[March 11, 7:12 a.m.]
It’s the final countdown! For the sake of time, I’ll skip the Europe lyrics, but it’s been one hell of a conference thus far. Last night’s cocktail hour featured shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, and a nice mixed drink called Tropical Punch. Oh, and I turned that slight shade of pink and had to break out the aloe vera!
But a little sunburn is worth it because this conference has lived up to the hype once again. This is my third Ragan conference, and my second one in Disney. I thought it’d be fun in this live journal to talk about what’s been the same and what’s been different.
What’s been the same?
• Ragan conferences are run like a Swiss watch, as each session starts and finishes on time. It seems like a small thing, but talking with some other attendees last night, you’d think it was a huge reason many of them came. Being on time means attendees get breaks, breaks mean your mind can relax and absorb the next session just as well as you did the first. That’s important.
• The quality of the speakers and their ability to create compelling presentations remains unchanged. High-quality information is why we all come to these. We know that #RaganDisney was trending nationally yesterday, but you could probably have seen the term “information overload” trend, as well!
• Location, location, location. Ragan always seems to find the best places to hold this conference.
• Great stories are told by people to people. That hasn't changed and never will.
What’s changed? The field we’re all working in.
• Attention spans are shorter and it’s been an overlying theme in every presentation. Your phone, your desktop and any other device are simply distractions. The question is, will it be a good distraction or a bad one? Communicators should strive to be the best distraction possible for their audience.
• I thought it wasn’t possible, but there’s been an even larger emphasis on video. One thing that’s changed is the fact that marketers need to create videos that do well without sound, because most consumers don’t have time for it.
• The lines of internal communications and external communications continue to blur. What happens internally won’t stay that way and what happens externally, especially if it’s poor, will live on forever in the hallowed chambers of YouTube.
[March 9, 4:50 p.m.]
That’s a wrap on Day One, folks! Thomas Smith, social media director for Disney Parks, concluded the ceremonies showing a behind-the-scenes look at how Disney Parks creates a culture of content. It revolves around one thing: people.
For Disney Parks, the formula is quite simple actually: Curiosity + People = Engaging Content. It’s a formula that must be working since the Disney Parks Blog gets more traffic in a day than some small newspapers. A few other thoughts from Thomas that struck a chord with me:
• Every great story that Disney Parks tells starts with curiosity; think of it like a cat playing with water
• Disney Parks has hundreds of authors and they aren’t all college interns; VPs, directors and more contribute to the success of it all
• Attention to detail matters everywhere in Disney, so it’s no surprise that all of the details matter when it comes to how Disney Parks operates
Check back tomorrow for more thoughts from #RaganDisney, and as they say: Have a magical day!
[March 12:38 p.m.]
Disney is a vision, it’s an idea. But above all else, it's a story. When I sat down for Tim Cigelske’s presentation on 14 proven strategies for getting leadership buy-in, I thought I knew the story. Here we go, another presentation of listing tips on topics that probably won’t work anyway.
I was wrong. After watching a quick clip from The Lion King, Tim’s presentation was one story that made me the hero with the quest of solving a communications struggle in my workplace. As my live tweets showed, it was hard to explain but truly intriguing to follow. I enjoyed being the hero and creating a real-life road map for solving an issue within the office.
A few key lessons that I took away from it:
• Success leads to success and challenges; be prepared to deal with both
• If you don’t get what you want, always thank those who helped you try to get it
• Empower employees to do what they’re passionate about and the rest will take care of itself
[March 10, 11 a.m.]
The first session is over and I found Jen Lee Reeves and her talk interesting. Here were her tips for having a small but mighty social team:
• Set expectations
• Quality over quantity
• Have mindful metrics
• Spend money wisely
It was a great discussion that set the baseline for the rest of the day. A common trend that’s emerging in the talks is the focus of quality over quantity. I didn’t agree with everything Jen said; for example, I love using the native social platforms as opposed to things like HootSuite. But I agreed that the best social media posts only have one call to action.
Next up is a presentation about strategies to get buy-in from the organization.
[March 10, 9:55 a.m.]
Hurricane Crescenzo hit #RaganDisney this morning. Never heard of it? Steve Crescenzo opened the first official day of the conference with a stirring keynote! It started with him calling out fitness junkies online, and those who post feet photos. He showed crappy internal rap videos and outlined all of the winners and sinners of social media.
A poignant moment happened with this video from Kleenex, which Steve showed about 45 minutes into the presentation. Is it about Kleenex? No. It doesn’t have to be, though; it’s beautiful.
And that was Steve’s point: Communications can be much more than a press release graveyard. If it’s concise, conversational, compelling and creative, it can be so much more.
A final note to wrap up this live journal entry. I loved this quote from Steve: “Do less and do it better.”
Amen, Steve.
[March 9, 11:20 p.m.]
What a day! If I could describe it in an emoji, I’d pick that fantastic little red 100. I’m not the only one either, as 50% of the people who participated in my last poll of the night agreed with me. Sure, only 10 people voted, but what do you think this is, FiveThirtyEight? I thrive on small sample-sized polls.
