Kim Grinfeder from
the University of Miami, Nick Dominguez
from Autonation ADP and I are organizing this event and would like to thank Manola and MiamiBeach411,
Brian Breslin, Monica "Geektastik"
Betancourt, Brent
Ozar, Critical Miami and Lorelle
on Wordpress, among others, for helping to get the word out and our
sponsors for helping to make this possible.

BarCamp is your opportunity to present your company, your startup or your idea of the next big thing. Everyone is welcome to present and all presentations are scheduled upon arrival.

The first BarCamp “unconference” was organized in California in August 2005. Since then, BarCamps have been held across the globe, culminating last year in the first anniversary Barcamp Earth, held the same day in multiple locations worldwide. Barcamp is a great place to meet people and learn about your online community in your home town.

BarCamp Miami was designed for people in South Florida to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from an ad hoc gathering of entrepreneurs, technology developers, designers, web enthusiasts, students and anyone else who’s interested in learning about new projects underway. It’s a way to ‘get everyone together and see what happens’. Prepare in advance, but come early to get a slot on the schedule wall.

You don’t have to present anything but we do encourage you to just come and listen and share ideas.

Sign up here: http://barcamp.org/Barcamp-Miami

When: February 21st, 2007, from 6:00PM - 9:00PM

Where: University of Miami School of Communications- Wolfson Building, Brunson Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33124-2105

Cost: FREE!

Technorati Tags: barcamp, barcampmiami, barcamp+miami, "social, media", unconference, conference, miami, event, florida

The following are notes I took during the CommunityNext conference held at the Annenberg Auditorium at Stanford University in Palo Alto on February 10th, 2007.

Jake McKee, Community Guy, Lead Samurai, Big in Japan.

Community Ecology: Finding Balance When Working With Fan Groups

Previously worked for five years at Lego as community manger and had to tackle the question: what happens when you start engaging with a community that exists already and that you didn’t’ create?

The big question is always “monetization vs. support”. Which do they do? The answer is a balance between the two. The really right answer is “everybody goes home happy”. Make sure this happens. What does it mean? It depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

So how to deliver on this concept?

1. Redefine Success. Traditional marketing is about getting the most numbers to sign up, participate, etc. But often you can get what you’re trying to achieve by selecting the right people. What are they really trying to achieve?
2. Share. A lot. Be open and transparent. Don’t hide intentions. Come out and say “here’s what’s going on with me”. Don’t forget that fans are enthusiasts and they dig the good stuff. Information can be an alternative currency. Openness creates a relationship and strong bond between the company and its community. So, what is sharing? It can be just basic information. Even minute details. Lego always wanted to make a big announcement in 6 months and never the little updates in between. Everyone wants to know the inside story. Listen and pay attention and you will know what the small pieces are that gain the interest of your community.
3. Constantly Adjust. It’s a balance between monetization and the support of the community. The community always wants something. Gave his email address to the community so that they had an opportunity to tell him what they wanted.
4. Skip the NDA. This is the most important. Companies get really caught up in getting people under the NDA. But NDAs stop the conversation. And it’s a get out of jail free card. But the community manager has to get marketing folks to open up. Ie. What’s the worst that can happen? NDAs may be good for business but terrible for community interaction.
5. Set and Maintain Expectations. Lego had funded a community event for $1700. But the next year Lego lost $200m and had no money to give to the event. And this turned out very poorly. So set expectations correctly and then maintain them.
6. Train Your Colleagues. The people in this room are 400 light years ahead of anyone in any company on these issues. No one else gets it. No one else understands how importance this balance is, how important it is that “everybody goes home happy”. But make sure everything you do is based on this concept.

What’s Big in Japan?

Has nothing to do with Asia but is a fun name to make you ask about us. It’s a small development shop. They’re talking about how people learn, have fun, engage with each other.

Technorati Tags: communitynext, big+in+japan, jake+mckee, community, marketing

The We Media conference started today and I’ll be live blogging the event this afternoon at the We Media blog. The event will also be webcast live here.

Also check Josh Hallett’s posts on Hyku and Jeremiah Owyang

Nick Gonzalez of TechCrunch previewed Scrapblog:

The public version of the new product will be out in March. Co-founder Carlos Garcia let me in for a quick look around at the redesign, though, and I liked what I saw. Scrapblog was already a great product. The new version runs more smoothly, has the look and feel of a proper desktop application, and has incorporated more types of media and editing tools.

Read the full article here.

Disclosure: I work at Scrapblog.

Technorati Tags: scrapblog techcrunch

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Looks like we’ll have a rockin’ blogger dinner in Miami on Feb. 7th at Town and it’ll be great to meet locals as well those traveling here for the We Media conference. There are only a few places left, if you’d like to sign up (for this dinner I’m helping organize).

Technorati Tags: we+media, wemedia, miami+blogger

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According to Manola and Rick (in  the comments), there have a couple of attempts last year to bring local Miami bloggers together for a dinner.

For some reason, it seems like the geek dinners had a disappointing turnout, despite the free wine. Maybe it’s because the first one was called "Le Geek c’est chic" and you had to dress all in white for it … and the second one was to watch the last episode of the Apprentice? There may have been another attempt, at Tobacco Road, not sure.

