What about permission?

Note to reader: I left at 1pm as I had another engagement so I don’t know what happened in the second half. Do tell if you know.

At an event yesterday organised by The Alternative in deepest Soho I was annoyed to discover that the place had no wireless access and my 3G card didn’t work as we were in the basement. Avery nice basement but nonetheless reception was rubbish.

tribe - Projeto Salamandra

The event was entitled “The New Brand Tribalism” and not being able to pump up my pc to tweet and share with the world what was going on was incredibly annoying. My tribal behaviour towards this brand was no off to a good start.

Note to all event organisers, wireless is as much an essential these days as tea and coffee.

My initial thought before going to this event were that I wonder how much people like Seth Godin and a whole host of others would come up. Not once unless I fell asleep.  Seth has his critics and I’m no fan-boy but c’mon, give a word for those that came before.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I didn’t feel that there was anything “new” here. Lots of talk of being authentic but the also more on being controlling. To my mind that sounded like, try and look like you are authentic. Kind of the opposite of being authentic. I was expecting more about giving employees brand permission, about employees being involved in the decisions that matter to them, the stuff that makes me come to work.

There were some mentions of brand ambassadors but it felt like that some gimmick or other had to be run so as employees would then go and talk about it. Quick fixes fade quick too.

Actually one statement that stuck in my mind went something like, ” We can take the tribal behaviours and control and shape them for the business.” To me that sounds like they way you kill it.

Great chats though with a couple of gents, those were insightful conversations on what is really happening, success and failures, fear and desire.  Wish I also got to meet Joanne and Rach who also attended.

SOA is forbidden, virtually

Something I’m looking forward to in a couple of weeks is the IBM Virtual Forbidden City event which takes place at the end of this month (April 28, 29).  Here ithe host of the eventIBM’s John Tolva to tell you more.

So what’s it all about?

• Discuss SOA with IBM’s leading architects and strategists
• See a real-life SOA case study in action and learn the business benefits
• Learn how to solve complex architectural challenges through SOA without disrupting your existing systems
• Network with your peers in a unique virtual, SOA-based environment

Each session will be about 40 mins long and if nothing else will be a great chance to meet up with similar minded people from all sorts of organisations and a few of us from IBM.

Creating social capital in the recession

Not often I promote an event but this one I have an interest in, Somesso London 09, well feature my colleague Andy Piper (IBM) who will be talking about security and information privacy.

As well as Andy, my bet for 2008, socialmedian, will also be represented by it’s founder and now Chief Product Officer at Xing, Jason Goldberg.

The event will focus on how social capital and earnings can be made in the relationship economy during this time of particular hardship. This is something that has been recognised for a while in IBM but even here it is gaining more and more momentum even with nay-sayers.

Also on the agenda will be Stowe Boyd “Evolution of the responsive brand” and Lee Bryant (Headshift) “Communities, Market Insights.” Plus many more..

In all it looks for a very promising first London event for Arjen and the Somesso team. Congrats on getting such a fantastic line-up.

Follow somesso on twitter

Every penny counts

This week in London we will see fuel protests over the current price, with protesters asking the government not to go ahead with a 2p tax increase on petrol later this year, which all seems a drop in the ocean when prices seem to go up by 2p every day.

Sooner or later we will all have to face up to higher fuel prices, even if we find more gas and oil under the arctic we can’t go on burning fossil fuels the way we are if we are going to survive as a species on this planet. Don’t worry about the planet – that will go on fine once we annihilate ourselves in this crazy race of life.

I would think all the protesters would be better off looking at ways they can be smarter about the fuel they use and look for alternatives to transport goods or retraining than wasting time trying to save 2p a litre.

Fuel prices will of course increase the price of everything we buy which seems the obvious incentive to everyone to reduce consumption and become a bit greener, then the Conservatives come out with a crazy idea for individual carbon allowances – a process in itself will create a huge increase in the use of valuable resources.

We either decide to save the environment so we can live on this planet or we keep economic activity growing the way it is and face, if not extinction in the not too distant future, then a serious change to the current situation.

We also have fishermen on strike over the cost of diesel today all over Europe. Governments that at one time talked about green issues are looking at ways to keep this old economy going.

Another interview

It is odd how a decision to do something ripples out in time to other events.  When as a family we went to Move it in the Manor and ended up one the cover of Sutton Scene and in The Times.

Today I’m being interviewed again for a newspaper about the Sutton Smarter Travel scheme.  From The Times to the guardian.. well actually this time it is the Sutton Guardian.  Spoke to the guy last week how tried to contact me while I was on holiday. He is also a travel writer so I’ll be asking him if he has any jobs too.  Sounds aright character so looking forward to that after lunch.

I don’t think we shall be going outside for any photos (may be we will) because the wind is blowing like a typhoon out there this morning.

We’re in the Sutton Scene

Ping went to a friends house the other day and saw a copy of our local free magazine, Sutton Scene… we are on the cover!  The picture was taken at this years Move it at the manor event.

It is a shame about Phoebe, she is usually really happy but for whatever reason the photographer managed to take the most miserable picture of her I have ever seen.

There is a larger version of this.. if you dare.

Powered by ScribeFire.

