On the first day of the Innovation Camp, I wandered into a presentation about Innovation Management by Brian Blanchard @brianblanchard. Brian is the chairman and founder of the event, and I was very impressed with his drive and energy. On the second day, Matt Ridings @techguerrilla had the coveted role of sharing Is My Idea Worth Money? I @carenlibby sat in on a 5-camper panel that included Mark Cummuta @triumphcio, Dan Davison @bizmanualz, Brad Hogenmiller @javastl and Ryan Bell @rjb227s. We focused on Innovation Experience, a discussion about the personal and professional challenges of pursuing the next best thing.
In this month’s issue of Fast Company, the feature story is about The World’s Most Innovative Companies. Facebook is #1, and I think it’s because that platform gives individuals and companies a more creative, visual way to connect and express what they’re all about. As much as I gained from the knowledge that was imparted at the Innovation Camp, it’s the dynamic individuality of the presenters and participants that will stay with me the most. Fortunately, those connections continue through social media. It’s all very timely, don’t you think?
You can read the latest news and discover links to presentations from the camp by conducting a Twitter search on the hash tag #stlinnovate.
Not all those that wander are lost. – J.R.R. Tolkien
The St. Louis Innovation Camp offered five different tracks including Innovation, Start-up Management, Start-up Tech, Funding and Marketing. The marketing classes focused on traditional media with a heavier leaning towards new media. The participants seemed to be all a-twitter about social networking in particular, and that was further evidenced by the fact that the winner of the Innovator’s Cup was Ryan and David Bell for their company Twaitter @twaitter, a site for managing Twitter accounts and posts. The focus revolved around:
Customer Service as Marketing by Dan Curran @manvsagency
Managing Your Online Presence by David Strom @dstrom
Marketing Blocking and Tackling by Wes Morgan @wesmorgan
Driving Adoption by Viral Loops by Josh Jeffryes @jjeffryes
Using Social Media to Find Jobs and Employees by Mark Cummata @triumphcio
Creating a Winning Social Media Strategy by Scott Bishop @thescottbishop
Shine On by Dixie Gillaspie @dixiedynamite
Here is my takeaway from the engaging presentations:
- Traditional media still has an important role to play in marketing
- Sales tend to increase when customers can interact with businesses
- It’s essential to narrow social networking to the most effective tools
- Social metrics go up when content loops from and to the originator
- Building synergistic relationships is about connecting online and off
- It’s all trial and error
NEXT: The Wander of Innovation – St. Louis Innovation Camp
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. – Les Brown
