Google now segregates the web. No content for you if you don’t use Google.
It means that a user coming from a Google search result may see the content, but when the user arrives at the same page from elsewhere – like from a link in a news article – they might see a registration or payment box and no actual article or other content.
The list of talks (so far) people have suggested for BarCamp Cork II on November 1st. I’m going to do two, if we have the time and space.
The second one is top secret though some know what it is, it’ll be revealed on the day. It’s a bit of fun and troublemaking. And the first: The Famous Raffle: An open discussion (chaired by me) where one person is picked out of a hat and we figure out how to make them famous nationally
Vulgar, brash and tabloidesque it maybe but .. actually there are no buts. Allof the above. Applicants put their name on a piece of paper and all pieces are put into a hat. We then pick out one from the hat, bring the person to the front of the room, they explain who they are and why they want to get fame and then we as a group figure out the best way to get them into the national consciousness (without them doing anything criminal). Someone can take notes, or the group can and that can be used as their media plan. They will also win one of the very exclusive Mediawhore badges as commissioned by Mulley Communications.
Very interesting post from Richard Hearne about the Enterprise Ireland eBusiness mailing list and the enforced censorship on it after he gave his opinon on the Board Fáilte webcheck programme. SEO me hole.
This is the Tuesday Push, the idea is that anyone (not just tech companies or bloggers) talk up an Irish technology product service. One that is unique and offers value. We’re not in the business of being a free a marketing team for off-the-shelf products that have been rebadged. Please keep that in mind. If you want to submit your tech product, do so here. If you want to partake, then just watch this space every second Tuesday. Also, feedback, positive or negative once constructive is welcomed. This is about encouragement with eyes open.
Simplify the management of meeting room booking and other shared resource reservations within your office environment quickly and efficiently using bookmeetingroom.com. No software downloads or additional hardware required, simply use this web service from your web browser. Full self-service capability frees up central administration time. Improves staff efficiency, reduces administration overheads.
And in English: An online booking system for meeting rooms in your organisation. I chatted to Jeremiah about this app and it was built from a need they had themselves for booking meeting rooms in a shared facility they’re in. Real world solution to a real world problem they were encountering.
Try the system out for yourself. It’s very easy to do and cuts down the need for emailing a PA or office manager to book rooms. I’ve seen excel sheet style systems where you could book a room after viewing what rooms were available but only an office manager could make the changes. Then emails had to happen and waiting for replies and all that jazz. Bookmeetingroom.com removes all that bother.
My talk at it@Cork the other day was a jamming together of two topics that don’t really fit well, despite the Sunday Business Post having a section for it: Media and Marketing. Working with the media and getting in the media and Online Marketing aren’t exactly much of the same thing. Anyways a way I themed them together is about being connected.
Media relations is all about connecting to the right people to get your story out and the quality of the existing connection if you know the people already. Sometimes you don’t know them but they know you which can also help. An aspect of online marketing these days is also connecting. Connecting people in a company to people who live and breathe the online lifestyle and then connecting the company to their wallets, if you want to be coarse about it.
Right now because of the Internet, being the most intelligent or the most educated won’t make you the best in business, in marketing, in PR, in many many things. The ability of people now and for a good while to come is how connected they are. Pop culture says it all. Madonna is not the greatest female singing artist in quality or depth but she’s one of the most connected and someone who can reconnect again and again to people by monitoring zeitgeists. That’s why she sells so many records. There are far more talented people who go undiscovered day in day out but they’re not connected/not connected enough.
Were I an employer I’d make sure potential staff are on Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn and see how many connections they have. Those with loads of connections, I’d be more interested in. Each connection is the metaphorical foot in the door of a business and of an organisation. This is why some investment banks are getting it and getting allowing staff on Facebook: They’re connecting with old college friends and buddies, a foot in the door in other firms. A way of attracting people into their firm perhaps or just to share knowledge.
Yesterday I was asked to talk to 4th year multimedia students and some masters students and one of the questions I asked was how many had blogs. Of the 16ish or so people in the room, one eventually said he had a photoblog. One blogger, in a multimedia class. He was also on Twitter. Hey Adam! Only half the class were on Facebook. Fuck me.
My main theme for them too was to get connecting. Via blogs, via social networks, via Twitter. Get out there and build connections. Immerse themselves in the river of digital bits flowing past themselves on all these sites. They don’t have to be edgecases, seeing and being at the point where people congregate and try out every single new web thingymajig but they should get stuck in to the basics, like social networks and blogs. For anyone wanting to work in Web media then they should be on Twitter, connecting to a large enough percentage of the web scene. Go where the crowds are.
