I will admit that I'm always intimidated when I have to speak at conferences. Number 1, I don't think of myself as an expert. I'm just a guy who studies things I find interesting. And I don't often contribute to discussions because I learn so much more from listening to others. Probably contributes to my being a low-volume blogger, me thinks.
But the things I learn! The things I question! Case in point, I was listening to Zena Weist and Erin Kotecki Vest about something involving an audience Twittering their displeasure with an interview at the recent SXSW gathering. I recognized that what I was hearing was a discussion of engagement (as NextStage defines it).
One of the things that allows NextStage concept of engagement to be measured is it's first-personness, meaning people are engaged by things that affect them, that effect them, that have meaning to them, that remind them of their own experiences. We as humans are much more engaged hearing a story similar to our own than by hearing the story of someone we can't relate to in any way, shape or form.
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And I really do wonder as I write this, does anybody else think of things this way? It's so completely obvious to me that I assume it's obvious to everybody else. Then I ask other people or share my thoughts and people are blown away by it.
Anybody else out there think along these lines?
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So where I go when I listen to this conversation is "Can the presentation be more engaging than twittering or live-blogging about the presentation? Which is the First Person experience?"
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And I also learned that a Twittered message is called a "Tweet". Good thing, I suppose. When I first learned of Twitter I wanted to know if the messages, the messangees or the messengers were Twits.
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Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Upcoming Trainings:
- This is Your Brain on the Internet at Emetrics SF on 8 May 2008
- Know How Someone Is Thinking in 10 Seconds or Less Half-day training at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, 13 June 08
- New Communications Forum 2008, 22-25 April 08 at The Vineyard Creek Inn & Spa, Sonoma County CA
- San Francisco Emetrics Marketing Optimzation Summit, 4-7 May 08
- International Communication Association's Communicating for Social Impact, the 58th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association at Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 22-26, 2008
- SUNY Marketing Professionals Conference at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, 11-13 June 08
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