Same as it ever was? #SoFresh, Case Studies, and Snark, Oh My
I've seen some criticism of the Social Fresh conference that took place this week, some of it deserved, and some that I think misses the mark. Before I address that however I'd like to make it clear that what I'm seeing is indicative of every larger conference. So while it is the Social Fresh conference comments that nudged me to make this post, most of them could just as easily apply to any other conference.
First, to the piece of criticism that I think hit the mark. Case studies. Or more accurately, the lack thereof and the setting of expectations. The reality is that the Social Fresh conference has evolved a bit beyond its own marketing message. Its materials present it as the conference that is different specifically because it focuses on case studies, or in its own words:
"Social Fresh flagship events are one day conferences targeted for marketers, focused on case studies"
Earlier Social Fresh conferences definitely had heavy leanings in that direction. But at St. Louis they were virtually non-existent, and in fact one of the primary things the keynote speaker @ambercadabra railed against was the notion of everyone clamoring for case studies in the social media industry and how ineffective, and irrelevant they are in most instances. That doesn't mean the conference was bad, not at all, it does however mean that it set an expectation that it did not deliver on. And by having their keynote speaker go against case studies in general it gave the implication that the conference supports that view, particularly when combined with the scarcity of case studies at the event. Basically there was a branding issue, whether it was a one off event or whether the conference has evolved and its branding message hasn't remains to be seen.
Other than that, most of the criticism is the same you hear at any other.
"Give me more details, more real world applications, more finite information with clearly laid out steps to take". Sure, that would be nice. But anyone who thinks that you can shove a few hundred people in a room, and for a few hundred dollars be given very specific advice that will be directly applicable to all of them in an actionable way is deluding themselves. Conferences don't work that way, sorry. That's what small workshops and 1:1 consulting are for. It's why I held workshops with clients before and after the conference. Call up one of the speakers who you resonated with perhaps. Maybe there was someone in the crowd you met later who offers that consulting to your specific vertical? There is no one size fits all. To speak to a few hundred people you have to stay top-line, you can only get so granular before you will completely fail to provide value to the majority.
Lastly you hear "the information was too basic, it wasn't advanced enough". There are three separate reasons that you hear this:
- The person making the statement is attempting to look smarter than the rest of the crowd
- The person making the statement really is beyond the topic being covered
- The person making the statement is actually below the topic being covered and doesn't realize how profound some of those "simple" statements really are.
To the last bullet point, I find in most knowledge areas that you go through three distinct stages of learning.
- The early sponge who absorbs and regurgitates as much as possible without completely comprehending it all, but doing their best. This person is most concerned about finding and engaging those who they wish to absorb from. A bit of hero worship can come out of this which can blind them when they get bad info, but for the most part they are on the steep angle of the learning curve.
- The early practitioner who has comprehended much of it and begun putting it into practice. This person is most concerned about finding clients and portraying themselves as an expert in that knowledge area. They want very high level information, they've learned the basics and want to move on. These people want to talk about the extreme details of what they are doing.
- The late practitioner. This person has "been there, done that". They've created and evolved many theories of their own over the years. Perhaps they go and speak at conferences. They've finally realized the true art (and difficulty) in taking extremely complex topics and filtering them down to their essence in a concise and meaningful way.
Take the statement of the week as an example: "Learn to BE social, not DO social" (courtesy of @jaybaer) . The stage 1 person takes that and runs with it, perhaps not fully grasping its power but its certainly a good one liner to be used at a later time. The stage 2 person sneers and says "duh, that's just common sense, when are you going to give me some real insights?". The stage 3 person hears it and is blown away, not because it is something they didn't already intuit, but because it conveys so much in such a small package. That is an art, and as a consultant the usefulness of such statements is extremely powerful. *Knowing* something is not nearly as powerful as being able to *communicate* something, and sometimes what you gain out of a conference is the ability to communicate what you already felt. Don't diminish the value of that.
Side note: There is *always* someone at a higher level than you and always more to learn, the trick is knowing that and being open to it. And if you're anything like me you'll find that you are at all 3 stages concurrently with various knowledge topics in your life.
Matt Ridings - @techguerilla
