”
~ Michael Gass, Consultant; Inbound 2012

“You can’t NOT do social media anymore because it’s so interwoven into SEO and inbound marketing.”
~ Dharmesh Shah, CEO Hubspot; Inbound 2012

“There’s no automation in social. No auto-retweets, no auto-follows. Social is human.”
~ Garvy Vaynerchuk; Inbound 2012

Social Media: A New Form of Engagement

Brian Duggan — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:24:43 +0000

Part 2 of 3: Highlights from July and August Conferences

Social Media has moved from a medium solely engaged in connecting people to other people to one used for marketing as well. This transition has led not only to a new industry, but to new questions on the nature of interaction between companies and customers. For the first time, customers have a direct line to companies they like (or dislike). If that line isn’t monitored companies will suffer. July and August contained discussion of the nature of social media, and the need for authenticity and listening in brands.

Social Media as a social medium

“Social media is not owned by marketing.”
~ Brian Solis; SFAMA

“Your network is your net worth. It grows as you nurture it or give it away.”
~ Tim Sanders, Net Minds; CEMA

“Knowledge sharing is the foundation for every meaningful professional relationship you have.”
~ Tim Sanders, Net Minds; CEMA

“To cut through all the noise, be honest and authentic. No matter what your brand speaks to, we’re all human.”
~ Jessica Zweig, Cheekychicago.com; Techweek

“Moral of the story – bloggers stay true to your voice. “Maintain your authenticity”
~ Retweeted by Flightpath; BlogHer

Technology: Pushing the Boundaries of Human Interaction

Brian Duggan — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:19:27 +0000

Part 1 of 3: Highlights from July and August Conferences

The developing technology is fundamentally changing how humans interact. Facebook has changed the definition of privacy, and mobile is changing the nature of connectedness. Not everyone believes the changes are for the better. Sherry Turkle talks about the flight from conversation, saying that the new forms of communication serve simply as a barrier to human connection, rather than being a bridge. The technology sector, however, is still dominated by hope for how new technology can improve lives. What these changes will look like and how to promote them was a reoccurring topic throughout the conferences of July and August.

“Human nature doesn’t change, but human understanding can change, and our institutions with it.”

~ Nick Hanauer, Author; Code for America

“Technology advances patient experience and vice versa — patient experience enhances potential of tech to work.”
~ Liz Boehm, Patient Experience Collaborative; Healthcare Unbound

“If you’re going to build a relationship with customers you have to have integrity.”
~ Ron Johnson, J.C. Penney; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“It takes courage to go the full distance. When the Apple Genius Bar was launched, nobody came.”
~ Ron Johnson, J.C. Penney; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“What people use their phones for: text messaging, web surfing, and maps. Phone calls are #4.”
~ Retweeted by Michael Schneider, Mobile Roadie; Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“While Apple may stretch the boundaries of innovation, Google stretches the boundaries of technology. Both are vastly important.”
~James Hicks, Conference Attendee; Google I/O

“Pink Berry Yougart’s delicious! No one picked up their phone and said that ten years ago” but we tweet it.”
~ Garvy Vaynerchuk; Inbound 2012

Our SXSW 2013 Proposal:

Brian Duggan — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 21:13:37 +0000

More to come on this as we get closer to the date, but for now, in honor of the last day of South By Southwest PanelPicker Voting, I invite you to check out year two of the great interactive Core Conversation that Loic Le Meur & I have planned for South By South West, especially if you have an interest in Events & the impact of New Technology: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/12495