Speaking of which, all I want for my birthday is some great social networking opportunities for people attending the conference. Ever since I was a little kid (in terms of my relationship with ASIS) I can remember listening to the "old men" of the industry telling stories about how valuable the conference is when it comes to networking. They would talk about how they'd strike up a conversation with a guy from St. Louis and end up with a national contract, or find a breakthrough solution over drinks with a random engineer from Phoenix.
No other organization, or event in our industry has the kind of networking power that ASIS wields - and although it's not the organization's only value - it's always a key reason anyone I talk to is involved. So a few months ago, as I started to write about social networking's value I was excited to see ASIS conduct a survey on the topic - and even form a conference blog, Twitter account, and Linked-In / Facebook pages.
Let me pull it back for a second and talk about social networking in general - for the sake of the industry's "old men". Social networking is to the computer what traditional networking is to the typewriter. I was right there next to some of you as we moved away from the typewriter and started using computers. Having the benefit of falling somewhere between the Baby Boomers and Generation Y - it was fairly easy for me to help bridge the gap and show the old guard how beneficial new technology can be. So when I started seeing the tremendous value of social networking, I felt it was time to do the same thing.
I was using Twitter at the ASIS '08 conference and ended up meeting some contacts I consider extremely valuable. In fact, there were just a handful of us doing it, and I think each of us found some value in one way or another. Even though Twitter had been around for awhile by that time, most of us were very new at the whole thing, so messages ranged from talking about industry events, to new products found, to commenting on how the Dixie-land band playing at the Pelco event played the Star Wars Cantina song.
I'm expecting this year to be different. I'm not sure exactly how different at this point, but there is much more social media activity in the physical security circles now so it will be very interesting. I've been talking to people in recent days about what their expectations are, and what is important to them when it comes to the topic. Here are some general observations - feel free to add yours in the comments, email them to me, or even dm me on Twitter.
- ASIS has done a very good job stepping up to the plate with the blog, and other social networking accounts. They are posting valuable information - not just lame posts you see from other organizations like: "see you at the conference!", "did you register yet?", "only 2 more months!" It's a very difficult job at times because feedback and interest can come in waves, sometimes weeks between any worthwhile dialogue.
- A Tweet-Up / LinkUp is definitely needed. There is a lot of potential here for a group or organization to step up and "own" the event giving them a valuable edge. I've watched other industries in this stage of social network use and it's always the early adopters that end up forever associated with the medium and they are the ones that are most often rewarded with product loyalty, customer feelings of inclusion and word of mouth business.
- It's the users that make or break the overall effectiveness of social networking at conferences. It's important that we share news, findings and help each-other using open platform methods where anyone can tune into the discussion and join in. (as opposed to closed networks)
- As well as ASIS has done so far, no-one is seeing any signs of real-time conference interaction planned. It may be to early to tell, but they are in a position to follow through and help move things in the right direction for everyone.
