Deborah Schultz

Pause for self-promotion

I have been chastised by friends, colleagues and confidants for not posting about recent talks past and future, so without further adieu here is some info on an upcoming talk.  Of course, with my reader's time in mind - it is only fair to also include some additional food for thought.....

I will be speaking at The Cluetrain at 10 with Doc Searls, Thor Muller and others on May 29th in Palo Alto at an event hosted by The Conversation Group, SAP, and Forrester. 

Should be an interesting day focused on both ""you've come a long way baby" and how far we still need to go.

Little did I know when I signed the Cluetrain Manifesto ten [ gulp ] years ago that I would end up being one of its' loudest mouthpieces. 

I took a look at what I posted to the site in prep for this post and I have to say I love my quote from back then and my philosophy still holds.  Good to see I am consistent.

Deborah Schultz, Manager, EC|Solutions, AnswerThink Consulting Group - "Amen! I refer to this as the Dr. Seuss metaphor - 'Revenge of the Whos.'  Gone are the days when all the little Whos in Who-ville have to shout to be heard.  The Web empowers all the Whos...er humans!

It is great to see that ten years later  we now have many new tools and technologies that have moved the Relationship Economy forward.  It is fantabulous that many have jumped aboard - but I also think many have reduced the concepts to mere "new marketing" drivel. At the risk of sounding like a broken record - this is  BIG change stuff not just "chatting with your customers".  It is also frustrating to see how much farther we still need to go.  Today, I feel less like ranting and more about discussing the good stuff, so here are a few good examples: 

• Edgeconomy - the cool, interesting stuff is indeed happening at the edges - are you paying attention?

• Project VRM   - Energy around the power of the individual
  

• Acknowledgement of the importance of both design, craft and [dare I say]  humanity in the post industrial age - ya know the not so concrete stuff around DNA, Whoofie, Culture - call it what you will!

• And for further reading see Brian's nice list

On the road again

Yup -traveling again this week.  Just got back from eTech where I got to do a fun Ignite chat - brain still popping from smart folks.  Now I am off to SXSW - aka -  "geek spring break", where I will do the panel thing and look forward to some awesome conversations over beers, BBQ, music  and  geek comedy. 

Catch ya on the flip side.

Don't tell me you love me, show me

Monday morning, en route to catch a pre-dawn flight to Cincinnati, as I hovered between coffee induced alertness and the fog of sleep deprivation, it dawned on me that a great metaphor for old marketing versus new relationship economy communication is the death of the "Grand Gesture".

You know what I mean; the Grand Gesture is represented by the roses you send on Valentines Day or the present you buy on holidays or anniversaries to make up for all the times you did not hold your weight in a relationship.  We have all been either on the giving or receiving end of such gestures and we know that they don't make up for consistent listening and support.  The mark of a deep relationship is being there consistently - even when it is not convenient.  It is often about putting the other person first.

The Grand Gesture is all about the "gesturer" and not at all about the receiver.  The "gesturer" is thinking only about themselves, is being reactive and hoping it makes up for lack of attention or a big mistake. Well, the truth is, it never really does. 

The company equivalent of the Grand Gesture can take many forms - a major press announcement or briefing, a product/feature launch, a special price break or an insufficient rebate when there has been a screw-up. Those are all well and good but if they are not backed up with taking out the trash at 2am, staying up late when I am sick and listening to me bitch late at night - well then those grand gestures don't add up to much. It is the small consistent gestures that are often inconvenient that make up the core of a trusted relationship. 

Companies need to understand that punctuating bad behavior with the occasional grand gesture just is not going to cut it anymore.  We demand more.

That's why I am really excited to participate in Satisfaction's  upcoming Customer Service is the New Marketing" conference. The gang at Satisfaction understand that the future is about consistency and respect and  "grand gestures"  can't make up for consistently great customer service.   They have assembled a great group of experts on community and customer service --folks who really live the mantra of putting the customer first.

I'll be leading a round table on the important first step - the cultural shift required to succeed in the relationship economy. If you are interested in attending I've got a special 25% discount for anyone I send along.  So register here or enter the PANL discount code when registering.  I look forward to seeing you there.

[check out Paulo's other photos on flickr]

The "Widgetization of our World" [from FOWA]

Back from London and the Future of Web Apps conference.  Thanks to Carsonified for the invite to participate and for putting on a great show. 

