Today was the second time I have seen Seth speak. If you get the chance to see him, I highly recommend it. He’s a mix between a new school marketing thinker and a motivational speaker.

Here are my takeaways from today’s talk.

Seth on Education
Public education isn’t enough. Parents need to provide education that requires thinking about

College is just like high school, but with more binge drinking and debt. Take a year off before college and “experience”

On Getting Stuff Done
The devil doesn’t need an advocate. He’s doing just fine on his own.

If you need to sacrifice perfect to ship, do. Good enough is good enough.

All stakeholders need to give their input at the beginning of a project, not at the end, or you will never ship.

If you want to ship on time, allow thrashing at the beginning only. And then forever hold your peace.

I’ll know it when I see it” that’s lizard bullshit. Get the client to sign off on the brief before you start.

Don’t compromise the edges that matter. Art is edgy

If you don’t ship, you can’t do art. If you don’t do art, you can’t make a difference.

Take a Risk
Take away denialability. Take the risk

Will I get fired for doing something small without getting my bosses permission?

The way to move up the ranks in an organization is by solving problems that aren’t in the manual.

Be generous. Leave a trail. Create connections. Don’t wait to be given “authority.” Take responsibility & risks alike.

Take responsibility even when you have no authority.

On Making A Difference
Google has made it so that everyone is somewhat famous.

If you want a job, the resume is the last way to get the job. Leave a breadcrumb trail online, that’s the real you.

People are genetically wired to organize in groups of 150. (Dunbar’s number). TRIBES. Lead one.

We have been trained not to be wrong or criticized. Those that break the mode will succeed.

Creating Differentiation
We will pay extra for remarkable goods/ services. But when companies race to homogenize, we have no incentive but to go cheap.

It’s better to whisper to customers than yell at strangers!

You can win the race to the bottom – you don’t win when you are more compliant or trying to be cheaper – you win when u solve interesting problems.

In a world where marketers are yelling louder, personal, relevant, anticipated information is welcome.

How many people would miss you if you didn’t show up for an ad?

The Internet is a connection tool, not organized as a commerce machine or promotional engine.

To build a culture of experimentation, publicly fire those who don’t make mistakes

If you don’t start making mistakes, you’re fired.

For the first time, there are no barriers. Go and do it

How do you solve a problem? Blow up the barriers

The people who are making things happen today are doing so without history and credentials

The recession is huge opportunity for us to rethink and do better work.

Rethink what you actually DO all day.

Ad agencies that help you build a tribe are in high demand, not those that want to help you talk to strangers

The dip…when most people quit…is your opportunity to push thru & make a difference & win.

On Education
Stop taking notes it’s useless! Kids need to solve interesting problems- we teach them not to think – just take notes

Rather than teach students data easily found on wikipedia, we need to teach our students to solve interesting problems.

The real world doesn’t require #2 pencils or memorizing and regurgitating the next day. We need to blow the way we learn.

Public school was invented to create compliant factory workers.

I bought an iPad a few months ago to see what all the hype was about. I decided to wait for the 3G because I rarely use my iPhone on a wireless network.

Up until this weekend I primarily have been using it to take notes at meeting. This allows me to email everyone my notes from the meeting as soon as the meeting ends. I have also been using a lot at conferences to Tweet the events.

My favorite apps so far include:
o eBay allows me to check my eBay listings and the browsing feature is much better then viewing it on a computer
o Hotmail is a full-featured email client for Hotmail
o TweetDeck is my favorite twitter client on the iPad as well as on a laptop
o IM+ Lite allows me to IM from
o HelTweetica is a pretty cool Twitter app to let run in the background when you are not using your iPad
o Flipboard is an amazing application. I use it primarily to see the stories people are sharing on Twitter
o CraigsPro is a craigslist application that allows you to search all of craigslist and has a more intuitive interface then browsing online
o DocsToGo allow me to create and edit Microsoft Word, Xcel and PowerPoint documents
o MobileRSS is the best RSS reader that I have found that integrates with my Google Reader account

On Sunday my laptop died on me. Since then I’ve been using my iPad and have found it to do about 95% of what I need my laptop to do. With a little more exploring of apps, I could probably live without my laptop.

Jared

Ever since kindergarten when my mother told me wisely, “Don’t talk to strangers,” I’ve been doing gradually more and more of just that. First it was Yahoo! Chat, then MySpace, then Facebook, then Twitter, and last night it was finally foursquare.