London Freewheel cycling fun

From l to r: Phoebe, me, Ping

Sunday saw the largest gathering of cyclists on the streets of London in the Hovis Freewheel event.

The weather was great and the crowds came out, about 36,000 – and that was the people that registered. Apart from the many “crossing points” to allow lead footed pedestrians to get to and from Buck’ Palace the route was a lovely ride around London, Phoebe especially liked the loud zone under the bridges, screaming her head off.

The event was supposed to get non-cyclists out and about London but on the whole it looked like mostly regular cyclists had turned up even though just about every rental bike in London had been taken for the day.  I think it showed just how many people do ride already.

The day started in Carshalton where we met with others from the area and were led to the hub on Clapham Common by the London Cycle Campaign marshall, who was probably knocking on 70 years old – he could move.

When we got to Clapham the scene was quite amazing – a field full of people on all sorts of bikes with one or sporting angle wings or wizard costumes. At first they were letting people go 2 at a time every 30 seconds, this proved to be just crazy as the crowd got larger and larger with huge convoys of people arriving from all over.  I wouldn’t be surprised in Clapham was the busiest hub.

The trip down to the central car-free route was quite slow, the sheer weight of numbers around the traffic light congested north side of Clapham was making hard work.  Many car drivers were clearly getting upset.

Once in to town and after many bemused people looking at this stream of cyclists we got on to the main route and headed straight for our free sandwiches (thanks Hovis) and apples (cheers Cape) and then on for the ride.  Now I have riden this route before and sometimes it is quite terrifying along the Embankment opposite South Bank.  Cars whizz through the dual carriageway – today the only worry was from little kids not being able to go in a straight line.

We stopped by the London Eye at one of the free photo spots to have our picture taken and downloaded it today from the site.

I have to say it was a really lovely day, the weather held and the smiles of peoples faces made it all the better.  The cycle home was in stark contrast through busy streets and the usual London madness until we picked up the Wandle Way near Morden.

Looking forward to next year and also Critical Mass.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Some thoughts from the 2nd european blogging summit

Yesterday Andy Piper and I went to the 2nd European Blogging Summit in London.  Indeed Andy did a fine job as the first speaker.

Apart from being in a very hot room (what news) the gathering was actually quite enjoyable from a personal view. That basically equates to I know more than I thought I did and much more than many people that attended.  This was confirmed when Robin Hamman (BBC), the chairman for the morning mentioned Technorati, and everyone wrote it down for reference. The scene was set.

My two fav speakers, apart from Andy of course and Robin, we’re Oxfam and Headshift.

Oxfam because it is great to see a large organisation moving so quickly and trying out new things and having such a positive attitude in doing them.  Sure they understand the risks and pitfalls but they realise that they need to harness technology and go with the flow.  If it doesn’t work, nevermind.  Perhaps they are in a lucky position being a charity. I don’t know.

Some of you may know Headshift, this is the first I had heard of them, the guy next to us was from Nesta and was/is a client.  Well the Headshift talk pretty much followed the way we work and the way we think – there were some elements about intranets that didn’t reflect my view but I could see where he was coming from. 

There was a lawyer presenting from Covington – looking at the handouts it was a touch negative – but his delivery was more realistic about the whole thing and was probably covering bum more than anything (as they do).

On reflection the audience (which could have been bigger) showed the varying levels of understanding and belief in social networking tools, not just blogging, that you see on the street.  It was never going to shake the world or say a great deal new but it was good to see the variations played out by the presenters.

I think we still have a long way to go before corporate get this.

Thanks and well done to Andy… he has also written a more in depth account.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Is the Hovis Freewheel just one of Ken’s stunts?

OK I’ve signed up for the Hovis Freewheel in London on 23rd Sept.  But I have seen plenty of people saying why?  Just give us bike lanes.

Could there be a reason for this event other than to inflate Ken’s already large ego?

A national study by the Transport Research Laboratory indicates that 38% of non-cyclists worry that friends would laugh at them for cycling (TRL 2001). Many people see cycling as eccentric, heroic, socially unacceptable or of limited relevance.

Of course cyclists don’t tend to think this way, but some also see that cycling has a low social status (between you and me the better off you are the more likely you are to cycle.. strange, but true) so what is the answer?  Turn everyone into a cyclist.

Cycling Action Plan (.pdf)

Unless you convince more people and everyone sees more people cycling then there will not be the business case to build huge numbers of dedicated cycle lanes.

Events like Freewheel look to get people into cycling in a fun way – in fact the event really isn’t aimed at the committed cyclist, it’s all you people with a bike in the shed that needs a bit of WD40 and a good ride into town.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Fame at last – and sustainable transport

I haven’t seen it yet but Phoebe, my wife and I are in the Croyden Advertiser, that staple read of every home.. yeah right.

We were at the “Move it at the Manor” festival, last weekend when a photographer from the council asked to take a few snaps as I was carrying the cycle helmets on my bag.

The event is part of the 3 year, £3 million project, Smarter Travel Sutton, a pilot scheme in London, supported by Mayor of London and Transport for London, to help people reduce car usage and increase use public transport and cycling. The central part of the scheme is a visit by travel advisers to each and every house in the borough to ask them how they travel and provide information such as bus timetables and cycle routes.

If successful it will expand to the rest of London.

Powered by ScribeFire.