Tim Elliott, Phil Wilson and Steve Borsch are at the Unsummit, “…an alternative, “unconference,” not unlike a BarCamp. That means full participation, full dissemination and free admission — all the things that traditional conferences are not.” Watch the liveblog space below as the day unfolds.
- 9:56 AM: Minnov8 Gearing up for a fun day at Unsummit ’09…
- 11:18 AM: timelliott The wifi is back working here at the Minneapolis Public Library so we will be live blogging as much as we can… looks like a great turnout so far… we will be starting in just a few minutes
- 11:27 AM: sborsch #Unsummit starting now twitpic.com
- 11:27 AM: sborsch
- 11:30 AM: timelliott “These alternative formats foster alternative thinking” — Don Ball
- 11:39 AM: timelliott First session up for me is “Pitch Me: Bloggers Bare All”…
- 11:42 AM: timelliott We are live blogging #Unsummit here if you can’t make it: bit.ly
- 11:43 AM: timelliott This is a panel discussion with Tony Saucier, Greg Swan,
Christopher Taylor… all local bloggers - 11:48 AM: timelliott Everyone one the panel is balancing their day job with being a citizen journalist… somewhat of a challenge when your day job is in PR and you are pitched as a journalist in your off hours
- 11:50 AM: timelliott Having a passion for your subject is key to building audience… having a niche like power tools (which Tony does) also helps but Greg is pitched with 100 CD’s a months and free access to nearly every concert in the Twin Cities from his music blog
- 12:03 PM: timelliott The FTC ruling has come up from the floor… transparency and disclosure are required for bloggers who receive free or review product or face stiff fines after December 1, 2009… the panelists have been disclosing for a long time
- 12:08 PM: timelliott Tony Saucier: It’s hypocritical that mainstream journalists are not required to make the same disclosures as bloggers
- 12:12 PM: sborsch #Unsummit Great panel discussion about bloggers, PR, and stuff like FTC new rulings. twitpic.com
- 12:12 PM: sborsch
- 12:16 PM: Philson How can we oversee the integrity of a medium without a governing body…or government? The great question is more about human nature of society norms. #unsummit.
- 12:17 PM: timelliott Greg Swan: “I’ve created a monster and I have to feed it everyday”
- 12:28 PM: timelliott “How do you make money blogging?” — most of the panel see this as a hobby and have to pay for hosting costs… they are not in this to make money… free product is a nice bonus
- 12:35 PM: timelliott Blogging session is over… next up here is “How to Become Your Own Top Client: Turning Your Consulting Skills into a Viable, Standalone Business” which I’m also videoing so will not really blog here… hopefully one of the other guys can pick this up… if not, will post a summary afterwords
- 12:45 PM: Philson Net Neutrality…all have access to internet content.
- 1:27 PM: Philson Our apologies for not blogging more regularly during the Unsummit. The format is discussion based…and we are all participating. Imagine…us talking too much.
- 1:29 PM: Philson All three of us are in the same session…Cheap Tools & Tawdry Tricks for Consultants, Freelancers & Accidental Entrepreneurs. Waiting for set up to be completed.
- 1:30 PM: Philson Session is designed around sharing tools for independent business.
- 1:31 PM: Philson Check polymerstudios.com for Don’s outline for this session. He shares many different tools there.
- 1:32 PM: Philson He will add tools that the audience shares.
- 1:34 PM: Philson Many who follow us will be familiar with these tools. (You tend to be early-adopters) Recomendations right now. Magic-Jack from Best Buy for cheap calls VOIP. $19.95 Toktumi for office phone service. $15.00 per month.
- 1:38 PM: Philson More tools…Freshbooks for book-keeping. Westlaw and NoLow for legal
- 1:39 PM: timelliott The last session I was at “How to Become Your Own Top Client” by Jeremy Gavin was more of a personal story which I’m not sure is that leverageable as a template but there were some good ideas presented… will be posting the video of the session shortly and will link here
- 1:39 PM: Philson Setster for scheduling appointment setting.
- 1:43 PM: Minnov8 URL for Setster: www.setster.com
- 1:48 PM: Minnov8 URL’s for Toktumi www.toktumi.com and MagicJack www.magicjack.com
- 1:49 PM: Minnov8 Freshbooks: www.freshbooks.com
- 1:50 PM: Minnov8 Online bookkeeping called Outright: outright.com
- 1:53 PM: Philson uprinting and moocards for business cards and other printing,
- 1:54 PM: Philson todoist as task manager and to do list.
