Conference Bites

NewComm Forum 2009--SF

"Trying to get someone to buy a newspaper these days is like trying to get them to try a new kind of virus."
~ Paul Gillen   ,quoting Tribune co. CEO Sam Zell

"We have historically put our trust in a few people (editors) who would tell us what is true. Now the Twitter & Facebook feeds have taken the function of being our trusted adviser. Our friends are becoming our news editors."
~ Paul Gillen

"Build a sherpa tent, not a mausoleum."
~ Vanessa DiMauro, on best practices in online community development

"Twitter has all the qualities of something that will endure. It lets people behave online more like they do in everyday life… If Twitter goes down, it will be for something that goes further down that line."
~ Shel Israel

"We have always been storytellers. We got [around to using] Twitter a few years after drawing on the cave wall with the blood and the berries."
~ Shel Israel

For more information on the New Comm Forum:

Fortune Brainstorm Green

"We have to go beyond doing less bad. We have to work on restoration. As in Nature.
~ Jeffrey Hollender, President of Seventh Generation as tweeted by David Swardlick

"What is our legacy on this planet...to be bees and pollinate or locusts and strip the planet's resources?"
~ Van Jones, Obama’s Green Jobs Czar as tweeted by jhenretig

"We don’t have enough information-sharing in real time [on environmentally and economically beneficial. projects]."
~ Bill Clinton as tweeted by Todd Woody

"If we do this energy thing right, it will cause people to re-imagine how we do everything."
~ Bill Clinton as tweeted by David Swardlick

"I think symbols are important. I think evidence of success spurs people to take risks and make investments.
~ Bill Clinton as tweeted by David Swardlick

For more information on Fortune Brainstorm Green 2009:

AdTech SF, Day 2

"The challenge for advertisers is on the one hand they need to jump into the conversation, get empathic and available or they will have no credibility…yet at the same time you are afraid of losing control of your brand…"
~ Seth Goldstein, Social Media

"Domino’s employees sneezing on pizzas across YouTube—you don’t want that for the brand."
~ Seth Goldstein, Social Media

"Pushing people to Facebook instead of a CNN property was breaking the rules for us."
~ Andy Mitchell, VP Interactive marketing of CNN Worldwide regarding their massive and successful joint inauguration program

"Learning from your mistakes is critical…if our initial forum with CNN in November hadn’t taken place (for us to learn from)…the inauguration program wouldn’t have been so successful."
~ Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Market Development, Facebook

"We are in a crisis of trust in the advertising business. Economic conditions have accelerated this. As far as branding goes, advertising that creates emotional connections, is…(still the answer)."
~ Bruce Rogers, Chief Brand Officer, Forbes

"Everyone talks about engagement metrics…how about sales? At the end of the day we are in business for people to buy something."
~ Bruce Rogers, Chief Brand Officer, Forbes

"We're entering an age of the personal brand. Where someone writes (blog, WSJ, etc.) matters less. Writers take power back." 
~ Kevin Rose as livetweeted by Christel Vanderboom

For more information on AdTech San Francisco 2009:

AdTech SF, Day 1

"Viewers don't oppose advertising; they oppose disruption."
~ Tim Smith of Next Digital as tweeted Jay Wolff

"In the net we were able to go straight from intelligence to arrogant stupidity directly through applying venture capital."  ~ Steve Hayden of Ogilvy Worldwide

The intro to his keynote promised"...Entrepreneurial jujitsu to take us out of this dark funk and into the bright light."
~ Steve Hayden of Ogilvy Worldwide

  
From the Panel  Innovate or Die:

"You learn 90% of what you are going to learn about a product, after you release it.The brave new world of social media accelerates this cycle (of learning)."
~ Eric Feng, SVP&CTO of Hulu

"Social media is not just about what people create. It's what people FIND. I use people as my filter (as well as the NYTimes). I may be interested in what you have to say…but I definitely am interested in what you (link to). I respect your ability to find things for me."
~ Tina Sharkey of BabyCenter

"We are wired emotionally as storytellers. You must tell your senior management compelling unforgettable stories." (in order to get their support.....)
~ Joel Rubinson, CRO of Advertising Research Foundation

"Innovation is an underwater pyramid. All consumers see is the tip (as a positive, smooth and innovative experience)…All the work at the base is what is important (to bring that about)"
~ Eric Feng, SVP&CTO of Hulu

