JFK’s Spirit Alive at the MassTLC unConference

November 2013 marks the 50^th anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy—a sad occasion for Massachusetts and for all who admired his example of vigor, intelligence and dedication to the greater good.

While President Kennedy is not here to see it, I believe he’d be proud of how Massachusetts has evolved into a world-class beacon for innovation and entrepreneurship by embracing and adapting enduring traditions, while setting a course for the new century.

Attending the 2013 MassTLC unConference last week, it struck me that JFK would have been impressed by the creative thoughts and ideas, diversity, optimism and generosity shown by the gathering’s 800+ enthusiastic attendees.

As a native Californian and Silicon Valley refugee who first came Boston for a college education and who’s lived in Massachusetts for 30+ years, MassTLC’s exceptionally excellent #unCon reassured me more than ever that …

Massachusetts is the best place in the world in which to live and work-- to start, run, and grow a technology business!

Interestingly, the current and future state of Massachusetts was presaged in how Kennedy perceived our Commonwealth a half-century ago.

John F. Kennedy, U.S. Representative and Senator, President of the United States
and unapologetic booster of Massachusetts leadership and innovation 

In his oft-quoted 1961 “City Upon a Hill” speech, then-Senator and President-Elect John Kennedy spoke eloquently about the state he called home, evoking the memory of John Winthrop and other courageous pilgrims who came to Massachusetts in 1630 in search of freedom and opportunity.

Kennedy commented “we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken” by Massachusetts’ first migrants and quoted Winthrop’s exhortation to his fellow Massachusetts residents:

"We must always consider, that we shall be as a city upon a hill
—the eyes of all people are upon us."

Kennedy’s eloquence stands the test of time, with words that ring as true today as when he spoke them some five decades past. 

Consider these excerpts from his address:

“The enduring qualities of Massachusetts—the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant…. are an indelible part of my life, my convictions, my view of the past, and my hopes for the future.”

“Courage—judgment—integrity—dedication these are the historic qualities
of the Bay Colony and the Bay State.”

"For what Pericles said to the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth:
'We do not imitate—for we are a model to others,' "

From Plymouth Rock to Kennedy’s New Frontier; and from the industrial revolution born in the mills of Lowell and Waltham to the thousands of 21^st century knowledge workers who now contribute to what Boston Globe HIVE and Globe columnist Scott Kirsner describe as Massachusetts’ “Innovation Economy”-- our Commonwealth truly does set a good example for others around the world to follow.

Pam Burton, Partner at Accelent Consulting (who recently returned to Mass from CA)
ponders which sessions to attend at @MassTLC 2013 unConference

And while Big Papi’s “F&$@g” eloquence doesn’t compare to Kennedy’s, our world champion Red Sox deserve to be included in Wikipedia definitions for teamwork, endurance and spirit.  Similarly those of us who work in the local tech sector would do well to imitate the New England Patriots’ example of guts, hard work and collaboration.

Two other JFK quotes fit this theme and point us where we need to go:

“Change is the law of life.
And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”

Massachusetts: Together, let’s keep making it happen!

###

Click here to listen or download an MP3 recording
of JFK’s 1961 "City on a Hill Speech" in its entirety

Tags: 

MassTLC, unConference, innovation, entrepreneurship, Massachusetts, technology, Boston, Silicon Valley, John F. Kennedy, Red Sox, New England Patriots, Scott Kirsner, Innovation Economy, Boston Globe, Patrick Rafter

**This original Patrick Rafter article was initially published as a "guest' post on the blog of the Mass Technology Leadership Council on 1 November 2013, online at

http://www.masstlcuncon.org/innovation/jfks-spirit-alive-and-well-at-the-masstlc-unconference/ **

Everything I needed, I learned in New Bedford

Great Ideas from TEDxNew Bedford:

While the TED conferences usually take place in trendy locations like Palo Alto and Long Beach (CA) or Portland (OR), participants in this week’s TEDxNewBedford conference (http://www.tedxnewbedford.com) gathered in the resurgent town of New Bedford, unofficial capital of Massachusetts’ burgeoning SouthCoast region.

Once the city that boasted the highest per capita income in the world, New Bedford fell on hard times in the decades that followed the replacement of whale oil with petroleum as the principal form of illumination. Recently, under the leadership of its new Mayor (Jon Mitchell), New Bedford is increasingly seen as a place where "ideas come to life," as Mayor Mitchell said at a reception that capped a full-day of ideas.

This week’s event was organized by SouthCoast native and business innovator Chris Rezendes, whose consulting company INEX Advisors (www.inexadvisors.com) is sets a good example of helping tech companies to conduct biz in a more thoughtful, community-minded way.

I was inspired to participate in #tedxnewbedford, because my own business (Valuecasters) tries to follow Chris's example by "doing well by doing good," connecting people together for mutual advantage, and encouraging clients to give generously (because generosity is not only the right thing to do... it's smart business)!

