Gaurav Mishra, who I had the dubious record of meeting for the first time at the Oberoi loo during the event, has already written a crisp post about 6 tweet-worthy tips from India Social Summit 2010. Read it here.
And, I’m sure many others who attended will write about the takeaways too. So, let me not reinvent the wheel.
Let me instead write about some personal experiences at the event.
But, before that…
Even if I have some specific issues with the kind of panel topics or the kind of people invited to speak, it was, overall, a very well put-together event. Kudos to Rajesh Lalwani and team for making this happen. The sheer kind of crowd that was present stands testimony to the credibility Rajesh and BlogWorks has built over the years.
Now, for the personal experiences.
1. It was a fascinating experience connecting Twitter DPs with real people. Fascinating because it seems impossible. Impossible enough for me to tweet this during the event:
Trying to identify people through their Twitter DP…”mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai” #ISS10 (Link)
While many people could recognize me from my DP, what was particularly interesting is the kind of expectations or perceptions that people assume within their mind, based on a tiny DP. I’m not implying this in any negative sense, but in a awed sense.
Perhaps the organizers could have recognized this networking possibility via Twitter connections and helped us add, prominently, our Twitter DPs/handles in the tags given to us.
2. The behind-the-scene, remote politics! I could see Moksh Juneja from Mumbai, but other social media stars like Mahesh Murthy and Rajiv Dingra were conspicuously missing. Some whispered to me that it was politics between them and BlogWorks, while the man himself, Mahesh Murthy was seen tweeting some mighty caustic comments about the event. While we can endlessly discuss if that attitude is right or wrong, my take is that he had some valid points to make as well, as he was opining on some of the quotes and facts that some panelists were making.
The splitting of the personality from the fact is something we don’t seem to learn enough. For instance, consider this scenario. You hate Barkha Dutt (an assumption that may be true too!) after Radiagate and have tweeted enough about her negatively. But, when you bump into her somewhere, where would you start? With the assumption that she’s the personification of evil because of what you have constructed in your mind about her?
I have personal opinions about some of the people I met at India Social Summit too. But I fully realize that they have been constructed by my mind, based on inputs from many sources…sometimes not including that person him/herself whom those opinions are about. And I have learnt it the hard way that it is best to keep an open mind when you do bump into such people…and start with a clean slate. It is a tough proposition….to let go off pre-conceived notions during a meeting, but I have seen this helping me immensely, time and again. People…or personalities…are not television polls; they cannot be concluded with broad trait strokes. They are complex beings and I strongly believe every person has something worth learning from. It could his/her point of view, but it is unique and needs to be seen beyond personal notions of how that person is/was.
3. I can’t count the number of people who uttered, ‘Oh…I love your blog posts and tweets’ when they met me for the first time. In a time when every brand and every person is a media vehicle of his own, that introduction says a lot. So, if you still do not have a vehicle online to share your views/perspectives…what in Lord’s name are you waiting for?
I have written about this earlier. To quote a relevant portion,
An opinion shared on a blog (or as a status update on a social/professional networking platform) is your calling card with the rest of the world. You may never ever get a chance to speak to so many people at the same time.
Every update you make on Facebookâ?¦or LinkedInâ?¦or even on Twitterâ?¦tells others what kind of person you are. A single update will not, of course, but over time, readers make up their own image of you based on what you share.
Now, you may opt for the easier way of using status updates which also restrict the number of words/characters and hence, your expression. Or, you may opt for a blog, where you can explain your context by articulating your reasons beautifully well. This has double benefits â?? you not only express your opinion, but also showcase your mastery over your expression â?? the opinion is step one, while the way you articulate it is step two.
These offer real, tangible advantages when you are interacting with people in the real world, socially or professionally.
My blog postsâ?¦my tweetsâ?¦my status updates are most definitely my calling card every time I meet anyone! People recognize me and feel they know me based on what I share online.
Imagineâ?¦I have the power to seed an opinion about me, in othersâ?? minds, even before I meet them! In the pre-web days, this was not possible at all. Or, was possible by the laborious process of meeting people individually or in a group and speaking to them at length in some context!
Now, why wouldnâ??t anyone want this power?
I had seen this power in action a lot of times; even at India Social Summit 2010!
4. For a ‘social’ summit, I’d perhaps request the organizers to stick to that word and build sessions around the main components of that word itself – earned media, owned media, paid media and perhaps a 4th slot that talks of integration of the three. This is only the first version of this event and I’m sure the BlogWorks team is open enough for constructive suggestions for improvements like this, in the interest of making it more appealing and more focused.
The other possible thought that was also echoed by some people in the event is to beam live tweets with the #ISS10 hashtag on a large screen. I find this a very interesting suggestion – forget the caustic, negative or abrasive tweets, but it gives a chance for those who are not at the venue to participate in the discussion too. We – the panelists or the participants – need not address those tweets/opinions, but we’d definitely be richer with the knowledge about them. Isn’t that a real embodiment of ‘social’? Who knows, perhaps the fact that those tweets are being displayed on a massive screen may even inhibit severely negative opinions about the event!
In all, congrats to the BlogWorks team again for putting this together – it is a lot of hard work and they have indeed done a wonderful job. For me, it was a day very well spent.