Events

Marketing Week Live – pre-event for bloggers

June 18, 2010 By Dan Thornton

So last night I took advantage of a very kind invitation by Marketing Week to come along to a pre-conference meet-up for bloggers.

Partly they were showing off some nice new technology, which I haven’t been told not to mention (and I’ve seen it publicly referenced by the developers), so I think I’m OK to pimp the fact they’ve got a really nice Augmented Reality app produced specifically for the conference, which includes image recognition to save a boatload of time and effort for attendees who own an iPhone. I may have ribbed them about the lack of a Symbian/BlackBerry/Windows Mobile version, but to be fair, the iPhone is a pretty logical choice for an app for a marketing event. And although I’m normally a bit sceptical about the utility of a lot of AR apps, the way they’ve integrated the things you actually want and need to do at a conference is pretty neat.

The other part I really enjoyed was talking to the people behind the event (and fellow marketer/blogger types). I really got the impression that the rise in mobile, social media and new digital businesses has encouraged them to not only look at the large traditional rivals, but also smaller, perhaps more innovative events, and that they’re starting to evolve what they’re doing to offer more value to attendees. That’s as important for an event that’s free to attend as it is for a paid event at a time when most marketing and creative departments have felt a bit of squeeze, and time out of the office is at a premium.

Hopefully the team behind the event also felt the blogger meet-up was worthwhile as I’d love to chat more about their plans for events and their integration of digital and social elements. As someone who attends, runs roundtables and presents, the event space is undergoing the same disruption and changes as so many other industries, and it’s interesting to witness the evolution necessary.

Marketing Week Live takes place on June 29th-30th at Olympia in London, and it’s free to register.

(Disclosure: I had a couple of free beers. I also have friends who work at Centaur Media, but none of them are directly involved in Marketing Week Live as far as I’m aware.)

Like Minds: Measuring Social Media conference

October 7, 2009 By Dan Thornton

Commuting is a reminder that there’s live outside of London, and it’s amazing how many great events and conferences can slip by if you’re not looking beyond the capital.

One case in point is the inaugral Like Minds conference, taking place on Friday, October 16th, in Exeter, Devon. The topic is ‘Measuring Social Media and making it sustainable‘, including measuring social media ROI, carrying out online campaigns to compliment an offline mix, how to target and best engage online audiences, and turning customers into brand advocates.

Not bad for £35 (discounts for students, unemployed and freelancers).

And there’s a great line-up of speakers, including a couple I can personally recommend. The full list is: Trey Pennington, Olivier Blanchard, Darren Forsyth, Dhaljit Bhurji, Nick Tadd, Andrew Ellis, Laura Whitehead, Andrew Davies, Rick Waghorn, Carl Haggerty and James Barisic.

I’ve shared drinks and chatted with both Darren and Rick, and spent a lot of time chatting with Andrew Davies about the magazine and publishing industry – particularly as I’ve closely followed the start-up he co-founded, idiomag.com.

In fact, I’m feeling a bit hard done by – a chat with Andrew normally involves buying a couple of drinks at London prices. But with 11 speakers for £35, you’re getting each one for the price of a pint. And it’s compacted pretty tightly into just four hours, and after-party drinks – and it’s easier to get out of work for a half day at the moment than it is for a full day of talks. Check out alikeminds.org for details of the venue and booking.

More details on London Twestival

September 7, 2009 By Dan Thornton

London Twestival takes place on September 10th, and more details are being revealed about the entertainment for the evening – including a performance by The Hours, after their tour supporting U2.

There’s also music from One Taste and The Parks Dept, 3 DJs, a live, collaborative story from The Dreaming, free drinks, games and more.

Tickets are £15, and it’s in support of Childline, who will also be there on the night to chat about their work

London Twestival tickets are still available – I’ve got mine, so if you’re going, drop a comment below or catch me at @badgergravling if you fancy chatting on the night.

MediaCamp Bucks 08 – my first unconference appearance

May 16, 2008 By Dan Thornton

It’s my first appearance at an ‘unconference’ tomorrow, when MediaCamp Bucks 08 takes place at Buckinghamshire New University.

It’s free to attend, and the sessions are running from 9am-5pm, with drinks and music afterwards. There’s actually some social drinks tonight as a warm-up, but due to recent fatherhood, I think the odds on me attending much of the entertainment and socialising are pretty much non-existant!

I’ve been looking forward to it for a while, especially after Twittering with the co-conspirators, Chris Hambly and Eaon Pritchard. But I had been a little worried about running a session after 2 weeks of sleepless nights, changing nappies, and lots of other stuff that doesn’t lend itself to long hours in front of a laptop.

Which is why it was quite funny getting an email from Michael Clarke, who had scheduled himself to run a workshop at the same time as mine, on a very similar subject. As we’re both looking at the changes that occur when you go from ‘playing’ with social media on your own time, to then using it for an established organisation, it made sense to pool our resources.

So tomorrow, in the spirit of social media, I’m attending a free conference around conversation and sharing knowledge, and running a sessions with someone who I only know about from a couple of emails and reading his blog for a couple of days!

In an additional bit of luck, before I went on paternity leave, I’d outlined a community marketing strategy for one of the titles I work across. And I came back to find community referrals had doubled, amongst other great results! A great result for Car Magazine.