As if the wiki needed more staying power

On Friday morning, CNET News.com’s Dawn Kawamoto wrote about SAP’s headfirst dive in with a big chunk of the $4 million in capital investment for Socialtext, the wiki software firm. If anyone was still holding out on whether the wiki was a strong tool for business use before, then this should most certainly be the wake-up call that they were looking for. Anything that makes collaboration and information sharing easier and faster is a no brainer in my book. Organizations are using wiki for everything from corporate Intranets to brainstorming parking lots and beyond, and the $850k that SAP put into the kitty is proof positive that the technology – and whatever it ultimately evolves into – is here to stay for a while.

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Movie Journal Quick Takes 9/26/05

It’s been a while since I updated my Movie Journal so here you go with some quick recaps of what I’ve watched in the last month and a half or so.

8/17 – Sin City: A wonderfully violent movie that has such striking visuals it’s not even funny. The performances by Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke are outstanding, not to mention Elijah Wood. If he wants to break out of the typecasting that he and the rest of the Lord of the Rings cast might be subject to it would be wise for he and them to take more roles like this. And the costumes on Jessica Alba, Britney Murphy and Rosario Dawson really are things of wonder. I’m serious, they’re works of art. I want to meet the costume designer and just give him or her a big hug. That aside it’s a great movie and I can’t wait for the directors cut DVD that’s on the way soon. (MMM column here.)

8/24 – Coupling, Season 2: More sex-filled goodness from across the pond as Steve and Susan get more serious and the others bounce around their unfocused lives. Good stuff.

8/31 – Off the Map: Good flick. Great performances by Jim True and Joan Allen. Every bit as good as I was expecting and then some. Too often these types of movies that deal with out-of-the-mainstream people veer into quirky but this one keeps the tone serious and never presents anything or anybody as caricatures. I really enjoyed it. (MMM column here.)

9/2 – Angel, Season 1: My brother-in-law graciously lent me his copies of the first three seasons of this Buffy spin-off and I’m slowly working my way through them. This first season has its uneven moments but is at its best when it sets up the mythology of the series. That’s especially true in the episodes where Angel and the gang begin dealing with Wolfram & Hart, attorneys from hell.

9/6 – Coupling, Season 3: This season not only are Susan and Steve moving forward with their relationship but Patrick and Sally are increasingly having to deal with their feelings for each other. Seeing the unrepentant playboy Patrick slowly come to terms with the feelings even he didn’t know he had is great fun.

9/7 – Coupling, Season 4: The absence of Jeff is keenly felt this time around. His replacement, Oliver, just can’t match him as the much-needed comic foil of the group. Oliver’s just too earnest and his relationship with Jane feels forced, like the writers felt they really had to push her together with him. I’m just glad they haven’t done a fifth season, since the addition of the baby born to Susan at the end of this one would have completely ruined the dynamic.

9/8 – Ocean’s Twelve: Is it as good as the first one? No, but then again I don’t really think it was meant to be. They had to know there was no way to top the attitude of 11 so instead of trying they just set out to try again at having some fun while shooting a movie. No, Steven Soderberg didn’t sell out his artistic soul. He’s just taking a break from being all serious. Everyone occasionally likes low-brow entertainment and when it’s done as well and as slickly as this that’s fine by me. (MMM column here.)

9/13 – My First Mister: Good flick with Leelee Sobieski and Albert Brooks. Nothing remarkable but pretty good. Brooks gives an above average performance right up until the last third of the movie, but that’s the fault of the script not Brooks.

9/14 – Ikuru: It’s been too long since I dived into Kurosawa’s world. A remarkable story of a mid-level government functionary who one day, when he’s presented with his own mortality, discovers he’s capable of doing extraordinary things. Incredibly well written, shot and acted, it’s a masterpiece. There’s nothing more I can say.

9/15 – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: What a disappointment. There are some good bits, but they all involve the narrator and not the actors. Other than that there are too many Vogons, not enough laughs and altogether too much of the wrong sort of characterizations of both Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox. Martin Freeman does what he can with Arthur Dent but it’s a thankless role in anyone’s hands. Ford and Zaphod, though…well, I was just disappointed. Actually one of my favorite bits was Bill Nighly as Slartibartfast. Unfortunately by the time they got to his part of the story the movie only had about 25 minutes left and they really fucked up everything from that point on. This book, and all subsequent ones, really should be 3-4 hour Lord of the Rings type epics, not less than 2 hour toss-offs. (MMM column here.)

