Creative Minds Emerge at Interactive Strategies ‘09 in Houston
Posted by Drew Miller on September 10th, 2009
Yesterday I had the privilege of attending and speaking at Interactive Strategies ‘09 in my hometown of Houston, TX. Much like the diversity of our city, the crowd at IS09 was an energetic melting pot of creative gurus from the b2b and b2c space, agencies and entrepreneurs alike. The result was an insightful conference filled with BIG ideas, optimism and growth for the interactive space we live and breathe every day.
Kicking things off was Brian Solis delivering a powerful keynote opener in which he stated that, “Social Media is about Sociology NOT Technology”, and “…is just a chapter of emerging media”. He also said something that rang true for me on a number of levels, “Attention becomes the major currency in content commerce.” It’s easy to be overwhelmed with the fire hose of information that seems to be flying by you at 500 miles per hour. It forces you to be plugged-in 24/7, or you risk missing something important. Unlike Email Marketing, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive right place or right time. With Social Media it’s any place at any time.
Gwen Bell left me feeling relaxed and much smarter after her therapeutic-inspired presentation: “Glitchwell: Using Our Missteps to Propel Us Forward”. Her unique presentation style was unlike anything I’ve ever seen using hand-drawn black and white slides with few words and powerful images. Drawing on personal experiences and case study examples of online brand missteps, her message was simple and clear: “Glitch” represents the idea that we all fail, while “Well” means that we recover.
Delving into Human Psychology 101, Stephen P. Anderson delivered a unique look at websites and applications that the brain finds interesting, and how companies can turn an otherwise “meh” user experience into a “wow!” one. Sites like iLike and Dopplr emphasized his point that being “playful” can provide engaging interactions with positive long-lasting affects on customers.
The day wrapped up with a lively keynote panel discussion on gender: “The Sexes on Social Media, the Web and Tech”. The panel discussed candidly generalizations on gender and race and how brands sometimes don’t quite understand how to market to them.
For those of you who were unable to attend my session on “Developing Killer Email Creative” because of the schedule change or otherwise, I will be recording the presentation in its entirety and plan on having it available for viewing soon.
Thanks for speaking Drew! Didnt get to make but 2 sessions since I was running around handling tech-stuff and other committee responsibilities, but I heard/read a lot of good stuff!
We hope you enjoyed yourself too and thanks again!
Drew, sorry I didn’t make your presentation, but I’m glad I got a chance to speak with you at the happy hour. I’m diggin the design of your blog!
Sal- Thanks for the kind words. It was a great pleasure speaking at the conference and an honor to be a part of such a talented bunch! I hope to have a recorded video of my presentation completed very soon.
Daniel – Great to meet you and look forward to talking with you further. I think the design was inspired by the old chalkboards we used to see in school : )