Yesterday we had the first V-Club session for 2009. (If you are wondering what V-Club is, then click the V-Club Tag on the right hand side bar to see couple of earlier postings).
V-Club is a great example why you need to make a start on an idea although you may not have a clear understanding what the value could be. My first V-Club session was quite complicated, it had too many topics/presenters/people and didn't have enough conversation time. When planing the second session, I made it completely opposite to the first session; it had one topic and only about 11 people. Yesterday was the 3rd session ... again one topic, one presenter and 10 people. It was fantastic.
Yesterdays topic was "How Can We Use Social Networking Tools For Business". Mike Riversdale (MiramaMike) did a great presentation and there was heaps of interactions/conversations/ideas flowing in the room.
Some of the things I learnt was ...
1. Don't try to promote a sub-standard product or service ... it will be killed by the community in no time.
2. You need a genuine story that your audience can connect with and see value ... otherwise the word won't spread ... It's just a waste of time.
3. You need to have courage to engage through social media, because you can't control what people say about you, your organisation or your products. As long as you are making a genuine attempt, the community will forgive your short-comings. Nobody is perfect.
4. If you are a public sector organisation, then you better start engaging through this medium asap. (I can see the horror in the face of traditional corporate comms people). If you don't do it, then the community will start a blog or twitter account and talk about how pathetic your services are.
5. While there are truck load of tools around, I got a sense of what the best tools to use for my own business and for my clients.
Thanks to everyone who attended the session. Please leave a comment on something you learned or the value you got out of the session.
Special Thanks to Shane Mercer and Herik Jondell from Core Technology Limited for providing the venue, drinks and nibbles.