As you’ll see in its Agenda, this day-long event featured a fascinating smorgasbord of thought leaders who shared their thoughts, innovation best practices examples and a consistent theme of rallying attendees to think and differently, by running businesses that don’t focus solely on the bottom line.

TEDxNewBedford Attendees connecting together beneath
a massive whale skeleton (at the New Bedford Whaling Museum)

Attending the conference myself, I learned a lot and walked out of the event (onto the picturesque cobblestone streets of historic New Bedford), feeling energetic, inspired, and re-invigorated.

While my “lessons learned” are too numerous to include in this post, here’s a sample of some of the excellent quotes, factoids and thought-challenging observations that struck me:

Chris Rezendes:      
Chris kicked off the event by saying something to the effect of “Modern business requires us to consider and master complexity, value & time,” and quoted these sage words Guru Neem Karillia Boba made circa 1600:

“To know and yet not to do is in fact not to know.”

Mark Lovett asked “Will ‘happiness’ ultimately destroy our planet?” and introduce me to the concept of ‘collaborative consumption” in which technology and peer communities are favorably improving how we share, barter, lend, rent and swap ‘stuff’ with those we know.

Let your neighbor use that weed-whacker gathering dust in your garage

Brenda Berube of the Fall River Public School system pointed out that today’s public school education still share three principal challenges that were present for immigrant students 100+ yrs ago: Safety, technical skills, citizenship

Dr. Jack Shoykhet, an immigrant from Ukraine, impressed us with his real world examples of how government can achieve more with less through ‘relentless innovation.’ His work: Synching record systems of the Department of Defense with that of the Veterans Administration, using IT to slash the cost of tracking prisoners, unifying the massive Intelligence systems of various Fed agencies, and implementing telemedicine and blended learning to make healthcare and higher ed more efficient: very, very impressive. I joked with him at a break that Gov. Romney & Pres. Obama would both do well to follow his example.

Filmmaker Kevin Kertscher educated us on a broader definition of “diversity” and shared how organizations leverage and benefit from collective and performance diversity in business and government

Speakding on “Stewardship Through Participation:  Marine Ecosystems & Global Exploration,” Durval Tavares surprised me with the estimate that 95% of the worlds oceans are unexplored! He then shared stories on how SouthCoast companies are looking below the waves to see what lies in the oceans’ depths and discover sustainable opportunities might surface.

Local Physician Derek Hausladen, MD noted that Med School students aren’t taught anything about the relationship between patient care and time management, nor about economics, business. Yet with people now living 50% longer than our ancestors (not because of medicine but because of cleaner sewage), we need to examine our perceptions of the value of time in medicine and also to seek realistic and fair expecations of time in the doctor>><

Julie Fraser of Iyno Advisors, asked the audience to meditate on the thought “What if we were able to apply our work disciplines into our personal lives?” and then shared methods to repurpose processes and techniques she learned in the manufacturing industry to let people “have the life you want.” Her out of the box approach suggested how we could adapt the 6 Sigma approach to ‘continuous improvement’ in business toward persuing our personal passions improving our lives. As she reminded us: “All manufactured goods started with someone being dissatisfied who was moved to make things better.” Fascinating idea.

While I wish I could go on to summarize all the other ideas that other speakers shared at the conference… time doesn’t permit that today.

Suffice it to say… the first TEDxNewBedford (in September 2012) was a phenomenal event and the universal consensus of the attendees:  time well spent, and something they’ll want to do again.

Thanks to Chris and Team for their inspiration and hard work in making it a reality!

##

On the Job with Steve Jobs

A personal Steve Jobs memory...

I've been selling/marketing/promoting Apple products and related tech since 1982-- the Apple II and Apple III days.

In 1985, I worked in Boston as a sales rep for Businessland and I understand I was one of the top salespeople of Macs among all the Businessland stores nationwide. I ate and drank Macintosh night and day and somehow got companies to buy the original dinky 128 Macs by wowing them with them with cut and paste in MacWrite and its wacky San Francisco font. Whenever someone came into our store looking for a Mac, they'd get sent my way...

One day (much to my chagrin), I was out of the store on my lunch break when a unshaven guy with dark hair, black turtleneck and jeans came walked into my place of employ. While I would have recognized him in a nano-second, my colleagues didn't recognize this ungainly character who said to the salesperson who went up to serve him:

"I'm looking for a computer for my business, what can you show me?"

The other sales guy replied:

"Well, if you're looking for a business computer.... you're going to want an IBM PC."

Steve Jobs looked him in the eye and said "Wrong answer!," and walked out of our store over to the Computerland store across the street where their Mac guy replied to the identical question with "A business computer? There's really no choice other than the Apple Macintosh."

The guy in the black turtleneck said "Right Answer," and promptly put in an order for 20 Macs.

