Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

The Seven "Shoulds" of Conference Organization

In the past couple of years I have done quite a bit of speaking at various events and conferences large and small. Pulling off a successful event is akin to cooking an award winning meal. Time and time again the conferences we remember and return to are those that manage to create a context that is conducive to making connections, those that build a bridge between attendees and speakers with creativity, and through collaboration. It's not an out of the box recipe For years I organized events, in many cases working with cross functional teams and volunteers. The most satisfying... Read more →

Transparent Customer Conversation

IABC Heritage 2010 View more presentations from Valeria Maltoni. The premise of my session at IABC Heritage conference is that social media has changed the way companies and brands are discussed and considered. This presents a challenge, but also opens a number of opportunities for companies ready to harness the power of human interaction. Human involvement is what gives brands the strongest competitive differentiation today. If you attend my session today, you will learn about the advantages of integrating social into strategy. We will cover how to develop, implement, measure and manage a cross-functional program with goals and metrics that... Read more →

Braided Journalism and the Future of Public Relations

Something significant and potentially game-changing happened this past week. Maybe you have seen the news. In case you missed it, Shel Israel wrote about it in a recent post on braided journalism, a term he coined a little while ago to describe a developing practice of traditional and citizen journalists starting to intertwine through mutual need. This is also the latest example of enlightened experimentation from Dell, an organization that is leading on its way to what Dachis defines a social business. They were first in implementing a site for customers to submit and vote on product ideas -- IdeaStorm... Read more →

Ten Facts About Water: Blog Action Day 2010

This is not a competition, it's a call to action. I've been participating to Blog Action Day evey year since its inception. We've tackled some pretty large issues so far. My own personal cause is literacy, and specifically helping parents teach their children how to read. As I write from the dry desert of Las Vegas, I am reminded of the importance of water in our lives. (1.) Water is the currency of our bodies. In case you didn't know, it makes up 70% of the shape we call "me". At birth we're about 80% water, which accounts for all... Read more →

Have an Agenda

I just love it when people have an agenda -- it means they spent time thinking about what they want out of a situation, and planning their behavior and content towards it. Agendas are strong signals amidst a sea of noise. And it's a pity that the term has come to be associated with negative connotations. Having an agenda in some circles means you are sneaky and selfish. Both are assumed, of course. It is not so. Leaders, scientists, engineers, writers, teachers, and even marketers all drive towards an outcome -- and they decidedly do that with a specific point... Read more →

Why Visual Stories Resonate

Do you know your audience's resonant frequency? Every time you present to a group -- whether that be your colleagues, management team, the CEO, company investors, your customers, or conference attendees -- you have an opportunity to connect. However, transmission is only the tip of the iceberg. What all great presenters and communicators have in common is their ability to get you started on a journey -- one that will prompt you to do something differently. What causes this change? One of my favorite visual storytellers, Nancy Duarte, has written a remarkable guide on how to present visual stories that... Read more →

Give People Content they can Use to Persuade their Teams

You are familiar with the traditional marketing process -- businesses buy time on media to sell people something. People have been willing to give marketers time in exchange for entertainment or free information. This doesn't work in social networks, because people are there to be social. You can, however, be helpful when you arm the people who are interested, those who are looking to solve a problem, with information that will help them obtain a higher budget, or get one altogether. Help them, help you Developing content your contacts can use to persuade their teams to buy your services is... Read more →

Us vs. Them Thinking: You've Been Cookied

I don't know if you have noticed, the way we talk about customers inside organizations, which is then refected at marketing events, can use some rethinking. Many are still looking for easy transference of the same old ways of doing things from traditional marketing to social. Perhaps the signs of solutions in search of a problem, or maybe a symptom of hanging on for relevance in an environment that is changing. The kind of talk that speaks of people as leads continues to be "us" vs. "them" thinking, and it means cutting out opportunity. Before you jump all over me,... Read more →

How PR can Expand an Organzation's Story

I've been to so many presentations in the last couple of days where people talked about the Google logo -- how it changes and adapts to the circumstances. This is a broader conversation than just the logo design though, as interesting as the point about letting go of the "brand specs" may be. It was a fortunate coincidence that I noticed the new logo last night to commemorate John Lennon's 70th birthday. Well done on the design front, with the glasses as the double "o" of Google. A hint that the company sees? When you click on the logo, if... Read more →

Talk Can Change Our Lives: Love Bombs

How connected do you feel to your community? When I learned about IT Starts with Us a couple of months ago, I immediately thought about applications to retirement communities, support groups for health issues, and even a lite version for children going through a rough patch -- teenagers thinking about quitting school, kids who are victims of bullies, and so on. Another needed application could be for employees inside an organization. Over the years, I have had the good fortune of working with great leaders in good environments. However, there has been the rare occasion when I was immersed in... Read more →