Knowing that I’d have a slew of other things to do on Memorial Day weekend, I decided to purchase a Friday only pass to the Big Design Conference in Dallas, Texas. The conference did so well in 2009, that this year they expanded it to two days. This was my first year in attendance, but not my first conference. Here’s a quick re-cap through the eyes of a Big D newbie.
Lost and Found… Sorta?
Parking for the conference wasn’t exactly convenient, so by the time I got to the area I was supposed to be in I was a little out of breath. I bumbled around looking for a BIG sign that Big D or something of the sort, but no luck. I passed a woman sitting on a bench and asked if she knew where the student center was. Her name was Jamie and she too was a conference attendee having trouble finding the building. With teamwork, we found the conference and went to check in. Upon check-in I learned that I was one of the lucky ones who’s name made it to the list. Apparently some people and companies, that paid to attend, arrived to find that their registration wasn’t on the conference records. They then had to rely on printed receipts to get access. Ummmm, about that?
A Minor Delay
Thanks to my handy little friend Twitter, prior to arrival I learned that the conference (along with breakfast) got a late start. The keynote speaker still gave most of her presentation which meant the speaker after her would have to cut theirs a little short. The next speaker was supposed to be Erica O’Grady. I guess she canceled at the last minute because a sticky tab on the main schedule replaced her name with Mike Merrill’s. His presentation on personal branding was inspring and my favorite of the day. The man who was to speak next, Ryan Merket, was a no call no show. Yes, two orginally scheduled speakers in a row were not there. It was beginning to feel a little like ACL 2007. The conference organizers seemed to have no idea where he was so they combined the social media and workshop groups. I know it was the best they could do with someone backing out so late in the game and I give them props for making sure the social media goers didnt have to sit in silence for an hour. However, sitting in a presentation about user experience when you are having a bit of a bad one is a little ironic, don’t you think?
Afternoon Delight and Douchery
After a very yummy lunch and fun break to watch some cartoons, the later part of day 1 got rolling. It started with Keith Anderson who took a negative stance against anyone who tries to monetize social media or use it to make themselves look hip and in the know (ex: CNN). He went as far as to call those who do so douches that are ruining social media for everyone. As someone who uses social media to genuinely interact with her companies customers, with the bottom line being profitability, it was like an hour of someone calling a portion of my job and career aspiration douchetastic. I give him major kudos for being unapologetically nothing but him true self. Yet, his presentation likely alientated a decent percentage of his audience.
After that, Laura and Chris from Idea out of Houston gave a presenation on the 10 Commandments of Social Media. It was a good session and all of their commandments were on spot and things that those using social media to interact with customers should be aware of. Next, Giovanni Gallucci gave a retort to Anderson’s claims of douchery by those who in his opinion “keep the lights on and pay the bills for social media hippies”. He gave some refreshing examples of those doing well in the social media realm like iJustine and pointed out disparities in the accolades given to traditional media icons and social media icons. This was a very very close second to my favorite session of the day. I can see why Giovanni’s clients are happy and satisfied. His presenation was the end of the road for me as I peaced out before the final keynote speaker took the stage.
Long Story Short
Not bad. As a newer conference I’m sure it will continue you to get better and better as the years go on. I love this town and the creative/design community it houses and have nothing but love and support for the events in Dallas to bring us folks together. Please take into account that I only attended one day (and not truly all of the day on top of that). I’m sure today is rockin people’s faces off in ways that you’ve never seen before. I did run into old friends as well as make some new ones and the value of personal connection will always be priceless. At the end of the day it was a good time for all.
5 Comments
Thanks for the write up. My presentation was intended to stir things up. We don’t seem to have any social media contrarians and I thought it would be a fun way to tell the serious side of the benefits I got from social media.
Also I will say this, as a conf organizer, my presentation has some last minute mistakes. One of which is where I tell the audience that not everyone is an independent consultant. Therefore the concept as social media being a faucet for money doesn’t apply. This was he first time I gave the presentation and will work on it.
Secondly, please don’t take offense; I know many people in SM who are good consultants.. I used hyperbole to frame the topic of discourse communities, not a sexy topic when talked about in a straightforward manor.
Also for the record, Giovani and I had dinner Friday night and it was one of the best conversations I had at the conference. As an organizer, I would have him back next year.
Thanks for attending and please keep in touch.
I agree, the first day was rough.
The second day was solid though. Fantastic organization, lunch, and speakers.
The two days couldn’t have contrasted each other more. But it ended on a high, so I cant wait for 2011.
@Keith Thanks for the comment. I definitely think you achieved your goal of stirring things up!:-) Please know, I didn’t think your presentation was bad. Your personal story of how social media helped you and helped you help others was refreshing.
However, I just felt there was a lack of middle ground. Many companies (the one I work for included) use programs such as the one you mentioned your co-workers at Sprint started. Most do so for financial gain. I don’t think you can damn one program and not the other just because one started with money in mind. At the end of the day, the programs accomplish the same goals but one company sleeps better at night knowing they made a difference and the other creates reports on the ROI of helping people via social media, potato-potatoe.
The great news debate was particularly amusing to me because the “news” is already so fake I think their inclusion of citizen journalism actually makes it more valid. On a regular basis people like this(http://mashable.com/2010/05/12/yo-yo-champ/) and this(http://mashable.com/2010/02/12/fresh-prince-of-bel-air-trick/) make their way in front of a national audience via news channels. Most news spots regarding products or services are nothing more than a PR pitch someone fell for. Depending on who you are watching the news can become religiously, racially, or politically biased. I think stations realize this, and as lame as it may be, their attempt to include citizen journalism is a way to provide information that is closer to indifferent than what they offer themselves. I’m a mass communications/public relations major who spent more time in journalistic studies than I cared to in college.
It’s always good to look at things from someone else’s perspective and I think that will always be extremely true in social media. I’ll definitely keep in touch and thanks again!
@Daniel I too look forward to 2011. That’s why I made a point to let anyone reading this post know that I didn’t attended the conference in its entirety. My opinions stem from only the portion of the time I was there and I’m sure if I’d attended only the second day my post would be completely different. Thanks for the comment!
Ashley:
The news debate was unintentional and interesting. Apparently many content creators have strong opinions about how content is consumed. Makes me think there is a lot there to write and talk about.
I want next year to be even more of a conversation starter. I want people to go home with tired brains.
Keith
Hi, the first day was rough. One of the parking garages had an issue with its arm. So, we had alot of attendees that were having trouble parking. We had Erica O’Grady cancel on us at the last minute, so we had Mike Merrill pinch hit for us. Ryan Merket was a “day-of” cancellation, too. We had only one other person cancel on us.
We added a second day, added video, flew in speakers, added a bookstore, and reconfigured the entire conference from Year 1. We added over 2K of signage (but not enough outside, apparently). We updated the swag to include t-shirts, iPad promotions, and kept the other swag the same.
I hope you come next year. I do have a suggestion–you may want to try another track. We had soem great talks in Strategy and Design. Plus, there were some great workshops.
Thanks,
Brian
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