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Connie Bensen › Comments
Q1: October 23, 2009 - Is an organization's culture a factor in how successful their ability to adopt social media & participate is? Does there need to be a culture shift? Who should lead it?
I think so. If they don't understand social media, they won't get that adoption of same is important.
- Star Aasved
Leaders need to get it, too. They have to understand pros/cons, speak to the organization's need to hear and participate in conversation about the brand/company.
- Star Aasved
I think a culture shift will need to happen if the organization is used to being closed or if they are very concerned with control. As far as leading it, I think those that are passionate and who 'get' social should be at the helm, regardless of title, if they can prove their chops (ie: already active with a community/ don't spam/ understand how social fits within a strategy).
- Tanya McGinnity
I think the higher the buy-in comes from the better. That said if you force community management on someone who doesn't want the job the results are sure to be less than optimal.
- Arié Moyal
If you need to shift culture in order to be successful, you may be setting yourself up for failure.
- Robert Swanwick
The culture needs to shift from "Don;t tell anyone what we're doing and push product" to "be transparent and engage"
- Arié Moyal
@ Robert Disagree That's like saying getting people to buy wordprocessors in the 80s was impossible if the culture needed shifting
- Arié Moyal
Arié, agreed. And that's not a huge shift, IMO -- again, it's based on understanding what social media can do for the organization.
- Star Aasved
Social Media can appeal to different cultures in different ways: listening, sharing, measuring, etc...
- Robert Swanwick
Some companies don;t need SM for community management They do just as well if not better with direct marketing
- Arié Moyal
With the team I work with, they have expressed that they get overwhelmed because the term social media sounds so vast to them. It's really important like Sue mentioned to set realistic goals.
- Tanya McGinnity
@Arie: Sounds like the choice of social media depends on the culture of the community? The type of buyer/end user you're trying to appeal to.
- Bryan Person
@ Bryan That and the product Some products just sell better offline
- Arié Moyal
@Arie: Of course. Plus, most word of mouth happens offline. The social media work is all for a small piece of the total pie.
- Bryan Person
@Arie, @Star Leadership by example is a very powerful way to get people off the fence and contributing. A little peer pressure never hurts, either.
- Lou Ordorica
What? Communication? :)
- Connie Bensen
@Sue I have started a social media saturation count down clock. People are getting impatient to get past the hype, and see real change to their day-to-day businesses.
- Lou Ordorica
People are still saying there is no money in SM - I disagree, it's just that there is no direct marketing in SM. Well there is, it's just SPAM
- Arié Moyal
But I know that my friend Claire who is the Director of the International Climate Change Programme at WWF started tweeting on her own before she was able to get them to adopt a more SM approach
- Arié Moyal
Lou, good point though I think it's not just day-to-day, but over the longer haul that is really of benefit to business if we are looking at the big picture.
- Star Aasved
@ Bryan A lot of people forget that social media is a tool for conversation not a magic pill
- Arié Moyal
Back to the culture shift. I think that it can be hard for some companies to want to speak with their customers because they are afraid of the repercussions. They don't want to get in trouble with the boss and they're not used to being told that it's OK for them to be open (within limits)
- Tanya McGinnity
@Tanya, I think fears can be curtailed with clearly communicating social discourse guidelines and training (rule #1: don't get fired). There will always be corner cases, though.
- Lou Ordorica
I don't think you can get much backlash from engaging unless you or the company have been "asking for it"
- Arié Moyal
I think that for some, being social online may have been spoiled by having been roughed up in forums where there may not have been a community manager. Just speaking in terms of one staffer who had a bad experience on a film forum.
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Tanya Fair enough but then that person may not be suited to a CM role
- Arié Moyal
Q4 up!
- Bryan Person
@Arie I'm not saying the person is to be a CM, I'm referring to folks who do SM in our org. If they can't handle forum abuse then they are certainly not cut out for the CM role :)
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Tanya I guess I'm doing it all so for me it falls under CM
- Arié Moyal
Q3: October 23, 2009 Are you measuring your efforts? And does this get taken into account in the bigger picture?
Connie: I think measurement *has* to be taken into account. Otherwise, how do you know if you're succeeding?
- Bryan Person
I have this convo all the time. I think most people skip the goals portion...so they don't even know what to measure.
- Scott Bishop
The rub is, what to measure? Common sense says starts with agreed-upon goals and working backwards, but in many cases your sponsor doesn't have a clear picture themselves.