From my POV it seems that a major theme out of the event is "the widgetization of our world" - and I don't mean "apps".  My brain is still percolating.  Listening to the breadth of chats during the three day event, it has really hit me that success in the future hinges on understanding the nodes that make up the network - whether this is data, people or organizations. Top down, centralized mechanisms just do not work any more.

Here are just a few examples:

Leisa Rechiert - on Ambient Intimacy
Umair Haque - on the economics of open society and velocity of information
Thor & Lane - on customer service (and customers) as the new marketing
Brian Oberkirk - on productizing relationships and services

My workshop on Friday addressed how we communicate and "market" in this ever increasingly decentralized universe of Social Media. Thanks to everyone who attended and to Brian for joining in on the fun.  I am cleaning up my slides and will upload them to the slideshare group ASAP.

For full coverage make sure to check out Suw , Jennifer and Steph's blogs.  Conference after conference these ladies do an amazing job capturing info for those who cannot attend in person - how *do* they do it!?

[Addendum: and let's not forget that last week was also devoted to two different conferences on Facebook apps - if that is not an indication of the chunking of our world -- what is?]

Picnic O7, Social Media & enhanced relationships

It is no surprise that I have been thinking a lot  about the scale of our social networks and connections, the velocity with which news and media travel and the impact this has on our relationships both 'offline' and online. There are lots of articles (the backlash begins) on how all these tools actually detract from relationships and are time sucks etc etc.  But what the pundits/writers fail to recognize is what is going on underneath all this activity and the flexibility of all these tools enables people to put their own stamp on how they choose to use them. 

One size does not fit all

My friend and former colleague Anil once said it best; "blogs don't get people fired, people get people fired'. This was in response to the flurry of articles about the dangers of blogging as a result of the few few people who had gotten themselves fired because of what they wrote on their blogs.  The same holds true for social networks, social media, blogs, wikis, videoblogging, liveblogging, microblogging, shoutcasting, yadda yadda yadda.

It is not the tools but how you choose to use them

This week's Picnic cross-media event (it is SO much more than a conference) in Amsterdam is a wonderful case study in how all these networks collide and how social media tools at its core can serve to enhance (not detract) relationships and community.  Alas, I could attend this year's event due to prior commitments, but I got to watch from afar. 

I particularly love the photo booth and the community's fast response to the catastrophe in Myanmar (everyone wore red t-shirts as a sign of solidarity).

Originally uploaded by Guido van Nispen.

Kudos to Guido and the team for organizing what looks --from afar--to have been another highly successful event.  Marked in 'pen' on next year's calendar.

 

Weaving my way through Gnomedex

I had the pleasure and honor of being asked by Brady Forrest to give an Ignite talk at Ignite Seattle and then again at Gnomedex.  As I only had one day notice, I smushed down a longer bit on how we weave in the uber-social networked world.  Practice makes perfect and giving this talk twice gave me some additional "aha-'s and feedback from the crowd.  My passion (ok, obsession) about observing and dissecting this aspect of our digital culture is a work in progress.  I had some great hallway chats that I am sure will make it into
future versions.

Hard to believe but this was actually my first Gnomedex - schedule just never seemed to allow before this year.  It was great to finally meet Chris & Ponzi F2F!  Thanks to both of them as well as Brady  for putting on two great events.  What a great intro to Seattle. 

Supernova Week - gazing into the future

I’ve been attending Supernova for years. It has always been one of my favorite events as it combines a unique blend of big thinkers, practical idealists and the future of the Internet. I have always taken away some great “content and contacts” to chew on. As a matter of fact, it was at Supernova four years ago that I first sat down with Ben & Mena in a hotel lobby to chat about Six Apart and before you knew it, I was living in San Francisco and working there [things like that just happen at Supernova]. 

The theme of this year's conference is The New Network. I think it is highly apropos as we are living in the midst of a renaissance of the impact of the network on businesses and relationships. Social software enriches my life tremendously and at the same time it adds some unique challenges. I am often asked about specific tools and features. This is only natural, as the landscape is genuinely confusing. However, I think some of the biggest challenges we currently face are not learning new technologies but learning new modes of behavior.

