by Rob Cottingham | Feb 10, 2010 | Social Signal
Just as newspapers are scrambling to adjust to a world of blogs and YouTube, speakers are suddenly discovering they’re not the only ones in the room who have a microphone. Tools like Twitter and wireless connectivity have broken the monopoly of the speech on, well, speech.
While a presenter is at the front of the room clicking through PowerPoint slides, audience members are talking back – and talking to each other. Speeches are becoming conversations, with the emergence of what’s become known as the backchannel.
That’s also the title of a new book by Cliff Atkinson. His previous book, Beyond Bullet Points, helped power a movement away from text-heavy slideshows where the speaker served mainly as a narrator, and toward more engaging presentations supported, not governed, by PowerPoint.
That positions him well to help speakers cope with this new, digitally-enabled virtual note-passing, and The Backchannel does that well. He blends well-told stories (and a few cautionary tales) from key moments in the backchannel’s development with solid, practical advice for speakers who want to join the conversation – as well as event organizers who want to make that conversation as productive as possible. And the technical know-how Atkinson offers – such as an introduction to Twitter and a discussion of tools for monitoring backchannel conversations – is solid.
More importantly, this isn’t an evangelical tract. While Atkinson is certainly preaching from the gospel of conversation, he isn’t religious about the technology. He does a good job of honestly portraying the backchannel’s warts as well as its wonders, and doesn’t shy away from stories of notorious trainwrecks. He recommends against the increasingly-common practice of projecting the backchannel onscreen during a presentation, with rare exceptions; It distracts from the presentation, and interferes with the speaker’s rapport with the audience. Better instead to have someone monitoring the backchannel and pulling out questions for the speaker to answer during periodic Twitter breaks.
But for a book of relatively few pages, he has some larger ambitions – and that’s where The Backchannel really soars. Atkinson is trying to do much more than just help you keep your head above water. He wants to transform you as a speaker, just as audiences are changing: from his call to solicit audience input before the event, to his suggestions for ongoing relationships with your audience.
The single most valuable part of The Backchannel, for my money, is Atkinson’s concept of a presentation home page: a conversational hub to house your slides (if any), video or audio recordings, relevant blog posts, links to supporting material, supplements and elaborations on your speech’s content, and of course the transcript of the backchannel itself. He delivers not just a description of each section but a wireframe that any moderately skilled web-head should be able to implement – and that wireframe alone is worth the purchase price.
Early in the book, Atkinson suggests you should see your presentation as just one piece of a larger picture: the comprehensive message you want to bring to the world. With his presentation home page, you can begin to see that picture take shape – and for any speaker who wants to make an impact in the world, that’s an exciting prospect.
And that puts the rest of the book into perspective. Some of Atkinson’s advice, like making your presentation Twitter-friendly by boiling it down to a few pithy key messages, might seem at first like a call to dumb down speeches. (Given the rap on Twitter as an empty, meaningless medium, that charge is probably inevitable.) But simple messages make for better speeches, period; a complicated, lengthy argument just doesn’t fly in the spoken word. If that doesn’t work for your speech, you have to ask yourself if you’ve picked the right medium.
The conversational nature of the backchannel tends to enforce a discipline that makes us better speakers. What’s more, as speeches become conversations, their success no longer rests solely on the shoulders of whoever’s behind the mike; the medium is becoming collaborative. Maybe that can go some way to making public speaking less scary – both for the speakers who have to deliver presentations, and the audiences that have to sit through them.
Speaking is already changing, driven by the same forces that gave rise to the social media revolution. The traditional model of a few voices broadcasting to the multitude – whether from a printing press or a podium – is falling apart.
The Backchannel’s model may not be the one that ultimately emerges from the tacit negotiation now underway between audiences and speakers. But it’s a great starting point – and a huge advance on the current state of the art, at a time when speakers and audiences alike badly need it.
by Rob Cottingham | Jan 25, 2010 | Social Signal
If you use Facebook, you’ve almost certainly noticed the ads on the right-hand side of most pages. And chances are you’ve also noticed the little “x” in the upper right-hand corner of each ad.
