Category: Uncategorized

This one's important, and a worthy read.

"The idea of you 'owning' the data about yourself is both emotionally and intellectually appealing. This data, which ranges from the critical (your medical and financial records) to the theoretically trivial (what you buy and search for, and which Web sites you visit) defines, quantifies and describes your preferences, resources, habits and health. It is a proxy for you. It is also what every marketer in the entire commercial universe wants to get their hands on."

Middlesex Emergence
Originally uploaded by christophercarfi.

A number of us went out for snacks and such at the Middlesex Lounge when I was in Cambridge this week for the Business of Community Networking conference. The food was tasty, the beverages were great, and the DJ was (how-do-you-say) "interestingly experimental," but the thing that really caught my eye was the furniture.

Check it out. All the tables were easily movable, and all of the seats were on casters. The room was designed to be reconfigured on the fly. More folks in your party? No problem. Impromptu dance party? No problem.

Although we talk a lot about modularity in software design, this was one of the few times I'd encountered it in the world of atoms.

What else works better when it can be reconfigured at will?

I am staying with some friends near Boston, MA (on my way to the Business of Community Networking conference where I'll be speaking on Wednesday and Thursday). 

And the network is REALLY, REALLY fast here. 

Wow.

There is a great event happening tomorrow evening (this Tuesday) in Berkeley; a session with the Learning Irregulars on the future of learning in organizations. Discussion will revolve around the marvels that networks have wrought and how organizations can improve the way they approach learning. 

Here's the list.

Click here for registration info

Click here to register.

Our friends over at The Customer Collective have invited Mark Woolen from Oracle and Anneke Seley from Phone Works as well as myself to share some thoughts (and perhaps spar a little) on the topic of "How do you take the proven fundamentals of good selling and apply
them to social networking? What Web 2.0 tools should you as a sales
professional be utilizing to find new prospects and keep the customers
you have loyal?"

I'll be the guy taking the customer's perspective.  :-)  Here are the bios:

Mark Woollen, with more than 20 years of sales, marketing and
development experience, is responsible for driving market requirements
and business strategy for Oracle CRM applications. He will share the
changes Web 2.0 and social media are bringing to enterprise software
and what that means for sales.

Christopher Carfi is co-founder of Cerado, Inc. and author of The
Social Customer Manifesto weblog. Chris is a recognized expert in
applying emerging social technologies such as blogs, wikis, and
podcasts to create strong customer communities and strengthen
relationships between vendors and their customers.

Anneke Seley has spent over 25 years creating high-performance, high
profit sales models for companies such as Microsoft, NetApp,
Interwoven, and Hyperion. Now with her new book "Sales 2.0: Improve
Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology", she
is pioneering next-generation Web 2.0 sales practices.

Should be good fun.  Seeya there.

Click here to register.

A nice writeup here by the folks over at Mobile Marketer regarding our latest Ventana.  Thanks, y'all!

"Brands exist in OUR BRAINS. We should charge a fair rent." – Ed Schipul