Now back to the it@cork event. My argument/plea was for people to get themselves on LinkedIn and get connecting with people on it. Nobody in the room was connected to everyone else in the room. I mentioned Metcalfe’s law. The value of a network goes up as more devices get added:
using the example of fax machines: a single fax machine is useless, but the value of every fax machine increases with the total number of fax machines in the network, because the total number of people with whom each user may send and receive documents increases.
The more people you connect to, the better for you, but the more that they too connect to others, the better for you and them too. The better for all. The old-skoolers in business in Ireland think keeping your cards and your contacts close is good for your business. Yeah, if you’re a monopolist and have a crap product. Open your rolodex. Connect everyone on it together.
So fire up LinkedIn. Imagine if everyone in that room at the it@cork event were connected? Imagine if you connected to everyone at every event you attended? People seem to think adding others is wasteful. It’s cheaper to add someone now, learn a bit about them and dump them off your network then missing out on all the opportunities their connection might offer between now and when you realise their value through other means plus you might be of value to them, it’s not all take. Easy to add, easy to cull.
I’m going to start a series of pieces on LinkedIn next week, from the basics, to making the links more valuable, to using groups and answers, to running ads. In the meantime, why not look at your LinkedIn profile again and dust it off if you don’t use it a lot. Or create one if you don’t have one. It’s a very good business tool and a handy way of keeping in touch with old contacts. My LinkedIn details are on the right sidebar of this site.
The new and young kids on the blogging block have new domains. Tommy, Alan and Enda are now all domained up.
Conor is nice about it, I won’t be. No fucking sales pitches at Barcamp. Whore your shit somewhere else. We want people to contribute to overall learning. Buy a paying slot at a conference if that doesn’t suit.
Rummble at FOWA. Our very own Ina is part of the Rummble crew now. So you know, ALL of them can play for Ireland now. Love the giant letters.
Bloglines has been fecked the past week and a bit so you probably only got my last week’s worth of content yesterday and today. Sorry for the avalanche, nothing I could do. I’m on Bloglines myself and saw a lot of feeds restored yesterday, some showing hundreds of unread blog posts. Since Bloglines is going down the toilet by the looks of it, I think I’ll move to a better reader but not Google Reader, it’s fat and clunky.
Another of the special surprises at the Web Awards were the amazing cupcakes by Dublin Cupcakes. It was Jason that got on to me about them, suggesting them for the event and knowing I like to have something on the night that was not announced in advance. After being to Interesting in London this year and Moo sponsoring some wonderful cupcakes I thought they’d work well at Irish events too. Who doesn’t like sugar rushes? I then forgot about pursuing the idea.
Here are some pics taken by the folks from Dublin Cupcakes on the night:
Just like the Made in Hollywood people, me blogging about this was not part of the deal, this is me big upping them because I’m so happy with what they brought to the Awards and the great service. I’ll happily use them again for other events. If you want to chat to them you can get them at: cupcakes [ AT ] dublincupcakes.com or on 087-9629293
Game on. Going back to the roots yeah? 🙂 I’m meant to be involved in this but I’ve been very very lax about it. Sorry everyone!
So what’s a Barcamp? It’s an informal and free conference where the topics and talks are chosen on the day by the people there. Have an idea about a talk? Ask for one to be run or run it yourself. Barcamps are meant to be unconferences where it isn’t one person at a podium talking but the whole audience participating. A bit like Questions and Answers without the panelists and John Bowman guiding the conversation. Different and we’re going to try this time to do that!
Insisting that slideware sessions to be kept to a minimum and limited to 20 mins
Running an Ignite session for pure slideware (5 minutes, 20 slides)
Focussing relentlessly on facilitiating discussions with active participants rather that talking at passive listeners. No more talk + Q&A. It should be all Q&A with “presenters” as moderators.
Asking questions, not making statements
Running a “build a webapp in a day” session for the entire day (details to follow)
Offering your problems/challenges to your audience to solve (”How do I…?”)
Setting up hands-on technical tutorial sessions (e.g. how to use Sketchup to model buildings and cities, under the hood of WordPress etc)
Insisting on absolutely no branding or commercial pitching during sessions
Highlighting technology as a tool to achieve useful ends, not as an end in itself
Looking at ways of using technology to enable creativity
Pulling in as many non-tech people as possible – media, art, education, finance, energy, entertainment, charity
I’m going to give a few talks, though, I think more I’ll kick off a few interactive sessions with people. There should deffo be one on funding for companies and where to get it with someone taking notes and putting them online.