It’s the “I don’t like this” link (the opposite of that little thumbs-up icon under each ad), and I use it regularly. I let most Facebook ads slide, but some either offend me (usually with a gratuitously sexist photo, or a clearly misleading come-on) or are just so clearly not intended for me (thanks, but I’m not in the market for a condo) that I end up clicking – more to alert Facebook than for any other reason.
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Click it, and up pops a dialog box saying “Tell us what you think. Why didn’t you like this ad?” You can then choose from a range of reasons, such as “Irrelevant”, “Offensive”, “Misleading”, “Repetitive” or “I DON’T WANT TO PLAY #@$&ING FARMVILLE OR MAFIA WARS!” (Actually, that last one isn’t an option. It desperately, desperately should be.)
Click “Okay”, and then… what?
Truth is, we don’t know. Facebook says that “over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to our users.” But they won’t tell you how… and it isn’t unusual to see the same ad you’ve just dissed pop up again in a minute or two – complete with the little “x” link.
Which is just so last century.
Asking people for their input, and then sucking their suggestions into a black box and never letting them know what happened to them – that isn’t going to fly much longer. Not for governments that conduct “consultations” around issues they’ve already decided, and not for businesses that want to get valuable targeting information from their audience and customers without giving them any value in return.
That goes for organizations large and small. If your web site invites input from the public, you want to be doing something more than just nodding politely while they talk; this is an opportunity for interaction that looks less like the old suggestion box and more like conversation.
What if your users could see the list 20, 50 or 100 items they’ve liked or disliked? What if they could meet people who’ve liked and disliked similar things? What if they could talk about what they like or dislike, make it part of their profile, and tell advertisers how they do and don’t like to be approached?
At the very least, what if they could click a button that means they would never see that particular ad again?
If you’re going to ask your users a question, you need to be able to show them you’ve actually heard their answer. It’s perhaps the most basic skill in conversation – and so far, Facebook hasn’t learned it. Has your site?
by Rob Cottingham | Jan 16, 2010 | Social Signal
Like many people, when I heard about the disaster in Haiti, I wanted to help. And I wanted to give others a way to help, too.
Here’s what I decided to do: go to a relief agency’s web site, and set up a peer fundraising page (along the lines of what Convio, Blackbaud and DemocracyInAction create for their clients).
These are pages where you can collect donations on behalf of the charity; they handle the credit card transaction and tax receipts. Health charities in particular have become adept at creating those pages – think Run for the Cure or our friends at BC Children’s Hospital Foundation – and the breakout success story for peer networked fundraising was the Howard Dean presidential campaign.
My thinking was, for every donation over a certain amount – say, $50 or $100 – I’d send the donor a signed print of their favourite Noise to Signal cartoon. While I can’t handle credit card transactions or charitable receipts, I can handle printing, signing and mailing prints.
I’m all ready to go at this end. But I can’t find a Canadian relief agency that would let me do this.
Pretty much everyone takes donations online, but whether I’m missing something or it’s just not there, the fact is I couldn’t find one enabled for networked fundraising.
So I’m turning to Social Signal’s readers and the nptech community: can you help me find the right agency? Here’s what I’m looking for:
- Ideally, I’d like to work with a Canadian charity. But if I can’t find a Canadian partner, I’m happy to support another agency. (Ammado looks like a possibility.)
- I need to be able to track who has given how much (or at least who has given more than the threshold amount).
- I need to collect their contact information – at the very least, an email address – so I can send them their print.
Suggestions?
by Rob Cottingham | Jan 13, 2010 | Social Media, Social Signal
Last week, I mentioned BC Hydro’s Deb LeRose, and the brilliant opening slide in her social media presentation: the one that shows a free puppy and a baby. Her point is that, like many social media presences, each is supposedly “free”. But you have to look at the long-term cost, whether it’s feeding your dog… clothing and educating your child… or maintaining an effective, engaging social media presence.
So what if you’re not sure you’re ready yet?
The good news is that – just as you can babysit a niece or nephew, or volunteer to take your neighbour’s Shih Tzu for the weekend – you can get your feet wet in social media without diving in over your head. You’ll get at least a sense of the kind of time and attention various tools demand, and that can help you start planning your organization’s first public foray.
Here are six ways to try social media on for size – midnight feedings, shedding, dirty diapers and all – before you commit your organization to taking the leap.
