Lee and Sachi LeFever have done it again. If I had an ounce of the talent and native smarts these guys have in their pinky fingers, I'd be happy:



Funny, brilliant, and absolutely right.

I love this Flickr photoset from Twitter user deadprophet showing his notebook from the Mesh Conference earlier this week.

The page below appears to be notes taken during my Social Media and the Enterprise panel, and the later session on Measuring Social Media (including a certain quote from Dave Jones that will live on in misinterpreted infamy):

Something occurred to me in the panel discussion I moderated at Mesh '08 earlier today - something I wanted to say at the time, but didn't want to chew up precious discussion time listening to my own voice. I'd already babbled on far too long in my dopey Star Trek-inspired intro.

The lady from Harlequin, Jenny Bullough, said one of the smartest things on the general topic of employee training, blogging policies, and social media best practices - she summarized Harlequin's advice to staff as: "don't do anything stupid". Amen to that.

The anecdote I was tempted to recount at this point is one I've referenced several times in the past. It's still one of my favourites, and particularly appropriate in this context, I think.

Many years ago, my friend Doc Searls introduced me to a story about a guy named Earl Gilmore (now sadly dead, alas). Earl founded a software company called Business Application Systems some time around 1980. This was way back when you could call a startup something as simple and literal as "Business Application Systems" without fear of ambiguity.

As Doc tells it, when's company started to grow, he felt it necessary to put an employee manual together. Earl's entire manual consisted of two pages, with one rule per page:

Rule #1: Use good judgement.
Rule #2: Violate Rule #1 and you're in deep shit.

To my mind, that still stands as one of the best, general purpose, all-encompassing policies I've ever come across - and one that's pretty close to the spirit of the approach Harlequin is taking. Good for them. OK, so it wouldn't pass muster with many corporate lawyers and gimungous HR or internal legal departments - but if you hire well, trust people, manage with clarity, and have confidence in their judgement, I think it works.

Blog smart. Or get dooced.

Another excellent day at Mesh.

As always at this event, the mingling, nattering and "meshing" in the breaks between sessions is as - if not more - useful than the sessions themselves. So many fascinating, smart, opinionated, interesting people to hang out and swap ideas, stories, and URLs with.

Personal highlights today: excellent keynote session with co-founder of Club Penguin, Lane Merrifield and the closing panel on Social Media Measurement, featuring Katie Paine, David Jones, and Sylvain Perron, expertly moderated by Stuart MacDonald. Great stuff - hoping they'll post that session up on MeshTV so I can go back and listen to all the really clever and useful things Katie and the chaps had to say.

My own gig seemed to go pretty well too, I'm relieved to say. I was trying really hard to listen to what the panellists and audience were saying, so that I could help keep a healthy, reasonably contiguous conversation flowing - but it's such a challenge to try to ensure that the great questions raised by audience participants are properly addressed, while also giving as many people as possible a chance to contribute. I felt we could easily have turned this topic over for the whole afternoon, and still only have scratched the surface.

Many thanks to Dave Fleet (ably assisted by Brad Buset), Connie Crosby, and Mark Blevis for their great live-blogged synopses of the session. There were other live tweets and may be other blog posts too, which I'm sure I'll stumble across in my secret, guilty ego-surfing in the days ahead.

Thanks also to the panellists - Chris Reid from Yamaha Motor Canada, Natalie Johnson of General Motors, and Jenny Bullough from Harlequin. Takes some courage to come out and represent these giant enterprises in a social media setting, and I think they acquitted themselves well.