Anyway, tomorrow is the first official day of the conference as attendees from all over the world flock to Lake Buena Vista! Topics for tomorrow will touch on, well, almost everything. From productivity in small teams (a topic I’ve blogged on before) to 14 proven strategies to get leaders’ buy-in for social media and a special appearance from a great friend of Dixon Schwabl’s, PGA of America’s Joni Lockridge. What’s not to love?
#RaganDisney starts at 7:30, which I just realized is about eight hours away! Time for some sleep emoji.
[March 9, 3:13 p.m.]
My fiancé has always said that I have a big head. She’s talking about the size of it, and quite frankly she’s right, I happen to have a larger head than the average person. Well, bad news, sweetsies. After a full day of sessions, my head is now much bigger.
This is my third year at a Ragan conference, and already I’ve seen some of the best sessions I’ve ever been to. One of them just wrapped up and it was Justin Allen’s presentation on video and social media. Spoiler alert: All you need is an iPhone and some cost-affordable equipment to make something truly beautiful.
Justin’s presentation was littered with solid tidbits about shooting video, but here are a few things I learned or got a refresher on:
• Three-point lighting: Basically, by using three different positions for light, you can not only capture your subject in the best way possible, but also add in depth while eliminating shadows
• Rule of thirds: Part of the beauty behind the rule of thirds is that you’re forcing the audience to pay attention to what you’d like; if you don’t tell them, they’ll focus on whatever they want
• Don’t ever pinch and pull to zoom on your iPhone, instead, zoom with your feet
• Finally, don’t ever shoot a vertical video if you don’t have to: Say No to Vertical Videos
Boy, there was a lot in this presentation. See more great content by checking out my Twitter feed during the presentation. Time to finish up some work, watch Chelsea Football Club and prepare for the first official day tomorrow.
p.s. Look for a periscope later tonight recapping the conference so far on the beach!
[March 9, 12 p.m.]
Love the outdoors? How about social media measurement? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then you had a lot in common with Danielle Brigida, lead social for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Besides loving animals and nature, Danielle’s passion lives within the data she uses to create a content strategy that works for the USFWS.
“People love photos of wild animals on social,” Danielle said. That eight-word statement is loaded with statistical data that Danielle uses every single day to create engaging content for her audience.
What I loved most about Danielle’s presentation was that it was focused on finding the right solution for whatever situation you find yourself in. Like Buffalo Bills fandom, the best analytics approach isn’t spread thin, but rather focused, passionate and deeply meaningful. Don’t just collect data, but instead use data to make informed decisions that will change the way people act in your organization.
Also, I ran another poll and found a much tighter race than the first session. The most surprising stat? Only 8% of respondents said they were creating on social media. Another great statistic to show that it’s not that important to post every single day, but rather when the content is truly valuable.
Check out my live stream of tweets in two parts (first and second)!
[March 9, 9:58 a.m.]
Brain is on overload this morning, but in the best way possible. The first sessions are always interesting at Ragan conferences because communicators from all industries are placed into a room filled with bagels and coffee, then it’s off and running!
Seriously, I’ve never talked to so many financial professionals and lawyers in one day … I think I may be buying a house! But nonetheless, a ton of communicators face the same issues when it comes to creating the content strategy that best fits their business.
That was the focus of Jenn Eldin’s session this morning, and you can see my thread of tweets here. A key learning from Jenn’s talk was the importance of leading strategy with data, whether selling social upward or outward.
With that in mind, I ran a poll asking my fellow attendees what the most important metric for them is when it comes to social media. The returns weren’t entirely surprising, with 55% saying engagement was most important. I would trumpet conversions, coming in at 24%, as a big victory. Two years ago, tying social to the bottom line was much more difficult—now it’s something we can do with nearly every campaign.
Another big takeaway from Jenn’s presentation was the importance of data in realms outside of strategy. If the over/under was set at 199.5 mentions about using data to your advantage, hopefully you took the over. A telling quote: “Data and analysis is a weapon, use it wisely.” When thinking about social, what’s working and what isn’t, data should be at the forefront.
[March 9, 6:07 a.m.]
Maybe it was a late-night binge on House of Cards. It also could have been waiting for exit polls from the Michigan primaries. I think most of it was I couldn't turn my brain off thinking about the #RaganDisney pre-conference workshops that are happening today.
When you've got topics like convincing the C-Suite, small budget for social videos and building a playbook (Is Rex Ryan coming to that one?), how can you not be excited?
To burn off some of that excess excitement, time for a morning run on the boardwalk. Two miles today leads to a half marathon in May!
[March 8, 2:09 p.m.]
Break out the sunblock! I’m in Disney this week for the Ragan Social Media Conference for PR, Marketing and Corporate Communications. We’ve got a loaded speaker list from all walks of marketing. This was a great conference last year, so I’m thrilled to be back.
Throughout the week, follow me at @AndrewKnoblauch to see all of my #RaganDisney tweets! With 140 characters, I’ll do my best to give you a front-row seat to speakers from Disney, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, PGA Championship, SAS, BlackRock, U.S. Department of Commerce, AARP and more.
Plus, you can check back here as I update this daily journal a few times throughout the conference! That’s all for now—time to lather up the SPF 40 and take a stroll along the boardwalk (where I was able to take the photo below this morning).