9/21 – Crash: Good movie, but very disturbing. I think it might have made some its points a bit too strongly but overall I thought it was well above average. Almost uniform in terms of strong performances, even if most of them strictly involved emoting for long periods of time. Still, I liked the back-and-forth nature of watching the stories unwind.

9/21 – Angel, Season 2: Now here’s where the show really kicked into gear. Wolfram & Hart penetrate every aspect of this season, even the season-ending trip to Pylea and that’s a good thing. The production values are better and it just seems as if everyone involved has found the key to their characters and the new settings they find themselves in. Can’t wait to get into season number three.

9/22 – Lost in America: As big a fan as I am of Albert Brooks there are a good number of his movies I haven’t seen. Cross this one off that list. Brooks plays, well, the same character he does in most other films, with Airplane’s Julie Hagerty as his wife. The two drop out of society and basically ruin their lives and their careers in pursuit of a few adventures in this very funny comedy.

Preparing the presentation

I’m aware that some, if not most, of readers of this blog are students of Prof. French. No doubt you are, have or will be going through some sort of class on public speaking and presentation preparation. I remember mine quite well as quite possibly one of the most uncomfortable classes I ever took in pursuit of my communications/PR education. The topics were more or less assigned to us and the structure of the presentation was dictated as well. In other words we were told what we would be speaking on (or at least given a narrow range of choices) and what format it would need to be in.

Prepping a presentation outside of that sort of structured environment is quite different, or at least it has been for me. I’ve been given the opportunity to speak on something (blogs, RSS and such) that is a passion of mine and been given the latitude to prepare it as I see fit. Despite the concern I’ve heard recently that presentations need to move beyond PowerPoint at this time there’s no real alternative that’s readily available. So here is how I’ve been working on the presentation I’ll be giving on my upcoming Chris Thilk Flying Blog Presentation Tour.

First – Outlining the general topics I will be discussing. This actually went through several drafts as ideas were dropped in and came out. I had to keep in mind this is supposed to be a 45-60 minute deal so I couldn’t hop down all the bunny-trail tangents I want to.

Second – Brainstorming the bullet points under each topic. I had to keep in mind this is supposed to be a high-level overview and that everyone in the audience may not have the knowledge base I do. There’s a fine line to be drawn when figuring out how much detail to go into. You have to give enough that the topic is understood without going too deep. If you go past that then you get into minutia that is neither all that important to general understanding nor pertinent to how the audience will be looking to utilize the knowledge you give them.

Third – Drafting the presentation. This actually took the most time since putting things in a logical order is difficult. You have to make sure you lay the foundation in slide five for something that will be expounded upon in slide 15. Mix those two up and you have a very disjointed bit of rhetoric.

Fourth – Revisions after soliciting input. I got some great notes from the people I ran this past while working on it. I’m a big believer in group brainstorming as a way to flesh out ideas and this is exactly why. There were points I thought were strong that upon reflection weren’t.

Fifth – Doing a dress rehearsal. I got up in front of a few of the folks here at work and went through the presentation exactly as I would have in front of a live audience. That includes making the opening joke to asking questions, even if you have to imagine the answers. There’s nothing like giving the actual presentation to show you where the weaknesses are, which parts to take more time on and which parts can be sped through. If you’re working on one then get a group of willing friends to sit in a room and be your trial audience.

Sixth – Figuring out the asides. I’m an informal speaker, so only about half my presentation is going to be on the screen. The other half is in my head in the form of anecdotes, experience and other points that don’t fit well in PowerPoint. I printed out the slides I would be using with a field for notes on the side and filled in the extra points I want to make alongside the corresponding slide.

Finally – Prepping audience materials. Whenever I saw a presentation I loved getting a printed copy of the slides and so will be handing those out to attendees, complete with the notes field on the right so they can scrible their own questions/issues. I’m also going to be putting together a sheet of links to various websites where they can do their own research and investigation. Nothing leads to behavioral change like having to do work yourself so urging them to visit these sites and read the information for themselves will likely lead to a better understanding of the subject matter.

I hope this helps. Drop me a comment if you have any questions.