Dave Fleet was kind enough to allow me to cut and paste his live-blogged transcript here. It's not quite the same as being there, but I think it gives a good taste of the stuff we covered:

1:33 davefleet - At the panel on "Social Media in the Enterprise"
1:33 davefleet - MOCC just revealed his geekdom
1:35 davefleet - Chris Reid (Yamaha), Natalie Johnson (GM), Jenny Bullough (Harlequin Enterprises) on the panel
1:39 davefleet - Johnson: As a company, having a blog lets you establish your own 'voice'
1:41 davefleet - Reid: Says Yamaha is the only motor sports company in Canada that's participating in social media
1:41 davefleet - Reid: When he blogs, he's not Yamaha speaking to customers, he's himself
1:42 davefleet - Michael O'Connor Clarke (http://michaelocc.com/) moderating the panel

1:42 [Comment From Brad Buset]
All three have spoken of being the brand online, now what about listening....
1:44 davefleet - Johnson: Just launched "I Am Saturn" website. Customer couldn't get roadside assistance, had to leave car at side of the road. Customer went to their website and told their story. PR team "went to work" to fix it/"make the situation better" for them.
1:45 Brad Buset - http://imsaturn.com/ not Iamsaturn.com

1:45 davefleet - Website is http://imsaturn.com/

1:47 davefleet - MOCC: Has social media brought cultural change to your organization?
1:47 Brad Buset - 1. Christ --> yes, opened eyes and sped up responses
1:47 davefleet - Reid (Yamaha): Yes, and it's still growing. Opened eyes to value of responding quicker and more directly to customers
1:47 Brad Buset - *okay, not '"christ", but "Chris" , not that good of a panel
1:48 davefleet - Reid: Customers aren't primarily bloggers. Lots of aliases, lots of bashing on forums. Blogging has allowed them to take the conversation out of that venue.
1:51 Brad Buset - Put out by Michael OConner Clark (MOCC) - can you use social media in the enterprise without top-down support
1:52 Brad Buset - Dude in the audience says yes - as long as you have direct managerial support, the right people using it and some technical help
1:53 davefleet - Johnson: Agrees - you need top-level support. If you don't have it (including IT), it can move very very slowly
1:54 davefleet - Bullough: Sometimes the challenge is middle managers not lower ranks or upper management

1:54 Brad Buset - Interest piece from Ipsos Reed re: c-suite media adoption. Long story short - they're getting into it in a big way http://tinyurl.com/4rrpnu

1:54 davefleet - Bullough: Can be effective to show them how their competitors use social media. Get support more easily
1:57 davefleet - Johnson: If you're not out there, having your people talk in this space with other people, you'll lose out
1:58 davefleet - Audience Q: Can you give some specific examples - when you talk about social media spaces, what exactly are you talking about? MySpace? Your own?
1:59 davefleet - Bullough: Had great success with a series of podcasts
1:59 davefleet - Bullough: Podcast series called "meet an author." H/ever, had runaway success with "meet an editor" series that lets authors meet editors
2:00 davefleet - Johnson: http://www.igotshotgun.com/

