InSession

The outtathegate case study from IABC’s 2009 World Conference in San Francisco

Guest Post from Linda Johannesson – originally from Toronto, Canada now in Sydney, Australia, she’s a long time IABC member and marketing and communications professional and social media advocate. You can find her online at www.lindajohannesson.com

The IABC NSW (Sydney) chapter offered a scholarship to help a lucky chapter member defray the costs of attending the IABC World Conference 2009 in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to receive the award this year.  So, a huge “THANK YOU” goes out to the IABC NSW chapter. To show my gratitude, I wanted to share the wealth.

As was part of the scholarship agreement, I was happy to provide a conference report upon my return. But, I wanted to do more. So, I decided to use the power of social media to share the conference highlights with the NSW chapter, conference attendees and anyone else who was interested. With that thought, outtathegate was born. I created an integrated social media campaign consisting of blog posts, podcasts, tweets, flickr photos, delicious links, audio Boos, gmail conversations and video.

My hope in developing it was that it would become a crowd sourced project where other conference delegates will provide content by sharing their comments, highlights, ideas and feedback.  I felt that together we could create a vibrant citizen community that participated in meaningful conversations that continued on long after the conference ended.

Campaign Goals

1.    To connect the NSW IABC chapter members with highlights from the World Conference as they happen
2.    To test the power, the possibilities, the parameters and the overall success of an integrated social media campaign focused on a specific purpose
3.    To promote the conference conversations before, during and after the event
4.    To create deeper connections with both the local Sydney IABC community and my international communications peers
5.    To increase my own understanding of the power of social media in communications

Campaign Components The campaign integrated the following components to create the conference conversation blog, @outtathegate, the conference hashtag - #iabc09, a dedicated email address - outtathegate@gmail.com, a flickr photo feed, skype- outtathegate, YouTube, Ning, the delicious tag - outtathegate, business cards, word of mouth, IABC issued emails  and I even wore a couple of outtathegate t-shirts!

Campaign Tools It’s a good thing I carry a large bag because, while I ”parked” the Dell Inspiron 17” laptop and the Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headphones,  I still toted an ipod, Belkin TuneTalk Stereo Microphones, the handy little Flip video camera, my Nikon D80 and a bright smile and an outgoing personality around with me.

The Contributors A campaign like this is successful because of the contributions of many. To all of you who shared your greetings, ideas, insights, tips, suggestions, observations and inspiration, “thank you”. I am grateful that you shared your unique voices and participated in the outtathegate conversation.

IABC International , IABC NSW Chapter, Peter Salt, Michael Erder, Arlene Adams, Marie  Najjar, the folks at Highway 101,Lee Hopkins, Allen Jenkins, Bryan Person, Jennifer Frahm, Kate Pembroke, Wanda Love, Angela Sinickas, Mark Schumann, Chris Betcher, Gerard Braud, Angelo Fernando, Monica Oestreich, Sue Horner, Kare Anderson, Sam Harrison, Mar Moretti, various San Francisco residents, Gene X Hwang, Paula Cassin, Melissa Dark, Jeremy Schultz, Chuck Gose, Jennifer Wah, Liz Guthridge, Lauren Libitz and the various other 200+ fleeting tweeters who used the #iabc09 hashtag.

The Conference Highlights The highlights were many and varied; including: grumpy old men, silly string, meeting heroes, golden gate bridge  and gold quill photos, generational communications, measurement tips, dispelling CEO fears around social media, saving the planet, second life, tweetups and greetings from the incoming chair, I hope you’ll visit the outtathegate blog and the outtathegate Ning to experience them for yourself.

Overall, the top eight themes I observed from this year’s conference are:
1.    Awesome people
2.    Ideas, innovation and bold creativity
3.    Technology , web 2.0 and social media
4.    Authenticity
5.    Collaboration
6.    Humour and fun in the workplace
7.    Diversity
8.    Sustainability

For the details around how I saw these themes play out, please read the full post.

