Firstly, apologies for the delay in posting – this was meant to be yesterday’s blog – but I didn’t get home until 10.30pm and felt a bit knackered. Promise I’ll catch up by the end of the week 
What was that saying ‘the road to hell is paved with good intensions’ …!
Since yeaterday. a few people asked how I source images for presentations etc so, I thought I’d quickly run through what I do…
Yesterdays talk started last Thursday. Paul Wilkinson asked me if I could fill in – which I felt very humbled and pleased to do. Normal questions during the call then occurred: audience type, length of talk, any specifc topic. Great, got a picture in my mind…. bugger, 3 days to prepare and I’m away for 2 of them oO
But I do like a challenges
Thursday, 28th January 8:06PM (listening to Kings of Leon)
So, Thursday night I had an hour to put the ‘plan’ together’ 1:05 mins later, as Gordon Ramsey would say …’Done’
Sunday, 31st Jan 7:45AM
Start selecting images. Only one place to go for those in my humble opinion and that is Flickr.com. Fantastic resource, with many, many, many images available under Creative Commons.
After gathering together a list of ‘keywords’: community, eyes, landscape, unique, control, engage, conversations, questions and adverts I was ready to go… (love this bit – I could look at images all day!)
Entered the first key word ‘community’ and checked the results. Now one of the great things about Flickr is you can sort the results by: Relevant, Recent or Interesting – and it’s well worth checking out all three of them. After repeating the same process with all the keywords (like to state the obvious) browsing and the occasional snack…7 hours 15 mins later I had my images that I wanted. 3pm on the dot… done.
Thanks goes to: Slide1: waynemethod slide3: dcdead slide4&5. jup3nep slide7. jeff_engel_2000 slide10. marketingfacts slide11. bigcrustyape slide13. dogfacedboy slide14&16. beija-flor slide 15. flemingcool for such fantastic images.
That was pretty much it… just a little bit of power point, nothing fancy, no fades, no moving images etc – I can do them but didn’t want to detract from the images – what are your thoughts on that?
Monday, 1st February – Be2Camp Day – What you missed?
I have to say that the attention to detail that Paul Wilkinson put in to this event with the energy of Bernie Mitchell was great – it really set the tone. And although Paul couldn’t be there due to #EEPaulFall – he was missed (personally I blame it on one too many shandy’s but my lips are sealed ) Get better soon Paul…
What is Be2Camp?
Check out the Be2Camp website, but here’s an overview from their site:
About Be2camp – Be2camp is for people interested in how the latest web applications and web design techniques (Web 2.0; eg: RSS, blogs, Twitter, Wikis, etc) could help build a better, more sustainable built environment – planning, design, construction, even occupation and management of buildings, infrastructure, landscape, etc.
Be2camp events – Be2camp 2008, the UK’s (possibly the world’s) first ‘unconference’ focused on Web 2.0 and the built environment, was held in London in October 2008. 2009 saw Be2camp North in Liverpool in May, Be2camp Brum in Birmingham in August, and Be2camp@ WorkingBuildings and RIBAforum09 in London in October.
This was the run of the day:
- Tom Inglis (Reorb) (blog)
- Ian Fordham (BCSE) link to Ian’s talk
- Me (M4 Design) – mine’s here
- Bob Thompson (Remit Consulting) Link to Bob’s talk
Construction and property Pecha Kucha – quick-fire presentations
- Jim McHale (Memoori) Link to Jim’s talk (link to be added)
- Dave Glennon (Bovis Lend Lease) Link to Dave’s talk
- Bob Pinkett (Peter Brett & Associates) Link to Bob’s talk
- Nicholas Ayre (HomeFusion) Link to Nicholas’ talk
- Joanne Rourke (Peter Deer & Associates) Link to Joanne’s talk
- William Hawkins (CIC) (link to be added)
- Tim Latham (Prefio) Link to Tim’s talk
Golden Nuggets
Wherever I go I try and collect nuggets: information that can be applied immediately – with immediate benefit; and here are only some of the ones I heard from the other speakers…
“Test it, try it then look at the response”“The energy that comes through from when you connect with someone with similar interests…”
“If you can’t find an example of how to use social media effectively in your own industry, look outside it”
“It takes something special to reach the inaccessible “
“If you find something useful…pass it on”
“If you bury your head in the sand everytime someone mentions social media – it’s going to be dark for a very long time”
Those are only some – sorry not to provide more – there were wayyyyy too many. Anyway, you should have been there. Talking of which, check out the Be2Camp website to find out when the next one is…
Thanks to everyone I met there – and let’s keep in touch … often 
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Lee, fantastic. The info on Flickr alone is a golden nugget. However, the greatest value to me from this was the excellent presentation; that could have been written for the organisation I work in… The other head in the sand thing, about getting your behind kicked equally applies in terms of not engaging with your customer base and allowing 'bad press' and issues to fester without appropriate speed of response & recognition. In this age of immediacy, those that do not evolve their engagement with the consumer base to reflect that which is 'out there'/social norm risk becoming laggards or even extinct.
Hi Rob. Thanks for feedback and glad it helped. Flickr is an amazing resource – especially if you have limited budgets etc – the quality of the images are incredible
And you raised a very poignant point – that we are living in an age of immediacy and I think this has evolved out of the 'fast food' sector. Now, as the time we spare is being sought after by so many organisations, the audiences that we engage with 'expect' quick replies… and/or quick acknowledgments. One great example of how a large organisation can implement and quickly engage with their audience is @vodafoneUK on Twitter. They engage in 1-2-1 conversations with their customers and sought out any problems 10/10 and a great example to follow.
Thanks for posting Rob