- Lou Ordorica
Wondering what measurements today's participants find most valuable - which indicate social is working for the organization?
- Star Aasved
@Scott, Yep. This is a HUGE risk, because if you can't show the impact you are having, guess who will be on the short list come layoff-time?
- Lou Ordorica
@Scott: The 2009 Tribalization of Business came out recently, and like last year, not measuring activities that track to business goals was again a problem in several communities.
- Bryan Person
my community isn't on a platform
- Connie Bensen
I measure much around the success stories that the community has in interacting with our website. When I hear that I've solved a problem or helped someone out, that's golden... but it might not be as golden in terms of value to the 'higher ups'
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Lou If they don't then its your job to set them How else do you know,as Bryan said, if you're succeeding
- Arié Moyal
sorry hit enter too quick! - and I'm able to gather stat's. Last March I provided adv training to 30% of our customer base & they all upgraded. There is a direct ROI to that
- Connie Bensen
My issue with goal setting is putting numbers on organic growth
- Arié Moyal
@Bryan I find that a big problem for companies. They don't know what to measure or even if they're measuring they can't answer why. Start with the goal and reverse engineer the how. Then you can know exactly what to measure.
- Scott Bishop
Lou - I agree that the goals need to be set. People shouldn't be engaged without a strategy.
- Connie Bensen
@Arie, the goals don't need to revenue all the time. Can be...we want x of new site clicks, or to come to an event...etc
- Scott Bishop
@Scott I agree - Start with the Strategy - which determines the goals - which shows what to measure. Then choose what % change you want. (Benchmark & get busy). The tactical is also driven by the goals & ultimately the strategy.
- Connie Bensen
Bottom line is if SM is not leading to increased sales you're wasting your time - No? I mean you have to benchmark it before you start so you can compare. Google Analytics can tell you where traffic is coming from and you can use promo codes but accept that not everyone will use them even if you are driving them there
- Arié Moyal
Tanya, I've measured success stories for some communities as well and agree on the value. It's difficult to determine, though, what impact those have on the organization.
- Star Aasved
At UGCX this week the CEO of NPR said Nothing might work, so try everything She's done a great job with their community
- Arié Moyal
@Arie: Don't agree that it's always ultimately about increased sales. We have a client whose primary goal is education, not sales.
- Bryan Person
@Connie, so right...well stated
- Scott Bishop
@Sue as someone hired to get CM started I can tell you that the focus is first to set up the infrastructure and then start engaging The company will want to see $$$$$ That's what they're they're for
- Arié Moyal
Your can goals can be anything...not always sales. But you need goals, regardless of what they are. Otherwise you're just sending tweets and facebook posts for fun
- Scott Bishop
@ Bryan Fair enough but what's point of educating people for them?
- Arié Moyal
For many businesses, the goal of customer satisfaction in terms of responsiveness may not be a measurable stat in the short term, but there is long term value in customer loyalty.
- Star Aasved
@ Star There is no doubt that SM is a long term strategy Thanks for confirming :)
- Arié Moyal
It seems everyone agrees that CMs should create goals. But, not many examples of goals/measurements people use. Is it because they are difficult to communicate? Or because no one really measures? Too much voodoo?
- Thomas Knoll
The measues are clear to me: Responses, relationships, traffic, conversions What's tough is showing the link between SM efforts and the last two
- Arié Moyal
Hi! Thanks for joining us for CmtyChat this Friday. Feel free to introduce yourselves here, The topic I've chosen is Culture shift required. Let's talk about the internal culture required for comm mgrs to be successful.
Hey there, Connie. Thanks for hosting! Looking forward to the conversation.
- Bryan Person
Hello Rob Swanwick. Founder of Speaker Interactive and twebevent. Currently working on a drupal platform to support Chat communities (mostly Twitter chat)
- Robert Swanwick
Hey Connie! Looking forward to an interesting chat :)
- Arié Moyal
Hi Connie. Am a community manager for LiveWorld, looking forward to today's discussion.
- Star Aasved
As to internal culture, I think one of the primary considerations is an understanding of social/community.
- Star Aasved
I'd suggest that clear communication internally around the role of community managers is important.
- Bryan Person
Hi Sue & Star - nice to meet you! Sue, I so appreciate your enthusiasm on Twitter!
