Hummingbird604.com » VIDFEST 2008

I guess I am in tech!

Raul — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:50:23 +0000

I’m usually reluctant to say that I am in PR (public relations) or in the tech industry, even in social media (Web 2.0) because I still think of myself as an environmental specialist. However, lately, I have been faced with questions from friends that I have made in the blogosphere who have asked me directly “hey Raul, what’s going on in the tech world this week?”

I guess that comes from my recent increased coverage of tech events, including VIDFEST 2008, Cossette Convergence 2008, Launch Party IV. Even the PR events (if you consider Third Tuesday a PR event) have a tekkie component! Thus, I’ve come to accept that yeah, maybe I am in tech.

Moreover, this only comes to confirm what my friend HZ has told me all along: every time I launch a new endeavour, I follow through fully! And again, a substantial hat tip and thanks should be given to ALL MY BLOGOSPHERE friends, but especially Miss604 – Rebecca Bollwitt, for helping me with my blog, for guiding me through a lot of stuff and simply, for her friendship. Thank you Rebecca.

Blogger Relations – Cossette Convergence – VIDFEST 2008 – Barefoot, Trgovac and Bollwitt

Raul — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:25:34 +0000

I am going to attempt to liveblog Rebecca’s, Kate’s and Darren’s presentation. Check frequently for updates. I may also be live-tweeting.

2.14pm – I have Wi-Fi, have settled in the back and just said hi to Heather Watson (aka Hez) and have introduced myself to Kate Trgovac. Trying to set up for liveblog, I’m a little scattered. Too much socializing too little focus. Sorry if my Tweets are a bit uncoherent. Saw Jenn, Monica, Gus – such a pleasure to see you guys.

UPDATE 2:35pm – Panel is starting with a little bit of context on what a blog is and some stats on blogging. Apparently, female teens are starting blogs earlier than their male counterparts. The moderator is introducing each blogger.

UPDATE 2:40pm – What do you want

- How to manage blogs and relationships with bloggers?
- Relevance of blogs to older audiences?
- The use of micro-blogging and latest trends in blogging
- How bloggers become more recognized in an increasing noisy environment
- Leverage that bloggers can use to promote a new social movement
- How to monetize your blog

UPDATE – 2.41 pm – KATE BEGINS THE PANEL

KATE TRGOVAC
Kate keeps four different blogs (a lot of them, laptop blag reviews).
There is just A relationship – developing relationships with people that are excited about the product
There are 3 reasons why I blog

1. EGO – It is great for me, I blog because I like that people value my opinion. It is really interesting. A lot of bloggers are driven by ego. I did not start to be famous.

* Tip – Flattery works

2. COOL TOYS – My cool toy budget isn’t as big – I started blogging about this and I spend time now with the stuff. Printer, laptop bag. If you have a product, devote some of the media spend budget sending products to the

* Tip – Send the blogger stuff (SWAG)

3. BLOG ABOUT THE ONLINE COMMUNITY – I love blogging to reach out to the community. If you give me stuff that I can give away to my community, all the better!

* Tip – Benefit to my community

WHAT DOESN’T WORK ACCORDING TO KATE

* Target inappropriate – If your stuff is relevant to my blog, then I may actually do it, but if not, then NO.

* Excessive content – Keep it focused. Don’t give me a lot of details!

For most bloggers this is NOT their day job, so as someone who is pitching, you have to plan the campaign so that the bloggers can work and then fit your product into their schedule.

REBECCA BOLLWITT

I got a day job because of my blog.

These are my thoughts (Rebecca’s) – What do I look for when someone is pitching me.

Never do a Dear John kind of contact

Dear YourSite.com or Dear webmaster

Targeting who you’re pitching to.

I’m a married woman, if you send me a press release about a dating site, I may not look at your site or your stuff.

Expect honesty

Listen to your audience, whether the review is good OR bad.

Check your stats

Look for those who you haven’t even talked to yet.

Positive example – Just write a winery review (Osoyoos) and the next day, the winery owners offered wine bottles and offers to come visit and a guided tour.

DARREN BAREFOOT

This has recently been in the news (the issue of bloggers relations).

Chris Anderson – Editor WIRED Magazine – The Long Tail

Last year he wrote a blog post in which he posted a black list of more than 300 PR marketing people who had been spamming him.

Darren used a second example that I completely missed thanks to loss of WiFi

Third example – ELBOWS Music Blogger List

Authenticity and transparency. We are supposed to be more transparent (bloggers)

It’s not the best solution (blogs) but we’re trying.
It is a semi-public communication device.

The web loves vigilante justice. One of several risks.

If you do bloggers relations, if you do it right you’ll be doing well.

Appealing to bloggers’ self-interest.

Terrific book – “Made to Stick” – Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs.

QUESTIONS

How long did it take you to build the readership you have now?

Rebecca – Four years. Putting myself in there. Emphasis on the offline.

Does the mainstream media come to you?

More traffic – little traffic from the mainstream media comes.

Do you find Facebook attractive – as you’re a blogger – do you find that there is any interaction?

Kate – I get a little bit of traffic. Over the long.