2:01 davefleet - Reid: Concerns on how to do it internally. Externally, could have gone with Facebook etc. Internally, as a blog with clear terms of use, put legal department at ease
2:03 davefleet - GM encourages employees to participate on Facebook etc. Educating employees about these forums. Doesn't 'plant' people
2:04 Brad Buset - same for Yamaha -- they use it to protect the company, and to protect the individuals
2:04 davefleet - Reid: Clearly tells employees not to represent the company in blogs or other forums. Does it to protect the employee and the company
2:05 davefleet - MOCC: Talk about the policies you have in place for your own social media activities - blogging policy? comments policy? trackback policy? how to respond to negative comments on external blogs?
2:05 davefleet - Excellent question
2:05 davefleet - Bullough: Yes. To summarize - don't be stupid. Don't blog about authors, don't get personal
2:06 davefleet - Johnson: Does have a corporate blogging policy. Worked with other departments to develop it. Took a while to develop.
2:07 Brad Buset - Bullough: If you have a strong enough community, they do the policing for you. Similar to the Privacy panel from yesterday in that the best defense to be out there, build your brand until people know you, and allow them to make the call
2:07 davefleet - Johnson: They do moderate for offensive/foul language. They do post negative comments though. Criticism is fine.
2:08 davefleet - MOCC: Should be a disciplinary offence if you start anonymously commenting on other sites.
2:08
2:08 davefleet - Reid: Employees are not to represent the company publicly. He has an exemption though
2:11 davefleet - Mark Blevis: How do you educate employees/brass on how to use the tools
2:11 davefleet - Reid: It really helped to bring in an outside expert
2:12 Brad Buset - Another similarity from personal brand - education is key for support and management
2:13 davefleet - Q: What did you do to convince management that this is a good thing?
2:14 davefleet - Johnson: VP of Communications jumped on board and said he thought it was a good idea. Championed it.
2:15 davefleet - Government timelines for responding to mail don't work online. How do you deal with this in your co?
2:16 davefleet - Reid: In the blogosphere conversations gain critical mass in short order. Use the blog to stay on that while the corporate response is developed.
2:17 davefleet - Q: What are you keeping in mind when making sure that your involvement in SM doesn't backfire?
2:17 davefleet - Excellent audience questions at this panel
2:18 davefleet - Johnson (GM): Can't make sure nothing backfires. Educate people so they can go out there and respond.
2:19 davefleet - Johnson: If you're used to press releases, having a conversation with someone can be a little scary. It takes time.
2:19 davefleet - Q: Do you have a risk management plan?
A: (GM) No
2:20 davefleet - Q: How does social media appear on your annual budgets? Does it get its own line item, or folded in to other items?
2:21 davefleet - A: (GM) Yes, it is at GM
A: (Harlequin) No, however 'top brass' has a good understanding of the costs. Already established the unit though - mainly ongoing costs (???!)
A: No
2:22 davefleet - Q: Doesn't sound like social media is an important part of your companies yet. Still hamstrung.
2:22 davefleet - A: Panel doesn't seem to agree with that one.
2:22 davefleet - Q: How many GM people are dedicated to social media
A: (GM) 5
2:23 davefleet - So social media is at a starting point, not at a success point
2:24 davefleet - Q from @thornley: Bob Lutz was one of the first high-profile corporate bloggers. However, there have been four posts since he last posted. Is there strategy to maintain it as a corporate blog?
2:24 davefleet - A: Lutz is the strongest voice on the blog, not the only one
2:25 davefleet - Q: How have you met regulatory disclosure rules?
2:25 davefleet - Bullough: They trust their employees
2:25 davefleet - Johnson: Agrees with Bullough. Blogosphere is just one way you can communicate. Just like another medium, don't reveal information that would affect the company financially on there
2:26 davefleet - Q: How do you measure success/ROI?
2:27 davefleet - Johnson: This is a relatively new area. What she terms success is people starting to engage and connect. Do they look at GM as an innovative forward-thinking company?
2:28 davefleet - Johnson: social media fits in the top part of the sales funnel, not close to the sale
2:29 davefleet - Bullough: Agrees with Johnson - not about ROI, it's about return on engagement
2:30 davefleet - End of panel. Great Q&A


And that's it. Mesh '08 is a wrap. Hope those of you still ligging around at the after-after-party are having a blast. Till next time...

Haloscan comments are b0rking on me at the moment, dammit. If you've left a comment and don't see it posted - don't worry. I have email copies, and will ensure your comment is up there as soon as Haloscan stops puking. Well... unless, of course, your comment is just calling me a fat paddy or something.

First day of this year's Mesh was a bit of a curate's egg for me, for a couple of reasons.

First, as I'm still fresh back from vacation and haven't even had a chance to get into the office yet, I've been trying to get as much catching up and work done in the space between the meshing. I had to tune out a few times during the day to get some billable hours in.

Secondly, the sessions I attended fell into one of two categories at opposite ends of a spectrum of quality - they were either just OK-ish or utterly fantastic. In the latter group, Michael Geist's truly outstanding keynote was just inspiring. Geist kicks righteous arse - he's a national treasure and one of the most important voices Canada has to contribute to the global conversation on topics as diverse as privacy, copyright, activism, poverty, technology and law. Smart, insightful, bold, and he gives good PowerPoint.

Also mind-expandingly wonderful was the discussion "Does Location Matter" between CBC's Nora Young and the charming, brilliant, and just flat-out interesting Bill Buxton. One of the entertaining things about this session was that, of the five different people I've discussed it with in the hours since it ended yesterday afternoon, I've heard five different versions of what Bill and Nora's conversation was actually about. I think that's evidence of the depth and breadth of what was a really valuable hour for me. A recording of the session should be up on the CBC Spark blog sometime soon - well worth downloading.

