△ MENU/TOP △

Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
SearchClose Icon

Two new media conferences for your consideration

In the world of new media, there are huge conferences that try to be all things to all people, unconferences and camps in which attendees set the agenda, and small events that focus on specific issues and interests. All three have their place, but I’m a particular fan of the latter. Sure, they charge fees, but that allows the organizers to invest in the conference.

Two such events are coming up. In these economic tough times, with training budgets slashed and restrictions placed on travel, these may not be on your radar. But both are worth your consideration. By way of disclosure, I’m speaking at each of these.

Shel HoltzThe Society for New Communication Research is hosting its third annual Research Symposium and Awards Gala in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Friday, November 14. The “research symposium” makes it sound dry and academic, but the results of SNCR’s efforts lend credence to a lot of the ideas that are simply proclaimed by speakers at other conferences. The session I’m most looking forward to covers social media adoption by Fortune 500 companies, presented by SNCR Executive Director Jen McClure and Don Middleberg. I’ve already seen Francois Gossieaux present preliminary results from the study Deloitte sponsored on the tribalization of business, focusing on the value of online business communities; it’ll be great to see the final results. (I’m working to set up an interview with Francois for FIR.)

The awards gala should be fun. The whole point of the awards program is to produce best-practice examples of how business is using new media. (More disclosure: I’m one of the judges.)

The one one-day session is a bargain, as these things go: Only $395 for SNCR members and $495 for non-members. The Boston locale is an added bonus. Boston has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to social media—C.C. Chapman, Todd Defren, Christopher S. Penn, John Wall, Doug Haslam and Chris Brogan, to name a few—and I’m hoping to get there a day early to catch up with as many of them as I can.

imageThe second conference worth looking at is Ragan’s Corporate Communications in a Web 2.0 World. This 2-1/2-day event takes place on the North Carolina campus of SAS October 14-16 (the first day consists of pre-conference workshops that cost extra). SAS,  Software company SAS is regularly listed as one Fortune’s 100 best companies to work for. This is the third time Ragan has hosted a conference on a company’s campus—Southwest Airlines and eBay were the first two. This makes it easy for representatives of the company’s communications department present multiple sessions, giving participants an in-depth look at the organization’s aproach to communications. SAS communicators will present a total of five sessions covering both internal and external communications. In addition, presentations are on tap from communicators with the CDC, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Sun Microsystems, the Mayo Clinic and Dell, among others.

It isn’t cheap—$1,395 per participant—but the caliber of presenters and presentations makes it money well invested.

Comments
  • 1.So Thursday night? Is it right by the Prudential again this year? Plenty of steakhouses there or we could go for Italian in the North End....

    John Wall | September 2008 | Boston

  • 2.How close is the Hotel Marlowe to the Prudential, John? That's where it's being held. I missed the first two, so I'm not sure where they took place.

    Shel Holtz | September 2008

  • 3.The Marlowe is across the river in Cambridge, but they have a restaurant right there that's supposed to be good called Bambara.

    John Wall | September 2008 | Boston

Comment Form

« Back