events Archives - Page 3 of 3

And what a good time it was!

I’m quite impressed I made it through the day, having had about 3 hours sleep the night before, thanks to my son! It’s a sign of how interesting the event was that I even made it to a couple of social drinks after the workshop sessions had ended. After all, there aren’t many conferences/unconferences that give you free entry, interesting discussions, a free T-shirt, and about 5 bands in a private bar afterwards!

I’ll post in more detail tomorrow on the sessions I attended, once I’ve gone through my large collection of business cards, so I can make sure those responsible get some link-love. But one stand out moment for me was when something I blogged about on Grand Theft Auto was actually referenced in a session I attended, by someone who had no idea I was in the room! Surely that must be worth a couple of Google Page Ranks? Or +10 on Technorati.

It was another example of bringing together a fairly wide range of people with a shared interest in social media, and allowing them to express some pretty varied, disparate, and sometimes opposing views. And it definitely left me with a few things to think about.

All I can think about right now is sleeping… but I do remember that the date for the next event was announced with the location being London. I’ll let you know as soon as someone kindly reminds what the date actually is!

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.