Wow. What a great day October 30th was down in Austin, Texas. The founders of the Society of Word of Mouth, Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell, put on a whiz-bang event filled with great speakers - and even more importantly - great interaction.
Here are some of the highlights:
1. The event opened with a great Texas breakfast in an beautiful venue. Even better, DJ Mel was crankin' out the tunes. A very cool way to get the blood pumping.
2. As we all took our seats, we heard a very familiar sound coming through the sound system: Michael Jackson's "Thriller." And from out behind the curtains came Austin's own Zombie Dancers who rocked out the entire song in full zombie attire. I think I even saw Jackie in the back gettin' her groove on!
3. Hayley Rushing, founder of GSD&M's Purpose Institute, was inspiring as she talking about finding your purpose. Here are some of my tweets from her talk:
- It's a privledge when people invite you into their lives and share what's important to them.
- Purpose is a definitive statment about the difference that you are trying to make in the world.
- Everything you do as a company should be purpose-driven
- Always ask: Does this help us fulfill our purpose? It it does, do it. If it doesn't, you don't.
- Purpose will hold you steady
- Purpose fosters meaningful innovation. Creates the focus and inspiration necessary to create great ideas
- Purpose turns employees into evangelists
- Purpose is a path to high performance. Orgs driven by purpose and values outperform the general market 15:1
- Purpose + relevace = WOM
4. Screenwriter Yaphet Smith was a HUGE highlight of the day. Such a simple presentation, no fancy slides - but very powerful content. He reminded us all about the power of stories and the elements that make great stories:
- As long as there have been people, there have been prople who want to consume stories
- Stories are the ideal vehicle for WOM
- People do not yearn for tech specs and product featuers in the same way as they yearn for stories
- If you're telling stories about something you're passionate about, it moves people.
- Stories are composed of character -> setting -> problem -> resolution
- Core is in the center of everything you do. Then close to the center is your mission. Then strategy. Then Tactics. Then actions.
- Writer's block is being overwhelmed with options.
- All stories need a problem. Imagine Batman without the Joker.
- Stories are magic. And to find the magic, seek the neat. What's neat aobut it? Harness it.
- Stories are continuous, vivid dreams.
- Generic stories don't connect with anybody.
- Crafting a story: 3 types of research: Facts, Imagination, Memory
- Super Simplified Story Worksheet: 1. Purpose 2. Audience 3. Goals 4. Theme 5. The neat 6. Story
- You can create your own audience by being true to yourself and it becomes a beacon for kindred spirits
5. After lunch, Jackie was up and gave a talk about the Nuances of Networks. My highlight was her giving props to the Fiskateer movement! Very cool.
- Networks are a fabric or structure of chords or wires that cross
- Channel 9 - 4.5 visitors a month. 11, 420 creators = .2%
- Inequality is the rule.
- The 5th P is Participation
- Question for Jackie - Does size of community matter? Her answer - It might.
6. Shawn McDonald from Dell was up next. He's the Director of Communities and Conversations at Dell and talked about teaching WOM at a big company:
- Sean starts out by giving props to the Dell team he's a part of. Classy.
- Why don't companies embrace WOMM? Fear. Disbelief. Ignorance.
- Would you rather have people say something bad abot you or have to go looking for it?
- Let people see the negatives. But let them also see what you are doing about it.
- It is 10% technology and 90% people and places
- Repeat back the obvious episodes of WOM to your business partners; executive sponsorship helps; start small; fly under the radar
7. The last speaker for the day was Trey Reeme from the Young & Free Texas program run by a credit union here in Texas. His mission was to talk about using social media to reach a new market - namely getting young people to consider credit unions for their financial needs and education.
- Don't be the mouth. Be the mouthpiece.
- Align social media with your purpose.
- (At this point my battery was dead on the laptop, so I was on the iPhone, so please forgive the lack of info on this one.)
8. The day ended with the attendees getting into groups and working on a live case study for a local start-up in Austin called Mambo Berry. I think the poor guy was overwhelmed with ideas, because he got a lot of them! I hope we get an update on him in 6 months to hear how he's doing and if he's implemented any of them.
That was it! I got to meet so many great folks with so many different approaches to WOM. It was a refreshing approach to an event with beer from Flying Dog, to the DJ all day long to the great, great content. Here's to SWOMFest 2!
<--www.brainsonfire.com/blog-->Brains on Fire is the Identity Company dedicated to helping organizations discover and sustain excitement about who they are and why they exist. We believe that great brand identities are rooted in purpose, not just profit. That they focus on relationships, not transactions. And they live through movements, not campaigns.