I don't take lunch breaks any more.

Steve and the company he built has kept me employed, informed, entertained and engaged ever since.

Thus while I knew his demise was imminent, I can't help feeling "iSad"

For all of us who owe our jobs to you, thank you Mr. Jobs.

Patrick Rafter/Valuecasters (Wellesley, MA)

prafter@valuecasters.com

Best-Ever Case for Social Media ROI

Ever since I had the chance to be part of the creative team that produced the uber-successful John Cleese "Institute of Backup Trauma" viral video, I've been a huge fan and booster of the power of small screen programming to entertain, inform, drive traffic & accelerate awareness and revenues.

One of the best wideos (web-videos) I've seen recently is "Social Media ROI: Socialnomics" from Socialnomics' author/creator Erik Qualman. This animation does a great job providing statistical proof of the Return on Investment of social media (or as I like to re-define ROI as "return on interaction).

Erik's masterpiece has all the right elements of an effective wideo:

1) Crisp, simple text treatments

2) Compelling content

3) A catchy, hip rock theme

4) Delivers value to those who watch it

5) Inspires virality

Check it out:

Strunk & Twitter

In an age when "spreading the word" thru Twitter streamlines business communications to 140-character missives... I'm reminded of my favorite maxim from Strunk & White's classic "The Elements of Style"

The advice Professor Strunk gave back in 1918 still rings true today:

Omit Needless Words

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Say no more.

Source & full text of Strunk's "Elements of Style" online at http://www.bartleby.com/141/

Patrick Rafter

Valuecasters--Helping you connect and engage with those that matter
E: prafter@valuecasters.com T: 617-901-2697

W: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/valuecasters
My LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickrafter
Blog: http://intrastand.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @prafter

Knock, Knock: Sharing your Story with Media & Analysts

The recent MassTLC 2009 Innovation unConference (Twitter: #masstlc) was jam-packed with fascinating impromptu sessions across a wide range of technology subjects.

Given the presence of hundreds of startup and early-stage tech entrepreneurs, my long-time friend & colleague Mr. “Almost Ubiquitous” himself Adam Zand (Twitter Maven @NoOneYouKnow) and I moderated a session called “PR Improv” featuring experts who could give feedback and tips to startup execs on “how to pitch their stories to press and analysts.” Joining us as an “enlightened” PR person was Bobbie Carlton—Boston-area tech PR veteran (Twitter: @bobbiec ) and Partner of Mass Innovation Nights.

For a 360 degree perspective—Doug Banks, Editor of Mass High Tech (@ eDougBanks on Twitter), and Judith Hurwitz, President of Hurwitz and Associates—longtime industry analyst who tweets as @jhurwitz) played journalist and analyst from hell (respectively).

The format:
As Master of Ceremonies, Adam tapped some entrepreneurs to be guinea pigs in interactive sessions simulating a briefing between their company and either a journalist or analyst. Entrepreneurs included senior execs from Jazkarta, Lassa Partners, and StylePath.

How it worked:
• Entrepreneurs gave a verbal overview of their company, described why they thought it is newsworthy and interesting.
• Our team of critics then gave feedback on how to hone their message
• Internalizing what they’d just learned--- the execs next tried their “pitch” on the influencers—presenting direct in person to either Doug or Judith.
• The experts then gave back constructive criticism

While the 1-hr length of the PR Improv session wasn’t long enough to provide any kind of detailed feedback… all of the Media/Analyst/PR experts were honest and direct in their feedback (pro or con) and a number of helpful tips were put forth. Here are some of them:

Top Tips on Story-Sharing (from Media, Analysts, PR Pros)

Effective engagement with analysts and members of the press is an ongoing, 3-step process:

I. Prepare
II. Connect
III. Follow-up

I) Prepare
Do these important steps before reaching out to anyone:

A) Refine your Story
• Describe what your company does in plain English.
• What do you build?
• What problem do you solve?
• Do you save time, money, do something that hasn’t been possible before?

This verbal company overview is in fact the "story" of who you are and why you’re important. Practice telling it out loud until it sounds natural and un-rehearsed. (You’ll use it again and again).

B) Research, Research, Research
• Determine which analyst firms, media outlets, blogs, other influencers are focused on your market.
• Visit their websites and read their work.
• Find out who are the most appropriate reporters or analysts covering your area. PR agencies can be helpful here (as they have prior contacts and databases tracking who does what, where).
• These are the people you should first approach.
• Don’t e-mail or call anyone until you’ve read some of their work, know what’s important to them.

II) Connect

Remember--- Media and analysts are deluged with hundreds of unsolicited e-mails and phone calls each day. Put yourself in their shoes--- respect their valuable time and their expertise. Neither of them likes to be “pitched”

Here’s the reality of what you need to to launch a connection:

You: “Knock-Knock”
Journalist: “Who’s there?”
You: “It’s Me”
Journalist: “So what!?”
You: “Let me share my story with you…”

While a professional PR agency can be a helpful facilitator in setting up a briefing—YOU'VE got to be the storyteller.