- Connie Bensen
Add to that, an understanding of the brand/company's business goals. What are you working toward?
- Bryan Person
Hi Connie. Great to see you leading this session!
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Tanya Hey! :)
- Arié Moyal
Hi @Arié
- Tanya McGinnity
Hi Connie, nice to see you here.
- Lou Ordorica
hieeeeeee!
- Thomas Knoll
Q2: October 23, 2009 - Do you think that organizations realize the extent that community people can contribute to the biz obj's? What do you do within yours to push that envelope?
I believe some parts of an organization can see how community contributes - those people who understand how reaching a broader audience can be of benefit. To push, it's a matter of getting one's feet wet, I think, getting involved in listening, hearing what is said and based upon those results determining next moves.
- Star Aasved
I think a good question to add to this is whether community managers do enough to provide the business results gained from community participation. I personally don't feel confident enough in this area and could use some tools, tips, training.
- Tanya McGinnity
I'm constantly educating my boss about how to use social media but he hired me specifically for community management so I guess I'm lucky in that way
- Arié Moyal
Tanya, when it comes to tools I find a weakness -- it's not easy to measure concrete results based on traditional metrics, IMO.
- Star Aasved
Traditional metrics still work - not follower/fan/member #s but responses, conversions, traffic etc
- Arié Moyal
They work to some extent, but can't measure long term benefit/gain, IMO.
- Star Aasved
Tanya, that's a really good point - are you provided with enough training/tools to do your job well?
- Connie Bensen
I put up a question on measurement - and I need to join a call in 12 min's - but I'll be multitasking
- Connie Bensen
I think that one challenge is that traditional business expects #'s on a quarterly basis. That's about the time that one is just starting to see progress in social media
- Connie Bensen
@Tanya @Star @Arie, it's relatively easy to measure activity of your community, but attributing this to key performance indicators (downloads, try-n-buys, paid subscriptions, new business) is what separates men from boys, women from the girls. :)
- Lou Ordorica
@ Lou How do *you* do it? ;)
- Arié Moyal
@Lou - yes, and a bit sticky from my perspective.
- Star Aasved
Rachel Happe has a great preso on slideshare re: growth of online communities let me find it
- Arié Moyal
I think that you need to build in the 'how did you hear about us' and collect that info in surveys
- Connie Bensen
@Connie - I'm from a digital marketing background with years of agency experience who transitioned over to a few community management positions.. so I'd say I'm self taught. But then again, I guess that's how many of us got our start ') As far as support, I think I would like more integration with internal teams to see how we can all effectively work together. Might be interesting to examine any CM certification if that is indeed something out there (given the position is still somewhat new to many orgs)
- Tanya McGinnity
Here you go: http://www.slideshare.net/rhappe... Great lifecycle graphs too SM is definitely a longterm strategy which is funny given its immediacy
- Arié Moyal
@Arie, I've had success starting small, taking an existing program with clearly identified costs and outcomes (example, producing a product launch video), then applying social media to the same problem (a user generated video contest) and comparing and contrasting the two.
- Lou Ordorica
@Connie I agree re: surveys having a great degree of importance in helping a CM
- Tanya McGinnity
@Tanya, the community manager is rapidly becoming a fixture in many organizations, I completely agree a professional organization to certify individuals in the art and science is needed. This will give assurance to prospective employers, and help individuals with their careers, tool.
- Lou Ordorica
@Connie Could you start an online degree program? :)
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Lou yo can;t say that the results are going to be exactly related to how if you don't control for externalities and not everyone has the luxury of doing both What do they do?
- Arié Moyal
@ Connie @ Tanya Surveys are great but not everyone will fill them out unless they're super short
- Arié Moyal
@Tanya @Connie Are you interested in forming an professional CM organization? I am game! :)
- Lou Ordorica
@Sue Yep -- I suggest to @Tanya and @Connie we should take the bull by the horns and form the organization. Grassroots, for the win!
- Lou Ordorica
@Arie, I don't understand your question. Can you clarify please?
- Lou Ordorica
FYI there is a professional CM organization: http://community-roundtable.com/
- Thomas Knoll
@ Lous Sounds good to me! But do we have proven results yet? How do you allow for a constantly changing landscape?
- Arié Moyal
@Arie Good point re: length of survey. I would never suggest a rotten experience by having someone sit through 33 boring questions
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Lou How do people who can only run one scenario show their impact?
