Reinventing the Conference Experience
Interesting approach to reinventing the professional conference:
The Rise of Big Data and the Impact of Technology Assisted Review
The rise of big data is on the minds of many of those responsible information governance and I spoke with Doug Stewart, Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Daegis, a provider of eDiscovery solutions, which has just updated its eDiscovery Platform with Acumen, its Technology Assisted Review tool. We discussed the genesis of Acumen, the adoption rate of similar tools, the challenges, and its impact on the big data trend.
Listen to our discussion below:
New Press Leads Service Focused on ‘Women’s Interests’ May Impact Your Reinvention
When I was in Australia for the ALPMA conference, a colleague told me about SourceBottle, a popular press leads service based in Australia that has been operating in the region for a few years. I discussed the value of such services in Reinventing Professional Services, and SourceBottle founder Rebecca Derrington explains in this blog post why she has launched the free sourcing tool to support women’s interests in the US and Canada:
In North America, existing PR connection tools cover any industry, from technology to healthcare to financial services and education. But when you consider that 85 percent of consumer purchases in the US are made by women, awareness of the ‘sheconomy’ means more products and services are being developed that cater for female consumers, more marketers are focusing on reaching specific female demographics, and more bloggers and journalists are covering topics related to women’s interests.
That’s why I felt there was a need for a journalist-to-source tool that was exclusively focused on topics around women’s interests, including beauty & fashion, business, home & lifestyle, health, parenting and relationships. And that’s what SourceBottle for North America does. It doesn’t duplicate what already exists. Instead, it’s tailored specifically and only for journalists and bloggers who need sources for their stories on women’s interests, and for PR pros who represent expert sources (male or female) who can provide insight on these topics.
Try it out and let me know what you think. Watch the video below for further insight:
The Power of a Routine for Professionals
Seth Godin’s recent blog post – The Simple Power of One a Day – captures the essence of how professionals can generate momentum from incremental innovation. He highlights that there are at least 200 working days a year and we can commit to completing a single marketing task on each one of them, including:
- Sending handwritten notes
- Blogging about a client’s experience (with permission, of course)
- Making an introduction
- Reading the first few chapters of a business or ‘how-to’ book
- Using video to teach your clients to do something
- Taking a 10-minute walk and writing down at least five ideas for how to improve what you offer the world
- Changing something on your website and tracking its effectiveness
- Helping a non-profit in a significant way
“Enough molehills is all you need to have a mountain,” Godin concludes. Please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment and I would be happy to send you a PDF of my tip sheet, which includes a variety of additional ideas that will help you create opportunity.
The Incredible Saga of Crowdfunding
Fast Company magazine ran an interesting feature – Shaking Up Crowdfunding – recently about the challenges of financing equity shares in start-up companies using the story of an ad executive interested in buying Pabst Brewing Co. for $300 million as background. From a simple tweet to international influence on U.S. securities legislation and the passage of the JOBS Act making crowdfunding a reality, the article is a great read. The U.S. Small Business Administration also offers this overview of the differences between peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, noting that 40 percent of entrepreneurs start new companies with less than $5,000.
The Reinvention of Interactive Marketing in Professional Services
I had a chance to speak with John Simpson, founder & CEO of One North Interactive, which recently announced the acquisition of the web assets of Thomson Reuters’ Hubbard One, about the mission of One North Interactive, the evolution of law firm websites, interactive marketing trends, and how social media is reinventing how lawyers and their firms connect with audiences.
Listen to our interview below:
Transforming Medicine With Social Networking
In the appendix to Reinventing Professional Services, I included a list of over 40 different social networks and just learned of a new one that seems to have the potential to transform medical care. Doximity is a free site for doctors, which enables them to seek (HIPPA-compliant) advice on complex cases, as well as reconnect with colleagues, former classmates and co-residents, create research, 2nd opinion, and consulting opportunities, and raise the visibility of their practices. It counts 1 in 7 physician members (in fact, over 80,000 across the U.S. have joined since October 2010) and verifies each prospect, who can upload a resume, publications list, training experience and lectures, to permit others to determine the best professional for a particular consultation. Consumers pay to access the Doximity database, but users leverage it as a free clinical tool.
[HT to my colleague, Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, blogger at 33Charts.com and featured expert in Reinventing Professional Services, for the reference.]
Learn more in this video:
Refocusing on Law Firm Financial Management
With the ALA’s 2012 Law Firm Financial Management Conference fast approaching next week, I had the opportunity to speak with George Leloudis, the Executive Director of Woods Rogers PLC in Roanoke Virginia, who is also chairman of the event’s planning committee. We discussed, among other topics:
- Who should attend and why.
- How the programming reflects the current state of the market.
- Key recommendations for maximizing the value of attendance.
Learn more about the ALA’s 2012 Law Firm Financial Management Conference being held in Chicago August 9th through the 11th here and listen to our interview below:
Seven Ways to Reinvent Your Use of LinkedIn
Most professionals could gain more value from LinkedIn and here are seven simple techniques for reinventing the way you use the social network:
1. Provide updates.
2. Study status updates and share resources.
3. Get to know those you know.
4. Study the people looking for you.
5. Explain why you are connecting.
6. Send a follow-up note after connecting.
7. View profiles to get profile views.
I discuss these points in greater detail in my recent column here, and ultimately conclude that technology has made it much easier to add context to what was otherwise a cold call or e-mail just a few years ago. Take advantage of that new level of familiarity. LinkedIn makes networking universally accessible, since it is both practical and strategic without requiring you to be bold or outgoing.