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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Allan Jenkins’ complaint has inspired me

At dinner, followed by drinks at the famous BoBi bar in Copenhagen, my long-time friend and colleagueAllan Jenkins expressed some dismay at what has become a common occurrence. He’ll get a call or email from somebody asking, “Are you going to be at the XYZ social media conference in (name city here) next week?”

“It sonds like a great conference,” Allan would reply. “I might have planned to go if I’d learned about it more than a week in advance.”

I feel Allan’s pain. There are so many conferences on social media, and I learn about many of them either after the fact or just before they’re set to begin. What would be great, we agreed, is a single calendar somewhere listing all the upcoming social media conferences. I can’t find one (so if you know of one, please point me to it), so can we start one? I’ll be happy to set up a wiki if others think this is a good idea—and I’m open to alternative means of organizing a collaborative effort to list all these upcoming events (such as Podcamp Boston, BlogWorld, the list goes on…)

Incidentally, that’s Allan below, poking his head between me and Flemming Wiser; Bryan Wilder is on the right. We’re at the BoBi bar, where supposedly you’re not supposed to take pictures.

Shel Holtz

10/24/07 | 11 Comments | Allan Jenkins’ complaint has inspired me

Comments

  • 1.Hi Shel, I actually started a Google Calendar that I have linked to my blog (http://www.engageinpr.com. I typically only update it for SFO, BOS and NYC but it's open to anyone to add their events. Not exactly what you are looking for, but a start.

    Also, I find going to Upcoming.org and putting in Social Media helps me find a good list of upcoming social media conferences.

    Would love to know of other calendars people are offering up out there.

    /kff

    Kyle | October 2007 | Boston

  • 2.There's also Confabb.com. It's not a wiki, but it's all user-submitted content, details about conferences, reviews of individual speakers, etc. It seems like a good place to start -- now we just need to make sure people post their events there.

    Mike Keliher | October 2007 | St. Paul, MN

  • 3.Shel, I think a wiki is a great idea. Connie Crosby and I were just discussing the need for a listing for social media events in Toronto, Canada.

    Eden Spodek | October 2007 | Toronto

  • 4.Shel,

    I fourth the idea. It's actually something I've been thinking about for quite a while. Thanks for being proactive about it.

    Cheers.

    Melanie Seasons | October 2007

  • 5.Shel, please feel free to use the NewPR Wiki Upcoming Conferences page - http://tinyurl.com/2zv4uk - and to share the edit password with anyone who will be interested to participate.

    Constantin Basturea | October 2007

  • 6.Hi Shel, sounds like a great idea. Until the definitive site for this is unearthed, let me flag Talk Is Cheap on November 15. It's an unconference for PR and corporate communications folks who want to know more about social media. All info is at the event wiki <talkischeap.pbwiki.com>.

    You've got more than a week's notice, so if you happen to be in Toronto in mid-November, we'd love to see you!

    Gary Schlee | October 2007 | Toronto

  • 7.Gary, I added the event to the NewPR Wiki page.

    Constantin Basturea | October 2007

  • 8.Great ideals all the way around. But I can't help but wonder about the apparent lack of marketing strategy, timing and follow-through. The fact that you and Allan received information about these conferences and were obviously a target for attending I have to ask, "Where was the solicitation 4 - 6 weeks previously, when you could have planned to attend?"

    Don't get me wrong, as I said I think this/these are fabulous ideas. But if someone can't trigger a direct marketing campaign until the 11th hour, what's to prevent them from also posting a notice on an aggregated conference site at the 11th hour as well.

    After all, technology can overcome only so much planning and execution miscues.

    Craig Jolley | October 2007

  • 9.IABC Wellington has an afternoon masterclass on social media coming up in November. http://www.iabcwellington.co.nz/2007/10/23/social_media_impact/

    Yeah, I know it isn't a conference, but click the link and you'll see that one of the presenters is IABC main honcho Todd Hattori ABC. I understand he'll be delivering presentations on social media at various events over the next few months.

    Simon Pleasants | October 2007 | Wellington NZ

  • 10.Thanks, Constantin, but I couldn't find a link to the Upcoming Conferences page on the wiki's navigation menu -- so I added one.

    I'll post later that I think this is the place to maintain such a listing, but it will take a collaborative effort to make it comprehensive and complete. For example, BlogWorld isn't up there now, and it's only a few weeks away. (I'll add that one, but I know there are a lot more...)

    Shel Holtz | October 2007

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