Be that as it may, Scrapblog, where I work, is organizing (but not hosting) a dinner, for bloggers … yes, in Miami, down by Sunset. Most of the attendees are from out of town and have arrived for the We Media conference (discount code here). There are only a few places left, if you’d like to come.

 

Oh, and there may even be some local bloggers there … But we won’t mention that

Technorati Tags: miami, blogger, dinner, wemedia, we+media, scrapblog

Jason Calacanis talks about the high costs charged to startups to present their wares at conferences (see also Om Malik). Sure, presenting at one of these can be a big factor in launching a startup. But most startups, including many current successful ones, can’t afford to do so at early stages when they most need the attention. (via Brian )

For those in South Florida, BarcampMiami is an ad hoc gathering of entrepreneurs, technology developers, web enthusiasts, students and anyone else who’s interested in learning about new projects underway. It’s a way to ‘get
everyone together and see what happens’. And it’s free, fun, at a great venue (thanks to Kim Grinfeder) and you might learn something or meet someone.

So, if you haven’t signed up already, please do so at http://barcamp.org/Barcamp-Miami. The password is c4mp.

And tell your friends

Technorati Tags: barcamp, barcampmiami, miami, web2, startups

Check out the redesigned webpl.us site, which I co-author. Brian Breslin and Antonio Garcia made a visually striking, outstanding design. It’s a three-column layout with a fourth column for the tagline, running vertically up and down the left side. Despite all the columns, the site does not feel busy and the main content column became more readable than under the old design, which wasn’t bad but still had a conventional feel.

Brian uploaded a year’s worth of posts from his webimpressario blog and pointed the domain to webpl.us, which immediately brought up the Webpl.us Google pagerank to a cool 4. The Technorati rank also shot up by half a million in a couple of days, after the changes.

As Webplus finds its way, there may be more changes, including get-togethers, new events and local workshops. In the meantime, webpl.us is hosting the BarcampMiami site, which will be held on February 21st at the UM School of Communications (I’m helping to organize this event).

Brian, along with Kim Grinfeder, Nick Dominguez, Carlos Garcia (with whom I work), Monica Betancourt, among others, have done so much to highlight and encourage the web/tech in Miami and I expect I’ll be talking much more about them and related upcoming events in Miami, of which there are many.

My, how things have changed from this time last year … !

Technorati Tags: webplus, kim+grinfeder, nick+dominguez, carlos+garcia, brian+breslin, monica+betancourt, geektastic, miami, web+2.0

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Brian Breslin tagged me once again, this time by e-mail, with some questions about doing business in Miami:

1. What do you see as the primary benefits to doing business in Miami?

Miami has always been a hub for South American business and ties are being made to the Old Continent through a growing community of Europeans. Miami’s attractions include the outstanding weather, the facilities and infrastructure, the many options for entertainment, the great boating and watersports and the dynamic, multicultural, latin population. Miami’s financial center, ports, airport, free-trade zone and top hotels and conference facilities make it easy to conduct business here and attract investment.

2. What downsides/obstacles have you encountered as a businesman in Miami?

More so than ever, Miami seems to be going through growing pains as the city booms. The resulting inconveniences include frustratingly slow traffic during rush hours or downpours and many eyesore constructions sites. Friends of mine have counted up to 30 tower cranes just North and South of the downtown area. The real estate market also seems to be saturated and overpriced as supply has outstripped demand for the first time in a decade. Of course, these things will correct themselves with time and traffic is not a real problem for locals who know the ins and outs of Miami.

3. How has being in Miami affected your company’s short term and long term strategies?

Apart for a few notable companies in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, South Florida is not considered a technology center. This means that for those of us working in the internet or telecoms, it is harder to find talent, interest, or investment. This has started to change over the past year or so and we are seeing new initiatives and conferences that will help organize and hopefully galvanize the web/tech scene.

4. Where do you see the most growth in Miami over the next 5 years? 10?

Because of the attractiveness of Miami mentioned above, construction and real estate values will continue to grow. As the city grows, there will be more interest in art and culture and we will see more top notch performances at the Carnival and Knight Centers for the Performing Arts and other, new cultural venues. The other top industries in South Florida will hold steady, including import-export (which is heavily dependent on South American politics and trade restrictions), healthcare, and finance. Finally, hopefully web/tech/telecoms related industries will make significant headway in Miami in the next 5 to 10 years.

5. What would you like to see in Miami in relations to the web and business?

A wish list would include better cellphone coverage, more choices in smartphones, greater broadband speeds and municipal wi-fi or WiMax deployment. This would foster innovation … but this would presuppose easier access to high-tech venture capital.

I tag Alesh, Nick, and Monica.

Technorati Tags: miami, business, criticalmiami, geektastik, nick+dominguez, brian+breslin

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post cluetrain,
originally uploaded by alexdecarvalho.

Signed by Hugh!

Unfortunately I missed the event but a friend came back with this signed t-shirt. Love it. Thanks, Hugh!

And no, I won’t sell it on eBay.

Update from Andrew, who together with Andreas and Torben kindly got this t-shirt signed for me: "I’m a big Hugh fan too - but had never met him before. Seems like a
great guy (we had a beer with him and Ross Mayfield on the last day of
the conference)".

Technorati Tags: cluetrain, hughtrain, pinko,, leweb3, gapingvoid

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