Unbirthdays And Unconferences
By: Lindsay Bell
“A very merry unbirthday to you, to you! It’s great to drink to someone and I guess that you will do, a very merry unbirthday to you!” - Mad Hatter and the March Hare
When the enigmatic Lewis Carroll penned his fantastical Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, telecommunication was still the pipe dream of a few Mad Hatter style inventors. Our everyday normal of GPS, smart phones, the internet and social media would have been the stuff of science fiction. But Carroll was nothing if not a fantasist, and if you look closely at Alice’s world, and the world of social media, you could almost imagine that Carroll used his famous looking glass as a window into our future.
Social media can get a bit crazy, and the wily and smily Cheshire Cat couldn’t have said it any better when he said “We’re all mad, so you must be, or you wouldn’t have come here.” Our lives are populated with a multitude of gadgets, all of which tell the time. But like the skittery White Rabbit, who even with his ever present timepiece was always late for some important date or another, we find ourselves forever racing to catch the clock and with never enough time in the day. There’s Alice, a newbie if there ever was one, who sometimes makes the wrong remarks and upsets the rest of the creatures in Wonderland. And of course the festivities! Anyone who’s been to a social media function or two will recognize the similarities, from the royal court to the mad tea parties to the shouts of “off with his head!”.
Which brings us to Radian 6’s inaugural Social 2011, happening this week in Boston. Yes, there will be tea parties (we are in Boston). And while we’ve spent this last month giving you a good overview of the many panels and the amazing roster of guest speakers we have scheduled for April 7th and 8th, we couldn’t wrap it up without a look at our very own ‘unbirthdays’ – the unconferences sessions!
Our unconferences lineup is truly an impressive bunch, and includes presentations from corporations as diverse as Dell and Caterpillar. Industry thought leaders will explore the importance of measuring the real-time conversation happening in reaction to broadcast content, and why the social back channel has become such an important part of our TV experience. You will learn first hand the importance of conducting listening audits for clients, and how curating and analyzing statistical and ethnographic data can be used to position clients for strategic social media success.
Large corporations like the above mentioned Dell and Caterpillar will be sharing how a world wide social media presence is listened to, analyzed, controlled and acted upon, as well as how critical those actions are when you’re dealing with billion dollar brands. You will also hear how implementing new governance structures and training programs helped one company turn social media from a misunderstood/overhyped experiment (in the eyes of the naysayers) to an accepted business tool used and understood by employees and management across the board. Another session will walk you through why it is critically important to have a digital crisis communications team in place, especially if your company has employees, customers or partners located in countries outside of the U.S..
Frankly, there is just too much happening in our Social 2011 unconference sessions to write about it all here. And yes, we’re having a little bit of Alice in Wonderland fun here, mainly because we’re giddy with excitement that Social 2011 is right around the corner, but also because the Royal Court and Kings and Queens of social media have well honed senses of humour and love to poke fun at themselves and those around them. Which is exactly what the great Lewis Carroll was doing with his crowd when he wrote his classic stories.
Are you attending Social 2011? Will you be checking out our unconferences? Maybe you are a presenter. Which social media Alice in Wonderland character do you most relate to? As always we appreciate your thoughts and comments.