Approaching Press or Analysts (without an agency)

A) Make the connection
If you’re telephoning press or analyst out of the blue, start with a succinct sentence saying who you are and why you are calling them:

“Hi my name is Jane Smith, I’m from a Boston-area company called Great Ideas… I’ve been reading your coverage of the Idea software industry and was wondering if you have a couple of minutes for me to give you a quick overview of who we are, what makes us interesting. Is this a good time to talk?"

If the journalist/analyst on the other side of the phone/e-mail link/table isn’t ready, willing and able to connect with you when you go to them--- be respectful. If it’s not a good time--- ask when and how they’d like to be contacted and get back to them later.

B) Introduce yourself/your company to them by sharing your story

If the analyst/journalist IS available now —it’s time for you to succinctly summarize “who, what, when, how, where and why” you’re relevant to them.

Example:
“Thanks… I’ll try to be brief. Visiting your website I notice that you’ve written often about SUBJECT, TOPIC, ISSUE, MARKET” (you may want to mention a specific article they’ve written). Reading your article, inspired me to call you today."

"My company (say the name slowly) is directly involved in the SUBJECT, TOPIC, ISSUE, MARKET you’ve written about. COMPANY NAME is... (deliver your short story).

Tips on Telling Your Company Story:
• KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
• Describe your value proposition in plain English
• Avoid Three Letter Acronyms and meaningless superlatives
(“best-of-breed”, “state-of-the-art”, “next generation”, etc)
• Speak with enthusiasm and passion about your team, your offerings

C) Start a dialogue, keep the conversation going
After you’ve very briefly told the influencer about your company, engage them and ask them some questions:

• Does what COMPANY NAME is doing sound interesting to you?
• Can I tell you more about what we do? Who’s getting value from our products/services?

Tips from the pros:
• Keep the conversation going by giving succinct, honest answers to questions.
• Use examples and details (including any numbers or facts) that support your value proposition and are evidence of your progress.
• Anticipate tough questions you may be asked and have good answers.

In November 2007, PR 2.0 Nabob Brian Solis wrote: “The Pitch is Dead”
At the PR Improv two years later, Luke Ryan from WHDH-TV concurred:
“Don’t pitch the press,” have a civil conversation – said Ryan.

Judith Hurwitz is of a similar opinion: “Often I don’t want to see another mind numbing PowerPoint presentation, just tell me about yourself.” (Paraphrase).

Six More Tips:
While there are lots and lots of blog posts on effective “media and analyst relations,” here’s six other tips that came out of the PR Improv (for spokespeople who want to connect with press and analysts):

1) Be Honest
• Never lie or exaggerate. You might caught in your lie. Your lie can show up online and work against you. By keeping your interactions with analysts and journalists honest (even in tough times), everyone wins.
• Reporters and Analysts have strong bullshit filters: Don’t exaggerate or misrepresent yourself.
• Shun the superlatives (e.g. “the leading X, Y of Z”)
• Describe who you are by communicating your “Differentiation with Distinction”

2) Acknowledge Competition
• Don’t say “we don’t really have any competition”
• To a journalist that either means: you’re hiding something, you’re naïve, or you don’t compete in a big market.
• It actually helps to mention competition and position your offerings relative to your competitors. Stories mentioning several companies in a category or market are written far more often than articles focused on a single company.

3) Provide Validation
• Third-party validation of your idea, business or product is essential to establish credibility and interest with the influencers.

Examples of Third-Party Validation:

a) Brand name customers that you can reference by name.
b) A favorable opinion from a third party analyst (reporters like to go to analysts for their unvarnished take on the company, the market)
c) Listing of your investors or well-known board members
d) Highlights of the past experience of the founders (did you and your colleagues work anywhere memorable)?

Since Mass High Tech focuses on businesses in Massachusetts--- Doug Banks mentioned that he likes to hear a company’s “family tree” (e.g. lineage to respected Mass-based companies)

4) Become a Good Source
Quality relationships between companies and the analysts, media and bloggers take years to evolve but can be destroyed in an instant through un-professional behavior. Treat press and analysts with the respect they deserve:
• Read what they write (on an ongoing basis)
• If you come across something they’d find interesting--- send them an e-mail or a Tweet (even if it has nothing to do with you/your company)--- that’s the difference between a reliable, impartial source and a “Flack”
• Connect often—via e-mail, Twitter, LinkedIN, in-person
• Give: Ask them how you can be of help to them in their work.

5) Be Cautious
• An important reminder: the media’s business is to break stories before others.
Share news with them as early as you can with them but be sure there’s a mutual agreement about any embargoes, “off-the record” comments.
• If you’re a private company you don’t have answer any questions about revenue or sales.
• To be safe--- don’t say anything that you would hate to see in print.

