SWOMFest Wrap-up

Posted on October 31st, 2008 by Spike and currently 5 commenting.

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!

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