I love the road. Whether it is the open road for driving or the roads to the future. Last year, Ford and I teamed up for the pitchstops on the road to the Web 2.0 Expo. Today, I am happy to announce that Ford and I will be getting on the road again. This time I will travel to the Somesso conference in Zürich on the 2nd and 3rd of November.
Somesso focuses on corporate social media and this time has a very clear focus on the combination of social media and finances. And as Somesso is held in Zürich, it is a perfect conference to visit if you are into finances. So far, many of the main financial institutions will be attending to learn about the combination of social media and finances.
I know that many have their own thoughts on how social media should change the way in which we approach money. This is why I have chosen to use this trip as a platform to share these thoughts. This time you can climb in the back of Ford’s luxurious Galaxy to share your views on how social media could change the financial sector. Anyone and everyone with a clear vision on social media and finances is welcome. Naturally, we would love it if you have taken action on your vision and have a business that leads the way. If not? We would love to hear your vision anyway.
All the interviews we will record during the trip will be posted on www.pitchstops.com. I say “we” record as I will be joined on the road by Steven Kruyswijk who will be on camera duty during the trip. And besides posting the videos on the site, we will also be officially presenting them to the audience at Somesso, on stage. So, your thoughts will be heard by a very influential group of financial professionals. Another reason to take part.
For our last trip you needed to be present to take part. This time however, I have decided to broaden the scope. After all, the financial sector has had a huge impact on our lives over the past year. This has gotten a lot of people thinking about alternative ways to organize finances. If you have your own view, but cannot make it to the car, you can still participate. Make a short video of yourself of three minutes maximum, upload it to youtube and send me the link to the video. Yes, I will be screening the videos first, but all worthwile contributions will be added to www.pitchstops.com.
So, lets get shooting! The Pitchstops car will make its first stop in Amsterdam on Friday the 30th of October. After that we will stop in Antwerp, and possibly in Brussels, Luxemburg, Strasbourg and Zürich. None of these stops have officially been planned yet, so give us your ideas for a great location that does not take long to get to (from the highway) and get people to come join us in the Ford Galaxy.
I just got the message that Somesso has just got this very wild idea. Somewhere between right now and Fridaynight, they are going to announce a time at which all Somesso tickets will be available at half price! That is only half the price for a great line up of speakers. Half the price for a great opportunity to talk to others in corporate social media and only half the price for gaining knowledge that is worth a lot more.
However, the Somesso office is not going to tell you exactly when those two hours will start. There will be only one way to find out. You will have to follow @somesso on twitter where they will announce it. And lets face it, it is a great price for hearing Stowe Boyd, Jason Falls, Merran Wrigley, Andy Piper, Jason Goldberg, Lee Bryant, René E. Rechtman, Marilyn Pratt, Eugene Lee, Frans van der Reep, Chris Thorpe, Nick Burcher and Iain Simpson.
We are proud to officially launch the Somesso bloggers program for the Somesso conference in London on Friday May 15. As you will know, the Somesso conference focuses on social media use in corporate environments. As social media keep on gaining interest around the world, more and more corporations are looking into implementing these techniques within their organisations as well as in their communications to the outside world. For this reason, we feel that an active bloggers program is going to be a great addition to what we like to communicate to the corporate world.
For participants in our bloggers program we will have 10 free tickets to the conference available. However, we have attached some rules to the program and the distribution of the tickets.
- You need to publish at least 4 posts that are related to the Somesso Conference in London on the 15th of May. These can be blogposts, podcasts, videocasts or other publications on the event, event related speakers and interviews or anything else that is related to the Somesso Conference in London. And please use hashtag #smo09 on everything.
- You need to encourage readers, friends, your online communities, followers etc. to register for the event (this is important and you will see why)
- You will need to display a badge on your blog with a link to the registration page which will remain visible to the day of the conference. (You can find the badges on www.somesso.com/marketing)
As a member of the bloggers program, you will not go unnoticed. When you register I will send you a personal registration code that you can use on your blog in combination with one of the logo’s at www.somesso.com/marketing. (Mail me for your code, you will need it to be eligable for the ticket!) Besides the fact that being in the bloggers program will give you a chance to win one of the ten free tickets, that code will give your readers a discount of 10%. The interesting part is that as they sign up, you will get that same discount on a ticket you can purchase. As more and more people purchase tickets with your code, you will end up with a free ticket to the event. (Which you can then give away to your readers or otherwise.) As the event comes closer, we will be sending you information on the speakers as well as other event facts. And of course, you are in direct contact with the event organisers, so whatever you feel you need, don’t hesitate to ask. We will also provide an opportunity for bloggers to meet each other and opportunities to interview speakers at the event.
As we mentioned before, we only have 10 free tickets to the Somesso Conference in London available. The chance is that we will be having more bloggers that are interested. For that reason we will be selecting the 10 bloggers that will receive a conference pass based on the sales of tickets from their bloggers code. And when the number of sales would be equal, we will use our judgement based on the articles you have written and the impact they have had in the community. So make sure you spread the word as much as possible to get that free ticket.
If you have any questions, just get in touch with me either through my blog or mail me at somessobloggersprogram@arnehulstein.nl.
