18 Mar Speed dating for business
Yesterday I attended the Digital Marketing Briefing in London. It’s one of those meet the buyer type events and in my opinion one of the best organised ones. They do a good job at attracting good people and making sure they engage with each other. You know … the sort of thing that happens automatically at a conference in the US but something us ‘Brits’ often need a bit of help with.
They top and tail it with some great speakers – this year Chris Hunter got everyone sitting up in their seats with his reflections on a high threat bomb disposal tour in Iraq. Drawing parallels with the digital marketing world of course. Now I know that when I am under pressure and I find myself momentarily unable to speak it is because my body, in it’s wisdom, has decided to send my blood to the really important bits and not the front of my brain. Ambushed and hugely outnumbered by insurgence for him. A 5% increase in our average £CPC for me. More tangible parallels included ‘If there is no one in your team that can do your job should you not be around anymore you have failed to do your job as a team leader’ and ‘Your enemy are getting better and better. And they are getting better faster’.
Some of the other sessions were more the sort of thing you would expect – like digital futures and the inevitable ‘What does social media mean for your brand?’ Extremely valuable for sure but I can’t help thinking when I am at events like this that we can all consume this kind of content in the comfort of our own homes and the most valuable thing that comes out of an event like this is face to face contact with your industry peers. Yep, we are all connected through a multitude of social platforms but sometimes it’s really good to talk, empathise and get to grips with what people are really feeling, winning with and struggling with on a day to day basis. Furthermore, you very quickly become aware who is worth pursuing a longer term relationship with. I guess that’s the point. That’s speed dating.