sneak preview

Tomorrow I'll be at the 'Boards Summit. I'm speaking on two panels. The first takes place on Tuesday morning and is called, "Business Unusual". Charles Day and Chris Tardio are the moderators on a discussion about business innovation during these transitional times. I shouldn't embarrass myself on this one. It's extemporaneous bullshitting, plus I know Charles and Chris will carry the weight along with the other panelist.

In the afternoon is the Town Hall discussion "Envisioning the Future". Now, that's an entirely different story. I need to give a prepared speech. Rumor is there is a secret Epoch office pool on at what time during the speech I'll choke. The winner gets their choice of venue for free lunch Friday for the entire month of December. 

Below is a sneak preview of my presentation. As I mentioned last week, I received much needed help from Hudson Lines. He put together the slides that accompanies the speech. I owe him big and intend to pay him back. 

Here's the context. Being the only production company representative on the panel, I chose to talk from that perspective. I didn't feel qualified to layout some futuristic business model. It wasn't me.

The theme is for production companies to become more proactive and less reactive. In short, embrace the new era of transparency and engagement through social media by viewing our culture differently. I'm going to try do this through my own personal exploration. 

A brief on the slides:

1. Intro.
2. Being asked to speak only because I blog.
3. How I found Hudson and chose the topic of this speech. 
4. My first venture into social media.
5. The launching of my blog and building an audience.
6. Tracking my readership growth.
7. The hypocrisy of partnering in a branded content co. without knowledge. 
8. Learning to participate not just observe.
9. Prod companies evolving from gatekeepers of talent to curators of talent.
10. Thoughts on how are models must adapt to support this evolution.
11. The change in media forces us to do so.
12. What we can do to engage and entertain our audiences.
13. An example from my childhood. Texaco sponsoring NY Opera.
14. Another more recent example, BMW films.
15. Striving to gain consumers attention by giving them something in return.
16. All sectors of the ad industry trying to win the online marketing race.
17. How social media helped me build community. And more...
18. Supporting our competitors helps speed up innovation.
19. Innovation only happens through risk and mistakes. 
20. Less predictions. More participation.
21. A look into the future. 

Jerry Solomon - Boards

View more documents from Hudson.

If anyone understands any of this (Lord knows I don't), please feel free to make comments or critique. You can also provide any words of encouragement. Lord knows I need that too. 

Hopefully I'll see some of you there. Wish me luck.