Bay Area CIO/IT Executives Meetups: Blog

Event Summary

by Karen Kay

Date:  December 1, 200

Dr. Mark Drapeau is a biological scientist, government and private-sector consultant, and prolific writer on science, technology, innovation, government, and society. He is currently an adjunct faculty member in the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C

Dr Drapreau was brought to D.C. as a Fellow and worked inside the Defense Department in the National War College focused on Center for Technology and Big Trends around security for the nation.

As part of his research he explored several social media conferences and one that stood out was the Ogilvy Event that was hosted by Mashable.  Several ideas arose from this conference:

-          Was wondering why the government did not do this.

-          Kept attending more Web 2.0 events and created a road map including how USDA and CIA are using networks.

-          Obama election made this topic cause a wildfire of ideas.

-          Left the government world.

Social networking is a good thing

Not always obvious where it will lead, but it will become obvious later.  If the government uses it, should it be social networking or collaborative networking - less fun - more business. It’s controversial in the government arena and probably being fought in big companies.

Attending the SuperNova conference this week and one session he highlighted was with Anil Dash.

Anil Dash, Expertlabs is starting to hook up decision makers with people who need ideas - crowd sourcing .  Dash’s current role is directing Expert Labs, a non-profit, independent group with a mandate to help policy makers in the U.S. Federal Government utilize the expertise of their fellow citizens (from Wikipedia)

Dr. Mark encouraged us to checkout Web 2.0 Conference and learn how we can help our country without being part of the government.   This includes how to connect the disparate communities with the policy makers.

Advertising your ignorance - is a strong move

Some companies are advertising their need for input from the community and are using this knowledge to make better products.  One example is DARPA.  They have presented a challenge for someone to design a car that can drive through the dessert for xx days.

On Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 10:00am EST, DARPA will launch ten 8-foot red balloons across the United States. If the “I Spy A Red Balloon” team is the first to submit the locations of the 10 balloons, the $40,000 prize will be donated to the American Red Cross (copied from Karen Kay’s Facebook on I Spy Red Balloon).

Word of Mouth

NASA Mars Rover is an example of using social media to get your community involved.  It became a Social billboard.

Communities and networks are great so that you can filter a lot of ideas. This is not the only thing you should have going - still stay in touch with CNN and local newspaper.

The power of the social networks is at the edges of new ideas.  One example is that the Navy does not necessarily employ the entire workforce of the brightest scientist, but they are resourceful in that they have figured out a way to share and expand their knowledge beyond their internal community.  They are doing this through social networking vehicles.

Social networking can lead to more involvement from the community with the government.

If you want something changed in the government - you need to fight the battle for a long time.  You need to have better reasons and connections and keep going.

I was busy for the last month or so working on the production of a book launch party for Shel Israel’s book “Twitterville”.

One day - about 10 days prior to the event, checking all the confirmed attendees.. something clicked in my mind - there are so many very smart, exciting people flying in from all over the state and I should really try to get some of them to speak at one of my events.

The immediate first choice was to approach the team from Dell. I knew how well Dell was utilizing social media channels - they even were able to tie the use of those channels to the real life $$$.

Luckily for me, Richard and Lionel were staying in Bay Area for another day or so after the #tBASH and agreed to present! I was so happy!

What made me even happier was the feedback that was left after the event by attendees:

“ Great speakers. Good insight from their experience with social media. ”

“ Truly one of the most insightful presentations yet. Richard Binhammer and Lionel Menchaca are clearly writing the book on how a large company should/could utilize social media to identify issues, defuse complaints, generate ideas from the user base and regain status for a brand. They have gone further than many in developing the metrics and ROI for social media, and in creating collaboration and referral processes that engage other teams in the company. Thanks again to Tatyana for offering great food for thought and, as usual, for the palate. ”

“ Outstanding Meetup … These events just keep getting better. Enjoyed learning from front-liners Richard and Lionel exactly how Dell is making it happen and the processes they follow to ensure success. Two hours went by far too quickly. ”

“ Lionel and Richard provided great hands-on, practical social media experience, and were great presenters. Highly recommend! ”

Do I need to add anything else?!

Video [first hour] from the event: