Hopefully your business is like mine, knee-deep in planning for 2012.  One of the areas you’ll probably be deciding upon is which social media conferences and events to attend next year.  While you are putting together your list, keep these points in mind:

1 – Send only those people that are in a position to act on anything they learn.  You want to send your Social Media Manager or Marketing Manager instead of the new hire in the office that ‘gets’ social media.  Unfortunately, most companies send someone at the entry-level with the advice to ‘learn all you can, and report back to us’.  What happens is this person gets to the event, and spends the entire time taking copious notes, which are then deposited on the desk of their boss upon arrival back at the office.

The problem is, this person was too busy taking notes to actually learn much at the event.  And they wanted to take a lot of notes so their boss would see that they got their ‘money’s worth’ from the trip.  It makes much more sense to send a manager there that actually manages your social media marketing efforts, and who can implement any ideas they learn about during the trip.

2 – Ask questions, not just of the speakers, but talk to your peers.  This is where you’ll need to do some research to try to figure out exactly who will be attending each event.  Also, you want to attend events where the speakers don’t just hop back on a plane as soon as they get done.  You want to make time to talk to both the speakers, and fellow attendees.  This way, you get the best of both worlds, you get to talk to the experts, as well as your peers that are facing the same issues with their social media strategies as you are, or will be.

3 – Don’t go to national events unless you have to.  Granted, if you live in certain areas (like the state of Alabama), you will probably need to attend a national event because there aren’t a lot of local options.  But if you live in a bigger city like NYC, LA or Atlanta, you can probably find plenty of local events, plus a couple of bigger national conferences will probably come to your city during the year.  A good compromise would be to focus on one national event, then stay home for the rest of the year.

4 – Put a priority on events that cater to your space or industry.  As the Social Media conference space matures, events are being offered that focus on certain types of businesses or industries.  For example, Marketing Profs caters to B2Bs, and there are many events that are aimed at small businesses or enterprise social media usage.  You might have to pay a bit more for these events, but it’s usually worth it since the content will be more relevant to you, and the networking with speakers and attendees will be better since they will be coming from a similar background as your own.

5 – Which is better, South By Southwest, or Blog World?  Oy.  It seems anytime I am asked about which social media conferences to attend, this question always comes up.  The thing to realize about both events is that they are aimed more at individual bloggers rather than companies looking to improve their social media efforts.  SXSW especially so.  If you are a small business, I think you can get value from attending Blog World, not as much from South By Southwest, which is basically a circus.  If you are a publisher/blogger that monetizes their blog, then it makes sense to attend either, especially Blog World.  But if you are a large company, you can probably make better use of your money at other events.  Even so, if you live in one of the cities/areas where Blog World will be, it makes sense to attend.

6 – Remember that you get out of these events what you put into them.  It takes time to prep and try to connect with attendees before arriving, but it can make a big difference.  Talk with attendees, learn about the speakers and their styles so you can get a better idea of which sessions you should attend.  And ask questions.  If you don’t feel comfortable asking a question during a session, catch the speaker out in the hall and ask them there.  But remember that you’ve paid good money to attend, you deserve to ask questions.

So please keep these tips in mind as you are planning which events to attend.  And if the travel budget isn’t there, consider attending online webinars, or many of the larger events now offer paid and free streaming, so check into that as well!

UPDATE: Congrats to Mary Cavanaugh for winning the signed copy of The Hidden Power of Your Customers!  Thanks to everyone for the great comments and discussions!

As those of you that have read MackCollier.com for any amount of time know, I rarely do book reviews here.  But I wanted to let you know about the first book from one of my oldest blogging friends, Becky Carroll.  Becky has been blogging for the last 5 years on the power of embracing your customers.  She’s also been consulting companies of all sizes on how to do this, and does it every day in her role as Community Manager for Verizon.

So I was thrilled when she sent me a copy of her first book, The Hidden Power of Your Customers.  This is the book Becky was meant to write.  So often I see that someone has written a book that doesn’t really seem to speak to their core expertise, but not so with The Hidden Power of Your Customers!

Becky explains that the 4 keys to unlocking the power of your customers are based on R.O.C.K.:

R = Relevant marketing.  Creating marketing that customers want, and that resonates with them.

O = Orchestrated customer experience.  Creating a customer experience that’s viewed through the eyes of the customer, not the company.

C = Customer-Focused Culture.  It is in the company’s DNA to delight and excite their customers.

K = Killer customer service.  Be consistent, and focus on getting the ‘little things’ right every single day.

 

What I love about The Hidden Power of Your Customers, is that it gives you solid business strategy and advice, then tells you how to EXECUTE that advice.  Too many marketing/social media books will give you ‘common sense’ business platitudes that might make for a good RT, but they actually tell you HOW to do what they are suggesting.  Becky does.  For example, the book is organized into 4 sections, each one covering one of the letters in her R.O.C.K. formula.  I was particularly interested in the C, or Customer-Focused Culture.  Now a TON of marketing books have talked about the value of having a customer-focused culture, but few tell you how to actually GET there.