The Metrics

While I’m reluctant to apply the old rules of measurement and success to the new world of spreading ideas online, here are some metrics indicating the campaign’s reach:
Twitter – Following 245 –Followers 220 – Tweets - 335
Ning – 10 members
Blog

• Posts -  27
• Pages – 5
• Comments - 25
• Tags- 6
• Total views - 1,562
• Views from 29 countries (The top 3 – USA - 313 Australia - 138 Canada – 102)
• Busiest day-  124 visits
• Most popular post – Lasting Impressions – Conference Summary

Delicious – 129 links
Flickr – 194 photos
Youtube – 11 videos
Gmail – Approximately 200
The true measures of success metrics were that I have been able to meet a number of key contacts, been afforded business and information sharing opportunities as a result and that outtathegate  provided a platform to help connect a group of us who came together to pitch sessions for next year’s conference.

The Top 10 Lessons Learned from the outtathegate campaign

1. Traditional best practices like creating clear strategy/objectives, developing strong branding, integrating various media and encouraging interactivity remain relevant
2. Lots of preparation and planning allow you the freedom to be spontaneous
3. You must determine  your campaign priorities – you just can’t do it all
4. People want to help and contribute,  so let them
5. You can guide a social media campaign, but you can’t control it (but that’s half the fun)
6. Tagging is a brilliant invention and the only way to process/share vast amounts of data
7. Some people are very comfortable with Social Media, but the masses, sadly, just aren’t there yet
8. The conversation is infinitely enhanced by more voices
9. Technology is a means to an end
10. This all would have been so much easier with an iPhone!

The project succeeded in capturing and sharing a great deal of the fabulous content, people, events and ideas that came outtathegate. It achieved its overall aim to provide a snapshot of the various components that worked together to create a meaningful and memorable conference experience.

That said, there really is nothing like being there – I’m grateful I had this chance and hopefully I’ll see you all in Toronto!

This is the final reminder to submit presentation proposals for IABC’s 2010 conferences. The deadline for proposals is Friday, 31 July 2009. We’d like to hear from qualified experts who meet IABC’s criteria for educating communicators on how to excel professionally and improve organizational performance.

IABC makes speaker selections based on audience and content needs to reflect our membership demographics. We welcome proposals from speakers of diverse backgrounds and experience.

See the call for proposals for more details.

On Monday, 8 June, 400 people attended the Gold Quill awards ceremony and dinner in San Francisco to honor 41 Excellence and 81 Merit winners. If you missed the gala or you want to relive the moment, photos are now online.Also, see the excitement of some Gold Quill winners by viewing the videos winners submitted that were shown at the awards ceremony.

Want to be a part of it next year? Save the date for the Gold Quill awards ceremony and dinner in Toronto on 7 June 2010. The deadline dates to enter the Gold Quill Awards are 27 January 2010 (early-bird) and 3 February 2010 (final deadline).

This is a short video from World Conference speaker Gerry McCusker comparing the social media movement to the 1970s punk rock movement. After his session, he requested to post this on InSession to share with members.

 If you would like to be part of the volunteer army to help with a social media experiment at Wednesday’s Media Training program, please let me know. Reply via e-mail to gerard@braudcommunications.com

I’ll be meeting the tech savvy volunteers for my session on Wednesday at 8 a.m. in the Yerba Buena Salons 13-15 for instructions.

The session starts at 8:30 a.m.
Volunteers should bring cameras, video recording phones/cameras, computers capable of uploading video and any other technology that can get to the web.

Looking forward to seeing everyone,

Gerard

Gerard Braud (Jared Bro)

Braud Communications

Contributed by Tina Tuma, Hospitality Volunteer
We have assembled an entourage of volunteers to assist you during your time at the conference. Look for our volunteers in the black “Shake It Up” t-shirts (and colorful SF heart pins) - they are here to help you with:

• Answering your questions
• Providing directions to your sessions
• Chatting with you about the local San Francisco history and things to do

BUT most importantly providing a friendly “hello” as you make your way through the halls of the venue.

Please don’t hesitate to find one of us so that we can help make your conference experience memorable.

Special thanks goes out to Possibilities-Unlimited for producing and delivering the “Shake It Up” t-shirts for our volunteers to wear at the conference.

