The Concept Jam workshop agenda (doc) is the document we share with all the participants in a workshop. We create a custom agenda for each workshop, depending on client, participants and the time available (while we prefer a full day, we’ve done half-day versions by developing the list of audiences, goals and strengths ahead of time, in consultation with our client).
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A few months ago, Rob and I decided that Social Signal was ready to expand its development team with another web services consultant; Aaron Pettigrew has had such a transformative impact on our business that we realized another Aaron (as though there could be such a thing) would allow us to serve that many more clients that much more effectively.
And we decided that while we were adding another web geek to the team, we might look for someone who knows a little about Second Life — a virtual world that is the Internet's hottest new home to online community. (Find out more about Second Life here.) So I sent an e-mail to a leading Second Life blogger who blew my mind when we met at last year's SXSW. Here's what I asked him:
since I keep hoping that our business may eventually involve doing some Second Life projects for folks, I have the idea that our ideal next hire would be someone who's an experienced Second LIfer – probably not someone who's doing Second LIfe stuff professionally yet (though possibly) but the kind of person who'd be thrilled to make that part of their work. Basically we're just looking for a bright, energetic, progressive and tech-impassioned person who would enjoy bringing their social commitments and tech passions together. Do you happen to know any SL types in Vancouver who'd fit that description?
Lucky for us, he had an inspiration: a Vancouverite whose SL name is Catherine Omega. He pointed us to Catherine's bio on the Second Life wiki, and that was enough to convince us to get together with her.
A couple of weeks later, we met up with Catherine (known in real life as Catherine Winters) in a local Vancouver restaurant. Over the course of a lively lunch we covered everything from how she first got into Second Life (on a computer she built herself from scavenged parts) to the larger significance of Second Life and other virtual worlds (as a way of bridging social differences and disparities).
That was the first of a series of meetings in which Catherine coached us out of our SL newbieness and started talking with us about how Second Life could support a socially sustainable business approach. We were dazzled by Catherine's brilliant and thought-provoking take on Second Life's social significance, by her strategic insights into how organizations could make innovative and effective use of an SL presence, and by her exceptional clarity and good humor in making Second Life accessible to new users. And we suspected that as one of the co-authors of the new Official Guide to Second Life, she was in a position to take a leadership role in bringing more people to the platform.
Today, we're delighted to announce that Catherine Winters is joining Social Signal as our Manager of Virtual Worlds. Catherine will be leading a new Second Life practice to help businesses, non-profits and government agencies establish innovative, effective presences "in world". This practice will focus on working with organizations that want to create a profoundly interactive presence that stands out in Second Life's every-expanding world, that want an SL presence that integrates with a web-based online community, or that want their SL presence to advance a sustainability or social change agenda.
We'll have more news to share in the coming months about our plans for Second Life, including the forthcoming launch of our own island. Catherine's creative ideas and scripting powers will be put to good use as we introduce new opportunities for organizations to make compelling use of Second Life as a new medium for strategic communication.
Meanwhile our web site can tell you more about Catherine and our new Second Life practice. We also hope you'll join us for an open house to introduce Catherine to our clients, colleagues and friends, and to introduce Social Signal to the Second Life community. The open house will be held from 2-4 pm Second Life time (aka Pacific time) on Wednesday, January 3 at TechSoup's space on Info Island. (Many thanks to CompuMentor for lending their space to us for this event) If you've yet to visit Second Life, this is a great excuse to download their software and try it out (it's free to download and free to register) for yourself.
If you'd like to learn more about Second Life, or about how Social Signal's new practice can help your organization establish an effective Second Life presence, please call (778.371.5445) or e-mail Catherine (catherine [at] socialsignal [dot] com), me (alex [at] socialsignal [dot] com) or Rob (rob [at] socialsignal [dot] com).
We owe that blogger a huge thank-you for making this inspired connection. And yes, this does mean we're still looking for that web services consultant.
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Resurrect your rhetoric: six (re)uses for a speech
The lectern has been disassembled, the coffee cups are cleared and the crowd has moved on to their afternoon agenda. The major speech you worked on for weeks is over, and you can’t help but think: is that it?
For all the work we do preparing for them, speeches go by with unnerving speed. This issue, I try to suggest a few ways you can get the most from your next big speech — well beyond the actual delivery itself.