Traditional roles, organizational structures and behaviors are breaking down and reformulating in exciting new ways. But a “behavioral code of conduct” has not yet been codified into our individual or corporate DNA. We face a myriad of challenges that include:

• How do we handle the current onslaught of information?
• How do we develop meaningful connections with all the individuals available to us in the flattening world of the New Network? Do we want or need to?
• How will companies and customers find each other in the future?
• How do we deal appropriately with the amplification and distortion of encoded modes of behavior online versus off-line?
• How do I ensure access to the Network now that my living breathing existence is more reliant on connectivity than ever?
• Who owns my online data?
• Who sets the standards?
• And, once we have identified all these issues, how do we find a common language from which to address the confusion?

These are BIG questions being passionately discussed and debated across the across the Net and face to face at Supernova. Tomorrow is the Unconference event, Wednesday is Challenge Day and Thursday and Friday are the Main event.  Kevin and Jeanne work very hard to create an event with layers of dialogue and format in order to encourage varying points of view and as many voices as possible to be heard. It's like peeling an onion and I really enjoy the variety.

This year, I was thrilled when Kevin asked me to co-curate the “Markets & Relationships” track, as it addresses many issues that are near and dear to my heart.  Specifically,  the impact the New Network is having on how individuals and companies interact and the need for smarter more genuine interactions moving forward.  My dear friend Jerry Michalski has graciously stepped up to facilitate the day and we have an amazing array of really smart folks in the room lending their voices to the next evolution of the Relationship Economy.  We have practitioners in the formal sense of the word and a great round-up of innovators doing cool stuff at the close of the day.

In the spirit of the theme of the conference, we encourage everyone to contribute, not just the "official" speakers [we like to refer to them as catalysts].  People drive the New Network, so we are inviting any impassioned folks to speak up.  For starters, if you are already blogging about any of the themes of this year’s conference we suggest adding the Technorati tag “supernova2007” to your posts.  There is also a Supernova channel on Jaiku and a myriad of other ways for you to jump in. 

With all the media being created around this conference, it will be fun to see where it takes us. Make sure to check out the ConversationHub for pointers to posts, twits, photos, livestreams of sessions and more.

I am a huge cheerleader for this event.  I don't hide it.  I look forward to a week of really interesting 'food for thought'.  Let the conversations begin.

Flickr photo: Colliding planets, originally uploaded by FlickrJunkie.

DFJ East Coast Venture Challenge: $250K

Unfortunately, I cannot be in NY today - but DFJ Gotham [nepotism pause: Managing Patrner is my big bro Dan Schultz ] isabout to anounce the winner of the first ever East Coast Venture Challenge up at Columbia B School.  If you are in NY and want to get a jump start on who folks will be talking about in the next 12 months - head on up to 116th Street pronto! I am sure there area bunch of interesting start-ups in the room. 

The winner gets $250K and free office space.  Sheesh,  in today's market they could flip to one of the big tech or media guys in 6 months for a cool $20 million...;)

Plus, anything that debunks the myth that there are no creative start-ups coming out of the East Coast, is just fine by me

Some friendly competition AND a discount: Starting the Conversation

The "Starting the Conversation" Workshop in San Francisco on June 11th  is less than a month away and the Social Media Club team have struck a deal with each of the speakers. The first FIVE people who register from my site get a $100 discount. 

In the spirit of competitive fun, I'd like to beat Shel at his own game and sign up five participants ASAP. So go ahead - click on over.  Not only will I personally thank you - I will buy you a drink..;)

It's easy just click on the registration page, choose your option and enter DEB in the Code box type.  Your credit card total will be reduced  by  $100. 

But be quick - they are going fast!

But how do I get started?

If you've got the world of Social Media embedded in your DNA and you've joined Twitter-aholics,  you can stop reading now .  If however, you have no idea what the such a big deal about Twitter  and the idea of getting public uncontrolled feedback from your customers makes you break out in hives, hope is near.

The gang at Social Media Club and Shel Israel have put together a series of workshops entitled: "Starting the Conversation".  This  series will be a practical guide to getting you comfortable with rules of the road and the tools to get your there.  I am honored that they have asked me to present and participate in the Silicon Valley event on June 11th.  Shel and I have a fun history of ribbing each other on stage - so it should be entertaining and educational.   I am looking forward to it.

Here is the  agenda and registration info.  If you are in New York, Boston or Austin make sure to check out the schedule and additional presenters including David Parmet and Connie Reese.

What the other presenters have to say:

Shel Israel
David Parmet - New York
Connie Reese - Austin