The Plenary Panel Weblog

The end of our conversation - or just the start?

Well, as quickly as it kicked off, our brief conversation is now over. Or is it just the beginning?

My sense is the latter. I'm sticking around for the rest of the conference, because we were only able to scratch the surface and there were clearly more questions that were left unasked, let alone unanswered.

After all the hype, I think we are seeing a maturity and pragmatism amongst communicators towards these new forms of social media. This is a good thing. Intelligent questions are now being asked - not about the technology, but about the process, the business and communications rationale, and the conflict that arises between embracing a new, open and authentic medium and the traditional role of the communicator in shaping and managing the message.

Everyone is breaking for coffee now, so I'll offer more thoughts later.

Shoot the focus group

The title of our opening plenary panel is The Giant Global Focus Group. I reflected on what an appropriate choice of words this seemed whilst reading Shoot the Focus Group in Business Week.

It highlights in particular Yahoo's move away from 'traditional' focus groups (where marketers assemble in "beige conference rooms to observe behind two-way mirrors") to what amounts to co-creation - getting consumers to improve products or generate new ones by interacting directly with development teams.

Steve Rubel (becoming quite well known for his large bloghammer) immediately rounded on Business Week, asking why they hadn't even thought about the insights that blogs could generate in this context:

"Blog mining serves nicely as an efficient way to open a window onto the minds of consumers. This is because a) bloggers express themselves more freely than consumers who know they're being watched like guinea pigs and b) they tend to represent the influencers - the ones who tell the other five non-bloggers what to buy."

I'm not sure I completely agree with b) but a) is certainly valid. However, as with any survey sample, mining blogs will only tell you what bloggers think. That may or may not be representative of your entire population.

But as a starting point for our topic, this article and the debate Steve has started couldn't have come at a better moment.

Introducing the Giant Global Focus Group

On 1 December in Paris, IABC EuroComm will kick off with a panel discussion during the opening plenary session:

Hot Topic / The giant global focus group: Opportunities and challenges for communicators

Through the rapidly-increasing use of social media like blogs, RSS and podcasts, people are talking about you, your company and your brands. These conversations take place in the blogosphere, the new meeting place where customers, employees, shareholders and others engage with one another in informal conversations that have far-reaching consequences for organisations and communicators.

In a radical change to the traditional centralised model of creating and distributing news and information, the receivers and consumers of that news and information look as though they now call the shots. You can ignore this new place or be part of it. Either way, the conversations are happening with or without you.

What does this mean for the press release, the web site, the brochure, the employee newsletter or the investor conference call? What about communication planning, measurement and evaluation?

Join a panel of senior communicators and business leaders who will help you understand the power and influence of the world's biggest focus group and help you put it all into perspective.

Panelists:

• Elizabeth Albrycht, PR veteran and Editor, Corante's Future Tense
• Niall Cook, Director Netcoms, Hill & Knowlton
• Loïc Le Meur, Executive Vice President, Six Apart SA
• Glenn Manoff, Communications Director, O2 UK

Moderator:

• Neville Hobson, ABC, communicator, blogger and podcaster

We believe this is indeed a hot topic. Why? We intend the answers to that question to emerge in this weblog leading up to the opening of the conference.

We look forward to stimulating, thought-provoking and lively conversation!