- Arié Moyal
@Thomas, Yep the CR is a cool organization, but I'm thinking along the lines of formal accreditation, a title you can attache to your resume, like project managers use PMP.
- Lou Ordorica
@Arie Hunh? I am not understanding your questions.
- Lou Ordorica
@ Thomas The CR is awesome we love Jim & Rachel bt are they certifying people?
- Arié Moyal
@Lou As a former Project Manager , I like the analogy with the PMP
- Tanya McGinnity
What's cool about CM is that soon journalists will all have to become CMs so the CM community will grow exponentially
- Arié Moyal
@ Lou Never mind LOL
- Arié Moyal
RANDOM: October 23, 2009 - Here's the thread where you can introduce yourselves and your community, and suggest questions for the wider group. Anything else goes, too!
Checking in with my 3 keywords this week: YouTube video, travel, birthdays
- Bryan Person
we didn't get to talk at BWE!
- Connie Bensen
keywords for today are poptech, biztechday, embed
- Robert Swanwick
@thescottbishop here. Great to see everyone here
- Scott Bishop
My three: Soup, snow, shabbath :))
- Arié Moyal
@Connie: I know! At least we said hello for 5 minutes.
- Bryan Person
keywords for today : finish "Trust Agents" :)
- Tanya McGinnity
I think we need to get the energy level up here. Have you all done your jumping jacks today? Eaten your Wheaties?
- Bryan Person
WOO!!! I'm as energetic as Gary V. Thanks for that push @Bryan :)
- Tanya McGinnity
Now I'm ready for a CM firewalk.. Who's with me?
- Tanya McGinnity
@ Tanya Me!
- Arié Moyal
@leeodden thanks Lee! You've been an inspiration! Thanks for all your contributions to this world!
Congrats to you and the team!
- Howard Greenstein
from iPhone
Thanks Lee & Howard!
- Connie Bensen
Come experience a totally unique 2009 Garden of Memory Music/Performance Walk-Through Event where I'm performing next: http://creativesagearts.com/blog...
Connie Bensen and Todd Hoff liked this
and I like YOU! for always liking my stuffs!! :) It was great seeing you in SF! How's it going my friend?
- Connie Bensen
Getting ready to go to graduation! Beautiful day outside!
It's gorgeous here too! Sun is shining. Have a happy grad day my friend! :)
- Connie Bensen
Thanks! I'm glad that is ALL over! We are having beautiful weather here in Missouri.
- Hummie
@cbensen - how do you do it :)
I get caught up on mundane things like following ppl back when I'm taking a mental break. Today has been good for that. But now it's time to get to work!
- Connie Bensen
Francois working on book project all day...fun and rewarding to see how others are willing to help...thank you all who did!
I never did - but you never asked! (and you prob did me a favor because I have enough to do)
- Connie Bensen
@dspark I am on a campaign to unfollow all motivational and inspirational tweeters. I'm with you.
Hey Tom, Now I feel like expectations for my tweeting interesting things! (because you followed me on FriendFeed). I hope I can live up to them! :)
- Connie Bensen
Trying to Actively Listen Online? Get Smart About it - Hire Techrigy Seriously, people. This is a straight out plug for the good folks over at Techrigy. You may... - http://www.dyersituations.com/2009...
Connie Bensen liked this
Thanks for the props Paul! We appreciate it!
- Connie Bensen
Social Media: Why Measurement Is Key - http://www.clickz.com/3632031
Özgür Emre Öztürk and MugeCerman liked this
what about other sites, especially those including consumer-generated content that influences potential consumers? Let's examine social metrics and platforms that provide visibility into the conversations, snippets, and anecdotes that people add to marketing messages you create. Your awareness campaigns, enhanced or challenged by social content as potential customers head toward the point of purchase, invariably include some element of social media. While a "more connected" segment of your audience -- think "Generation C" (define) -- may be more likely to create content, a significant portion of all age groups consume social content.
- webosapien (Burcu Tüzün)
Take a look at Forrester's recently updated "Profiler" tool. While social content consumption is an established behavior for about 80 percent of people ages 18 to 24, nearly 60 percent of those 55 and older also regularly consume social content. Social content is now a large factor in influencing potential purchases, regardless of a consumer's age or gender. As such, measuring and...
more...
