If ever there was a conference of dichotomy for me, it would have been this one.  I wanted to love it, but every time I thought I had reached that point something would happen to bring me back down to earth.  

The good news

There were some really outstanding sessions at this conference.  The keynotes by Andy Goodman and Neil Howe were both outstanding.  Adrienne Bartlett packed the house for her great summary on why colleges need to pay attention to social media. Devin Liddell gave some great tips on building a brand in a consensus-driven organization. Kennedy Kipps was possibly my favorite of the conference with his session on driving online giving. Overall, I would save the sessions I went to were above average and definitely worth the price of the conference.

I also had some great conversations with people throughout the conference.  I spent a lot of time with Tom and Drew from Innogage, and with Karine Joly. The ladies of Mindpower blew me away with a style I’m really not use to in higher education (but one after my own true heart!).  These are all people who really “get it” and gave me a lot of hope that cool things are still possible in higher education.  My biggest “ah ha” moment?  I think it was in a conversation with Tom - “if your best friend asked you to buy her daughter’s girl scout cookies, you’re not going to say no.”  I’ve been ruminating on how to apply that concept on the web ever since.  Ultimately, it’s all about relationship building with your constituents.  I’ve got a few ideas brewing on this concept.

The mediocre news

There were a lot of sessions on social media throughout the conference.  That was great.  There were also a lot of directors and other assorted higher ups at the conference LISTENING to the social media presentations.  Also good.  Do I think that listening is going to amount to much?  No.  People are still too scared and there was just enough old school information at this conference that I think people will use it as an excuse to stay inside their comfort zone.  Listening is a good step, but sometimes I feel like the social media argument in higher education is similar to the standards movement on the web - a very futile effort.  But we keep fighting the good fight nonetheless.  

The bad news

I’ve got to do some tough love for both the AMA and the conference committee.  While there were a lot of great presentations, there were also a lot of things that were very wrong about this conference.  And I wasn’t the only one to take notice. Please think about fixing some of these things for next year:

  1. Free WiFi for registrants - You may not have known it from all the blog posts that came out, but there was actually no free wifi in the meeting rooms.  I was lucky - I was given the super secret password to get on the wifi.  I also know people that paid up to $100/day to get it.  This is ridiculous.  When you go to a conference, you EXPECT easy access to the Internet.  In addition to free wifi, I also suggest you had some email checking stations into the mix for people who don’t have laptops.  
  2. Walk the walk - You guys included a lot of sessions on social media and Web 2.0, yet when the Innogage boys tried to do the Web 2.0 thing by doing a live-stream from the conference recapping the daily events, you tried to shut them down (in addition to banning video and pictures of the sessions).  Preaching giving up control and then doing everything you can to try and exert it does little to impress me.  In fact, I would go so far as to call it down right hypocritical. Ditch the old school mentality - you’re the American Marketing Association.  You really should know better.  Please get your hands on a copy of Groundswell before next year’s event. 
  3. Stop with the case studies!  I got a ton of great feedback on my session (thanks everyone!) and the primary thing I heard was that I actually gave people stuff that they can go home and implement this week.  Practical and applicable.  Case studies of specific things colleges have done are the opposite of this, since what works for one college may not necessarily work for me.  These types of sessions are by far the most useless I came across. Note to presenters - your audience doesn’t care about you.  You’re not the cool kid.  THEY are the cool kids.  It’s all about them.  Make sure your presentation helps them achieve what they are looking to when they get back to the office. 

The bottom line

Would I come back again next year?  Maybe.  I would love to see more of the Twitter crowd there and less of the old school public relations folks.  I’m sure they were gods during their time, but that time has passed.  Then again, if some of the sessions lived to the quality I saw at the ones I cited above, I may not be able to resist a return trip, but it would be kinda like voting for a candidate as the lessor of two evils - I’ll do it but without a lot of excitement over the act.