SocialWayne.com by Wayne Sutton

Posts Tagged ‘social media conference’


Posted on July 13, 2010 - by

11 challenges for social media / technology conference speakers

So…. you want to be a social media conference speaker? Last year when @OurHashtag planned the social media business forum we started receiving tons of submissions via our speaker request form from people all over the USA wanting to speak at our conference. Also as someone who’s been lucky enough to speak at various national and local conferences I often get asked about finding speakers for other conferences. Over the past two years, I’ve seen/experienced both the good and bad sides of speakers at conferences. I’ve seen people get upset and bash others just because they where not chosen or asked to speak.

The question I have for some is why do you want to speak at social media or tech conferences? To show everyone how smart you are? To help build your speaking resume? To get paid for sharing your knowledge? Regardless of what reason you may want to speak at a social media or technology conference, it’s not as easy as some may think. Here’s a list of 12 challenges for social media / technology conference speakers

1. New unique content
The last thing someone wants to hear after paying to hear you speak is a bunch of case studies that you have read from your favorite social media guide that the rest of the world is reading. When speaking at conference be prepared to come with new unique content or at least be entertaining enough so attendees can say they enjoyed your presentation.

2. Peer pressure / expectations
Don’t let the conference organizers over hype you or your presentation. When your times to give your talk the expectations may be to high and the audience is expecting you to wow them with social media case studies and shiny tools that most have heard before.

3. Adding value
This should be goal for every speaker or panelist who would like to speak at a social media conference or any event. Ask yourself how are you adding value to the conference.

4. Real-time critics and feedback
When speaking at social media conferences 9 out 10 times you can guarantee there’s a hashtag or twitter steam flowing somewhere in the background. If you’re sucking or crashing, expect a few angry/mean tweets to show-up in real-time. If you have the opportunity to see the stream during your talk, my advice is get through your presentation as fast as you can, jump to Q&A and write a blog post about what happen afterwards. Also you can try to either send a direct message or public reply to your critics. Most are fine with just a one way bashing but if you approach them some will go as far as deleting tweets or just apologizing.

5. Being always on
It doesn’t matter if you’re sick or had a recent death in the family. iIf you’re speaker at conferences and built a brand for yourself people will approach you and expect you to be same bubble of social media joy you are online. For example, I’m still upset about how I treated a Sony exec who approached me at SXSW 2010 while I was tired as heck. Not from drinking because I don’t drink but just tired. I was headed to the bloggers lounge and she walked over to me and said hello. I wasn’t mean or anything but was a little down. I don’t think she was too happy with my reactions and since then I have yet to hear from here even after reaching out a few times. If you’re reading this… I’m sorry.

6. Your quotes last forever
Be careful what you tweet is a motto of mine but when speaking at conferences be careful what you say. Audience attendees are trigger happy with their laptops and smart-phones ready to tweet a quote from your session. If you say the wrong thing it could be game over and stored in Google and quoted in recap blog post for life.

7. Getting paid for your knowledge
With so many people talking about social media today you’ll think everyone is an expert. The truth is there are no real experts, some just have more experience than others. Regardless you’ll find tons of people who are willing to speak for free at social media conference therefore set your price but be willing to negotiate.

8. Budgeting
You’re now getting paid to speak at a social media conference, your travel and hotel stay is covered. But don’t forget about food, taxi, parties and other miscellaneous charges. Especially if you travel to Las Vegas where everything cost almost as twice as much than any other location.

9. Preparation for the target audience
Make sure you ask the right questions to the conference organizer such as, who is the target audience for the event / session. Most will tell you marketers and agencies but that’s like saying everyone who’s trying to make money using twitter and facebook. If you have the opportunity, reach out to the local community for more information about the attendees if your speaking at an conference in a new city or ask the organizers for a list of companies represented from the registration list so you can be prepare your presentation for the right audience.

10. Winging it
Winging it is a term used by speakers when they wait to the last minute to prep for a talk or they’re speaking off the top of their heads. It’s something I think a few are proud to say afterwards, especially if they did nailed their talk. I’ve seen both professional speakers and newbies attempt to “wing it” but it’s not recommended. You audience deserves better if they come to hear you speak.

11. Dress code
You can almost guarantee that if you’re speaking at a social media conference someone is going to take your picture. With that being said the last thing you want is a ton of flickr photos tagged of you at various events with the same outfit on. Pull out the credit card and start shopping for your social media conference wardrobe.

So, do you still want to be a social media conference speaker?