6) PR goes beyond Media and Analysts
• With the social Web--- you now have the ability to share your messages, content, ideas directly with those who matter most to you--- those who will find you relevant.
In the fast-moving Web-age, PR is increasingly about putting the “public” back in public relations.
• Invest time and resources in an informative corporate blog to share your stories and demonstrate your expertise.
• Get your thought leaders to blog themselves.
• Use social media like Twitter, Facebook to spread your word.
• Remember that social media isn’t a one-way-street. Be sure to follow comments to your blogs and Tweets and respond promptly to them.

Long Live “The News Conversation”

The Pitch is Dead. Instead---let’s foster mutually beneficial dialogues between newsmakers and those who are expert at understanding, explaining and delivering real news. Interactive dialogue is about sharing, giving, and receiving.

The interaction and ideas shared at the PR Improv session at #masstlc were invigorating and encouraging. At the same time some of the questions from the audience showed that only a handful of business leaders have the time, skills and experience to interact in a mutually advantageous way with analysts and the media.

Done right--- a professional Public Relations program is a strategic and valuable necessity for technology companies. Bad PR strategy, tactics and execution can really damage a company’s brand, impact momentum, and even hurt the bottom line.

These websites provide excellent examples of PR gone wrong. They make for informative reading and some tragic-comic anecdotes. I encourage you to visit, read and learn these three:

• Bad Pitch Blog: http://badpitch.blogspot.com/
• Pro PR Tips: http://proprtips.com/
(From vet journo Rafe Needleman of CBS Interactive, formerly Red Herring)
• Dear PR Flack: http://dearprflack.com/

There were lots more comments and lessons learned at the PR Improv—too many to share here. I’d welcome your comments, tips, perspectives, lessons learned, stories…

Let’s keep the conversation going.

CollegeWeekLive -- World's Largest College Fair: Online or Off

If any of you know anyone who’s in the process of applying to college--- there’s a great free online resource--- that’s a super alternative to the traditional college road trip (driving campus to campus in the family SUV). Parents and college-bound kids and their can check out their and evaluate their future alma mater online.

Taking place today and tomorrow (Wednesday March 25th and Thursday March 26th ). CollegeWeekLive, is the world's LARGEST college fair—an event that doesn’t “take place” because it is a massive online-only event. CollegeWeekLive is a revolutionary concept for college admissions, bringing together students, parents, counselors, and colleges in an online forum that eliminates the barriers of time and distance. The interactive and live component allows attendees to speak with hundreds of college admissions representatives, ask questions, learn about financial aid opportunities, and learn what college life is really like.

CWL features a wide range of live keynotes and panesl in which students and parents can text questions to the expert speakers, a tradeshow floor of virtual booths representing hundreds of colleges and universities (in North America, Europe, Australia).

It’s fun and free…. Go to http://www.collegeweeklive.com/.

Full disclosure--- It’s been my pleasure to promote CollegeWeekLive and its sister event The Virtual Energy Forum. I’ve helped secure a swath of press coverage of these innovative virtual events with stories atfrom leading media including CNN’s Situation Room, Newsweek, The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, BusinessWeek, and Seventeen.

Aldus, The Death of Seattle’s Newspaper, and the Birth of Peer Publishing

Clay Shirky has written an excellent and thoughtful article on the revolution taking place in how news is created, published, distributed, paid for and consumed:

“Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable”

While I urge you to read the full article, here are some incisive quotes from the article:

• The problem newspapers face isn’t that they didn’t see the internet coming.


• The core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.


• What real revolutions are like…The old stuff gets broken faster than the new stuff is put in its place.


• The importance of any given experiment isn’t apparent at the moment it appears; big changes stall, small changes spread


• Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism.
  

In his article Shirky takes note of great publishers (e.g. Gutenberg, Wikipedia) whose innovations fueled the ever growing “democratization of the printed word.”

I found Clay’s article especially interesting because he paid special homage to the Renaissance Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius whose invention of the smaller octavo volume along with italic type— led to a subsequent revolution in the cost to printers to print books, and the costs for book buyers to purchase books.

Centuries later (in the mid-late 1980s) Aldus’s first name was associated with another innovation in the democratization of the printed word: Aldus Corporation—the Seattle-based company whose PageMaker desktop publishing software (combined with PostScript and the Apple Macintosh) let thousands around the world to be able to become publishers themselves.

Twenty years ago, I had the good fortune of working for Aldus Corp for 4 years--- our crew of Aldusians (including CEO Paul Brainerd, Sales Goddess Jennifer Saffo, Tech Whizzes Ted Johnson & Jeremy Jaech, and countless other brilliant colleagues) felt we were linked in a worthy crusade to share technologies that could radically simplify the means and cost of producing printed works.