I didn't even attempt to live-blog or tweet yesterday's proceedings - but a tip o' the bowler hat to Dave Fleet, whose stream-of-consciousness live blogging efforts prove that he has the remarkable ability to both listen, type, and think all at the same time. That's a lot harder than it sounds.

Now happily ensconced in the second keynote at Day Two and looking forward to the Social Media and the Enterprise session I'm contributing to this afternoon.

Turns out that this will be my third year not just as attendee, but also as on-stage participant at the Mesh Conference.

The guys asked me to moderate a session on Thursday afternoon on "Social Media and the Enterprise", which sounds like a really good fit for the kind of thing my day job involves these days, so I was more than happy to say yes.

Here's the session description:

Corporate communication certainly hasn't gotten any easier. "Media" used to be a defined thing, and people broadly knew the rules. But in the age of social media, blogs, comments, reviews, ratings, friends, groups, videos, etc., etc. - well, it's a brave new world. Learn as top communication and marketing experts Natalie Johnson from General Motors USA, Chris Reid of Yamaha Motor Canada and Jenny Bullough of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. share their stories and practices in taking their organizations' communications and relationships online.

Note that this is social media and the enterprise, as opposed to in the enterprise - which gives us a nice broad scope to work with. We're not just talking about wikis inside the firewall, but get to dig into what GM, Yamaha and Harlequin have been doing in the wider social media world both externally and internally.

Here's some of the questions I'm thinking of posing to kick the conversation off tomorrow. If you can think of others I should add - drop me a comment, email, or tweet:

1. Why should enterprises adopt social media?
2. Can a large enterprise actually be social – or is “enterprise social media” an oxymoron?
3. Where have you deployed social media in your organization (inside or outside the firewall)?
4. What have you learned from listening to the crowd?
5. According to a recent comprehensive AIIM study, 44 per cent of organizations identified Enterprise 2.0 as “imperative” or “significant” to their goals. Despite this, nearly three-quarters also said they had a vague familiarity at best of what exactly the catch-phrase means. Discuss.
6. What policies have you implemented to manage the adoption and use of social media tools by your employees?
7. What advice would you have for large enterprises scared about submitting to the social media soup?

We're back. Just about recovering and getting onto Toronto time - glad we had the long weekend to ease ourselves back in. The vacation was, in case you're wondering, immense. Utterly superb, invigorating and relaxing in equal measure. Think I gained about 10 pounds from being constantly fed (and "watered") by friends and family at every stop.

Tons to catch up on, and lots I should post. Right now, I'm parked at the opening session of Mesh '08 - I'll have time to post some vacation notes at the weekend, I hope. In the meantime, you can get a taste of the trip (if you're so inclined) at my Flickr page.

One last quick copy & paste post before we jet off, just because it seems so appropriate:

The Exile's Return
(John Locke, 1847-1889)

T'anam chun Dia! but there it is -
The dawn on the hills of Ireland,
God's angels lifting the night's black veil
From the fair sweet face of my sireland.
Oh! Ireland isn't it grand you look,
Like a bride in her fresh adorning,
And with all the pent-up love of my heart
I bid you the top of the morning.

This one brief hour pays lavishly back,
For many a year of mourning,
I'd almost venture another flight,
There is so much joy in returning,
Watching out for the hallowed shore,
All other attraction scorning,
Oh: Ireland don't you hear me shout,
I bid you the top of the morning.

Ho, Ho, upon Glen's shelving strand,
The surges are wildly beating,
And Kerry is pushing her headlands out,
To give us a kindly greeting,
Now to the shore the sea birds fly,
On pinons that know no drooping,
Now out from the shore with welcome gaze,
A million of eaves come trooping.

Oh! Fairly, generous Irish land,
So Loyal, so fair, so loving,
No wonder the wandering Celt should think,
And dream of you in his roving,
The Alien shore may have gems and gold,
And sorrow may ne'er have gloomed it.
But the heart will sigh for its native shore,
Where the love-light first illumed it.