Darren – Has done some research – kind of no, Facebook is this place that is somehow silent. Practically speaking – people don’t want to leave Facebook when they’re there.

Other sites do they direct you some traffic?

Darren – That traffic is not particularly sticky. Digg and StumbleUpon.

Kate – Tonnes of traffic through StumbleUpon.

Some sites do seem to work on Facebook

Darren – yeah, some places work, some others don’t

Do you need to post at a certain rate

Rebecca – Posting speeds variable.

On my company site – 3 times a month

On my personal – Up to 6-8 times a day

Weekend goes down – especially when it’s sunny. Then it comes back (the traffic)

Kate – Same phenomenon.

It’s bigger

Darren – Aim to twice a week

I used to blog more (two posts a day) – almost never post on the

Hez – Follow up question – Reblogging – microblogging – is there such a thing as “too much”

Darren – Twitter – define – wee little blogs with 140 characters limit

Kate – Tumblr – similar to Twitter and super simple – it’s life streams, where it aggregates Twitter – Flickr – live streaming into one

There *is* a real risk.

I post my Del.ici.ous bookmarks -

Kate – You can “cheat” and post links but you need to add some content, some find it valuable.

- Also networking capability – you get the feed – there is some amazing content of that.

Rebecca – Delicious – the great thing is that bookmarks are online.

Darren – two more things

a) What are the current and trendy things?

Microblogging is trend 1 and

Live streaming – FriendFeed – assemble all of your streams

FriendFeed can help you personalize.

What do you do with negative feedback and what can you do as a corporation – what does a blogger do with the negative feedback

Rebecca – As a corporation, you can’t ignore the negative stuff. Not everybody is going to like your product. But if you have a corporate blog and you have negative reviews, listen to this. Next blog post – “we listened to what you said and here’s what we suggest you do”

Darren – You got to dive in and not ignore it.

QUESTION – You were early adopter – how do you help the corporate bloggers get recognition

Kate – PetroCanada – they started a blog – gas prices and fuel efficiency
- The way they started out was reaching out to other people in the US
- Who is talking about fuel efficiency and gas prices
- Those blogs are going to be more popular for a while
- Do you need it to discuss the issue on your own terms.

It’s not an overnight thing at al.

Darren – Tenacity and original, valuable content – the blogosphere is a necrochamber – fascinating research every day.

If you are writing a corporate blog – depending on what your blog

MEC – Ethical sourcing blog – their goal is not to be the most popular, their goal is to answer questions – establish expertise around this topic – becoming the most popular.

In blogging, you make money as an exception, not as a rule.

Rebecca – linking back, leaving comments

Darren – this is hard – but voice matters – people want to know (and think they know the people behind the blog) – voice and writing ability can differentiate.

UPDATE 3.23 pm – The problem with trying to liveblog is that speakers talk WAY too fast AND people who are asking questions ask them in a very quiet voice. Speak *slowly* (speakers) and ask questions loudly (participants in the session). Ok thanks

You can be arrogant or funny, but you have to have your own voice.

How to find the best blogs, how to find the highest multiplier effect

Those who are of interest to your client, not so much the big guys.

You want to find the right ones – the ones that are relevant

Thinking about the phrase – building the relationship, then the content

The most popular blogs in the world have these demands to write stuff – you can try to find the blogs that are very, very specific to what YOU are working on

** I couldn’t capture the last comment that Kate made **

LAST QUESTION

Should each one of the experts have a blog or several blogs

Darren – Start with one blog with multiple authors. Some people want to do it because they like it, some see it as an obligation. The really important thing is to highlight INDIVIDUAL authors. Put a photo, put their photo. The readers will get to know them “oh, here is Janice”

Kate – PetroCanada – group blog but very personalized. Provide feeds. Provide an RSS feed for EACH author. So each person can subscribe to whomever.

MODERATOR

What would you guys say if any one of these people wanted to talk to a blog

Kate – Do it in a really small scale. Read their blog.

DaveO – The most awesome blogger in town  – Question to Darren – you have creative ways of pitching – give us some ideas

We never pitch anonymously. Send enticing, fun, intriguing stuff. Be very creative.

Kate – the mail stuff (in printed mail form) – it’s not just mail, it is personalized, relevant and creative.

Would it be fair that people make a more substantial, authentic pitch for a blogger

Darren – Yes, read the bloggers’ blog at least for the duration of the campaign.

Mass marketing continues to die, apparently

Darren – be humble about this – work from the assumption that the influencers, the bloggers online DO NOT NEED YOU. If you work from a position of humility you will be more successful.

Rebecca – Mass marketing – company in Toronto – pitched me before – pitched me again – and then they said “we can’t send you the stuff b/c you participated 6 months ago” – well now Rebecca does NOT want to do it. It’s kind of silly, the strategy of Matchstick – I mean, you CAN’T participate in more than two campaigns a year? Give me a break.

END OF THE LIVEBLOG

Ok, I now need to check where I am headed!