At the time, I remember occasional grousing from professional printers and Linotype operators (their hands marked with lead burns), telling me... "this desktop publishing thing will never fly,
our craft and skill can't be replaced by a machine."

In my four years at Aldus, I gave hundreds of presentations on the process and possibilities of desktop publishing but would often conclude my sessions with the timeless quote from A.J. Liebling: “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those that own one.”

The economics of media/publishing have been decimated by the efficiencies and reach of the Internet—now anyone who has a blog really owns a printing press. Instantaneous worldwide distribution through essentially free Web-based tools has done away with middlemen. The trade and craft of newspapering (dating back to Ben Franklin’s day) is fast becoming a historical artifact.

Amy Wohl once joked with me that “Stovetop Stuffing and Desktop Publishing both take place somewhere.” The products of the new age of peer-to-peer personal publishing will not be limited by physical restraints like time or location--- they will arise and be shared with thousands (who may choose to also participate in the creative process). Whereas journalists were often gatekeepers between the newsmakers and a reading audience--- peer publishing is more direct, honest, and interactive. Conversations are always better when there’s more than one participant.

As Clay Shirky comments “we don’t know who the Aldus Manutius of the current age is,” but today (on the last day of Seattle’s Post Intelligencer as a print newspaper) we can certainly anticipate that quality journalism will continue to be valued. Web 2.0/3.0 tools, social networks and inbound marketing will let us connect and engage with others who share our interests. Return-on-Interaction ROI will yield benefits in multiple directions.
Communications will improve.

The tagline of my friend Paul Gillin’s NewsaperDeathWatch.com neatly sums up the new status quo: “Chronicling the Decline of Newspapers and the Rebirth of Journalism.”

Unthinkable 20 years ago. Very real today.

Let us remember that revolutions are born out of chaos and true democracies are self-derived. Let us create value, community and opportunities for many---in the midst of the maelstrom.

##

Rafter’s Five Commandments for Passionate PR

When not working at his day job in Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence Group, Rohit Bhargava regularly puts out great content on social media marketing on his Influential Marketing Blog. One of my favorite Rohit posts was “What all PR people should know about journalists” in which he made these common sense PR suggestions:

1. Don’t BS


2. Contact journalists when it’s a good time for them


3. Manage your reputation and relationships with reporters


4. Give writers a real story angle


5. Be available, easy to contact and responsive


6. Pitch like a peer

Rohit’s article and the comments that follow serve up a nice helping of Do’s & Don’ts for respectful and effective media relations.

Add him to you your bloglist and follow him on Twitter @rohitbhargava

Rohit shares my long-held belief that “marketing is not about selling” and has written a great new book Personality Not Included in which he notes that in the social media era “you need to think differently about how you market your products and services”

His definition of “personality”:
Personality is the unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about.

Rohit’s tips for PR, and his insights on personality in marketing, remind me of some important lessons learned (in my 20+ yrs of evangelising new products, services and initiatives):

People should be passionate about their work. Life's too short to spend it doing something that doesn't truly inspire and motivate you. Similarly--If someone tries to pitch you on a
product or service that they don’t truly care about--- their indifference will come through loudand clear. Passion and enthusiasm form the base for open, honest, and interactive PR.

Rafter’s Five Commandments for Passionate PR:

1. Believe in your product, service, company


2. Express your enthusiasm (genuinely)


3. Engage and interact with others who share your interests


4. Share with them


5. Give first, and you shall Receive

What say ye?

LinkedIn-- The Platform for Mutual Advantage

A recent article in AdAge "LinkedIn Skyrockets as Job Losses Mount" notes that fueled by the troubled economy--- LI is now up to 7.7 million unique visitors, counts 36 million members and is adding a member a second. Impressive growth. The article comments on LinkedIn's business, its profitability and multiple revenue streams.

It's no surprise to me that LinkedIn is doing so well. I've been an unabashed fan of it as one of the most powerful 'free' online tools for any communications pro. Back in October 2007,

Ragan's Media Relations Report wrote on LinkedIn as "The newest way to connect to the media" detailing how "LinkedIn is helping PR people and journalists build virtual relationships—not to mention business connections."

MRR asked me for my thoughts for the article:

“Its principal value to PR pros is that it offers a free, Web-based way to research people you want to know more about,” says Rafter. “Being able to read the profiles of individual freelancers, writers, editors, analysts, pundits and conference organizers is enormously valuable. The more I know about someone before I pitch them, the more succinct and effective my pitch will be.”

Bottom-line:

LinkedIn is a helpful service whether you're a marketing/comms pro or someone in cleantech--its a great way to locate and connect with clients, enablers, references, opinions
Whether you're an employer, an in-house employee, an independent consultant, or someone who's currently underemployed in search of your next opportunities-- you can get a lot out of it.
Personally--- I find it much more substantial than Twitter and more professionally focused than Facebook.