I was hesitant to jump on the foursquare bandwagon for a variety of reasons:
• Do people really need/want to know every time I’m making a run to CVS for more Tums?
• Do I really want people to know when I’m running errands for more Tums, potentially alone?
• Finally, the biggest reason, my safety. I’ve chosen to have my Twitter profile on public, so any creeper who really wanted to know where I had just checked in potentially could, and could show up. For those of you who don’t think this would ever happen, a story: I was chatting with a lovely female blogger, and was asking her why a lot of women chose to go by an alias, such as ‘Southern Mommy.’ She said that it’s to protect her family and herself because there are real horror stories of fans showing up on doorsteps because they knew the blogger’s name. CREEPY!

Now, back to me. Yesterday I finally made the decision to concede to Foursquare because I wanted to better understand how I can apply the technology to client work. I begrudgingly added the app to my phone, added my friends and waited for the right time to check-in. What happened next was foursquare magic.

I arrived at Sawatdee in St. Paul and decided this was the time. I found the location, and then I saw that there was actually a ‘tip’ from another Foursquare user,

“…If you’re brave, say you’re a Rossmor resident and get a discount. -Nicholas B.”

Since my boyfriend and I had just toured a condo in the Rossmor building, I decided I would give it a go, and we got 15% off our bill.

That, my friends, was a foursquare success and I am now a believer. My name is Cydney, and right at this very second you can find me on the second floor of 550 Main Street, New Brighton, MN 55112. See you soon.

fbCal lets allows you to automatically synchronize your Facebook events to a variety of other calendar services, including Google Calendar, Apple’s iCal (including directly in the iPhone), Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Sunbird, and Lotus Notes.

Read more at Inside Facebook or install fbCal on Facebook

@jaredroy

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

TCB Senior Editor Gene Rebeck on Business, Trends, and Whatever

I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments about Foursquare. When I ask most people if they have heard of Foursquare I get a blank look like I’m speaking another language and others find it annoying when their Twitter friends are checking in all around town.

So what is Foursquare? Here is a description from their website.

Check-in to places
People use foursquare to “check-in”, which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we’ll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places – cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.

You’ll find that as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you’ll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you’ll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover.

Share your experiences with friends
Think of foursquare as an “urban mix tape.” We’ll help you make lists of your favorite things to do and let you share them with friends. Think beyond your standard review – we’re looking less for “The food here is top notch” and more for “Go to Dumont Burger and try the most amazing Mac and Cheese ever.” Foursquare will keep track of the things you’ve done, help you create To-Do lists and even suggest new experiences to seek out.

As you check-in around the city, you’ll start finding tips that other users have left behind. After checking-in at a restaurant, it’s not uncommon to unlock a tip suggesting the best thing on the menu. Checking-in at a bar will often offer advice on what your next stop should be. Every tip you create is discoverable by other users just by checking-in.

Earn points and unlock badges!
Every foursquare checkin earns you points. Find a new place in your neighborhood? +5 points. Making multiple stops in a night? +2 points. Dragging friends along with you? +1. And as you start checking-in to more interesting places with different people, you’ll start unlocking badges. There are badges for discovering new places and for traveling to far away places. Spending too much time singing karaoke or been hitting the gym consistently? Yes, there are badges for those too.

Become the mayor! Unlock some freebies!
We all have our local hangouts and foursquare keeps tabs on who’s the most loyal of all the regulars. If you’ve been to a place more than anyone else, you’ll become “the mayor”… until someone else comes along and steals your title.

It may sound a little silly until you see the list of places that are offering freebies to our mayors – free coffees, free ice-cream, free hotel stays – it pays to be a foursquare loyalist and check-in whenever you go!

Keep Track of Your Friends
When I was growing up we didn’t have cell phones and getting a hold of people and leaving messages through landlines was a challenge. You would leave a message and maybe the next day you would get a call back. Now we have Foursquare and many more location-aware applications. If I was trying to hook up with my friends when I was in college all I would have to do is check their Twitter stream or see where they checked in on Foursquare and I would know where they were.

GPS Your Children
Have you ever wanted to put a GPS device on your children so you would know where they are at all times? How many of you growing up told your parents you were going to your friends house to hang out for the night and you promised them that their parents were home, but then you jumped into your car and went to a house party? What if your parents made you check in on Foursquare at all of your stops? As a parent, I’m looking forward to all of the location-based applications. If my daughter tells me she wants to use the car to go to the mall, she will be required to checkin on a location-based application like Foursquare when she arrives at the mall.