Been resisting the siren song of Facebook? Its flaws are undeniable and well-documented… but you won’t understand why people stay involved with it until you jump in yourself. Create a personal profile, and use the privacy settings to keep your cards as close to your vest as possible… then start exploring.
Join a few groups, fan a few pages, install a few applications… but go easy at first, especially with expanding your herd of “friends”. (At least, until you get a good feeling for the difference between “friends” and friends.) Get to know how people interact, and then ramp up: from leaving comments on walls to sharing photos, videos and anything else you want to. And be sure to check out how organizations like yours are engaging with Facebook – especially what works and what doesn’t.
Before you go much further (you’re still only toe-deep), you’ll want to create some kind of identity on the web: a home base where people who meet you can go to find out who you really are. One handy way to do that is to create a Google profile. (Here’s mine.)
Start with the basic information: you name, a (non-embarrassing) photo, a brief bio and whatever contact information you feel comfortable sharing. In time, you’ll be able to add pointers to your other social media presences – a blog, a LinkedIn account, Facebook, what have you – but for now keep it simple. Your goal initially is just to have a landing page with some basic information.
Nearly four years ago, Alex introduced Social Signal’s readers to the beauty of Delicious and social bookmarking. The elevator pitch: store your bookmarks in the cloud instead of on your computer, and you can use them with any browser on any device, discover similar sites, sort by tags instead of strict hierarchies (although some browsers are finally getting wise to this, too), share with others, and discover people with similar interests.
Here’s what makes this a great way to sample the social media world: it’s completely scalable. At first, you can store bookmarks in complete privacy; screw up, say something dumb, and nobody need ever know. Take the time to add a few notes about them, then get the hang of tagging (re-read Alex’s post), and then start checking out bookmarks with similar tags from other people.
Once you’re ready to lay out the welcome mat, you can start saving your bookmarks publicly – and even then, you’ll discover that Delicious makes next to no social demands on you. (Handy hint: be sure to snag the bookmarklet that lets you bookmark any site with a mouse click.)
Commenting
Now it’s time to take your first big step: expressing an opinion, tied to your identity. Yes, you could comment anonymously… but if you’re going to be responsible for an organization’s social media presence – and reputation – you need to get used to the idea that anonymity is often illusory. Better for an organization to stand behind their content than to be accused of sock-puppeting or astroturfing.
Pick a blog you like, and follow it for a while, reading not only the posts but the comments. Get a feel for the local culture. And then find an opportunity to weigh in with a comment that adds something to the conversation: a new point of view, some pertinent information, a useful link.
Lean more toward conversational than provocative, and keep your comment relatively brief (again, keeping in mind the typical comments on the blog). Then keep watching the blog for responses to your comment; where appropriate, respond to them, and build a conversation.
Let’s combine the skills you picked up on Delicious with your commenting chops. Head on over to Posterous (or Tumblr, or any of a number of other similar sites) and set up an account.
For all intents and purposes, you’ve just created a blog. Deep breaths – and relax: this is a surprisingly easy blog to maintain. What you’ll be doing here is logging the interesting things you find online, just as you did with Delicious. (And here, too, the bookmarklet is your friend.) But you get to choose an excerpt to include, and add your comment about the page, video or image you found.
You can also check out other users, subscribe to their feeds, comment on their posts and, yes, do a little social networking. But at first, be conservative about how visible you are. That helps to keep the stakes low until you decide whether you’re in this for the long haul, and want to invest the time and social capital in building a more networked presence.
Guest-blogging
Got a particular area of expertise? Chances are there’s a blog out there on that topic… with an author who wouldn’t mind running a few posts of yours. Your best bet is someone in your personal network, or a friend of a friend who can vouch for you; you may have to knock on a few virtual doors before you find someone who’s willing to take you on.
Talk over expectations and possible topics, agree on a schedule of posts, and then stick to it (to get used to the idea of a steady rhythm of content creation). Respect the tone and voice of the blog’s author (although you don’t have to imitate it). Talk up your posts in your other online presences, and engage whatever conversation emerges in the blog’s comments and on other blogs. Finish off with a thank-you post mentioning both the author and the blog’s community for having you, and ride off into the sunset… until your next guest-blogging stint.
Ready to bring that puppy home?