If you’re currently a speaker what are some of the challenges that you have faced over the years?


Posted on January 4, 2010 - by

Social Fresh Nashville, a social media conference for marketers is next week.

Flickr Photo Download: Social Fresh Posing
Flickr photo by Jason Keath

Social Fresh Nashville is just one week away on January 11, 2010 and I’m excited to be one of  speakers for the first Social Fresh social media conference of 2010.

“ Social Fresh is a one day social media conference targeting professional marketers and focusing on case study heavy content. Jason Keath founded the Social Fresh series of conferences in early 2009. Keath saw a need in the secondary markets for conferences targeting an audience who works in marketing, advertising, PR, SEO or web development for Fortune 1000 companies or government. Social Fresh uses case studies of big ideas, success stories, and ROI of social media from a corporate and branding perspective. ”  via Techdrawl

Some of the other speakers include:

twitter-facebook-logo
I will be participating  on the Twitter and Facebook Success panel along with

Shashi Bellamkonda
Shashi Bellamkonda
@shashib
Social Media Swami 
Network Solutions
Gavin Baker
Gavin Baker
@gavinbaker
Social Media Manager 
Ruby Tuesday
Arie Ball
Arie Ball
@arie_ball
VP Talent Acquisition
Sodexo

Jason Falls
Nick Ayres
@nickjayres
New Media +
Content Manager
The Home Depot

If you have any questions or topics you would like for us to discuss during the session, feel free to leave them on the Social Fresh Ning site for the panel here: http://socialfresh.ning.com/forum/topics/questions-real-twitter-and.

You can register for Social Fresh Nashville at http://socialfresh.com/nashville.  Hurry because the first social fresh  conference in Charlotte, NC  sold out.


Posted on October 30, 2009 - by

One week later: Why we planned a Social Media Conference in NC? #SMBF Thank you!

Wayne Sutton, Reem Abeidoh, Lee Odden, Chris Brogan on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Photo via: toprankonlinemarketing on Flickr
It has been a busy year for me in the terms of speaking and traveling to attend various conferences accross the United States. It started in January where I was on a panel at a conference called Chicks who Click in Boulder, CO where I met @GeorgeGsmithjr & @GeekMommy. Then I attended the Future of Web Apps in Miami, FL., next came PubCon Austin where I was on a panel with Chris Brogan, Reem Abeidoh and Lee Odden. Then I was able to speak at SXSW on a panel with Angela Benton. After that I stayed local for a while, working on the Triangle Social Media Club Chapter and attending one day conferences, such as (ConvergeSC) in South Carolina and (New Media Atlanta). Somewhere in between those two conferences I was on a panel at Jason Keath’s Social Fresh conference and after that Ted Murphy asked if I could moderate a panel at IZEAFest. Recentlly I was humbled to be able to speak at Blog World Expo with Robert Scoble, Amber Cadabra of Radian6 and Patrick O’Keefe aka @iFroggy. You can see a full list of my 2009 speaking events here: http:/FriendWayne.com

Blogworld 2009 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!Photo credit: (cc) Cameron Gawley – www.buzzshift.com

To say it has been a busy year is an understatement, all while launching a company called “OurHashtag” and planning local events in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, NC ). But last week my partners and I, along with the help of a great team of volunteers planned the Social Media Business Forum in Durham, NC at North Carolina Central University. The conference goal was to bring in national and local speakers together with businesses, marketing agencies and individuals who were looking to have conversations about using social media in their work environment. Basically to discuss “how social media is changing the way businesses communicate”. Personally another goal of the Social Media Business Forum was to bring the experiences I’ve collected while traveling to various conferences to the Triangle. Also I wanted bring in some of the industry leaders in social media marketing, Twitter, marketing, video and blogging to the area so others can learn from people who I consider my peers.

The Social Media Business Forum 10-23-09

Another reason why we planned the conference is because if you look at your Facebook inbox, gmail and Twitter stream, I’m sure you see a tone of “social media” bootcamps, workshops and meetups from all types of individuals. Everyone from beginners, to copy cats, to other experienced individuals are planning events to share their knowledge on how to use social media. While there is nothing wrong with that, as Brogan would say, “you have to feed the babies” or something like that, my only caution is take a step back look at what your needs are, look at the agenda, speakers, “teachers”, your budget and other attendees to make sure you get the best ROI (return on your investment) while spending time at various “social media” events. Evaluating the ROI of attending meetups / conferences is a blog post by itself that I’ll touch on next week.

