When is a Studfinder Not a Studfinder?

We've all had the experience of being set in our way of thinking. The great thing about New Media is that it challenges us to transform our ideas on how we package our information, connect with our audiences/customers, and converse about our organization's issue areas.

The trouble is, this kind of thinking can be tough to start. We're so used to print being our main media of communication, that we merely transfer its rules and regulations over to the online world.

I'll go back to my Psych 101 class for an explanation. My professor concluded a lecture on set thinking by asking us "How do you pronounce the following names?"

Mac Beth
Mac Heath
Mac Duff
Mac Hine
Mac Inroe

We dutifully pronounced them all correctly, except for one. #4. Mac Hine. We all said "mac hyne," and then the professor lobbed the bombshell.

"It's machine."

We were blithely following the lead of what we've done before and transferred the rules from one set to another, missing out on the joke.

John Jantsch, on Duct Tape Marketing, gives us another example. In his post Sell the result, not the tool he shows us a lazer studfinder that's been re-tagged. He's asking us "When is a studfinder not a studfinder?"

When it's a Lazer Decorating Kit.

Now you may argue that renaming a tool is just a bit of cheesy marketing spin. Maybe it is. But it's also an object lesson in how we grasp on to what we know, what we've experienced, what we're comfortable with, and hesitate to investigate any idea that's a bit more out there, somewhere.

I've been caught up in the same thinking myself. Someone had to tell me that the famous street in the Harry Potter books called Diagon Alley was really the word diagonally. Split like Mac Hine. Boy did I feel dumb!

But that's not what's dumb. What's dumb is not investigating the new. Not trying on the unknown. Not attempting to understand those things we tell ourselves we don't understand.

Like Facebook, Twitter, and a bunch of other online applications.

I'll close with another example. What shape is included in the FedEx logo?

High Tech Makes Low Tech Fashionable

It used to cost big bucks to videotape anything. You had to hire the right professionals, who would run the equipment, make sure the proper lighting existed, ensure the audio was correct, and then shoot and edit the video. For a small organization, this type of production (from TED: Ideas worth spreading) was just about impossible:



Not just because it looked professional, but because the audience was used to, and demanded, a high level of technical prowess. Hollywood movies and network TV made us all into conoisseurs of film and video. Not the content of those media - but the technical aspects - how it looked and sounded. To deliver anything less, while still costing a bundle of bucks, made you look hopelessly feeble; instead of looking high tech, you looked miserably low tech.

Not anymore. Streaming video on our laptops and online applications like YouTube and Kyte have not only created an audience for micro screen, shot-on-the-go video, they've changed the way most of us look at "amateur" video production. While I wouldn't want to watch Ben-Hur on YouTube, I will watch a nine-minute video with pedestrian production elements:



What this means for you: We're all getting more and more used to limited production elements as we concentrate more on the content of New Media instead of the cinematography. This means you can shoot all the video you want at your conferences at low (or no) cost - with volunteers from your membership even - and upload them for anyone to view - especially those members and other interested people who couldn't attend the meeting.

And you'll look current, cutting edge, and incredibly knowledgeable.

Creating Connecting Sparks Among Your Conferees

Just as I was beginning to create what I thought would be a comprehensive list of how organizations can use Web 2.0 applications to expand conferences and meetings, I run into this awesome, incredibly readable document by David Spark titled How to "Web 2.0-Enable" your Live Event.

That's what I love about this new, expanded online world - the ability to find someone who takes your idea and makes it even bigger.

Here's a quick preview of what David covers:

• WiFi'ing your event
• Creating an online conference epicenter (and not a “one-time only” site)
• Go with the popular applications (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube)
• Make audio and video of sessions available to everyone
• Record live video of conversations, not just sessions
• Set up live chats in the lobby (or pre-conference areas)
• Microblog to keep attendees “in the know”
• Take photos and put them on Flickr
• Enable live chat so attendees can “talk” with each other during sessions
• Build interest by setting up social media groups beforehand

Don't worry if you don't immediately understand what he's talking about after you've read that list. Go visit David's Web site, where he explains in wonderfully non-technical terms and links liberally to Web 2.0 applications. The document is available in both PDF and HTML versions, and it's absolutely free (another thing I love about this new online world!)