Why I now get Technorati

Everyone is probably familiar with Technorati. If not a quick primer: Technorati is a blog-specific search engine who has carved out a niche by selling people on the concept of “tracking the conversation.” For instance, if you search Technorati for “Skype” you would find all blogs talking about Skype and be able to track the timeline of who was saying what.

Until recently I didn’t see the need for it.  More to the point, I didn’t get why you would want to track just blogs.  See as I’ve stated before, I believe blogs are just one component of the conversation and one that really is not anymore mysterious in their creation than a magazine.  There’s a writer, there’s a format, there’s a distribution method.  It’s the same equation. 

Then it dawned on me (I never claimed to be the brightest or the fastest guy in the world).  One of my mantras to anyone who will listen is that the difference between a blog – or podcast – and an established media outlet is who is creating the content.  And that’s when I realized that was where the value of search engines like Technorati and Icerocket is, in drawing attention to the author.  Identifying a blogger who’s talking about you and following their blog is just like tracking a byline in a newspaper.  You need to know which way their prevailing winds are blowing so you can better tailor your message in such a way that they will pay attention to it. 

It’s also important to use for brand management.  There’s nothing that will stick in someone’s mind quite like negative press (just ask Dell).  By knowing what’s being said on your company, product or industry you know how you are – or aren’t – differentiating yourself in the marketplace and what kind of impact your company is having.  It’s been said that bloggers are the new focus group.  If it’s important to you to know what’s going on in the blogosphere – and that’s a decision you have to make for yourself – then these type of services can be a valuable resource.

Quick Takes: 9/9/05

• I’m not surprised at all that most companies don’t have policies for employee blogging.  I think they not only need to develop some on blogs that touch on them or their policies but also other non-related blogs their employees are writing for.
• With the rise of RSS landing pages are going to become more and more important in terms of not only branding but also advertising.  The concept of the front-page being the main point of entry and therefore being most expensive for advertisers needs to be thrown out the window.
• Should PR practitioners be the “Chief Integrity Officer” for a company? (Yes, they should)
• Anyone who’s heard about the “long tail” but been unsure what it means, Chris Anderson put up a quick and handy refresher/introduction to the concept.

See you around…

I’m going to be speaking at a few PRSA events in a few weeks on the topic of blogs, RSS, podcasting and more.  The focus of my presentation is on how blogs can be used, both to gather information and to communicate with an audience, from a corporate perspective.  Here’s where I’ll be and when I’ll be there:

Thursday, 9/22: PRSA Annapolis/Anne Arundel County, MD

Tuesday, 9/27: PRSA Springfield, MO

Friday, 9/30: PRSA Little Rock, AR

These will be my first forays into public speaking since college and, while nervous, I’m also very excited about it.  I’m just flattered to be asked to speak on the subject to these groups.  It’s been an interesting process deciding what factual information and what anecdotal stories to include.  If you’re a PRSA member in these areas I’ll look forward to meeting you.

Quick Takes: 9/8/05

• I love this list of someone’s daily routine while writing a novel.
• Matt McAlister points us to a one-click RSS subscription solution.
• Despite the fact that we keep hearing RSS has yet to reach any notable market penetration MediaPace says, “RSS is coming of age.”
• The Wikipedia is getting more and more popular as both a research tool and as a source of recent news.
• I just bought an iPod Mini (6GB) for my wife and now they introduce the iPod Nano.  Damn you, Steve Jobs.
• Technorati has launched Blog Finder, a way to categorize and find the most important blogs on a subject.  Of course since there are no humans involved in this the concept is ripe for the possiblities of spam and corruption.
• Steve Rubel and Joseph Jaffe have teamed up for the Across the Sound podcast.

Speechless

I’m sorry, but I just don’t have the blogging spirit today.  The devastation in New Orleans and the apparent lack of federal response – much less help – has left me unable to think about all the things I usually find so interesting.  Visit the Red Cross if you can donate a few bucks.  Every penny is needed.

–Chris

Quick Takes: 9/1/05

• I agree that the concept of wi-fi enabled digital cameras would be a fantastic idea.  Especially if you’re a PR person wanting to show your boss live action from an event.
• Neville Hobson has discovered a third-party application that enables you to record Google Talk conversations.
• If you don’t realize you can use blogs (and the internet in general) to analyze anticipation for a new product by now I’m not sure there’s much hope for you.