Marketing Nirvana

I just returned from an absolutely entertaining, enlightening and extremely participatory Social Media Club event (the first one held in Silicon Valley). It was one of those events where you have so much fun learning that you can’t wait for the next edition.

(from l-r: Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells)

Organized by my good friends Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells of the Social Media Club and moderated by Arian Ward, the event brought together an assortment of passionate individuals from the fields of technology, marketing, pr, media, and education! Quite the evening, it was. Here’s a 5-point rundown:

1. The venue

NBC 11 studios, San Jose

“The Future of Local Media”, as the event was titled, was aptly held at the local studios of NBC’s San Jose station NBC11 and Telemundo. I had a great time touring the studios, once while they were taping the evening news segment, and yet again after our event.

2. The intro

(from l-r: Kristie Wells, Chris Heuer and Linda Sullivan )

First off, I was greeted by Kristie as I entered and after some brief networking (did I mention, the food was great too), I settled down into one of the discussion tables. We started off, with a brief outline to the series provided by Chris and then were welcomed by host Linda Sullivan, President/General Manager of NBC 11.

3. The tone

Arian Ward setting the tone for the discussions

From the outset, it was clear that the aim of this event was to enhance audience participation in the spirit of World Cafe. Arian Ward of Community Frontiers started off by outlining the modus operandi – basically each participant would be a part of three group discussions for a total of 15 minutes each. Each discussion would end with a summary provided by the table leader, followed by the next group discussion — you get the picture.

4. My groups

(from l-r: Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3)

I started off my series of group discussions (three in total) with Group 1 comprised of a couple of students, Jim Monroe (NBC11) and my colleague from LinkedIn – Orly Keren. The next two sessions were along similar lines, affording us an opportunity to pontificate on topics such as the thin line between traditional and new media, issues facing local “media”, ethical challenges, and the singular vision that unites the two camps of “journalists”, essentially the honest retelling of facts.

5. Popcorn – The finale

Let the questions flow – Popcorn session

The evening concluded with a rapid fire question session with ideas streaming in from all quarters. The questions were taped by Chris and I’d like to find out where they can be accessed. I thought, the Popcorn session teased the audience to participate in the next edition of the series. I think it’d be great if we could sustain a discussion on the blogosphere between sessions, on the questions raised. However, I’m not sure if that’d be feasible given the fact that I was probably one of three bloggers in attendance!?

Quick Update: A snapshot of the event from fellow participant, Ken Kaplan (Intel) on his blog. You can also hear his interview on Podtech here (via Jeremiah).

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For a complete set of pictures I took, please access my Flickr stream here.