Well, alas no FreetheNet here at the YWCA on Beatty Downtown Vancouver so will limp along with the delayed coverage of Kris Krug and Rob Cottingham's spiel to a crowded room of PR and Marketing minded peeps.

6:31
Okay, the intros are starting at the Vancouver High-Tech Communicator's Exchange meeting. VHCE HTCE are an organization with about 440 people on the contact list and they put on events inexpensively, run by volunteers, with top notch speakers form the community.

6:33
HTCE Members get a discount on Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo's book "Getting to First Base" a contemporary guide to savvy marketing.

6:34
Upcoming events focus on convergence, lead generation (getting sales and marketing working together) and more workshops to help these PR pros get new media savvy.

6:35
Lovely intro for Kris (he has a great speechwriter ;-)) - ditto for Rob (who came recommended from Darren Barefoot who's garnered 3 mentions already despite being in Morocco).

Rob and cohort Alex are top notch strategic consultants as Social Signal. Pro speech writer Rob doubles as a funny guy - stand up and comic writer - he has a cold to go with his dry and intelligent sense of humor

6:36
I wave hello as they introduce me as the token citizen journalist (that's me on the floor in the front).

6:37
Kris is giving some framework about what we are talking about when we talk about collaborative media creation (i.e. wikis, blog, podcasts) "We aren't so much talking about myspace, livejournal and hyper-personal writing styles today," says Krug.

6:42
Shout out to Greg from Techvibes and mention # 4 for Darren and Julie. Krug and Rob suggests their book as a great tool to help sell your idea to your boss/CEO whatever, arming you with stats and case studies to back up your pitch.

6:47
Second plug - this one for Northern Voice - an Internet Boot Camp great for newbies and veterans alike. Cheap, fun, personal focused (I'll be there).

6:49
Rob echoes the endorsements for NV saying he and his real-life/pro partner (Alex Samuel) helped launch Social Signal -after attending NV 1 and realizing publishing had changed to a interactive conversational medium giving the customer the power to talk back and engage with the brands messages we are representing.

Also props to the millennial Cluetrain Manifesto which proclaimed "Markets are Conversations" and these conversations can be richer than a simple transaction.

These conversation are happening already out there SO you better start taking part because you have a lot to bring to the table.

6:50
Marketing is changing - we'll move along the continuum in the case studies. Digression: Rob speaks in a manner which makes me want to vote for him for some undeclared political office.

Case 1 - Ford
Besides the overblown rhetoric, you can find photos on Flickr, videos on Youtube, RSS feeds for news.

The goal: to make it as easy as possible for people to start spreading the word - even recommending tags.

Kris says, "This shows they are acknowledging there is a conversation out there - it might be a bad conversation but at least they are in paying attention to whats going on."

Battlestar Galactica allowed fans to make their own trailer videos rather than treating as misappropriation. Remember, still not unusual for bloggers to be "shook down" for using logos or photos to promote brands they like.

6:54
Kris explains how giving his photos away created a brand and demand for his (now professional) services. Creative Commons is the key promoting art, software writing etc. Krug mentions.

Rob says the fundamental point is "giving value."

6:55
Next case, General Motors runs the "Fast Lane" blog - their Vice Chairman (Bob Lutz) blogs often, engages in comments. A new opportunity to communicate at a high level. A community is emerging - regular users are engaging with one another in other forums.

6:57
Question about Ghost writers vs Real writers - a tough conundrum. Rob says Paul Martin had a blog but never updated so became a joke. Krug posits that it's likely a combination of real exec + writer in many company blogs.

6:58
Krug talks about the Tech Women To Watch list which I (DaveO) wrote the contextual part of the post from his ideas as a combination of original ideas executed with the help of a writer. Krug says, "It's a struggle to train to let go and express yourself passionately publicly."

6:59
Cluetrain = "You have to give up control to gain control" - Rob is funny again (obligatory Stars Wars reference "The tighter you grip, the more starsystems will slip through your fingers".)

7:01
Solve PR crisis assumed by negative publicity by linking and exposing negative content. Link to your competitors and outrank them in Google. Take the risk to host the conversation.

7:03
Vancity - Rob discusses how, ... On the changeeverything.ca blog, some of first comments were harsh criticism saying this was just a marketing sham. The customer (Vancity) didn't delete the post and instead engaged the commenter in level-headed terms and refuted the argument in a public manner.

7:04
Wisdom of crowds ... instead of looking inwards for expertise, go to the people who know your product or who are passionate about it for new ideas. Example Dell's Ideastorm - community votes ideas up and down.

Question about Digg's validity because of gamers. Krug comments about they are constantly updating algorithm to keep it reigned in. The farther you move along the food chain - the more susceptible to fraud.

Digg attracts swarmers because the benefits of SEO and promotional goodness.

7:08
Fundamentally different camps of thoughts creating a tension between crowd-sourced and editorial-sourced content. Example: Are you a Encyclopedia Britannica person or a Wikipedia person?

7:10
McDonald's - Here's a company with a PR problem. They have a "corporate responsibility" blog. They update frequently and talk about stuff which is quite surprising, i.e. trips to Amazon with Greenpeace. At first, comments took a long time to moderate and post - they sped that up and started a conversation thread with impact.