"We are getting better at measuring the expected…..(measuring the) unexpected will lead to innovation."
~ Joel Rubinson, CRO of Advertising Research Foundation

For more information on AdTech San Francisco 2009:

The Next Web '09 Conference, Amsterdam

"Twitter is more a cultural than a technological change."
~ Chris Sacca

"Twitter is exceeding the wildest expectations, even of the guys that started it. We are just beginning to see the uses of it."
~ Chris Sacca

"How to pitch: Build cool stuff and let it talk for itself."
~ Chris Sacca

"How to evaluate start ups: I go immediately to Twitter and see what people are saying about it."
~ Chris Sacca

Twitter is "the future of individual media in the age of the individual... a future when individuals become brands."
~ Andrew Keen via TechCrunch

Twitter is the "nail in the coffin of Web 2.0."
~ Andrew Keen via TechCrunch

"We are entering a revolutionary age in which traditional, industrial media is being swept away by individuals."
~ Andrew Keen via TechCrunch

Visual Quote:

 
Andrew Keen - Digital Vertigo: Inequality, anxiety and isolation in the social media age.
~ Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

For more information on The Next Web '09:

Ad Age Digital

"It's time for marketers to start earning media attention in addition to buying it."
~ Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, tweeted by Bob Gilbreath

"We may be ahead of some of our competitors, but we're most definitely behind consumers. The speed of change really has far outpaced our ability to accompany it."
~ Simon Clift, CMO of Unilever

"I, for one, am in awe of the new challenges that the media revolution poses. I believe it can force greater change on the conventional marketing model than most people in consumer package goods actually believe."
~ Simon Clift, CMO of Unilever

"Second Life is digital marketing's Vietnam."
~ Steve Rubel, re-tweeted by Maria Rinklin

For more information on Ad Age Digital:

Web 2.0, Day 3

Paraphrased highlights from Will Wright during a great and far ranging interview with John Battelle (with some help from Crowd-Sourced questions via Google Moderator):

"As people are creating more of their identity on the web….. we are now starting to see the intersection of virtual identities and real identities…games are an aspect of that, and will integrate with that Wii represents non-immersive games, where the action is often away from the screen."
~ Will Wright

" Coming soon as an outgrowth of Wii and mobile gaming….. Augmented reality—the world around you is now part of the game. I am interested in games that intersect the real world…games are a powerful lens, a filter, a map….that can help us understand…"
~ Will Wright

"Games make people better at dealing with the world… a kid pressing buttons on a controller is using the scientific method. They teach problem solving.  However, this type of learning is very resistant to standardized testing. Games evolved to be fun for us for a reason. We find play to be enjoyable for education reasons."
~ Will Wright
 
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the sparking of a fire."
~ Will Wright quoting anonymous
 

From Tekzilla live Taping at Web 2.0:

"Twitter is lubricant for web content...makes it more efficient....I like that" ~Evan Williams

" We are going to keep offering bigger, better more...but that doesn't mean more than 140 characters :<)   " ~Evan Williams (with implied emoticon) 

"Web2 Open is the starter drug for un-conferences."
~ Jennifer Pahlka, during blogger roundtable, talking about the open space part of the Web 2.0 Conference

Also from the Blogger roundtable:

"The re-tweet is the smallest unit of publishing."
~ Tim O’Reilly

"Study twitter—there are lessons for businesses of all other forms."
~ Tim O’Reilly

For more information on Web 2.0:

For a video blog covering part of the blogger roundtable:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/kyeung808/videos/20/

Posted by: Kenneth Yeung  http://www.thelettertwo.com

Web 2.0, Days 1 and 2

"Measure based on your gps (your business metrics), not the dashboard numbers (mpg, mph, etc….)"
~ Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester Research

"Twitter can be a canary in the coal mine for you….people tweet minor annoyances before they call to complain."
~ Sarah Milstein, Co-Author with Tim O'Reilly of the forthcoming The Twitter Book

"It's a fallacy that social media is a young person's game. Young people don't magically know how to do it."
~ Peter Kim


"If you build it, they still won’t come." ~ Christina Wodtke of LinkedIn, in session on designing social software with humans rather than technology in mind

"Twitter is basically the Horton Hears a Who refrain: We are here, we are here."
~ Christina Wodtke, re-tweeted by Howard Greenstein

"The Social web is all about love and esteem in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs."
~ Christina Wodtke

For more infomation: