On the eve of the event, it’s almost a bit redundant, to talk about why you should be coming to TweetCamp, as by now you’ve almost definitely made up your mind as to whether you’re coming or not.
That said, I did want to jot down my thoughts, if only for the next time, as they’re all ripe in my mind, as I turn in for the night!

So first off, TweetCamp is an ‘un’conference.
Conferences, are usually attended purely to learn from. In an ‘un’conference, the intention is that you’ve arrived to both learn from others, as well as to teach something of value that you know. Automatically, it creates a very different dynamic, and a different experience for all.
With TweetCamp specifically, it’s not just about the learning, and sharing, it’s also about having ‘real’ conversations, with the people you know virtually.

It’s also about having that ‘deep’ relationship, that can only come out of meeting people in person, and spending the time getting to know someone. My own life experience has taught me that no matter how much you know someone, over a phone, email, or tweet, there is just infinitely more value in a face to face, that you can’t get remotely. There’s something that happens, when we meet people and we spend time with them. It’s almost as if we get super clear on why we really connect, and trust an individual, or that we really discover they’re not who they appeared to be, to us, online. (Most times we can never truly represent the full spectrum and diversity of who we are online, so it’s only in the face to face meetings that we are able to truly ‘know’ another).

Within TweetCamp, we deliberately structure part of the day, as group discussions, because we want to encourage more reflection, and thinking, than just ‘broadcasting’, and ‘talking’. We borrow some of the principles of World Cafe, to help discover what collective wisdom we have to share, but also to stretch each individual and challenge them to listen and engage with the dialogue, and discover where that may take you.

The other element that’s incorporated into TweetCamp, is the spirit of emergent learning. There is a very clear and specific intention that TweetCamp is all about learning together, and seeing what new knowledge, or insights we might discover. But most importantly, it’s about getting back into that spirit of play, and not-knowing. If we already knew the reasons why we came to TweetCamp, there’d be nothing left to discover.

That said, if the spirit of adventure, and an enquiry into what you might learn, or who you might meet isn’t of interest to you, then definitely TweetCamp isn’t for you.. But if it is, then come along, in the spirit of playfulness exploration, and I look forward to joining with you on an adventure into uncharted waters.

Night for now.. Last sleep till #TweetCamp! God knows I need it :)

Social Media can present a real minefield at times, and so it’s always best to err on the side of being too cautious, rather than not.  At least until you find your feet.  That said, I think it’s always important to imagine that anything that’s said publicly through Social Media could be heard by anyone, at anytime, and to always think through long term the potential consequences of what you say, especially when you’re being critical of someone else, or a brand or a product, whether you work with them or not.

A great example in point, was a twitter exchange that happened back in November, 2009, between @KingofShaves (the founder, Will King), and @charliedm an employee at Porter Novelli (the agency that happens to handle Gillette’s PR).  You can read about the full exchange between the two here.  But suffice it to say, it caught my attention at the time, and has stuck with me ever since.

In brief, @KingofShaves retweeted a message they saw in the general conversation that was happening at the time:

“Time for everyone to boycott gillette and go @kingofshaves #henrylecheat”

It was natural, to join in the conversation, which related to Thierry Henry ending the hopes of Republic of Ireland entering the World Cup, and Gillette sticking by him as a sponsor of his.  Then @kingofshaves saw the following tweet from @charliedm:

“A lot more people would switch to Azor if it wasn’t a cheap plastic piece of rubbish that leaves you looking all Sweeney Todd”.

Naturally anyone who understands the power of Social Media would immediately see that as an opportunity to engage with a disgruntled customer, to help change their experience, and create a more positive association with your brand/product.  Except, upon investigation, it becomes clear that @charliedm works with the PR agency Porter Novelli, who work for Gillette, so suddenly that ‘criticism’ becomes very very biased, and potentially unfounded.  They engage in a twitter exchange of sorts, and the long and the short of it is, that ultimately the PR agency publicly apologise, and the apology is accepted.

Now ordinarily, I’ve been a Gillette consumer for years.  I tried Wilkinson briefly when they brought out some new razor, but having started out with Gillette in my late teens, I had kinda just gotten used to it.  I do remember thinking the product was much better when I first got it, and to be honest, I’ve been less and less impressed with it, as time goes on.  But being a guy, and being naturally lazy, it’s usually been easier to just buy replacement blades for the device I have, rather than buy a whole new razor shaving kit.  Partly that was ignorance, and partly that was just not having the time to look into it more closely.

Now as a consequence of this one negative off the cuff comment, and the ensuing conversation that occurred, being in Social Media, naturally the story caught my attention.  As a consequence, whilst learning about the consequences of bad mouthing a clients competitor publicly, I also got a chance to learn more about an alternative product, that previously, I would have just ignored.  I don’t know, maybe it’s just the brand name, or the packaging, but I’d always considered King of Shaves to just be a cheaper inferior product.  Fortunately, now that I know just how much difference there is in King of Shaves products, and also how much better the product sounds, I’m going to have to try it out for myself.  Of course, I would have never considered switching products before, but just that single tweet was enough for me to start learning about the alternative, in a way that I never would have otherwise.

I’ve yet to buy a King of Shaves product, mainly because I’ve still got a few Gillette replacement blades to finish off, and I’m not a keen fan of just disposing of things unnecessarily, but when I do finally finish up with my last blade, and am done with my Gillette, I’ll definitely be investing in a new King of Shaves razor, just to see if it really is a better product.

So, the moral of the story, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, unless you don’t care about what other people think, and are only interested in getting attention. (Just be conscious of the fact that that attention could be both positive, or negative, you don’t get to choose!

Welcome to ConsciousComms.

ConsciousComms exists in order to teach people how to use blogs, twitter, Facebook, and a myriad of other platforms that all help get the word out, and have conversations with people directly.

Our key vision, is to help bring down the communication barriers between people, using electronic tools, to help make it possible for more people, to speak directly to others interested in what they have to say, or what they want to do.

We provide consultancy services, to coach clients in using the tools of New Media, creating campaigns that involve engaging the audience, and teaching you how to manage your online presence.  We also reflect the voices of some of the most experienced practitioners in the New Media, and Social Media communities.  New Media is here, and it’s here to stay.

New Media and Social Media is not about more channels through which we tell people things.  It’s about cultivating relationships with people.  When people start talking to people, everything is possible.  It’s about having conversations and building relationships, not about more ways of telling the customer how good we are, and what specials we have on offer.

Over time, you will be encouraged to discover your own voice, in the online world, and start exploring, and discovering how you might just start tapping into the conversations that are happening all around you in all of your potential markets.

So roll up your sleeves, and get ready to start uncovering your authentic voice, because authentic communication matters.