Now you’ve had a real taste of the world of social media, what was it like? Were the time demands onerous, or were you able to manage them? Did you find that words came easily to you, or was it like pulling teeth? (And did you find yourself resorting to clichés like “pulling teeth”?)
What you’ve learned in this six-city tour of social media is only the beginning. (We barely even touched video, audio or photography.) But now you have a first-hand sense of the time required and the degree of public exposure it can involve.
What’s more, hopefully you’ve done more than just clean up dog poop and change baby diapers. You’ve also had a glimpse of the more rewarding side of the social web – the shared ideas and relationships that can be so powerful both for individuals and for organizations.
So now you get to decide: is your organization ready for a puppy of its very own?
by Rob Cottingham | Jan 6, 2010 | Social Media, Social Signal
Ready to dive into social media, but not sure where to start? Alex and I will be teaching Fundamentals of Social Media at UBC Continuing Studies in March – a more in-depth version of the course we taught last fall. (Which, by the way, we enjoyed tremendously – thanks to everyone who took part!)
The four three-hour evening sessions start on March 24 at Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, and the course fees are $425. Here are the details:
This introductory course provides an overview of social media: its history, theories and the principles behind online communication including the power and impact of web 2.0 . Starting with a definition of “online community”, yo explore the range of social media technologies and applications, including such tools as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, RSS, wikis and social bookmarking, and how they apply to a variety of goals and strategies. You’ll explore real-world cases and discover emerging “best practices” for this rapidly-changing field, and how it is shaping communication in everyday business today.
Register here.
Even cooler news: that course can help you earn UBC Continuing Studies’ new Award of Achievement in Social Media. And to follow on from our Fundamentals course, the award program also includes courses in Social Media Monetization and Social Media Strategy and Marketing taught by friend-of-the-show Rochelle Grayson.
Register now to be sure you get your space!
by Rob Cottingham | Jan 5, 2010 | Social Media, Social Signal
One of the great things about the clients I’ve been lucky enough to work with is how smart they are. Case in point: BC Hydro’s Deb LeRose, who – among many other things – helps the company’s many departments and business units understand social media.
She likes to start presentations off with a slide showing a free puppy and a baby. Both of them, she says, come without a price tag. So does a Twitter account, Facebook profile or WordPress.com blog… but don’t kid yourself. You’d better know what you’re getting into before you click on the “submit” button. (Or take hold of the leash. Or make a baby.)
She’s right. Price tag or no price tag, you’ll be paying: in time, attention and energy. (Mercifully, nobody’s come up with a social media presence that requires you to take it to the vet to get neutered.)
You’ll need to…
- Plan before you launch: You need to know just what you’re hoping to accomplish. Just want to learn a little about YouTube? Hoping to create a new channel for customer service on Twitter? Whether your ambitions are modest or audacious, taking the time to clarify your goals and exactly how you plan to achieve them is critical to social media success.
- Keep posting regularly: Status updates for Twitter, posts for your blog, photos, videos, notes or links for Facebook… it all adds up quickly.
- Respond to comments: Social media is conversational, and you’ll want to stay engaged in the discussions you spark – both on your own presence and out in the larger web.
- Tend to your community: As your online community grows, you’ll want to encourage participation, make introductions, extinguish flame wars and keep things moving productively.
- Promote your presence: You don’t want to go to the effort of creating and maintaining a social media presence without having it count for something, right? So you’ll want to let the world know about it – which can involve everything from advertising to guest-blogging.
- Monitor the social web: You need to know what’s being said about your organization and the issues that matter to you. That can be as simple as searches set up on a tool like Technorati or Google Blog Search, or as sophisticated as commercial tools.
- Track metrics: Since you’re investing this much effort, you want to make sure it’s giving your organization some benefit. Actually measuring those results can become more or less automated, but analyzing them and deciding on actions to take: that requires time and energy.
Organizations that have had social media success will tell you it involved real effort, but yielded great results — just as dog owners and parents know it’s sometimes tough work but tremendously rewarding. You end up with someone who, yes, chews up your most prized possessions and covers you with slobber, but is also a loyal, loving friend. (And with children, they grow out of the chewing and slobbering phase. I’m told.)
So what if you don’t know whether you’re ready for the responsibilities of raising a child, owning a dog or tending a wiki? That’s next week’s post.
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