- webosapien (Burcu Tüzün)
Techrigy's SM2, Radian6, and the DIY Dashboard from KD Paine are effective solutions that allow you to tune your intelligence searches over time and largely automate the reporting process. The reports you generate, just as with the turnkey platforms, will provide a substantial basis for understanding and using social media.
- webosapien (Burcu Tüzün)
Thanks for mentioning Techrigy SM2. If you have questions, let me know
- Connie Bensen
Thanks Connie :)
- webosapien (Burcu Tüzün)
Techrigy - Social Media Measurement/Monitoring - http://sm2.techrigy.com/main/
Monitoring Social Media Until now monitoring and measuring social media was complicated, tedious, and expensive. SM2 provides an effortless way to collect, analyze, and report on what's going on in all forms of social media - blogs, wikis, social networks, Twitter, YouTube, and more.
- Juergen Plieninger
Thanks for mentioning Techrigy SM2 - Let me know if you have questions on it.
- Connie Bensen
hrm, i'm wondering who cared first: @comcastcares or @netsolcares?
Frank w/ @comcastcares was first; we liked his style!
- Connie Bensen
Good morning! Just joined the room, still finding my way around *everything* in social media, including friendfeed. Haven't been able to devote full-time energy to my company's social outreach until recently. Trying not to get overwhelmed! :) Hope to have as much to offer as I have already gained. - http://cslf.wordpress.com
Actually, my most heinous crime is my newbie-ness. I am indeed "legit". Thanks for the "welcome". This is basically my first post ever on friend-feed. The "website" is a fledgling blog, and I work for a small non-profit. I'm not even here to monetize anything. Please contact me if you'd like to discuss before assuming. This was a painful entry into your community.
- Mariana Evica
Hi guys - As Community oriented people, let's work to get along. I'm going to BlogWorld & won't be online as much - but please be supportive of each other.
- Connie Bensen
Anyone have a list of "monitoring" tools/habits/tricks for monitoring brand mentions in social media? We're using Summize and Google of course...anything else?
Laura Norvig, Dimitar Vesselinov, Tinu Abayomi-Paul and Ph liked this
I just found twing.com for forums; and I had found a Yahoo pipes that someone had made & put it into Netvibes that brought in diff results that G. Alerts (I should blog about them)
- Connie Bensen
that depends if you want to use services you pay for. I'd suggest looking at Radian6
- Robin Seidner
Technorati's worth searching for brand mentions.Check Chris Brogans article here: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/five-to...
- Tom Beardshaw
TruCast is a good pay tool that actually analyzes text and quantifies opinion as positive or negative (a little buggy but still pretty solid) and Social Media Firehose (built on Yahoo Pipes) is also interesting.
- Devlin Dunsmore
from twhirl
https://www.filtrbox.com/ is definitely worth checking out...we use it in combination with Summize & Alerts. Delicious tags are also worth following for the brands vertical whatever it may be...
- Sean McColgan
Thanks all. Great suggestions...
- Alan Edgett
http://www.trackur.com is a great pay tool from Andy Beal.
- Brandon Uttley
Is it legit yet to be a prolific micro-blogger but not a blogger? Screw it, I say yes. Blogging is different.
I think blogging is diff - but to establish yourself - I think one needs to do both
- Connie Bensen
To establish yourself as what though? Can you not just be a micro person if you want to now? Maybe it's worth asking the question. Who says you have to be an established blogger?
- jjprojects
Is it about numbers? If one had hundreds of thousands of followers across social media without havinga blog, would that seem more credible?
- jjprojects
Introduction: Hi, my name is Spencer and I am the Community Manager/Administrator of Stardock Media. Glad to be here
Hi Spencer & welcome!
- Connie Bensen
Howdy Spencers
- Tony
Seven Ways to Get Your Mom on Twitter - http://mashable.com/2008...
You invite your mom to Twitter: You think Twitter is the best thing since AOLGerald-Levin-on-Fear and want to know the exact doings of everyone you care about, at all times (in 140 characters or less). If your stance is the latter, then you know how ha
- David Murray
when we went to London & Paris we had very limited web access. So I gave my mom the link to my Twitter profile. She had the most fun watching my updates. And she gave the link to her friends & relatives. (Granted she never made an account - it was fun for her!)
- Connie Bensen
Just introducing myself. I have a lot of community to build and glad to find this resource.
Hi Barry, what type of community are you building?
- Connie Bensen
What is the sweet spot between a community and a network? - http://beth.typepad.com/beths_b...