To get the most out of LinkedIn let me recommend helpful tips from Sharon Thomas DeLay in her article: "Step up your LinkedIn Profile to stand apart"

Hope you can all stand apart and that people who will appreciate your value will connect with you. Long live "mutual advantage."

Check out my LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickrafter and let me if I can help you.

Effective Social Media and PR

I’m a long-time fan and booster of Rhode Island-based Marketing Sherpa, whose research and how-to advice I’ve read and purchased for years.

Of particular interest is its just-published 2009 Social Media & PR Benchmark Guide
While everyone knows that social media is changing the world of PR, communications and online marketing— this is the first significant piece of research I’ve seen that provides a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the value of social media, tips and techniques, and survey results from 1,200+ marketers on their current and anticipated use of social media.

Excerpts from the Sherpa Social Media Marketing & PR: Benchmarks & Best Practices:

• 48% of respondents said their expenditure on “social media” would increase in 2009.
  
• 48% plan to increase spending on e-mailing to house lists--good news for e-mail tools vendors like Constant Contact.
  
• 83% would cut back on Radio/TV ads, 60% plan to cut back on print ads.


• 69% of those surveyed said they thought an external consultant with expertise in social media and PR would be the most effective resource to execute effective social media outreach (vs. in-house or using a conventional agency)
  
  I was amused to read two quotes in the Guide that closely paraphrase the description of my own view of modern communications (as embodied in the name of my own consultancy: INTRASTAND):
  
  1) Sherpa: “Social Media marketing and PR is the practice of facilitating a dialogue and sharing content between companies, influencers, prospects and customers”
  
  Intrastand: “When clients & those with whom they interact (press/analysts, partners, employees) "intrastand" one another-- relationships become intradependent. Everyone wins.”
  
  2) Sherpa: “The premise of social media and PR is engaging the consumer in a way that delivers mutual value.”
  
  Intrastand: “We help clients achieve "mutual advantage" with their Very Important Publics: media/analysts; customers/prospects; partners/public”

At 202 pages, the Sherpa Social Media report is a hefty tome.

Still at only $397 for the PDF version, $447 for a Print/PDF combo it’s a good value for anyone who wants to learn how social media will be effective in building brand and driving site traffic.

Check out the Exec Summary and decide for yourself.

Does Blog Buzz Lead to Buck$?

No doubt about it, TechCrunch gets almost 2MM RSS reads and lotsa street cred from Technorati and others who rate site popularity and authority--- but does coverage in a major blog, accelerate the sales pipeline?

Does blog coverage precipitate what salespeople call “hot opportunities” and what CEOs and CFOs crave: revenue?

HubSpot in Cambridge (whom I wrote about in my Social Media SeeSaw post last week) has an interesting post on their Inbound Internet Marketing entitled Stop Begging TechCrunch to Write About You.

It’s a great read and an interesting and detailed analysis of how blog-related traffic does or does note convert into clients.

HubSpot’s Pete Caputa sagely advises “choose your online PR targets wisely.”

I've helped clients like Hangout.net secure coverage in TechCrunch, but no single blog or media outlet is a panacea.

Effective PR/audience communications is an ongoing drumbeat of outreach and honest engagement, and if PR was an arsenal—you’ll need both a sharpshooter’s rifle (to zero in on specific niche audiences) and a shotgun (to communicate to a broad, dispersed audience).

Relevant communications is about fostering bi-directional bullseyes.
In the world of new marketing, ROI is an acroynm for "Return on Interaction"

Read the HubSpot post---lots of food for thought.

What do you think?

Social Media for Employment

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
~ Winston Churchill

My personal economic barometer tells me the recession has hit home hard with a lot of friends and colleagues. Many people I know have lost their jobs, others (who run their own businesses) have lost clients, customers have not renewed, and as employers--they've had to reluctantly let people go.

We all know that we're in tough times...
My question to you all is:

What are we (individually and collectively) going to do about it?

The first thing we can/must do is help one another:
Social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook) can help.

Kevin Fogarty has written 2 helpful articles for TheLadders.com that are well worth a read:

1) Can You Facebook Your Way to a New Job?
Fogarty notes "Done right, online networking will support your offline network, not replace it"

2) Social Netiquette: Mind Your Manners
This is a useful "etiquette guide for using the Web as a tool in the executive job search"

Kevin's a "Reluctant Luddite" who's also a veteran tech/science journalist (who was previously on the mastheads of some great IDG/ZiffDavis pubs including Baseline, Computerworld, Illuminata and NetworkWorld). As someone who has successfully reinvented himself and is embracing new media head on, Kevin's setting a good example of how being an ever-ever evolving, creative chameleon is what communicators should do in order to thrive in this Ice Age.