7:12
Facebook - Remarkable adoption record - especially in Canada and Vancouver (almost half million in Vancouver network!?!)

"If blogs were the opening salvo, FB is the next flavor of the month, possibly flavor of the year, possibly vying for world domination." Rob Cottingham

Branded applications possible because FB opened up framework a bit to outside developers. Example: TD Bank has an simple app to help split expenses and teach financial responsibility. No marketing, no call to action, no sign up here. But resonating with youthful prospects.

7:15
Greengifts - BC Hydro wanted to engage with messages around conservation. Hired Social Signal to create FB app. Tips - like replacing the light bulbs to energy efficient appliances - are sent by users using the paradigm of "sending gifts" to friends - each avatar gift carrying a nugget of eco-info-goodness.

7:17
Vancity's Changeeverything - Built out a campaign from an anniversary slogan. Public can come and share thoughts about how they want to change and chronicle their experience in changing. This strengthened the brand by aligning a tool with the branding. However, logo branding was very light.

Other key is to find a great site community manager to encourage, moderate, quell, stoke, and keep an eye on things. Call this person a curator, docent or gardener I suggest.

7:23
Question: How do you quantify the expense? What are the metrics to watch? This is hard (I'd recommend building a funnel of analytics from page views to leads the same as any other tactic.)

Tipping point for Vancity was water problems and following freezing storm in '06 - kicked up activity with a plea for warm clothes - spun off a charity group and new culture of activism.

Hard to measure for Vancity except for big branding benefits.

7:26
KK recounts Warner Brothers using passionate fans (already publishing user generated content) to replace the paid street teams.

Rob says to use opinion polls, or any other means you would to measure any other marketing campaign, to measure online campaigns. How do you measure radio?

7:28
Look to the non-profits to examples - Like March of Dimes - Built a community site for sharing stories and got out of the way and let the 22K members create the vibe. Helped advance mission but more importantly gave a means to support networks of people helping people. Life changing connections made here.

7:33
Now for some hall of shame (or at least un-best practices)

Shot some snaps while Rob told the Chevy Tahoe story (culture jammers remixing to spread anti-SUV message - still increased sales, visits, awareness on both Chevy and it's antithesis global warming)

7:35
Wikiscanner - Points out dodgy Wikipedia editing practices by Congressmen, Diebold and others looking to thwart accurate negative public discourse.

7:36
Kris tell the Kevin the photo-stealer story. I will save the typing and let you read it on Google.

7:37
Rob uses the word "malfeasance" - awesome vocab dude!

7:38
Whole Foods CEO exposed for sock puppet blogs - commenting favorably on his own posts with topical retorts under false pretenses

Ditto on Saskatchewan tax guy

7:40
WalMarting across America - smiling faces, enthusiastic reviews, employee exclamations of bliss and wonder. Turns out - paid for by Walmart. If they would have explained in advance, would have been more accepted. Edelman PR was the firm. Shame.

7:42
Al Gore parody video on Youtube in aftermath of Inconvenient Truth. Turns out made by a public relations firm hired by Exxon not an "amateur" - point is, people (the Internet) is smart and self-correcting so shameful behaviour will be noticed and discussed.

7:44
McDonald's podcast trying to tell a story but they feature analyst's meeting, strategic forecasts and the ilk - showing a lack of understanding of who they are trying to reach, which minds they are trying to change.

7:45
High handed behaviour is no good

Washington Post unilaterally stopped all comments instead of managing inappropriate comments - caused a maelstrom of concern.

Firing community managers privately causes schism in the community. Engage them in the conversation as a constituent if not a decision maker.

7:48
Kris says only delete comments which are illegal, unethical, hate speech - otherwise, you are gonna have to deal with it.

Rob says - seed the community with quality content and (gently help) quality early adopters set the tone.

Target tells blogger they are irrelevant.

7:49
Don't be boring - Marriott's blog is sooooo boring - "Like being cornered by an uncle at Thanksgiving" says Rob.

7:50
Pitching bloggers - this is a personal space so don't ask them to be a mouthpiece without a reason - so participate.

KK tips:
Go the read their blog for a week
Start making comments for a week
Then bring up an idea later ...

7:53
Question: When do we start to care about these bad blog reviews and social media conversations?

Rob says, "When it starts to hurt."

Negatively reinforce their impressions of the brand.

Kryptonite lock story - devastating to sales

American Idol - spammed an embargoed release to many PR blogs (including PR Watch) blowing their "surprise" announcement

7:57
Do you have to answer all comments? Depends.
Once you get community, the visitors may discuss amongst themselves.
"Give them a center to hang out and they'll take over," says the travel blogger.

7:58
Speaking of boring ... I pitch Ted Demopolous who brands himself as the most boring blogger in the world - he's really an awesome business blogging consultant who's utilized this funny branding.

7:59
This is a new field, even though you are authentic and transparent, the unexpected catastrophe will happen.

But Rob gives you Permission to Fail - He extorts you to "experiment and attack with intentions, this is a space yet to be defined and these opportunities don't come along too often."

8:00
Warm applause, cold pizza, off to the 240 bus.