Becky talks about having customer-centered values, and how to track and MEASURE metrics that are associated with your goal of creating a customer-focused culture.  She walks you through the type of employees you should be hiring to help you develop a customer-focused culture.  She gives you an actual plan for creating a customer-focused culture, rather than saying you need to do so, then sending you on your merry way without any direction on how to get there.

And Becky does something else that I love: She uses case studies to illustrate the points she is trying to make.  People LOVE case studies!  And I have found from my work and presentations that people can understand the concepts you are trying to relate much easier if you can tell them a story of how a real company has done what you are suggesting they do.  It really helps the ideas resonate, and Becky has dozens of case studies sprinkled all throughout this book.

So I love this book, and I think you will as well.  If you want to buy a copy of The Hidden Power of Your Customers, then head on over to Amazon.  BUT, since Becky rocks so much, she has given me a SIGNED copy to giveaway here on my blog!

So if you want to win a signed copy of The Hidden Power of Your Customers, simply leave a comment telling us about an amazing experience you have had with a company or organization.  One that you think did a great job of focusing on you as a customer and truly made you feel appreciated, and made you want to tell others about your amazing experience.  And it doesn’t have to be a one-time event, it could be about your favorite business or organization that you love because they consistently give you amazing service and truly appreciate you and you can tell they appreciate all of their customers.

That’s all I need, and I’ll pick one winner to receive the signed book by next Saturday, the 22nd!  And you can live anywhere in the world, I’ll mail it to you where ever you are, all you need to do is share your story with us!  Good luck, and thanks again to Becky for writing such an amazing book!

 

Pic via Flickr user MelonieG

Exactly four weeks from today I will be on a plane bound (eventually) for Los Angeles, and Blog World Expo.  I’ve already started getting ready for this trip, and we’ll be doing a Live #Blogchat there on Saturday the 5th.  As I’ve been prepping for this trip, I realized that for some of you, this might be the first social media event you’ve ever spoken at.  Don’t fret, the first Social Media conference I ever spoke at was South By Southwest in 2008, and I survived!  So I wanted to write this post to give you some pointers (along with lessons learned) to help you ace your first presentation at a social media conference.

1 – Get started early.  If you’re reading this and thinking “Hey that’s right, I guess I do need to get started on my deck for Blog World!”, then we’ve hit our first Red Flag.  There is no substitute for prep time.  If I am creating a brand new deck for a presentation, I start working on it 6-8 weeks before the event, 4 weeks if it’s a session I have already delivered before.

2 – Devote half your time to creating the deck, half your time to rehearsing your delivery and always give yourself at LEAST two weeks for each.  That sounds like a ton of time, but it isn’t.  And when I am working on my delivery, I spend the first week delivering the presentation from  a script.  I make an outline of the presentation, and make sure to know the main points I want to hit on.  That’s in the first week of rehearsing, for the second week, I lose the script.  After a week of rehearsing, you’ll have a general understanding of what you want to talk about, but you won’t have the exact words memorized.  Which is ok, because when you lose the script, it will force you to talk about WHAT you know, versus simply reciting.  You don’t want to give a speech, you want to share your knowledge.  Spend the second week talking through the deck with no script, and you’ll be ready!

3 – As far as actual deck creation, I start out by making myself an outline.  It helps to do this to give yourself a sense of direction.  Write down the main points you want to hit, and it always helps if you can work this into the start of your presentation.  Within the first few minutes of the presentation, I like to tell the audience what we’ll be covering, so they know how the presentation will flow.

4 – Start connecting with and getting a feel for your audience BEFORE the event starts.  If you will be presenting at Blog World for the first time (or even if this is old hat to you), you should be following the #BWELA hashtag on Twitter.  That’s where you will find Blog World attendees discussing the event, and you can talk to them about their expectations.  And it is especially beneficial to follow this hashtag AFTER the event starts!  I always do this because I can get feedback from attendees on both the sessions, and the speakers.  It gives you an idea of what speakers are doing right and wrong, so you can adjust and improve your session!

5 – Figure out where exactly your session will be beforehand.  When I arrive at the convention center for Blog World, one of the first things I will do is go find the area where we’ll have the Live #Blogchat.  You should do the same thing figure out what room your session will be in, so you can become familiar with it.  You’ll want to know how big it is, what the setup is, will you be presenting from a stage, a podium, or can you move around?  Being familiar with the space where you will be presenting will make you  more comfortable, and that will make your session go more smoothly.

6 – When you delivering your presentation, remember two things.  The first is talk slowly.  Nothing screams ‘I am nervous!!!’ more than talking too fast.  Plus, it makes it harder for your audience to understand you and your points.  The second is that the audience does NOT know what you are about to say.  So if you flub up and make a mistake, there is a 99% chance they will have no idea that you did.  Just relax, collect yourself, and move on.