My own maxims for employment in the recession:
1) Be yourself-- remember who you are, what you like to do, what you do well
2) Adapt to what's going on, and what's coming. The only thing that's constant is change
3) Reach out-- to friends, colleagues and associates (old, new, and future)
4) Give back-- it is better to give than to recieve. Connect those you know with others who will value and appreciate them.
5) Keep smiling

And as Churchill said in the midst of even tougher times (the Blitz the Battle of Britain")

"Never, Never, Never Give Up"
"Let us go forward together"

Shall we?

The Social Media SeeSaw

Social Media: Real World Lessons
Hats off to Tom Hopcroft and the rest of the team from The Mass Technology Leadership Council for the awesome break fast seminar and networking event they held on Jan. 22 at Communispace.

If you’re a tech company based in Massachusetts, I STRONGLY encourage you to become a member of MassTLC. For a very reasonable annual fee—your organization and employees will reap myriad benefits.


As Communispace is the leader in listening to and learning from "the voice of the customer," the choice of venue was particularly a propos. It was also fun to see friends Andy Updegrove

and Diane Hessan, ebullient CEO of C/Space in attendance. The omnipresent Paul Gillin
was also there and wrote a nice post about the event.

The theme of yesterday’s event, Social Media: Getting Started with Social Media – Lessons from the Frontlines--- brought together a super panel of experts who provided their lessons learned on “how to” and “how not” for companies to conduct impactful social media programs and initiatives that really engage audiences.

Deftly moderated by Debi Kleiman, Communispace’s VP Product Marketing, the speaker roster included:

• Perry Allison, Vice President, SocialMarketing Innovation, EONS.com
• Brian Halligan, co-founder and CEO, HubSpot
• Pam Johnston, Vice President, Member Experience, Gather, Inc.
• Dan Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University School of Journalism
  
  While all the speakers had lots to say, I especially enjoyed Dan Kennedy & Brian Halligan. Kennedy demonstrated that he has a solid grasp of the status quo and likely future state of the world of journalism and made some very helpful suggestions on how to connect with professional and citizen journalists using new media tools like Twitter. His comments convinced me to follow him and read his blog Media Nation: http://medianation.blogspot.com/
  
  Part of my INSTRASTAND philosophy is derived from my long-held belief that “old” sales comms techniques are increasingly ineffective. Halligan’s demonstration that people now don’t want to be “marketed” to—resonated with me personally. Brian’s exclamation “It’s a great time to be a marketer” was elegantly illustrated by this counterbalanced seesaw picture above.
  
  Whereas old-time marketing required great sums of cash (usually only within reach of big companies), New Marketing tools level the playing field and let small organizations leverage relatively free marketing tools (SEO/SEM, Blogging, Social Media, RRS) to accomplish what his company (HubSpot) is all about: “get found, convert, make better decisions.”
  
  Further proof that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Winter "Sing-Fling" (A Cappella in Boston, Feb 7)

Winter and the Economy Giving you the Blues?
Jazz it up with some great tunes from some of The Northeast’s best a cappella singing groups

When: Saturday, February 7, 2009, 4-6 PM
Where: Noble & Greenough School
Lawrence Auditorium, 10 Campus Drive Dedham, Massachusetts 02026
(Just west of Boston)
Click here for door-to-door driving directions from Google Maps
Plenty of Free Parking nearby

Suggested Donation: $10 adults, $5 kids/ at the door
There will be one Intermission with Refreshments

Your Hosts: The Works
Visit www.theworksing.net

Special Guest Groups:
Cahoots (Pan-East Coast Mixed Quartet)
Conn Artists (Connecticut Men’s Group)
Mamapella (New Hampshire Women’s Group)

For more information: Patrick Rafter (The Works) prafter@intrastand.info 617-901-2697 m

To Tweet, or Not to Tweet?

I'm a social networker going back to the days when you had to schmooze with people in person!
I like the parties and perks of a first rate confab like TED, TechCrunch50 and DEMO.

My favorite-- a uniquely no-holds-barred gathering:
The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

Still there's great value in the immediacy and fascile broad reach of online social media:

• I've been active on LinkedIn for years and am a HUGE proponent.
  See my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickrafter


• Increasingly see Facebook as something that's moving beyond personal networking toward professional networking.


• A battery of my friends in the PR biz are hot for Twitter... but I'm not fully convinced that
  I have the time to be able to track the comings and goings of all the people I'd like to follow.

If Tweet is a revolutionary media development, one wonders what the great communicators would tweet about....

@BARD: "Something rotten here at my pub in Stratford"

To Tweet, Or Not to Tweet? That is the question.







Renee Lemley just put up a very interesting post on her GrayMatterMinute blog entitled
The Perfect Social Media Trifecta: Have you found yours? in which she reveals her preference for/use of Facebook/LinkedIn, and Twitter?


I may be convinced to Tweet yet!
What do you think? Let me know.