But back to the post title, why did we plan a Social Media Conference in North Carolina? Why not? Social media is about sharing, relationships, community, information, business and people; North Carolina has some of the smartest people in the technology / social web living right here in the Triangle and we wanted to bring some of them together and let everyone know it. So to all the speakers, sponsors, volunteers, my partners and attendees Thanks for making the Social Media Business Forum a success and we’ll see you next year.

The Social Media Business Forum, Friday, October 23, Durham, NC, North Carolina

Also read: Jeffrey L. Cohen Talks About the Social Media Business Forum


Posted on October 6, 2009 - by

How to become a social media conference speaker. Tips and a free conference pass.

IZEAFest

Photo: by chrisheuer

If you listened to my podcast yesterday on the ROI in attending Social Media Conferences, then you know I just returned from IZEAFest a marketing / social media conference in Orlando, FL. organized by Ted Murphy. In my podcast I mentioned how the ROI for attending various social media conferences is relationships and from the relationships it could lead to more business deals and/or speaking opportunities. While it seems that everyone now is a social media guru or expert, or ninja or “fill in the blank”, the next social media must prove yourself thing to do is write a book or speak at various conferences. While my book is on the way, haha, I have been fortunate enough to take part in both local and national conferences / events such as SXSW, CLT WordCamp, SoFresh, Social Media Club meetings, Triangle Chapter of the American Marketing Association meetings, IZEAFest and more before the end of the year such as BlogWorld Expo, the Social Media Business Forum and Internet Summit 09.

Often I get asked how was I able to take part at various events or how can someone become a speaker at those events. While I’m no “keynote” speaker … yet  :), you can see a list of my past speaking events here on FriendWayne.com.  I still have a long ways to go, but here are a few tips on how to become a social media conference speaker that I have seen and done.

How to become a social media conference speaker:

  • Start local – Be known in your own backyard before you try to go global
  • Establish a personal brand / identity / voice – What will people say about you.
  • Keep your social networking profiles updated (outdated info can cost you a gig)
  • Attend other social media conferences – Network!
  • Create valuable content to showcase your skills. No blog, no videos, no podcast = no gig. Unless you work for a major brand!
  • Start your own conference / event and ask others to speak – if it works out they may return the favor… maybe.
  • Have a travel budget
  • Share your existing presentations on http://www.slideshare.net

Speaking Tips – As you start  becoming social media speaker, you need to do a few things such as:

  • Be memorable and awesome
  • Provide great content
  • Provide new content (dont’ just talk about post you read on Mashable)
  • Tell jokes and stories
  • Rap – hat tip (Chris Brogan), I dare you! Wait, that’s Chris’s thing so …
  • Don’t copy other speakers ( I know it’s hard to be creative)
  • If you’re a quiet person, provide Really great content
  • Practice, breath and have thick skin
  • Don’t think about the tweets or “noise” that are being posted while you’re giving your talk.
  • Have someone video your talks so you can post online for later.
  • Ask yourself what separates you from the rest and why do you want to become a speaker.
  • Be yourself.
Free passes to the Social Media Business Forum
SMBFlogo2

If you have Never spoken at a conference in the past and would like to Attend the Social Media Business Forum on Friday, October 23 in Durham, NC, the first Two people who leave a comment on this post saying “I want to attend the Social Media Business Forum” will receive a free pass to the 1 day event. *Tweets or ReTweets of this post do not count.

If you’re a speaker I would love to hear any thoughts you have in the comments or if you have any speaking tips.


Posted on August 19, 2009 - by

Announcing the Social Media Business Forum, 10/23 Durham, NC

http://socialmediabusinessforum.com

Social Media Business Forum

The Social Media Business Forum will feature speakers from marketing companies, technology companies, and social networks discussing ways in which business communications have changed due to social media. We are planning sessions on internal and external communications methods for both B2B and B2C companies. There will be an estimated 200 people in attendance.

A few of the speakers announced are:

More speakers to be announced soon. Registration starts today with limited early bird registration at $125.00. You can register here: http://socialmediabusinessforum.eventbrite.com

For updates you can follow the Social Media Business Forum on Twitter at @smbusinessforum using the hashtag #SMBF or on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Social-Media-Business-Forum/118721852377

Contact information for the Social Media Business Forum is:

OurHashtag
8311 Brier Creek Pkwy Ste 105-432
Raleigh NC 27617
Phone: (980) 939-8956
Contact at socialmediabusinessforum dot com
Twitter: @smbusinessforum