Online Community Unconfernece East: A report back

(This is cross-posted from the Online Community Report)

We had a fantastic OC Unconference East in New York City last Thursday. Over one hundred online community and social media professionals were in attendance, and we had over 40 collaborative sessions. I’ve captured highlights below. I’ve also just opened up the Unconference wiki, so you can check out the session notes for yourself.

Organizations in attendance included:
AOL, MTV, Consumers Union (consumer reports), Cyworld, Business Week, Socialtext, IBM, Mzinga, Spinvox, Twing.com, Salon.com, Harvard Business, MediaBistro, KickApps, HP, TV Guide and Zagat.com.

Sessions ( a partial list)
- What is necessary to start a successful social network?
- Social Movements/Communities with a Cause:
- Enterprise And Large Organizations Meets Community
- User Managed Communities: where users make the rules
- Community Building: Resources and Considerations
- Virtual Goods 101
- Social Media Optimization
- Customer/Consumer Communities for Co-Innovation
- Twitter Strategies for the Enterprise
- Culture vs. Community: Intention-based content
- Community Analytics: measuring success & failure
- Social Networks: Likes/dislikes and what you want to know
- Virtual Goods and Virtual World Interactions
- Building Enterprise IT: Colloboration & interface to internal systems (using wikis)
- Open ID & other user-centric identity technologies (Higgins, Infocards, SAML)

You can see pictures from the Unconference here:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ocue2008&w=all&s=int

Wiki
Again, the wiki is now open to the public for reading. We do restrict the right to edit / post to Unconference attendees.
http://www.socialtext.net/ocue08/

Blog posts about the Unconference

Online Community Unconference East - KickApps Blog
Online Community Unconference 2008 - Updates - Modern Metrix Blog
Live Blogging at ForumOne’s Community Unconference 2/21 - Aaron Strout / Mzinga

Next Unconference:
Our next Unconference is the Mobile Communities Unconference March 20 in Palo Alto. If you are interested in exploring the opportunities with community building via mobile devices I would encourage you to come check it out.

SAP Future Salon: Social Media and Online Communities 2/26

Forum One friend Mark Finnern at SAP is hosting another F1 friend Sean O’Driscoll tomorrow for a conversation on Social Media and Online communities.

Not in the Bay Area? No problem, there is a WebEx session. Details follow. Also, please note that I still have about 5 slots open for the Online Community Roundtable @ Forrester this Thursday, 2/28. email me if you are interested.

—
Social Media and Online Communities: If you could only leverage what your customers know.
We’ve been inundated with a wave of new buzz words…Web 2.0, Social Media, Communities, Social Productivity, Influencers, Marketing 2.0…This session will provide a business explanation of what Social Media is, why it matters to a business and most importantly how to operationalize it in a global business environment. We’ll explore a strategy development model for engaging with Social Media and a framework for establishing a long term approach to ROI. And finally, we’ll look at the Microsoft MVP program as a best practice and framework for tapping into the influencer/enthusiast population to drive word of mouth, brand affinity, product quality and online success.

Sean O’Driscoll is a recognized industry leader on social media and founder of CGT Consulting, an independent consultancy focused on applying social media and influencer programs to driving business strategy and long term results. CGT was founded to bridge the enthusiasm for social media and communities to real world business objectives that drive value across the innovation, sales & marketing and customer service & support functions.

Prior to founding CGT, Sean was a 15 year veteran at Microsoft Corporation. In his most recent capacity as General Manager, Community Support Services, Sean was responsible for developing social media and community-based support models and leading the worldwide MVP program. The MVP program was designed to award and recognize amazing individuals in technical communities around the globe who share a passion for technology and the spirit of community. Sean continues to support Microsoft as a strategic advisor on customer communities, Word of Mouth and Influencer program strategy.

Please register today to attend this dynamic presentation! If you’re located in Palo Alto, please show your support for the presenter and join us in the SAP Co-Innovation Lab. For those located in our satellite offices, the online meeting details are below.

WebEx:
https://sap.webex.com/sap/j.php?ED=91409712&UID=45623552
Meeting number: 741 648 207
Meeting password: sapsalon

Audio Conference:
US & Canada: 866-331-0889
International: 803-477-2002
Participant Code: 899684