Recently in Events Category

It's been 10 days since the first AnalyticsCamp. 11 days since the last-minute preparations and wondering if the weather would force us to cancel, about eight weeks since we committed to the date. All in all, we had a good day, including the predictably painful decisions about which sessions to attend—and which to miss. For me, it was the BarCamp where almost every session was appealing, and I needed many more hours to spend with the people there.

"We" means "we"
I'm not using the royal we when I talk about AnalyticsCamp; a small group of volunteers put in significant work to make the event happen, and a few organizations provided crucial support. Without their contributions, AnalyticsCamp would still be stuck in the idea phase.

• Tong Vudhikosit (@tong_Orn) took the lead at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, bringing together multiple student clubs and coordinating with the administration throughout the project. For those of you in hiring positions, she's about to finish her MBA and is interested in marketing, social media and analytics as a career. She's already demonstrated her ability to take on a project and follow through to make it happen.

• I-kong Fu (@ikongsgf), Brian McDonald (@bmcd67), and Varsha Chawla (@VarshaChawla) took on various pieces of the project. They already have jobs. :-)

• The Kenan-Flagler facility is outstanding, and we got nothing but support from everyone at the school. If you can arrange to host your event at a top business school with a beautiful, new facility, I recommend it. Really, when was the last time you went to a conference that had installed power outlets at every seat and solid wi-fi in every room?

• We had great food and drinks, provided by our sponsors. With no t-shirts or banners, the sponsors didn't get a lot of visible recognition, so I want to thank SAS and Capstrat again for their support.

Blogging AnalyticsCamp
I could tell from the tweets that I was missing some good sessions, and all I could do was hope that people would blog them. Fortunately, some did. I like the positive reviews, of course, but I'm particularly happy with the reactions from folks who weren't sure about the unconference format going in (even some of the organizers). Get the right people together to talk about an interesting topic, and it's really all you need.

• Why Social Needs Search, Ellie Johnson (pre-event)
• All about AnalyticsCamp, I-kong Fu (pre-event)
• First Analytics Camp Is A Hit, Martin Smith
• Social Media, Analytics and Story, Gregg Morris
• Analytics Camp, or I Cannot Fathom Numbers, Jay Dolan
• Designing Dashboards Successfully, Angela Hall
• Interact With Twitter Friends Using Just Your E-Mail, Damond Nollan
• One time at AnalyticsCamp..., Jim Hazen
• Learn How To Increase Your Readers, Followers, Fans, and Buyers, Damond Nollan
• My first unconference, David B. Thomas
• Content Analytics 'All Abouts,' Angela Hall
• The Tao of Bar Camp, Jack Perez
• B2B Marketing Analytics, Jep Castelein
• Real Time Analytics Take Aways, Angela Hall
• Analytics Camp NC, Andy Ratcliffe
• Encourage the (New) Conference Speakers, Andy Ratcliffe

Lessons
For a first effort, I think AnalyticsCamp went well, but we did learn some lessons. The agenda ended up too front-loaded, probably because we advertised the availability of too many spaces. Next time, we'll have someone to help keep the schedule balanced. We assumed a 20% no-show rate in our planning, but we ended up with more like 40% no-shows. The weather was a factor, but we turned away people who could have been there, and we had a lot of extra food at lunch. We'll allow more registrations next year.

What's next?
Before the day was over, people started asking about next year. We do want to do it again next year, but planning won't start until late this year. There was some discussion of starting a regular analytics meetup, but nothing to announce yet.

I'm working with a few folks in the Washington area to put together AnalyticsCamp DC. I've also heard from some folks who are interested in having similar events in Dallas, Milwaukee (or Chicago), and Boston. The thing about BarCamps is, nobody owns them, so if you want to have one in your city, go for it. Just let me know, and I'll do what I can to help you promote it.

Hey, I finally get to go to London! I'm speaking at Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp* on 31 March, along with Marshall Sponder, Philip Sheldrake, and Katy Howell. Luke Brynley-Jones is putting together a full day of how-to sessions on monitoring and measuring social media, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

The sessions are all about practical, let's-get-to-work topics:

1. Getting Started with Social Media Monitoring
   
2. How to Choose The Right Social Media Monitoring Tool
   
3. How to Build Your Own Social Media Monitoring Service
   
4. How to Monitor Sentiment and Benefit from The Insight this Provides
   
5. How to Identify influencers and Build Valuable Relationships with them
   
6. How to Monitor and Engage with Customers in Real-time
   
7. How to Measure the Success of your Social Media Marketing Campaigns

A couple of years ago, I realized that my business network was stronger in London than where I live (probably not the case now). Now, I finally get an excuse to meet more of you in person. Wednesday, 31 March, Bootcamp.

*haircut not included.