VIDFEST 2008 – Vancouver International Digital Festival 2008 is now

Raul — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:15:28 +0000

Never in my life have I felt like I’m being pulled in three directions like this week. It *is* a very important week for social media. While I have talked at length about other upcoming events, including those happening today (LaunchParty IV at Republic – to which I *am* going – and Green Drinks Vancouver 30 Days of Sustainability Wrap Up Party – to which I *might* show up), there’s the launch party for VIDFEST 2008.

So you may ask yourselves “What is VIDFEST 2008 and why should I care?“. The first question is really easy to answer. The Vancouver International Digital Festival is

VIDFEST is eleven events over four days, including conferences, an awards gala, an international partnering forum, a pitch fest, and a recruiting fair. Book your calendar for this digital media extravaganza.[VIDFEST website]

You can check the schedule for the event and that may lead you to the answer to the second question (why should YOU care). Simply speaking, I can put it in code and I’m sure you’ll get it

IF YourGeekinessQuotient > 0.05 THEN
Attend_VIDFEST
ENDIF

Two important events I really want to attend that are part of VIDFEST include Convergence 2008 (on Thursday 9am-5pm, Granville Island Hotel) and the PopVox Awards Gala (on Saturday evening). For Convergence’s schedule you can click here. By an absolute miracle of the scheduling Gods (and considering how booked I am this week), I *am* free on Thursday from 2.30pm to 5:30pm, so I am pretty sure I can make it to the panel where Darren Barefoot, Rebecca Bollwitt and Kate Trgovac will speak, on Blogger Relations: Influencing Online Influencers. I will bring up my own complaint with MatchStick up if I manage to sneak in to this particular session. Besides, I am looking forward to meeting Kate Trgovac, whom I’ve heard wonders about in the blogosphere for a long, long time.

As for the PopVox Awards,

PopVox (from vox populi – L. voice of the people) is the people’s choice awards for the Vancouver International Digital Festival. Submit your project today! The deadline for entries is April 30, 2008. It’s free to submit. Online voting will determine the winners. The PopVox awards recognizes and celebrates the creativity, talent, and achievements of the digital media industry. Prizes are awarded in eleven categories:[VIDFEST 2008 website]

Kudos to the VIDFEST organizers. If you are in media, you can check ALL THE STUFF they are providing YOU to make your job much easier. Since I am hoping to be able to attend and live-blog a couple of events, their clever thinking really allows me to just focus on the actual event rather than trying to dig information for my blog posts.

I am really hoping to be able to attend some of the VIDFEST events, since I am sure you my dear readers would greatly benefit, particularly if (like me) you are feeling pulled in all directions! However, given my transitional stage towards my new career path, I feel like I am able to make enough time in my social and work calendar to sneak in some of these events. If you are attending, drop me a comment, an email, send me a tweet or simply say “hi!“

What I’m up to today: LaunchParty, TechVibes job fair, Green Drinks, VIDFEST 2008

Raul — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:33:54 +0000

I am awake at an absurdly early hour, so I might as well just arrange my calendar and try to see if I can squeeze all the events I am supposed to attend this week (and TODAY), along with doing some of my own work, interviewing Al Pasternak (aka Bokashiman) for my blog, attending a very close friend’s PhD defense AND still doing some of my usual socializing. Will I manage to remain sane? We’ll see. I attended two social media events last night: Third Tuesday AND Vancouver MetBlogs drinks at Library Square and I managed to survive, so let’s see if I don’t end up social-media’d out by Saturday night

So… in the interest of keeping myself sane, let’s see what I am up to today.

- Launch Party IV – Republic, 5:30 – 9:00 pm. Can’t wait to meet Maura and Jordan and all the other folks at Strutta.com. Besides, good chance for a beer with Duane, Ianiv and Arieanna, John and Rebecca, Jenn, Nadia, and I’m pretty sure there will be many other of my social media peeps there.

- Green Drinks – Steamworks – 5:45 – 10:00 pm. This is going to be a tough one. I *really* want to go, particularly since I committed myself to be a Green Greeter (one of those folks who will come to you with a name tag and if I see that you are too shy, I’ll come and introduce you to other people I myself may not even know, but still – create social circles on the spot). But, as you will see, I also have other events the same night. You snooze, you lose. I *may* make an appearance, particularly since I’m on the job market in the environmental field, I kind of have to .

- TechVibes Job Fair – Republic 3:00 – 5:00 pm. I also may show up to this, although this seems to be more directed towards web designers, software engineers, etc. But who knows, there might be something for me. And since I’ve already said that my next job will meld social media with sustainability and social change, this may be a good opportunity. More information on the Career Fair and the schedule of speakers is here.

- VIDFEST and VIGS Opening Reception – Vancouver Art Gallery – 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Well, not sure if I’m going to make it to this (I need to talk to the organizers of VIDFEST, on the one hand, and on the other – I am already double-booked). But it would be nice to make an appearance, particularly since Rochelle Grayson is covering VIGS and I’d love to see her.

Ok, after seeing my schedule, it looks as though the majority of my commitments are after 3pm, which gives me a solid morning to do actual work. That’s kind of awesome, come to think about it. Although I have NO clue where I’m going to sneak in a nap, because I mean, being awake at 6.00am after going to bed at 1.30am doesn’t really jive with me.