Last Thursday I attended KC/IABC’s Business Communicators Summit.
It was my second time attending this all-day professional development buffet,
and I would classify this year’s event as another success. We were treated to
two great keynote speakers, Steve Crescenzo and Chris Brogan, as well as many
breakout sessions on a wide variety of topics. Here are my key takeaways from
each session I attended throughout the day.
Photo courtesy of KC/IABC
Steve Crescenzo kicked
off the day with a brilliant presentation on creative communications. He was
engaging, funny and shared some killer content. For me, the main takeaway was
the idea that communicators must continue to push the envelope rather than
settle for the status quo. We’ve all heard the “ask for forgiveness, not
permission” mantra, but I like Steve’s take on it, “Proceed until apprehended.”
As a new pro, I need to be more vocal with my ideas for new processes and/or
opportunities. And, I need not be hesitant to just go out and do it, then show
others how it worked (or didn’t). After all, I really don’t want to end up, as
Steve said, a “Pudgy white man in a suit spewing corporate boilerplate.”
The first breakout session I attended featured Chuck Caisley
and Katie McDonald of KCP&L discussing the company’s introduction of the Connections program. I admit
I went into this hoping to learn a few tips on reducing my electric bill, if
nothing else. Luckily, Chuck and Katie shared some great information on how
they were able to create executive buy-in for their program using specific
research generated from a customer survey. It was great to see research data
used so effectively to demonstrate a need.
Phil and Alex from Spiral16 shared some wonderful insights on the benefits of data virtualization. This
process reduces noise to help you tell an effective story and improves the
speed of data processing. It is especially helpful when considering
conversations in different social media and determining which are the most
influential.
I’m a daily reader of Chris Brogan’s blog, and was looking forward to what he had to say.
To me, Chris has a speaking
style and tone reminiscent of the late comedian Mitch Hedburg. Very relaxed,
though not near as spacey or staccato as Mitch’s trademark delivery. Chris shared some nuggets of brilliance,
and not just his admission that 60% of his business comes from Twitter. (It CAN
make you money!) My favorite quote was, “Corp Comm sells the dream, while
customer service implements the nightmare.” I’ve blogged before about social media policies and the need for companies to empower all
employees to act as brand ambassadors. Companies need to remember that TV
interviews and newspaper quotes aren’t the only times their brand is in the
spotlight.
The final breakout session I attended featured Jonathan Mast
of Black & Veatch discussing his company’s efforts in the social media
space. Black & Veatch was able to launch a successful internal CEO blog and
a Facebook fan page for recruiting in just six months. Recent stats show B2B usage of social media
continues to grow, though examples of success remain somewhat under the radar.
The biggest takeaway for me here was his reasoning for implementing social
media. For Black & Veatch, social media is about brand establishment and
relationship-building.
Did you attend BCS as well? What were your key learnings?