Getting social at BlogWorld - Day 1

First thing is first...WHY did I forget the camera? Was it because I left my place this morning at 4:30 a.m. to catch the first flight out to Vegas? Maybe so....Maybe that's also why I forgot to stock up on b.cards....DUMMMMMBBBB! That's ok, I should have enough to last me tomorrow night's Blogworld party.

If you don't know what that is, it's a party where a whole bunch of computer nerds that love to write and be heard go and consume a bunch of free alcohol at really cool places in Vegas (well...this year anyway). If you can't tell, I'm looking forward to it.

Now...back to our regularly scheduled programming...The Social Media Business Summit (Day 1)


Getting at the Las Vegas Convention Center at 7:30 a.m. is not my idea of fun and there was really not much fun involved, but the day was more eventful than I expected.

I started my day at the Keynote (which was awfully early for a conference). The first 5 minutes was full of apologies and thank you's for making it out so early on the day before the expo. The rest of it was really the speaker's recount of how she got started in social media and how it opened doors for her.

I really feel like social media should be able to do that for anyone who puts time and effort into it like most relationships. Something that started out as an annoying fad, has now been translated to an essential business and communication tool.

What I realized yesterday is that we are at a pinnacle of technology that may never be seen before. This generation is the one that was able to see the turning point of simple technology into advanced technologies. Our children will never have to look up anything in books if we don't make them. That said, I think that traditional learning is still very important.

Make time to learn and use new technologies but introduce your kids to the essential tools of learning (like how to write in cursive for example), how to look things up in the library, playing an instrument (like the piano or violin), reading novels, writing letters. Now that technology has 'simplified' everything, we have become simple and forgotten about the sophisticated and romantic cultural traits of years past.

I guess that's another topic. Recap for Day 1's poignant new media sessions......

Things I could care less for:
Disorganized badge distribution this morning
Me hauling around my suitcase all day
Not enough power outlets
Getting yelled at for networking at the luncheon (bad planning on their part)
The guy who was snoring in the back of the Internet Marketing panel

Major +'s:
Informative panels
Great discussions
Knowledgeable speakers
Super friendly social media people that like to network and learn

Follow me on Twitter to hear what's going on at the show @Ronjini

even Creativity is subject to change!

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Today, Fast Company posted its:

“The Most Creative People In Business: Top 25” Slideshow | Fast Company

What does it mean to be creative? I think I'm creative, however, I noticed that I'm not quite on the list...so maybe I'm not creative enough. Everyone on the list is a successful entrepreneur or the lead in a business unit of a large company, as it should be. So, hmmm... how do I get on the list? There are many things I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime and I think this list could just be one of them. I did not see one Indian female or a PR professional on this list of a pretty diverse range of people.

That kind of bothered me. Isn't PR as a profession supposed to be creative? Why do the writers or marketing people get all the props? Public relations has grown to be a delicate combination of writing, marketing and creativity...Oh and a lot of calling on the phones, but that's just tactics. I think the problem has become that many have come to recognize PR professionals as annoying, ineffective cold-callers. To be honest, I think that many of them have become just that. Many PR plans lack strategy and the ability to change at a moments notice. Instead of thinking on their feet and changing with the wind, they are caught up in corporate documents and contracts. If more PR people acted on passion and end-results, I think the creativity is more likely to emerge and maybe then PR folks would get recognized as creative professionals. Strategy can be creative.

In the past few months, I have spoken to entrepreneurs, individuals and companies that have all had bad experiences with their PR agencies. Their main complaint? Lack of results, too much red tape and rejection of ideas from the client. It seems that large agencies in creative industries have become complacent and lack the creative edge that many growing businesses for branding and awareness. I've always believed in working with a client rather than forcing ideas down their throat just because 'we said so'.

Therefore, henceforth, wherewithall, there to....all that crap; creative bloaks are doing business themselves to break free from the bondage of bad management and dull lives. I guess I can't really argue with them. To be creative in a creative industry, you really have to let go of all of those corproate processes and feel the flow. Thus it begins, my journey to a top 100 list. Mind you, this may take several years but I'm just putting it out there so everyone knows where I'm heading ;). Take a brief look at the thumbnails on the list if you can't read all of them, it's pretty interesting and gives you a brief moment of hope that anything is possible.