- 1:55 PM: Minnov8
- 1:56 PM: Philson Check Remember the milk and Blinksale
- 1:56 PM: Minnov8 Don Ball’s session entitled, “Cheap Tools & Tawdry Tricks for Consultants, Freelancers & Accidental Entrepreneurs” is packed.
- 1:57 PM: Philson Packed with chewy goodness…and some darn fine tools!
- 1:57 PM: Philson Don’t forget Basecamp. There is an entire ecosystem springing up around it.
- 1:58 PM: Philson Pivotal Tracker… a bit more developer focused than Basecamp
- 1:59 PM: Philson Harvest is a great time tracker.
- 2:00 PM: Minnov8 OnePlace collaboration: www.oneplacehome.com
- 2:03 PM: Philson Great braisntorming tool…Mind Map and Mind Miester. XMind is a free version
- 2:17 PM: Minnov8 Minnov8’s Phil Wilson up next…c.”Social Media Reality Check” (this is where Phil gets really, really cranky)
- 2:19 PM: timelliott Now in the “Getting to Done: Productivity & Time Management tools” with Meg Canada…
- 2:22 PM: sborsch
- 2:22 PM: sborsch The crowd is filling the venue to hear Phil Wilson’s talk on “Social Media Reality Check”
- 2:24 PM: timelliott Meg Canada: Everyone is comparing notes on how they track their time… everything from Basecamp, Gmail, Outlook to a strange, white material made from crushed trees and something called a “pen”
- 2:24 PM: sborsch Phil Wilson: Talking about a survey he sent to people he knew, just to see what people he knew were thinking about (and what they were using) with respect to social media.
- 2:28 PM: timelliott Meg Canada: Do what works for you… on a mobile phone, sending SMS to Remember the Milk or Gmail, paper… whatever you can manage and do consistently.
- 2:33 PM: sborsch Phil Wilson: Presenting data from his friends-n-family (not a scientific sample) as a “conversation starter” about who is using social media…or not.
- 2:39 PM: sborsch At Phil Wilson’s session he is talking about smartphone use by his respondents vs. mobile phones primarily for voice and SMS, Lisa Foote (http://mixmobi.com) (who is talking later) said that 80% of mobile phones are voice/SMS and 20% are of the smartphone variety.
- 3:20 PM: timelliott Next up for me is “What Should Today’s Agency Model Look Like?” with Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller
- 3:36 PM: Philson I am still amazed how a comment…no matter how benign…leads to dissection on Twitter. A real reflection of passion. Very interesting….
- 3:41 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: The role of the agency has changed and everyone is trying to figure out what the new model will be… “an agency of agencies”, small niche shops or something else
- 3:42 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: Agency compensation is getting “murky” as ad placement money goes away… pay for performance is one model.
- 3:46 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: Traditionally, there has been a division between branding and advertising… both are converging today and more “digital natives” are running marketing & PR at companies and want to control their online presence directly.
- 3:48 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: Social Marketing is a “wake up call” for agencies as it is not as easily outsourced (or should not be outsourced at all) as branding or advertising.
- 3:55 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: Interesting point from the audience about pulling branding in-house… if you fail you lose your job vs. firing your agency and finding another one.
- 4:02 PM: timelliott Joe Rueckert & Rohn Jay Miller: “Social Media is not the opposite of traditional media, it’s just media that’s social… Getting on Twitter and responding to customer complaints is just customer service” <– An interesting perspective but social marketing should be done by people in companies, not ghost written by agencies.
- 4:04 PM: timelliott This session is over… after a short break we will be recording a live Minnov8 podcast here…
- 5:37 PM: timelliott Returning to the live blog, now at “Telling Better Stories” panel…
- 5:40 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: One of the panelists is using the web to tell the story of sustainable, family farming: www.fairfoodfight.com
- 5:42 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: “There’s a fine line between authentic and outrageous”
- 5:48 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: Panel dissecting how to make a viral video… be outrageous, leverage celebrity and pump out via broadcast… example used (NSFW): www.youtube.com
- 5:52 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: “How do you manage client expectations when they want a ‘viral video’?” — not every company has a story that can go viral… tell your authentic story and see what happens.
- 5:55 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: Site with some of the examples & resources being used at this talk: nicoledeb.blogspot.com
- 6:05 PM: timelliott Telling Better Stories: Surprise and conflict are at the heart of most great stories…
- 6:06 PM: Philson #mimasummit Stellar event. The day just flew! Well played to @donmball, @myklroventine, @megcanada, and all that made it happen. Rock on!
- 6:08 PM: timelliott Well, that’s a wrap… great Unsummit and now the real networking will begin… thanks for following our live blog and watch for a post on Minnov8 soon.