Presentations: Focus on Community

It’s practically a mantra in business today: “You must engage with your community.” But it’s also clear: “community” does not equal “kumbaya.” Battle-tested veterans share the secrets of successful, and brutally failed, community efforts.

Sessions are being confirmed daily. Please check back often to see the latest program content.

Brand and Customer Communication

Christy Canida (Instructables.com), Ilana Rabinowitz (Lion Brand)

Brands want to engage with their end users, but often see these communications as fraught with peril. How can brands have genuine, meaningful contact with their users? How do they decide which online communities to target? Can (or should) brands dictate the terms of the conversation? How can brands present their message to stand out from a sea of user-generated content?

Build Your Own Contributors (One Part at a Time)

Denise Paolucci (Dreamwidth Studios), Mark Smith (Dreamwidth.org)

With an increasing number of Open Source projects demanding attention, it can be hard to attract qualified contributors. Learn how to convert your community of users into a community of developers, through training, mentoring, and community management, from a project that's been hacking its hackers since day one.

Creating a Culture of Sharing

Josh Crandall (Netpop Research, LLC), Jack Herrick (wikiHow), Mike Linksvayer (Creative Commons), Emily Richards (ArtisTech Media)

For a group of strangers to share their works online, an environment of trust, openness and respect is required. “Creating a Culture of Sharing” examines the benefits and barriers to sharing online and whether creators and users of content agree (or disagree) on how content can be used. We will then focus on issues of attribution, copyright, and “copyleft” for a world online.

How to Rise Above the Noise in the Sea of Content

Paul Yiu (Bing)

When building solid customer relationships and brand awareness through social media channels, it's difficult to rise above the overwhelming amount of data. Paul Yiu, group program manager behind Bing’s real-time and social efforts, will take you deeper down the social media rabbit hole and arm you with actionable advice about how to maximize your content for the real-time spectrum.

Picture the Impossible: How an Online Game Can Change Your Offline Community

Elizabeth Lawley (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Creating vibrant local communities online is a growing user expectation yet remains a complex task. Liz Lawley, director of the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, shares insight into the alternate reality game her team built with the local newspaper and how to create a compelling local experience for consumers that melds online interaction with offline engagement.