Question: How do you make a San Franciscan cringe?

Answer: Tell them that you visited their city and all you saw was Fisherman’s Wharf.

To many, Fisherman’s Wharf is one of the first landmarks that come to mind when they think of San Francisco. Right up there with Cable Cars and Rice-a-Roni. But to most San Franciscans, it’s a cheesy tourist trap that bares very little resemblance to the real San Francisco experience.

It does have some spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate, but it’s also loaded with shops selling crass trinkets, chain restaurants and clothing stores that you could find in any major city, and street performers of questionable artistic merit (the first guy who painted himself silver and presented himself as “the human statue” was a minor league visionary. The hundred guys who now do it on every corner of the Wharf are low-rent copycats).

The average San Francisco resident does not hang out in Fisherman’s Wharf. We most certainly do not dine nor shop there.

Still, I know that when you go to a major city for the first time, your curiosity may not be quenched until you see the landmark spots, no matter how pedestrian it may be.

So if you must visit Fisherman’s Wharf, here’s how to get in and get out, and experience the best of it without compromising your cosmopolitan sensibilities.

Requirements:

- Camera
- Comfortable shoes
- Casual dress (if you wear anything nicer than a fleece “I (heart) San Francisco” sweatshirt, you’re ahead of the fashion pack in this part of town.)

Suggestion:
Go on a weekday if possible to avoid the crowds. And go during the day (to avoid wasting a perfectly good evening).

See these things, then get out:

- Musee Mechanique: This San Francisco institution is one of the world’s largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade machines. It’s like stepping through a time warp into a simpler, bygone era.  This is how kids amused themselves before television, videogames and Facebook.

- See the Sea Lions:  For nearly 20 years, the docks on the north side of Pier 39 (the outdoor mall at the center of the wharf) have been a regular hang out for sun bathing sea lions. These puppies of the sea offer the best free entertainment on the Wharf as they dive in and out of the water, climb over each other, and jockey for prime space on the dock. Note: During the summer months, the sea lions migrate south to the Channel Islands for breeding season, but in recent years a small group stays year-round.

- Blues at Lou’s (Pier 47): The upstairs bar of this rustic restaurant serves as a live music venue, hosting some of the best local blues bands seven days a week (the key word here is “days”). The live music starts at 4 o’clock in the afternoon (!), and continues until midnight. So you can catch some live local music without having a late night. (And if you were to have a late night out in San Francisco… the Wharf isn’t the place). The cover charge is only $3 before 8 p.m.

- Support the local fishermen: Yes, the working fishermen for whom the Wharf is named are still around. You can grab a crab cocktail at one of the local stands and get a taste of their fresh catch, and keep moving.

- Boudin at the Wharf: If you do feel the need to have a full meal at the wharf—and please tell me it’s only lunch—try Boudin. This local family-owned company has been around since 1849, making their popular sourdough bread and clam chowder. While they have small outlets throughout downtown San Francisco, their flagship location in Fisherman’s Wharf includes a full restaurant and bar.

So if you do find yourself at Fisherman’s Wharf, hit some of these spots, take some photos of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz (regarding that, I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never taken the tour. Haven’t missed it. I’m in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and you want me to spend a day walking around an empty prison? I think not.), check this off your “Been there, done that” list, and move on. Spend an hour, maybe two. You may even get a free adrenaline jolt from the legendary Bushman.

Get it out of your system and then go explore the real San Francisco: North Beach, Golden Gate Park, Land’s End Trail, the Mission or Haight Street for the adventurous, Union Street and Embarcadero for the upwardly mobile… the list goes on.

The real magic of San Francisco lies beyond what you see on postcards and the opening credits of Full House.

