I'm not the sort to wake up early for anything; even weekend brunch is usually eaten around 2:30 pm. Even so, I was up before the sun two days in a row for a two-day course in social media and CRM 2.0 (of which the former is an indispensible part) with Chris Carfi and Paul Greenberg.
Paul you should know, assuming you've heard of CRM at the Speed of Light, or have bothered looking at the left column of this page. It was my first time meeting him in person, but he's like an old friend already. Chris is new to me, but he's also a helluva guy, and I'm glad to know him as well--he co-founded Cerado, the company that makes Haystack, a sweet social networking software package for business.
Together, they ran a group of about 20 people (including journalists, executives, and smart cookies of every stripe) through an everything-you-need-to-know-to-start seminar on blogging, podcasting, and other community bits. Pretty eye-opening stuff—I'd share details, but Chris and Paul get paid for these things. I may write up a few highlights for my magazine job, but that's it. I don't want to sully the certificates we earned for our efforts (the aforementioned license, such as it is).
I knew a fair amount about social media from the outside, but it took a two-day beating with the clue-by-four to teach me how powerful it could be and pull me in. I'm ashamed that I waited as long as I did to get involved in what's shaping up to be the next phase of Internet community, and of business-customer interaction. Let's just say I'm glad to be a consumer, because our people are really and truly in control now. There's a lot more I could say, but I need to make social media work for me before anybody will care what I have to say about it.
In the end, what I'm trying to say is "Thanks, Paul and Chris. It was eye-opening." And so I just did.
marshall...you're very welcome -- was a blast, and was great to meet you as well! -c
Posted by: christopher carfi | October 19, 2007 at 03:59 PM