Dimitar Vesselinov and Connie Bensen liked this
Thanks for sharing your post here, Beth! I love the graphic :)
- Connie Bensen
thanks Connie .. still chewing on this idea of a community working in a networked way with a wiki project
- Beth Kanter
Hey Beth, What did you think of my definition for your interview? I never heard back & was curious?
- Connie Bensen
Hello! Introducing myself- I'm the channel community manager over at Dell! - http://www.direct2dell.com/channel
Tinu Abayomi-Paul liked this
tell us more about why you joined
- Beth Kanter
Hi Amie!
- Spencer
Hello Beth & Scott! I joined to take notes and discuss topics with like-minded individuals. Beth, I enjoy your knowledge around non-profits, keep it rolling!
- Amie Paxton
Hi Amie - welcome to the group! :) I'm the community mgr at Network Solutions in addition to some other projects
- Connie Bensen
ever tweeted just for tweets sake? know tweeps who do? maybe a twitter addiction hotline? twitter addiction defense association: tada!
oh for tweeps sake!
- Connie Bensen
Original iPhone has high resale value. Called that one. http://snurl.com/31wh5 [bits_blogs_nytimes_com]
hey thx for following me! Are you selling your iphone? I hope that it's been cooperating
- Connie Bensen
Official Website for "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" - http://drhorrible.com/index...
you are posting interesting things - just having fun? :)
- Connie Bensen
Playing with identi.ca can you add me there if you use it? http://identi.ca/loic thanks!
Gavin liked this
I use it exclusively now! No more twitter for me.
- Gavin
added
- Blake Robinson
from Alert Thingy
I tweeted the request with your link. It's getting better there
- Connie Bensen
Sad moment: Ritual Coffee Roasters looks/smells great, but my dumb ass needs to plug in.
I hear ya - my laptop runs for a whopping 15 min's then needs juice (not java either!)
- Connie Bensen
Feeling very discombobulated today. Out of sorts.
There have been a few of us feeling that way this week. I'm better today (unplugged for awhile - give it a try...) Hope you feel better soon!
- Connie Bensen
I think this calls for some chocolate, a trashy novel, and a delicious adult beverage.
- Donna Mugavero
Why do you think there are so few women in tech industry and conferences?
Liz, Franklin Naval, edythe and 13 other people liked this
Loic is asking about women in tech industry/conferences is a big problem and not one we'll solve in 140 characters.
- Robert Scoble
The women in tech conference issue has been written about dozens of times, too. You should check out http://www.blogher.org
- Robert Scoble
it is very sad we should work on it. Geraldine and myself want more at LeWeb.
- Loic Le Meur
Loic, read this: http://www.kottke.org/07...
- Robert Scoble
Here is a list of tech speakers; lots of women http://tinyurl.com/6xkeaw
- Roxanne Darling
Because when I was a computer scientist student, we had only one girl in the group?
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
Loic - I sent you two tweets; no idea why they don't show up in FriendFeed
- Roxanne Darling
It would be good to see more women involved in conservations like this in places like this (friendfeed) too.
- jjprojects
I was at TechEd last year; don't I count? Don't answer that. Host something where I don't have to book a flight or get a hotel!
- MiniMage
this is one of the least settled arguments this year... have to say, seeing that conference you mentioned the other day - http://tinyurl.com/2jjalk - there's a huge balance there. So maybe it's just more about who is organizing.
- Lucretia Pruitt
thanks all for the links and comments. Robert will read these.
- Loic Le Meur
because I didnt receive an invitation ....
- Margit Hinke
Because the tech industry self-selects for maleness. It's generally not woman friendly.
- Craig Thomler
Lucretia: what's even more fun is that conference is within walking distance of my house. I love it when cool conferences happen literally in my back yard.
- Robert Scoble
My own personal opinion and experience - they aren't taken as seriously as their male peers
- Renee Hendricks
@sbullo: My personal opinion? This distinction male/female doesn't have actually its place when it comes to tech. Because we tech folks are the very cute n' sweet assexual babies! :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
I've been asking that question ALL my life!
- fbrunel
I'm available too - community building, networking & branding - just need an invite :)
- Connie Bensen
Is there still a huge gap between the salaries for men and women? As I alluded to before, conferences can be out of reach for financial reasons alone. I asked my employers to send me to TechEd for 3 years before it actually happened; I've been working there for 9 years. (Thank you, boss! I'm not complaining!)
