WebCom Montreal

I was lucky enough to find out about this event a few days before the fact. I only participated in the free portion: 5 presentations of 15-20 minutes about different aspects of Web 2.0 and social networks.

Here are some notes and thoughts about the presentations:

Chris Heuer, Serve the Market

Originally, organisations served their community: the blacksmith, milkman, general store were all there to serve the needs of the community. The market has now shifted to products. Many still provide a service, but this isn't how we view the market anymore; but we should. He pointed out that how we chose to interact with organisations is through "filters" that become thiner with trust; the more flow, information flow, the deeper the relation, and the more likely people will buy.

Serving the market is leadership, not management

and the parting quesiton,

is profit the only purpose of business? or are we able to transcend our current thinking?

This was a great start. I felt like screaming "Yes!! that's right!!" on many occasions. I think we most certainly can work in a market focusing first on the service we want to render, and that money is not the goal in itself. Of course, we wont be able to provide this service if we don't make enough money, so of course money is important, but all too often, we use money as a measure of our success, and that's a false indicator. The positive impact we have on our community can be in the form of the product or service rendered, but it can also be in terms of providing employment, and spreading a little bit of happiness to clients, employees, and to every member of the community.

Next: Sean Power, Applied Communilytics In a Nutshell