Foursquare is the Ultimate Easter Egg Hunt
Imagine checking in for your ski vacation in Breckenridge at your property management company, Great Western Lodging, and you happen to also check-in on Foursquare and a message comes up that says, congratulations your stay is on us and thanks for checking in on Foursquare. Then a message comes up that says go and check out The Hearthstone Restaurant and receive a 1/2 price dinner. The next day you go to The Hearthstone and check-in on Foursquare and show the waiter your 1/2 price coupon and then a message comes up that says come to Clint’s Bakery and receive a free Latte. The next morning you check-in on Foursquare at Clints Bakery. This could go on and on during your vacation. Every time you check-in you never know what you are going to get.

So how is this relevant? All of your followers on Twitter and Foursquare will be notified of your check-in and you just might say to them, “I just had the most amazing dinner at the Hearthstone Restaurant in Breckenridge”. Maybe next time one of your friends is in Breckenridge, Colorado they may just visit the Hearthstone because they consider you as someone they trust.

What if you could offer specials based on someone’s influence? If they are the mayor of a couple locations, have a large following on Twitter and Foursquare? I imagine a dashboard that you could login to and base your criteria for give-a-ways based on an influence algorithm.

Are you ready to get your business on foursquare? Sign up as a business here.

Follow me on Foursquare here

Jared Roy

What are your thoughts?

Last night I attended the kick-off of the third season of Conversations About The Future Of Advertising. Edward Boches (@edwardboches), Chief Creative Officer/Chief Social Media Officer, MULLEN (Boston) spoke about his personal evolution as an agency leader in the face of historic change.

Edward believes everything has changed, but the real change is the individual’s new power, influence, participation and control: both as a consumer and individual.

I’ve been talking to Edward for about a year now over Twitter, so I felt like we already knew each other. I worked at Mullen in the past, so we had that connection but we both also are avid cyclists which brings an even stronger bond. Unfortunately I didn’t get to work with him when I was at Mullen.

Here are some key points from the presentation as well as my thoughts.

Regarding Facebook:
• We are interested in a brand’s Facebook feed, but we won’t visit their fan page on a regular basis. We will read their feeds, so make sure you have content that is interesting and engaging
• Why take out a Facebook ad if your target is mostly iphone users. This is a great point. Just because your audience is on Facebook it doesn’t mean that they are viewing Facebook in their browsers. I read all of my Facebook feeds through TweetDeck, I will never see your Facebook ad you are trying to serve me.

Content:
• Social media must 1st start with a content strategy. If you have no content to engage your audience, your social media outreach will fail.
• There’s a mindset in PR that’s more adaptable to the concept of conversation strategy. Mullen has decided to put the bulk of it’s social media outreach within the public relation’s team. PR has a history of great writing and communication, so it is a great fit. I believe PR, Social Media, Search should all be integrated.
• The agency of the future: be fearless, experiment, and create content that your audience cares about
• The mp3 is good enough. Why do you need a million dollar TV commercial?

Community:
• There’s no such thing as perfect, only perfects. The old marketing where you had the data that said Males 40-44 have this behavior, and hang out here is over. There is no perfect ad buy anymore. You have to create community and content where your audience is
• Crowdsourcing will grow in popularity whether we like it or not.
• Curator/choreographer will emerge as the new important role
• Targeting + creative + conversation strategy will be the new formula
• “We used to watch. Now we create.” ~ “Community is the new source of content.”
• Turn analog events into digital. A great example of this is Mullen’s Brand Bowl 2010
• Crowd source a blog. Check out The Next Generation
• Inspire consumers to create stories with you
• Attention is the new scarcity. Inspire and start building relationships with your audience
• Community is our new source of content
• We want to do business with a person
• If you are not talking to consumers as participants and still as audience members, you are doomed

Key points to ponder
• The new creative brief. Build a client site that pull in Twitter, RSS feeds, videos etc. “see” your audience. Check out Magnify
• The future marketer has to be a choreographer and a curator
• ad agencies are betting on: platform, talk value, community, crowdsourcing … Not on consumer as an audience
• Whoever hires the best digital talent will win. Creativity will matter more than ever since you can’t buy attention