- MiniMage
Conferences? Look at the recommended here... there's a limited list of women anyone thinks of inviting to speak, etc. and they can't do every conference, yet there are tons of men. Why are there more men in tech in general? Speaking from my experience, it's a reality that if you have kids and drop out for even a few months, the world passes you by and you drop back down to the Z-list. Six months home with #1 and I had no career to go back to and had to start over again.
- Cyndy
This one boggles my mind, because I've had great experiences with women in tech. Usually smarter and more mature than the guys anyway.
- Eric - seven eleven
Sorry but I don't belive and won't believe that someone's sex defines his/her abilities. I've seen many smart and dumb women/men in my dev's life. Sure, there's differences in the way they solve problems (you just can't deny it :) ) BUT it's before all about the one who is willing to do a nice and clean job.
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
Most of the time, women are more straight forward and spend less time aspiring for higher positions, limelight or I should not say, attention, but women (i could be wrong) like to stay low key. Priorities in women are very different compared to men. Which starts another topic..why women sometimes feel inadequate competing with men. In most cases, women tend to give in easily. But lately...
more...
- Brenda McLaren
@cstechcast: Sorry, This is NOT true. It's just what you think :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
@directeur oh that would be lovely if it were true @sean I love being the exception to the rule
- Renee Hendricks
Because I'm too busy taking care of my kid, doing my "day job" and curing world hunger to try to grow my reach to that level. ;) But I soon hope to find a way to add several hours to the day in order to do so. Then... watch out!
- Robyn Miller
Brenda - very true about women not being as competitive as men, one place I worked for a short period of time was asking why it was that women providers were having a harder time getting jobs as the men. I shared with them something I found early on - women will downplay their abilities every time whereas men will (not lie, mind you) tend to overplay their abilities. Men tend to be better "self" salesmen.
- Renee Hendricks
@directeur, I hear you, sex does not define ability, I agree. But I have heard from a couple women who have had to deal with sexism and the issue of not being taken seriously. I've also met women who have moved up without having too many issues. Just my small sample, but some men put priority on building castles and have little regard for others, while women can be more willing to work together and get along. I do think some men don't take women seriously and that is part of the problem.
- Eric - seven eleven
@robynmiller: Good luck :) And well, sorry to disapoint you, but you will never have more than 24hrs a day : http://www.gutenberg.org/etext... is a must read IMHO :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
+100 Robyn
- Cyndy
@cstechcast: I hear you! Sincerly. But in the other hand I think that it's up to the individual person (man or woman) to define and follow till achievement his objectives and dreams. Keeping on saying "we women are underestimated...etc." is not the solution. You'll never hear a man saying "we men are underestimated" Not because it doesn't happen, but I (a man) take these things personaly and never generalize to my sex
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
@directeur: 10-4, understood. I just think some people still treat women unfairly for no reason, I've seen it. It's unfortunate because my experience with women in tech has been almost all positive. A small sample I know, and I know our choices determine our path. Agree with that.
- Eric - seven eleven
@Susanne: Yes...very true...I am generally not comfortable upselling myself.
- Brenda McLaren
The same people get asked to speak over and over again. It's lack of imagination on the part of organizers, or lack of knowledge of who is out there. Women don't self-promote (myself excluded).
- Francine Hardaway
from twhirl
The French! lol Loic don't you have many beautiful French girlfriends? lmao
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Helen, be careful I think Loic is trying to get hooked up! ;-)
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
They don't like them?
- Sam Pullara
this industry and their conferences are mostly boring
- Erno Hannink
I got an idea. I will start TechBitches.com and make a video on Seesmic. Then you can get Scoble and "Fast Company" to destroy my reputation and get every Soccer Mom to block me.... now wait didn't that already happen? um... hmmmmmm
- NoahDavidSimon
or was that someone else? I think it was called "Tech" something.
- NoahDavidSimon
"Tech"something. yes?... it is all coming to me now. Seems 2of offended a lot of blue state people who didn't know the context
- NoahDavidSimon
Not all sections of tech industry are male dominated. I joined a library tech team a couple of years ago as the 7th member and the 2nd male in the team.
- Nick Cowie
Maybe Robert can cut it off and become the first Alister woman in tech industry! LMAO
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
But jokes a side, how about a Martha Steward of tech? What happened to the HP lady, Carly Fiorina?
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
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