Here’s a presentation that quickly goes over the main concepts discussed at the event.

As a result of this presentation we had a great opportunity to talk to some of our existing clients and address some of their concerns regarding the use of social media in their organizations. We will definitely continue running sessions like this one throughout the following months.

To learn more about upcoming sessions feel free to give us a call at (403) 210.3669. Find out more about the LAR Model and let us know if you would like us to help you create a monitoring process for your company.

The atmosphere of Seven Restolounge was awesome as always. Room was filled with over 50 people, mostly entrepreneurs. After a short intro by Rene and Larry, Patrick started with “a story of my life within 60 seconds”. These are the key points covered through the presentation:

• Whether you are in California or Alberta, pitching is difficult.
• Take all the opportunities you can to practice your pitch. The first time you need to pitch, you will need to be well rehearsed.
• Heart, brain, wallet; pitch by winning in this specific sequence. Most of the time people do the opposite: wallet, a bit of brain, rarely heart.
• Starting up a business is hard. Be prepared to limit your personal expenses within the first two years. Convince you spouse that your idea is worth limiting your personal expenses.
• While starting up, feel free to consult on the side. That’s what Patrick and many others did.
• Have mentors, they are important. Patrick’s mentor, Dr. Bob Schulz – Haskayne School of Business, was at the event. The importance of having a mentor was reinforced by Larry Jacques.
• Starting a business is like creating a religion and converting people around you.
• The first person you have to convert is your partner, co-founder. If you can convert him / her, there’s a better chance your idea takes off.

Last night’s event was definitely one of the most successful ones. Great keynote, great networking opportunity and stylish atmosphere of downtown’s Seven Restolounge.

It’s likely that I missed a few things about the event, so whoever attended, feel free to add in the comments to this post.

A great networking event. Robin mentioned that he actually had a very productive evening talking to people from different walks of life.

Panel composition and the Moderator. A few of the guests at the event commented on the uniformity of the panel. I mean the panel was brilliant and we had a great discussion, but the panel composition could be more diverse next time.

• Moderator: Norman Leach
• Panel members: Lynda Brown, Sarah Blue, Roger Kondrat, Manoj Jasra

Major points Social Media and next 500 days covered by the panel and the audience:

• Social media is many different things. We have to be able to clearly define it, as well as its individual components such as social media marketing and social networks, platforms.
• Rene Smid (Executive Director at Digital Alberta) posed a great question about the average time investment required to reach success in social media networks. More in the video that’s coming up.
• Social media is just a new concept with roots in traditional business.
• Social media may not be the solution to every business problem.
• Companies should pay attention to their marketing strategy.
• Social media is about creating conversations and maintaining relationships.
• Social media is about sharing value with your network.
• Social media is here to stay.

The video compilation of the event by Roger Kondrat is coming up shortly, stay tuned!

Global Village / Global Neighborhoods

Much like Marshal McLuhan with “global village” in the 1960s, Shel talks about the concept of “global neighborhoods” today. Twitter, he says, is a tool that allows us to have small conversations with people of common interest. It’s like talking to your neighbor over the fence. Twitter is simply a tool to create and maintain those short conversations online. As Shel mentions, Twitter is the closest to face-to-face communication.

The importance of telling stories

Much like Seth Godin in “All marketers are liars”, Shel is emphasizing the art of story telling. His book, Twitterville, is in essence a collection of stories about people talking on Twitter and telling stories; something others can relate to. The entertainment component is part of any successful story we read, hear and share with our friends and colleagues. As Dean mentioned in his You don’t know how to blog post last week, telling stories is super important, if it’s not a story, he won’t read it.

Broadcasting Era / Conversational Era

As we are moving from the broadcasting era into the era of conversations and small talks, the value of relationships and value transfer becomes the primary concern. We are no longer pushing the message as it was done for decades by advertising and traditional media. We are engaging in conversations, trying to help people solve their problems. As Shel mentions, the media as a social institution isn’t going anywhere. It’s valuable and will continue to evolve. There will, however, be a transition, and it’s happening already. The key for media outlets is to get through this transition and emerge into a new format of media; a combination of traditional and social journalism.

As a side note, I purchased the last copy of the book at this event. 12 hours later still excited to have it and plan to read it within next couple of weeks before Shel writes his next book