Finally, a social media conference outside the echo chamber
14Jul10

Social media steps out of the echo chamber

Social media steps out of the echo chamber

I only have time to attend a handful of conferences each year. Its often difficult to determine which are the best conferences to attend. You have to balance up the cost and the potential information reward for each conference.

Social media conferences are even harder to pick. Over the last 3 years I have attended quite a few social media conferences and events but the lingering impression I often have after each event is that the conference was preaching to the converted. Its been an increasing dilemma in the social media world….there are those who “get it” and those that don’t (yet). At most events I’ve attended the audience already “get it”.

Of course its great to have enthusiastic participants at your social media event, but it’d be a lot more valuable to the noise extended beyond the social media echo chamber to reach the people we’d really love to see “joining the conversation”…Ie leading corporate marketers.

That’s why I’m excited to be attending the iStrategy 2010 conference in Sydney in November. Here’s a social media conference that is very deliberately addressing marketing professionals from leading Australian organisations with the aim of “Bridging the gap in Social Media Marketing”.

There are a range of impressive speakers and presentations as well as 6 Interactive Workshops.

Many of Australia’s leading companies will be attending to learn more about how to effectively integrate social media into their marketing. These are the companies who haven’t yet drunk the social media Kool-Aid but are keen to find out what the fuss is all about. For me its a strong indication that social media is leaving the fringes and about to become a very normal part of our daily marketing mix.

If you are a CMO or involved in the marketing at your organisation then this could be one of those rare events that really is worth signing up for.

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Posted under Conferences, Social Media

7 Responses to “Finally, a social media conference outside the echo chamber”

Interesting point. Having gone client-side and working on developing the social media function at my organisation, I prefer conferences where participants are on the whole more advanced. However, I do see the benefit for agency in connecting with those who are yet to realise the benefits.

Having said that, I was impressed with the speakers at iStrategy and would have gone if not for the timing.

Comment by Mal on July 15th, 2010

Mal, its certainly more dynamic for those already active in SM to attend conferences where everyone’s up to speed, but that is really only a small percentage of business people. I’m hoping that conferences like this one successfully introduce more organisations to the benefits of SM and accelerate its general acceptance in corporate Australia.

Comment by Media Hunter on July 15th, 2010

I was put off by the fact that it required you to send an email to receive a password just to view the proposed program. Bad idea!

Comment by Alana on July 15th, 2010

Good point, Alana. For those of you wanting more information about the conference ring contact Richard West by email rwest at gdsinternational dot com or phone 02 8241 1906. Hope that helps!

Comment by Libby on August 2nd, 2010

I do agree with your opinions. Thanks for your appreciation. I really appreciate for giving this information.

Comment by Business Consultant on August 2nd, 2010

I am also put off by having to send an email for password to access most of the information – I find this very suspicious. However, I’ve acted in good faith and emailed – hopefully I’ve not now been duped in to a mailing list I had no desire to sign-up to.

Comment by Ashleigh on August 26th, 2010

from what I understand the event is a invitation only event, the password is there to protect the agenda from other event and to give it a bit of exclusivity.
I have also been assured that there is no mailing list for the i strategy event due to its invitation only concept.
I also found that on istrategy’s linkedin, facebook and twitter account you can access the password there once apart of the network. :)

Comment by Richard West on August 31st, 2010

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