7 – THANK everyone for coming!  Seriously, it is a gift to have people listen to you speak, especially at an event like Blog World Expo, which has several tracks going at once.  And keep in touch with them after the event, that will only help generate positive word of mouth for the NEXT time you speak!

But in closing, prepare, prepare, prepare.  If you have a solid and engaging delivery, your presentation will go SO much better and be much better received by your audience.

PS: If you want a great post on attending a social media event, check out Lisa Petrilli’s introvert’s guide to attending conferences.

At least a dozen times this week in Cleveland someone remarked to me that they could not believe that this was the first Content Marketing World.  The event was exceptionally well run and executed.  Then in the final goodbyes, Joe thanked his CMI team for ELEVEN months of work on the conference.

And it definitely showed.  The event boasted THREE keynotes that most other branding/marketing/social media conferences would have loved to have on its agenda.  Add in an opening reception at the Rock N Rock Hall of Fame (with a LIVE #Blogchat) and a closing keynote by Kevin Smith (yes, @ThatKevinSmith), and you’ve got the recipe for a truly memorable conference.

Another thing that really struck me was how polished the speakers were.  As a speaker myself, I can tell when another isn’t prepared.  Every speaker was ready, in fact the conference kicked off with Sally Hogshead and literally as soon as she walked on stage, she jumped right into presentation.  The delivery from the speakers as a whole was exceptional, and coupled with the presentation, it really made you feel like you were at a $1,000 conference.  It really felt like a more prestigious experience.

Another thing that struck me was how few attendees left during the second day.  Normally for a 2 or 3 day conference, on the final day you’ll see attendees leaving throughout the day to catch flights home.  Normally by the end of the final day, up to half of the attendees are already gone at most events.  On Thursday I ‘hosted’ the social media track, so I attended 4 sessions from morning to afternoon.  There were over 200 attendees in each of the 1st three sessions, and probably 175 in the final one.  That is truly the litmus test of how valuable attendees perceive a conference to be, and the majority of the attendees stayed until the very end.  And making Kevin Smith your closing keynote is another good way to encourage people to stick around!

Finally, the event kicked off with an opening reception at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.  This was a genius move on the part of CMI.  One of the aspects of a great conference is that it has a lot of networking opportunities and chances for the attendees to connect with each other.  Now let’s be honest, networking with strangers isn’t always the most exciting way to spend a few hours.  So to make this process a lot earlier, why not hold the event at a  venue that people WANT to be at?  Like say, giving your attendees total access to the multi-floor Rock N Roll Hall of Fame?

And I would be completely remiss if I did not tell y’all about the wonderful Live #Blogchat we had as part of the opening reception at the Rock Hall (Thanks again to ON24 for sponsoring!.  We had another fabulous discussion, even though most of us were meeting for the first time at the event.  I keep telling event organizers, but it’s amazing how attendees respond when you put them in an environment where THEY are the stars of the show.  Everyone wants to be heard and to have a chance to participate, and that’s why #Blogchat Live works.  Thanks so much to everyone that came!

Thanks again to all the team at Content Marketing Institute for a truly amazing event, can’t wait for 2012!

Social South was held in Birmingham in 2009, and it will always be a very special event to me, for many reasons.  One of which was that it was where I got to meet Trey Pennington.  I remember Trey attended my session ‘What Rockstars Can Teach You About Kicking Ass With Social Media’, and he tweeted to Collective Soul that I mentioned them in my deck as a case study.  And five minutes later, the band tweeted back to both of us!

The next time I met Trey was in Greenville last year at Brains on Fire’s F.I.R.E. Sessions.  To be completely honest, I started not to go to this event.  As an introvert, I am very uncomfortable when I’m in a room full of people that I don’t know.  There was a pre-event networking event the night before it started and sure enough, I knew no one there other than Robbin and Geno.  I honestly did NOT want to be there, but after a while Trey arrived, and we started chatting.  I think he must have noticed how uncomfortable I was because he said ‘Here, let’s introduce you to a few people’, and then he went around the room introducing me to a few of the many people he knew there.  It was a very kind gesture that helped put me at ease and made the entire event much more enjoyable from that point forward.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on these two meetings with Trey today, because earlier this morning I found out that Trey took his own life.  I won’t claim to have any idea of what issues Trey was facing, because I really didn’t know Trey, and he really didn’t know me.  But despite this, during both our meetings, Trey went out of his way to help me and to attempt to improve my situation.

As I was reading the outpouring of response to Trey’s death on Sunday, I learned that my experiences with Trey were completely typical.  Trey simply went out of his way to give to others, and to spread kindness to them.  He left people in a better place than where he found them.

Goodbye, Trey.  Thanks for being kind, compassionate, a fellow Crimson Tide fan, and an inspiration.  I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together, but I am a better person for the time we did share.