Consulting Days in London
While in town for MSMBC, I'm going to have time for other meetings, too. First priority goes to paid consulting days, though I hope to connect more casually, too (tweetup?). I'm offering full- and half-day appointments, where the content will be tailored to your situation—perhaps a market update on SMA software platforms or a planning session on listening strategies. For details, send an email to nathan@net-savvy.com.

Here's a crazy idea: if an event you want to attend doesn't exist, organize it yourself. Which brings us to AnalyticsCamp (@AnalyticsCamp), a free day of networking and learning for folks interested in any kind of analytics (web, email, social media, marketing. big enterprise BI, you name it). The plan is to attract a mix of different analytics specialties and stir.

It's a Barcamp-style unconference, and anyone can pitch a session (we have some ideas), but we're also planning to seed the agenda with some serious experts to make sure we have solid content. Sessions will include technical, business and career topics, from beginner to advanced levels, so everyone is sure to learn something.

AnalyticsCamp grew out of a panel discussion on measuring social media at a recent Web Analytics Wednesday. It's intended to be primarily a local event, building community among interesting people working in analytics silos in the Triangle. But if you'd like to join us from out of town, you're welcome. You could lead a session while you're here, too. ;-)

Details
AnalyticsCamp will be held on Saturday, February 6 at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, NC (directions). Our hosts for the day are UNC's Marketing and Business Technology Clubs. Details are posted on the AnalyticsCamp wiki, and registration is open (it's free, but please register to help us plan appropriately).

UPDATE: Here's my wrap-up post from the day.

Are you going to the WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas next month? I'll be there (sporting a "member" ribbon on my nametag this time). WOMMA is the best event I've found for meeting people from the social media analysis branch of my network, which makes it my best chance to meet you this year. To make it even more interesting, we're going to have a meetup for social media analysis folks who are in town.

This started when Sam Flemming pinged me about organizing a meetup for folks involved in social media analysis internationally. Sam's visiting from Shanghai, and WOMMA draws an international crowd, so it's a reasonable theme. If you happen to meet peers from the same country, that's ok, too.

What: SMA Vendor Meetup

Where: Spago Las Vegas
Forum Shops at Caesars
(702) 369-6300

When: Wednesday, November 12, 6:30 PM

WOMMA has good receptions that you won't want to miss, so we won't compete with them. If there's no reception on the 12th (research day), we can look at something earlier. If WOMMA has an event, we'll look later. Either way, it's probably dinner.

Update: It looks like there's no WOMMA reception to compete with on the 12th, so we're going at a more East-Coast-friendly 6:30 pm (I'd like to stay awake through dinner). If you're planning to join us, please add your name below so I can update the reservation.

Need a head count
Here's the part where I need your help. I need to know if this is going to turn into a few folks going to a restaurant together (easy) or 50 people looking for a place to talk (harder and $ in advance). Once I get a sense of the numbers, I'll investigate the details, but we're going to do something.

Are you going to be at WOMMA on the evening of the 12th? Will you plan to join us?

With all of the interesting conferences that I miss because they're in New York or San Francisco, it's nice to have one closer to home. Executing Social Media is in Atlanta next week (15–16 October), with its focus on practical applications and corporate examples. I have the perfect gig as moderator: I get a license to speak up (as if I need one), and I don't have to prepare a session.

At the last ESM, I appreciated the plentiful opportunities to spend time with other participants on their real issues. Changes in the format look to tee up even better conversations at the roundtables this time.

We live in interesting times, so the organizer is offering a few ways to reduce the budget impact of ESM:

• Two-for-one pricing on all registrations.

• Save $300 by using the discount code esm08300 when you register.

• Win two tickets with your answer to the question, "what tactics would you use to introduce one or all of the following social media tools (blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting, online video or social networking) into an existing, conservative organization?"
  

ESM is smaller than other conferences I've been a part of, which gives it a more intimate vibe and encourages in-depth conversations. I'm particularly looking forward to presentations from companies whose stories aren't I'll call you.overexposed.

A number of folks on my want-to-meet list are going to be there. Are you?

Work on the second edition of the Guide to Social Media Analysis has kept me busy in the office lately. I really enjoy the conversations with people all over the world, but I do need to get out more. Next month, I get to escape the office to speak at two very different events: Executing Social Media and Blog Carolinas. I hope to meet some of you there.

Executing Social Media
On 21–22 May, meet me in Los Angeles for Executing Social Media. This one comes well recommended from last year, and I'm excited to be part of it this year. The speaker list includes a healthy selection of people on my "need to meet" list, and the client-side stories are a break from the usual suspects. The only problem is that the few times the conference splits into smaller groups, I want to go with all of them.

For my part, I get to lead a roundtable discussion on organizational issues, and I join Jake McKee and Michael Terpin in Ways to Ease the Social Media Comfort Zone—For You and Your Bosses. If you've been reading here long, you won't be surprised by my theme: Lead with Information. We'll set the big visions and sweetened beverage aside and focus on developing fact-based arguments for creating a social media strategy before you have a budget.

