SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE ‘HITS’ EXETER
A coffee in Starbucks, Exeter last August sparked two friends to hold the first social media conference in the South West. The conference was advertised using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and email only. The cost of the advertising and marketing was nil and attracted 180 delegates from all over the UK, with a ticket price of between £5 and £35 each.
The main theme was based on the ability to make an investment into social media and gain a return. Local businesses and charities sent representatives. Public relations officer, Sarah Parkhouse from the Red Cross said, “We are using twitter already to communicate between offices, but I’m hoping to pick up tips to utilise it further”.
The event, streamed live around the world via Ustream.com, also allowed delegates from the internet community to participate and started with a controversial video from Scott Gould, who introduced himself as ‘nobody’. He prepared participants for some straight talking from speakers and panellists who included a local solicitor James Barisic and Carl Haggerty from Devon County Council.
Trey Pennington, author and Social Media Manager for the Jones Group, informed everyone, hits on social media sites have taken over the number of visits to pornographic sites. James Barisic, from Every’s Solicitors in Exeter spoke candidly about his experiences as co-founder of their PhotoLegal podcast.
Olivier Alain Blanchard, manager of thebrandbuilder.com, gave a demonstration regarding ‘Social Media: Return on Investment’ and was met with mixed reactions. Some felt the social media concept was not a new idea and others spoke out to say they did not feel they, “Had learnt anything new’, but only one person has requested a refund. These questions pre-empted outrage from the internet community following the conference and comments such as, “Without social media you people wouldn’t even be there!” and “How do you think this conference was organised?” were two comments projected regularly onto the large screen behind the panellists.
Most delegates showed more enthusiasm in almost revolutionary tone, one predicting, “National newspapers will disintegrate and we are not going to be led by the nose, by the media anymore”.
Rich Waghorn, creator of twitter-based ‘OutWithABang’, was asked whether he felt social media was partially responsible for the deterioration of the print industry. He replied, “Businesses wishing to thrive in the future can not stop this phenomenon”, then reiterated a recent comment by The Guardian’s Emily Bell, “We are entering the age of participation and journalists must engage”.
Apart from the controversial questions all seemed glued to their seats until realising the Guildhall car park shut at 6pm. The conference finished at 6:30pm, but through the power of new media all were able to recap the nuggets from Sky’s, Maz Nadjm’s final spot on Ustream.com.
LINKS:
http://www.exeterconferencecentre.co.uk/
PHOTO'S TO FOLLOW FACEBOOK IS BUSY CENSORING ME AT THE MOMENT. THEY SIGN THE OPEN INTERNET POLICY, YET FREEZE MY ACCOUNT FOR THREE DAYS FOR NOTHING. GRRR
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1 comment:
It was a good conference, and all the better for being outside of the normal London round. This is a nice concise post.
Having already been to Media140, Somesso and some of the other conferences on the rounds I perhaps had too high expectations of the conference, but in terms of reminded the World that social media is everywhere, and in the Uk not just in London, it certainly created a buzz.
Claire
@claireatwaves on Twitter
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