Speakers and attendees are already beginning to descend on our city by the bay for World Conference. Even if you can’t make it to San Francisco, you can follow up-to-the-minute reports on Twitter from a variety of perspectives. To hear up-to-the-minute reports from everyone Tweeting from the Marriott—staff, speakers, attendees and exhibitors alike—search for the World Conference hashtag #iabc09; or follow individual people:

IABC International Twitter account: @IABC

IABC Staff Conference “Twitter Team”:

• Jamaal Cox (manager, membership development) - @JamaalOmar
• Heather Turbeville (director, Knowledge Centre) - @HTurbeville
• Joseph Ugalde (vice president, marketing and communication) - @josephu
• Archana Verma (director, marketing and communication) - @archanaverma
• Janna White (manager, student membership marketing/development) - @jrosewhite

A sampling of World Conference speakers who are also regulars in the Twitterverse:

• Kare Anderson - @KareAnderson
• Sam Harrison - @zingzone
• Neville Hobson, ABC - @jangles
• Shel Holtz, ABC - @shel

And there’s more:

IABC/New South Wales (Australia) chapter scholarship winner Linda Johannesson decided to embark on an integrated social media campaign to help her fellow chapter members benefit from her attendance at World Conference. Follow Linda’s blog, Twitter feed and Flickr to hear Linda’s take on the conference as a Canuck-down-under. Or follow Chuck Gose (@chuckgose) to hear from an exhibitor and attendee who is already gearing up for his trip to San Francisco.

If you want to share your account of your time at World Conference, leave a comment on this post with your Twitter handle so attendees and voyeurs can follow along.

As IABC’s World Conference creeps closer and closer and you begin to narrow down and plan out your itinerary during your visit to beautiful San Francisco, you may start to feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to see and do! Months ago, you may have been optimistic about how much you’d be able to check out, but now you might be realizing how difficult it will be to squeeze it all in. So now it’s time to find a balance between what you want to do and what you’ll feasibly be able to accomplish.

With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of things no trip to San Francisco would be complete without. Here it is (in no particular order):

– Cable car ride: This iconic symbol of The City is also a part of moving history. Nowhere else in the world will you have the opportunity to hang on tight and ride a cable car as it passes through scenic parts of San Francisco. Riders can board just a few steps from the Marriott Hotel where Market and Powell Streets meet.

– Ghirardelli ice cream: The perfect ending to a stroll along the souvenir-shop-laden Fisherman’s Wharf, a scoop (or three) of decadent, rich chocolate is sure to delight!

– Visit the Golden Gate Bridge: Recognizable around the world, a walk on the bridge (even if you don’t have time to go all the way across to Marin County) is worth every moment. Breathtaking views of The City and the entire San Francisco Bay are sure to wow.

– A sourdough bread bowl filled with clam chowder: A real San Francisco treat! There are many restaurants downtown and especially in the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood where you can indulge in the tasty soup. My favorite is Boudin’s.

– Golden Gate Park: As I mentioned in a previous post, the park is stuffed full with fun activities. It offers a break from the busy downtown neighborhoods and a different look at San Francisco life.

– A visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA): Only a short walk from the Marriott Hotel, the museum is a perfect way to pass a free hour or so.

And, if you find yourself looking for even more to do, I know there are tons of suggestions here at InSession for your consideration.

Have a wonderful time enjoying all this city has to offer its visitors!

While in San Francisco, don’t miss the chance to see an amazing new building in Golden Gate Park. The Academy of Sciences building houses an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum and a four-story rainforest.

But the building itself is worth your visit. It’s the brainchild of world-famous architect Renzo Piano, and it’s a masterpiece in sustainable architecture.

I’m most familiar with the genius of Piano through his glorious expansion of the High Museum in Atlanta, my home base. He’s also worked his magic with a number of other museums, including the Morgan Library in New York City and, most recently, the Art Institute in Chicago.

Piano says a museum is a place where “one should lose one’s head.”

Great statement. And I would offer that same advice to attendees at IABC 2009 World Conference. Lose your head — all those old ideas and preconceived notions — and open your mind to the abundant new tools and insights that will come your way in sessions and during discussions with fellow attendees.

After all, we can’t grab new ideas if we’re holding on to old ones. I’ll be talking about ways to move past old ideas and stretch creativity for stronger marketing communications in my session on Wednesday morning — “Three Ps for More Creative Marketing: Passion, Performance, Pitch.”

I hope to see you there!

Sam Harrison

http://www.zingzone.com