I was in San Francisco the last couple of days speaking at the GSMI Blogging Strategies Summit. Guy Kawasaki was the keynote speaker, and I was the ‘closing keynote’ speaker. Which basically is the euphemistic way of saying Guy opened the day and I closed it. And since the speaking world is not at all like a rock concert…this does not make me the headliner in this scenario. It basically just makes me last. Or the ‘pre-cocktail party’ speaker.
But that is okay. Just being on the same stage as Guy, was an honor and darn fun for me. I am guessing more than half my readers are scratching their heads and asking who the heck is “Guy Yamaha-kamakazi?”….Well he is one of the pillars of the Social Media movement, a former Apple guru and a prolific award winning author. He is also a dedicated father, Hawaiian shirt freak, Stanford graduate, law-school drop out and Justin Bieber fan. And no I am not kidding with that last one.
He was incredibly nice to me. But then again, he is incredibly nice to EVERYONE.
So I didn’t take it personally.
My new presentation on Community Management (Managing the Managers) was very well received. Especially when I opened with saying “Community Manager is the absolute worst job title EVER”…..I cover the process, the procedure and guardrails. I explain the scope of a Community Manager position and what brands need to do, to give their CM’s the ability to be awesome on their behalf.
Oh, in case you are wondering what I think we Community Managers should be called?
Ring Masters.
Because honestly- that is what we are.
We are the ring masters of the digital circus.
And dammit I want a top hat and a cool red coat ASAP.
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