media140 Scotland is our second foray into regional events, where we take the media140 roadshow across the UK to small businesses and organisations who are keen to understand more about the practical applications of social media.
Hosted by D8 Digital’s Managing Director, Mark Jennings took the event from a standing start to deliver a very successful event to over 100 participants at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow.
Our man Ande Gregson, was there to find out what stood out at the first Scottish event.
Stepping into the main Cafe area of the CCA it was immediately obvious that a lot of thought had gone into the selection of the venue. A ‘bright and airy’ glass-roofed courtyard provided an outdoor-indoors feel, with tables and soft seating dotted around the large open space. The media140 staff and volunteers looked as stylish as their surroundings and mellow music of a the @cairnquartet blended well with understated modern furnishings to create a relaxed atmosphere.
The evening was ‘designed’ be social from the outset.
Three speakers Pat Kane, Trey Pennington and Steve Berry entertained, enlightened and inspired the participants during the evening with their experiences, insight and stories.
Pat Kane graced the inaugural media140 London back in May 2009 and so it was fitting he open the first Scottish event. Very much on form delivering brilliant insights into ‘intimacy and extimacy‘, establishing a brand called me and the metaphysical changes that business’ have to undergo with the advent of social media.
Trey Pennington a recognised social media and marketing professional who flew in from Carolina US had an intimate and engaging presentation style, looking at the context of marketing with social media and how the value of social media can help you turn prospects into customers.
Steve Berry brought many of his experiences in social media to light with an endearing and light hearted approach, looking at his work with Ridley Scott studios and transmedia projects, storytelling and the impact that influential bloggers can have on a marketplace.
With a 15 minute break in between each speaker session it gave the participants ample time to socialise and converse, and it was clear from vibrant chatter that there was much to discuss. What made this slightly different from previous media140 events was the use of the physical space, purposely seating the participants ‘cafe style’ at four to a table, naturally creating more of an impetus for conversation.
Mark Jennings had purposely wanted participants to have the ‘ability to learn from the person sitting next to you’ as part of the event experience. The use of the CCA Cafe was a stroke of inspiration and certainly helped foster an ideal social environment for participants to share ideas ‘across a table’ creating serendipitous moments.
It was clear as the evening drew to a close that the importance of learning as much from the participants who attend social media events is just as important as the ‘takeaway’ from the speakers.
Not all the answers can be squeezed into 30 minute keynotes, it is usually the conversations with other individuals that are making the same mistakes as you, is where you may find a lot of your learnings.
Ande, media140
The event was brilliantly produced with every detail considered and media140 would like to extend our thanks to the producer Mark Jennings at D8 Digital, the speakers Pat Kane, Trey Pennington, Steve Berry, our sponsors Inksters, BIGPartnership with special thanks to MovieCom_tv and 29 Studios, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Camerons AV, Gary Bonar photography, live blogger Kevin Gilmartin, Allan Barr, Michelle Rodger, LpC events and the media140 volunteers Debbi, Kaiza and Mary.
Event media
Video highlights on Vimeo
Photographs from the event
Delicious media, blogs and links
media140 will be returning to Scotland in the Autumn, if you would like to be part of the event as a sponsor, speaker or volunteer please get in touch at info@media140.com
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