And doesn't old Cobh look charming there,
Watching the wild waves motion,
Resting her back against the hill.
And the tips of her toes to the ocean,
I wonder I don't hear the Shandon bells,
But maybe their chiming is over,
For it's a year since I began,
The life of a western rover.

For thirty years "A chuisle mochroi",
Those hills I now feast my eyes on,
Ne'er met my vision save at night,
In memory's dim horizon,
Even so, 'twas grand and fair they seemed,
In the landscape spread before me,
But dreams are dreams, and I would awake
To find American skies still o'er me.

And often in Texan plain,
When the day and the chase was over,
My heart would fly o'er the weary ways,
And around the coastline hover,
And my prayers would arise that some future date,
All danger, doubting and scorning,
I might help to win for my native land
The light of young liberty's morning.

Now fuller and turner the coastline shows
Was there ever a scene more splendid!
I feel the breath of the Munster breeze,
Oh! Thank God my exile is ended,
Old scenes, old songs, old friends again
There's the vale, there's the cot I was born in
Oh! Ireland from my heart of hearts
I bid you the "top o' the morning"

This will probably be my last post for a couple of weeks, unless I get to squeeze in time to blog on vacation. Tomorrow we jet off to the UK and Ireland - heading home for the first time in five years.

It was Dad's 70th birthday a few days ago and Mom turned 70 last year. So there's a giant family party planned for the weekend (what we used to call, as kids, a WFD - I'll let you work out for yourself what that stands for). The farflung Clarke clan and many, many friends will be descending en masse on Stowe School - near to where Mom and Dad live - for what promises to be the hooley of the century. (Of the 21st Century, that is of course. The greatest hooley of the 20th Century was day Leona and I married).

So far, the rough itinerary looks something like this, subject to tweakage:

- May 3: arrive, disgustingly early, Birmingham airport
- May 4: M&D 70th birthday party
- May 5: Thame (Mom & Dad's place). Mighty hangover followed by the after-party party (hundreds of family members and friends will still be in the neighbourhood, so it's
inevitable there will be more drink taken)
- May 6: still knocking around Oxfordshire, nothing planned, AFAIK, other than shopping for a new liver, perhaps
- May 7: to London - planning a trip to the Tower of London (Charlie's choice) + possibly the London Eye (for Lily). Opera tix and dinner booked in the evening with one of my brothers
- May 8: London - morning: Natural History Museum (Ruairi's choice - dinosaurs!). Nothing planned for the afternoon or evening yet. Hoping to catch up with Suw & Kevin, maybe Gary Turner and family too. Drink will, no doubt, be involved.
- May 9: fly to Dublin to see the other half of the family. Visiting, more drinkage, plenty food, old friends, warm family moments, wandering my favourite streets in the world...
- May 16: fly back to Toronto

It's been a long, long time since we've seen the auld sod. Expecting things to be very different at home - something I'm a little nervous about. People have been telling me that both London and Dublin have grown almost beyond recognition in the past few years; Dublin in particular, as a result of the booming economy and the first period of significant population growth in hundreds of years of history.

Hard to imagine that two such well-established cities could alter so much in five years, but then I look around at what the idiots have done to the stretch of Toronto either side of the Gardiner in the same space of time, and... well, I'm aching for home, but hoping it's not all too screwed up.

Meanwhile - also on the Dad front (and on the subject of that Dirty Auld Town), after a four year break, we've finally got the second section of Dad's work-in-progress memoirs up at the Raised on Songs and Stories site.

When I can find a chunk of spare time, I want to spruce Dad's site up a bit - split the content into chapters and work on the navigation. For now, though, at least we've got the words up there, and a few photos. Nice to contrast this shot of Dad's birthplace:


With the venue we're booked into for Mom and Dad's birthday party:


Not too shabby for a gurrier from the North side. Heh.

So - see you on the other side of the pond. Thanks in advance to our kind housesitters and their three giant, scary Rottweilers for taking care of things in our absence.