When you check out these ideas, don’t overlook the single best way of getting more mileage from a speech: delivering it again. Not the whole thing, word for word; but if you’ve written a speech that eloquently conveys your organization’s strategic message, key passages ought to find their way into address after address. (Provided, of course, that they’re to different audiences.)
Here are half a dozen ways a speech can keep on speaking for your organization long after the mike’s been switched off.
:: 1 :: Build relationships
Take the speaking text, reduce the size of the typeface to something reasonable like 12 points, and suddenly you have a document that you can send — printed or electronically — to selected prospects, clients and stakeholders.
Want to make it even more effective? Include a brief personal note from the speaker explaining why she thinks the recipient would be interested in seeing it, and inviting comment.
You’ve just helped maintain some of your organization’s key relationships — but you’re only getting warmed up.
:: 2 :: Lead thinking
Somewhere out there is a publication whose audience would be interested in what your speaker had to say. It could be a trade magazine, a portal web site or a major daily newspaper.
Find out if they accept outside submissions, and if so, whether they’d be interested. Once you get the green light, do a light rewrite to make the speech print-friendly, trim unnecessary niceties (”It’s a thrill to be back here in [TOWN]”) and speaking cues like “(pause)” or “(acknowledge hosts)”… and fire it off.
Now your speaker is a thought leader, and the day is still young. Next?
:: 3 :: Start conversations
If your organization has a blog, web site or newsletter, use the speech to spur a dialogue with the public. You can post the full text somewhere else and link to it; here, post the really provocative, insightful passages, and ask readers for their comments.
Whether you adopt a wide-open, take-all-comers policy or just select a few of the best responses and print them, state your policy clearly and be sure to thank people for their contributions. Your speaker can reply to some of the key points, and keep the conversation going.
Great: now you’ve engaged your audience, and maybe even picked up some useful ideas from them. Don’t stop now; you’re on a roll.
:: 4 :: Make news
If you wanted news coverage of the speech, you’ve already dispatched a media advisory out a few days beforehand, called through your list of assignment editors and reporters, and sent around a news release and a pointer to a “Check against delivery” copy of the text as soon as the speech began.
Um, right?
Okay, let’s say you didn’t. Maybe this speech wasn’t the stuff of breaking news. Or someone dropped the ball and the release is still sitting in their outbox. This speech can still do you some good with the media.
Write up a cover note highlighting the speech’s key message, and send the text to your media hotlist. Even if it just goes into their files, you’ve reminded them that you exist and have something worthwhile to say. That could well pay off down the road when a reporter is looking for someone to comment on a related story.
Now that you’ve massaged the media, are you going to quit? Not a chance.
:: 5 :: Make noise
See, you thought ahead, and arranged to have the speech recorded — maybe even videotaped. Now’s the time to get those files digitized and onto your web site.
But take pity on your audience, and give them the greatest hits. Offer the whole speech if you want, but give them the option of listening to just the best one- or two-minute clips. Be sure to offer the written text as well, both for the hearing-impaired and for people who prefer to read. If the speech included a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, add that, too.
(Incidentally, if your organization happens to produce a podcast, or if you know a podcaster who might find these clips useful for theirs, that’s one more way to get the word out. And if you said “Wha’a?” when you read the word “podcast”, drop by Tod Maffin’s web site and look for the headline “What is a podcast?”)
So, you master of multimedia — got a little more energy left? Because that speech has one more trick left to show you.
:: 6 :: Talk among yourselves
Communicators often forget one of their most important audiences: the organization itself. Staff, members, activists, volunteers — keeping them informed and engaged is critical.
Depending on the speech and its content, you may not want to distribute the whole thing; even internal audiences have a finite attention span. But there’s a good chance they’ll want to know about the key messages. Internal newsletters, intranets and bulletin boards are all potential vehicles.
And if any of them will be speaking publicly on the issues the speech deals with, you’ll want to distill the text down to talking points. Now, where you started the day with only one messenger and one audience, you may have several… or several dozen.
:: One last thought ::
Consider the days, sometimes weeks you spend hashing out a speech. Now consider that most substantive speeches last about 20 minutes.
In raw time, that’s a pretty big loss. Any of these six steps can help you recoup that time — and start earning a dramatically better return on your investment.
A good speech draws on your key messages and strategic goals, making it an important communications asset. With only a little extra effort, you can put that asset to work for you again and again — magnifying its impact and reaching far beyond its first audience.