You can save $300 by using the discount code la08ng when you register. Hope to see you there.

Blog Carolinas
If you've heard of Josh Hallett's BlogOrlando or any of the other BlogCity conferences it inspired, you understand what we're doing with Blog Carolinas, 9 May in Research Triangle Park, NC (near Raleigh). The free conference will focus on the intersection of social media and business, with the intent of providing a constructive learning opportunity for business types who want to figure out how social media is relevant to them.

Part of the fun of the regional event is seeing local experts. Andy Beal, Jim Tobin and Rob Humphrey will be there. I'm scheduled to lead a session on monitoring and measurement. I've posted an outline, but it's an unconference. Anything can happen.

Blog Carolinas started as the marketing track that wasn't at BarCampRDU last summer. After I started planning and set up a Facebook group, Lee White took over when the project started to consume more time than I could spare. I'm happy to say that he's made the event real, and I can't wait to be there.

Blog Carolinas is free, but attendance is limited. Register now if you want to join us.

Twits: Follow @esmLA08 and @blogcarolinas for your attention-deficit updates.

Something about enjoying a bloggers dinner in the city makes me want to get together with the crowd at home, too. So here we go again—it's time for a business bloggers dinner in Raleigh. We're going back to Brier Creek, splitting the difference between Raleigh and Durham.

What: Business bloggers dinner

Where: Champa Thai & Sushi
8521 Brier Creek Parkway
Raleigh, NC 27617
(919) 806-0078
Map (PDF)

When: Monday, October 15, 7:00 pm

BYO$

We're about as casual as it gets. If you blog for, or about, business, join us! If you're into social media for business, call yourself a blogger for the evening and be there. No program, no rules, just interesting people with common interests.

As usual, please RSVP in the comments so I can warn them we're coming.

Tags: blogger dinner RTP Triangle Raleigh Durham

I spent Saturday at BarCampRDU. It was a nice change of pace to do something here, since I usually just read about interesting-sounding events a long way away. If it's your first BarCamp, you must present, so I ad-libbed a session on social media measurement. It must have gone reasonably well, because people stayed and we filled the hour easily.

I started with the premise of sorting out social media measurement: the term is being used to refer to (at least) four different activities, and it's important to be clear about what information you're looking for and why. I mostly focused on the PR and market research angles, and we talked about the distinction between monitoring and measuring. We had a good conversation about the place of free tools for monitoring, human vs. machine analysis and Wal-Mart t-shirts (I learned today that the t-shirt story continues).

With about a dozen people in the room, it was one of the smaller sessions at the technologist-centric day, but participation was high, and I got to meet some smart people. Calvin Powers also writes about the session.

Based on some hallway conversations, I think we might put together a local conference on social media/Web 2.0 for marketers. It would focus on useful information for marketers who want/need to figure things out, with a mix of strategy and how-to sessions. Details are very much TBD. If you want to be part of starting something, let me know.

Tags: BarCampRDU social media measurement

Another opportunity to meet interesting people in the Triangle is coming up April 4 at the RTP 2.0 social in Durham (via CED):

RTP 2.0 and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development are proud to present the first RTP 2.0 Social. Sponsored by RTP 2.0, CED, and Broadwick, makers of IntelliContact, this event will be held Wednesday, April 4, from 7-9PM at Tyler’s Tavern in Durham (located in the American Tobacco Campus).

This event is open to everyone interested in meeting other technologists, innovators and entrepreneurs in the area. The goal of RTP 2.0 is to bring individuals together for meeting, sharing ideas, and having fun. Friends are welcome, of course.

Details

Tags: RTP Triangle Raleigh Durham

The New Communications Forum started today in Las Vegas, and here I am on the other side of the country. Although the conference came highly recommended, the timing wasn't right this time. The funny thing is, the blog coverage has been so good that it almost seems like I'm there.

Summaries of David Weinberger's opening keynote started appearing within minutes of his presentation. With writeups like these from Shel Israel, Joseph Thornley, and Paul Gillin, I almost felt like I heard Weinberger speak. (Photo by Josh Hallett)

Just a little later, Thornley was back with his notes from John Bell's session on corporate social media strategy, including a downloadable copy of the presentation.

If you tune in to the IRC back channel, you'll pick up juicy tidbits like where tonight's beercast is happening and what color shirt someone's wearing. The little alerts when people enter and exit the "room" add to the sense of being there. The pictures do a better job on the fashion reporting, however.

I know, social media coverage is no substitute for being there. Despite the good notes, I didn't actually see and hear the speakers. I'm missing out on the front channel of personal contact (and the beer channel). But isn't it appropriate that social media are providing such good coverage of a social media conference? I'd rather be there, but since I can't... Thanks for sharing the goods, everyone.

Tags: newcommforum