Information about how to use social media and other web 2.0 tools - social networking, wikis, SaaS, crowdsourcing, online video, etc. - to market and manage your events and conferences. Uses a case study to show how these tools were used for RecruitTECH 2009, Australian recruitment and technology conference

1. Living in exponential times… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos&feature=player_embedded

2. How to use social media (and other Web 2.0 tools) in event management Clayton Wehner

3. What we’re gunna cover today… Quick intro to social media and Web 2.0 How you can use social media and other Web 2.0 tools to help you market and run your meetings, events, conferences Case study: Australia’s inaugural recruitment and technology conference in Canberra, September 2009

4. What’s this Web 2.0 stuff? Web 1.0 = ‘one way web’; reading static web pages Web 2.0 = ‘two way web’; interaction, community, collaboration The next big thing: Web 3.0 = personalisation, ‘semantic’ web

5. Social Media Belongs to the Web 2.0 movement Social media is ‘media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques’ Blogs, micro-blogging, social networking, video/file sharing, wikis, social bookmarking, community sites and more

7. People and Social Media Three types of social media person: Social Media Avoiders/Sceptics Social Media Exponents Social Media Wankers Which one do you think is the best one to be?

8. The Brainwave Needed a way to promote our online jobs board in Canberra – how about a big event? The Australian Recruitment and Technology Conference was born (at least in my mind) Plan: Get the best thinkers from around Australia and put them all in one place. Get them to talk about the future of talent acquisition and how technology impacts upon it Rake up all the cash, emigrate to the Bahamas

9. The Name Righto, sounds like a plan… So, what would be a good name for a recruitment and technology conference? Thinking, thinking, thinking… Gears turning in head How about….Recruit Tech? Pure genius

10. Righto, first things first… Secure a domain name…$39 for an Aussie domain name – www.recruittech.com.au Get some cheap hosting…less than $10 a month Set up an email address…info@recruittech.com.au Secure a Twitter handle….@recruittech2009 (Secure a Facebook, MySpace etc handle)

11. Engaged my network: Email Blog Twitter LinkedIn Skype IM and VOIP Ning ‘Recruitment 2.0’ Group As an active member and contributor to these networks, I was accorded some ‘cred’ You’ve got to ‘give’ to the community to get something back Quickly assembled 11 well-known speakers for the conference Rounding up the speakers…

12. Time for a logo – enter ‘crowdsourcing’ Post your specification Nominate your prize – about $300 in this case Review the submissions 7 days later Choose your winner You get the design and the IP Bob’s ya uncle www.99designs.com

13. The Logo….ta-da About 40 different designs to choose from… Some were rubbish (really rubbish), some were brilliant

14. Time to start Tweeting… Everyone has heard of Twitter, right? Fastest growing, hottest social media property right now? Micro-blogging; 140 character limit – basically ‘SMS on the web’ (but also can be done via mobile device) You follow people, they follow you; your ‘tweets’ are seen by your followers, you see the ‘tweets’ of people you follow It’s free, give it a go Some people love it Some people think it is banal trash

15. What to Tweet Tweet stuff people can ‘use’ Don’t spam Don’t write inane, boring things – ‘I am eating a pie’ Don’t overdo it – 1-2 tweets a day What we tweeted for RecruitTECH: Links to blog posts about our speakers Updates on numbers and who was attending Topical issues relating to recruitment and technology Questions/polls/discussion items Stuff that created ‘momentum’ and anticipation for the event

17. Blog Time Anybody got one? Blog = web log In essence, an online journal or diary, ordered by date Can be setup within minutes online: Wordpress.com Blogger.com TypePad.com But it takes dedication and patience! The rule: small contributions often

18. Centre of the universe – the website RecruitTECH blog = RecruitTECH website Website is the central component of your social media strategy Blogs are already set up for content syndication Wordpress server-based installation Info about the event – program, speakers, venue Other stuff – plugins and widgets Twitter plugin AddToAnyplugin – digg, delicious,Technorati, StumbleUpon Feedburner RSS and email subscriptions Online bookings – Paypal ‘Pay Now’ button

22. RSS RSS - what does it stand for? A ‘push’ method of distribution for new content Easy to set up from a blog Allows users to receive automatic updates when content is released RSS feeds generally viewed in RSS readers – inc. browsers, Outlook Can also distribute to mobile devices and social networking sites

23. Bookmarking/Tagging

24. Time to get a glossy flyer… Me a graphic designer? Nuh-uh Need to outsource again… This time I turn to an outsourcing website…

26. Other outsourcing websites oDesk Guru.com Serviceseeking.com.au Rent A Coder Virtual Employee

27. Wikis By now I am accumulating lots of files, images etc Email just wasn’t cutting it for coordination with an interstate business partner The answer: a wiki Wassa wiki? Wiki derived from Hawaiian language for ‘quick’ – named after ‘wikiwiki’ buses A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content Most commonly known wiki is…

28. Write blog posts Manage document versioning Google-like search Manage projects Embed spreadsheets Setup ‘watches’ and notifications Add comments Manage access permissions Create and edit pages Share files Manage Tasks Manage document versioning Available anywhere

29. The big day A big success Sold out – 75 people in attendance Some high profile sponsors On time, on budget and made a profit Live Twitter stream on the big screen so people could interact (be careful!) #recruittech2009 was in the top 3 most Tweeted topics in Australia for 18 September 2009 Drank lots of beers afterwards

30. Uploading the video Video is the biggest growth area on the web as bandwidth and online storage increases Over 20 hours of video every minute is uploaded to YouTube Video can be done cheaply with a handheld camcorder Viral impact can bring thousands of visitors to a website in a short space of time Examples: Elf Yourself Rickroll’d

33. Closing the loop with a survey

34. The cost Most of this stuff is free You can do it for under $1,000 And what would you charge your client? Consider this…

35. <Enter your business name>’s Social Media Conference Package Professionally designed logo and branding Professionally designed glossy brochure Blog website at www.yourevent.com.au Twitter feed RSS feeds Facebook/MySpace fan pages/groups Wiki space for project management Email subscription and marketing facility Video of event, uploaded to YouTube Images of event, uploaded to Flickr Slides from the event, uploaded to SlideShare Post-event survey Full training and manual for the above

36. Get him off… This presentation can be found at: www.bluetrainenterprises.com.au/mea A plug for Boomerang Books: Tomorrow is Discount Day – 20% off all books $1 from every order placed in January will be donated to the Australian Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund Visit www.boomerangbooks.com.au My details: Website: www.bluetrainenterprises.com.au Email: contact@bluetrainenterprises.com.au Twitter: @bluetrain Skype: bluetrainenterprises I’m also on Facebook, LinkedIn