Ticket discount for Social Media in Business conference in London

It’s billed as ‘The Ultimate Conference for all things Social Media, but although that may go a bit far, it’s certainly looking like one of the best social media conferences currently on the calendar – and as a blog partner, I’m able to offer you a 15% discount on tickets.

Social Media in Business

Social Media in Business

It’s a one day conference at the Strand Palace Hotel in London on October 23, 2009, and is very much focused on explaining the potency of social media, how to engage with a meaningful response, the insights you need for real business responses, and how to do it. So you’ll get more actionable insights than theoretical discussion, which is particularly relevant at the moment.

Plus there’s a great line-up of people involved, most of whom I either interact and follow online, or have had the please of spending time or working with, including:

Daren Forsyth, Benjamin Ellis, Ged Carroll, Eaon Pritchard, Charlie Osmand, Peter Crosby, Judith De-Cabbit, Joanne Jacobs, Neville Hobson, Will McInnes, Katy Howell, Jamie Riddell and Robin Grant.

A pretty good line-up, and pretty much all people I’d have no hesitation in recommending you track down to read or talk to, so having them all in one place is going to be good. And the standard price for the event is £161, which is pretty cheap for a London conference these days.

But you can save even more on the bargain price:

If you order now, you can use the discount code MAFIADAN to save 15%, which makes it even more cost effective and easier to justify to your boss/colleagues/accountants.

I’ll be there – so if you’re going let me know, as I’d love to chat.

Speaking to learned professionals…

I’m not sure what the exact crossover might be between the wonderful people spending time reading this blog and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, but just in case…

I’ll be speaking as part of a Seminar on July 7, 2009, Online CommunitiesWhat can scholarly publishing learn from other industries? The focus of my time is currently titled ‘Building successful communities to support successful media brands’, but that’s likely to be a starting point for showing how successful communities really are the brand.

It’s really interesting for a few reasons: -

Firstly it’s an industry I haven’t worked in, so I’m likely to learn as much from the people attending as they will from me.

Secondly, there’s a fun edge by allowing attendees to invest virtual money in investment opportunities presented by the speakers .

And thirdly, the other speakers are all people I’m going to be interested in meeting – Pam Sutherland from Oxford University Press (also the chair of the event), Alex Evans (CTO and Co-founder of Media Molecule – creators of LittleBigPlanet for the Playstation 3), Ros Lawler from Random House,  Phil Archer from W3C Mobile Web Initiative, Steve Paxhia from Beacon Hill Strategic Solutions and Gail Robinson from TSL Education Ltd.

So it’s going to be quite a challenge to claim the virtual money, but it’s one I’m ready for!

Just off to another brilliant example of Twitter for events

I’m just about to pack up my laptop and head over to Aperitweat, a cool gathering of Tweeple organised by the inimitable @tojulius.

It’s been publicised via his Twitter friends, registration was via Twtvite, a live Twitterstream will be at the event (hashtags #aptw or #aperitweat), and the whole thing is being streamed live via Ustream.

So in addition to the skills and contacts Julius already has (see the eventmanagerblog for examples), the marketing cost is nothing for a brilliant range of coverage which has packed the place to capacity.

Another example of the ability for self-forming events for little or no cost.

And that’s just a relatively low-profile example in a week when Twitter was used to attempt revoluation in Moldova (see some coverage via Nick Carr and All Things Digital).

And it’s in the week when the first drill has been created with some of the amazing $250,000 raised by the Twestival event in 2020 cities worldwide.


Twestival Well Drilling – Day 1 from Ethiopia – charity: water from charity: water on Vimeo.

See more of the Twestival videos on Live Earth.

Interested in the media and journalism – get yourself to JEEcamp

If you’re involved in journalism and the media, then I’d recommend checking out JEEcamp ‘an unconference (or barcamp) for journalism experimenters.’

JEEcamp09

JEEcamp09

I’m hoping I can commit to a place before space runs out, as there are some interesting events, including a ‘musical chairs panel discussion’, where each panel member gets replaced after they’ve asked a question.

But the main reason is that I’m sure there will be a host of interesting people and discussions, because the host is @paulbradshaw, senior lecturer in online journalism and web design at Birmingham City University, and one of the people by the Online Journalism Blog, where he has a habit of posting extremely interesting/useful posts.

Plus it’s only £20 to cover the venue (or to be donated to charity if a sponsor turns up). You can book tickets via Eventbrite.