Paul Woods

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After a full on start to the year (hence the severe lack of blogging!) ,I think it is time for some professional development for a couple of days… so I am off to the ad:tech Interactive Marketing conference at the Sydney Hilton.  Two days full of marketing fun!  I tried to convince the boss to send me to ad:tech New York (it has a 3rd day and double the number of tracks)… the answer was Sydney…  I guess I will have to be more persuasive next year.

There are some pretty interesting topics on the agenda… the sessions I am most looking forward too are:

• eCRM Strategies - because I have never worked for or seen a company that did this in a efficient and effective way (if found even working for Microsoft that there were issues and complexities with CRM that would have been great to get around)
• Blogs as a Marketing Tool - because every marketer (and every businessperson who has ‘bought the Internet for their organisation will be asking about it in the future - plus chances are I will bump into Darren Rowse there (yes… I admit that I too would like to pay off my house from blogging… not quite there yet though!).  The main reason is that I can see benefit for our organisation to look into this, for numerous reasons that I am sure will be discussed during this session
• Integrating Viral and Word of Mouth Strategies - what happens when you multiply one buzz word with another!!! OMG ROI!!!!!
• Building Brand Preference Through Digital Platforms - brand preference is in the eye of the consumer, so I am interested to see some tips and techniques into how to influence B2B consumers this way - is it just have a good website?  Do we need to use <blink> and Lime Green to get consumers attention… I hope not!
• Hiring and Retaining Talent in a Digital Age - I am currently going through the process of hiring a few folk for the team, so this will be very timely indeed
• Harnessing Web Analytics - It would not be marketing without some mention of metrics, traffic light analysis, hits or impression

The other session I am looking forward to is the Keynote with MySpace Chief Marketing Officer, Shawn Gold.  Will be interesting to hear what he has to say - I am still trying to figure out if MySpace has a legitimate place in the B2B marketing mix, hopefully I will figure out a definitive yes or no position after his interview tomorrow morning.

If not, I will ask him at the MySpace.com party tomorrow night!

Technorati Tags: Ad:Tech, Sydney, MySpace, Interactive Marketing

Finally I can officially say I have friends in the Blogosphere!  Alistair has been kind enough to line me up for the “5 things you don’t know about me” meme.  Here goes:

1. Despite my deceiving Australian accent, I grew up in Invercargill, New Zealand.  Home of the worlds most southern Subway Restaurant.  People only know about Invercargill after watching The Worlds Fastest Indian.  In fact they were filming it when I was there with my brand spanking new wife on our honeymoon a few years back.  You should go get it out at the video store, you might see me in it.  No I am not playing the lead character, that is Anthony Hopkins (easy mistake to make).
2. Even though Alistair threw me in the ‘non-technical’ bucket for this meme, I have played with technology from time to time.  In fact before I started working for Microsoft and Data#3, I was a Unix Administrator for the Queensland Government.  Luckily I managed to get out of the Unix game before depression set in, changed religions, and moved to a great Technology/Marketing role at Microsoft.  After my resignation, there were a number of other Unix administrators who would no longer talk to me… apparently to them I had started worshipping the devil.
3. During my days at university (when not frequenting the Campus Club) I spent all my spare money on flying lessons.  I hold a Private Pilots License with about 130 hrs in my log book.  Once I graduated Uni and got married, flying lessons (and flying in general) came to a flying halt.  Apparently I could not justify spending $250 a week when we should be saving for a house.  One day I will start flying again, but for now, this will have to do.

   My two favourite memories from my flying days include:

• doing a touch and go landing at Brisbane International Airport in a Cessna 172. Because it is such a slow plane (approach speed is around 60-70 knots), I managed to hold up four international departures (and two domestic ones).  That’s about 1000 passengers in planes queued up to take off watching a 4 seat light aircraft hold up their holidays!
• the other is during Aerobatic training in a Super Decathlon somewhere over Beaudesert, just south of Brisbane.  I tried to complete a Reverse Half Cuban, but managed to pull back on the stick a little too fast during the loop back to level flight, and forgot to tense up my legs to stop the blood rushing away.  After holding just under 5g’s for about 4-5 seconds, I lost my vision.  Has to be the weirdest feeling I have ever had.  Luckily I managed to realise my mistake before I lost consciousness, but I felt a bit groggy for the next minute or two.  My Aerobatics instructor (who happened to be the Australian Basic Aero Champion at the time) thought it was hilarious. 
4. I am an award winning film maker!  In grade 11 I got a few mates together to make a very stupid low budget film for a Queensland wide short film festival - The Courier Mail Short Cuts Film Fest (open to professionals, and people way older than 15!).  The total budget of the 4 1/2 minute blockbuster ”An Episode of Pure Madness” which followed the life of a guy in serious need of a mental hospital was $6.  We were stoked to find out we had made the final 12 out of about 200 entries.  That meant we were to have our film screened at the finals in the Brunswick Street Mall.  Then they actually awarded us third place.  I still can’t believe how we managed to pull that off… but we were more than happy with the prize, 5 annual passes to MovieWorld.  During that year, I can safely say I went on the Lethal Weapon Roller Coaster at least 150 times. 
5. I once (accidentally) drank sulphuric acid on a school excursion to the CSIRO.  It did not taste too good.  That might explain a lot of things.

Hmm who can I pass the baton on to?  Nope, I think I might be the last one!

Technorati Tags: 5 Things, Meme

Well it is 2007… bring on all the James Bond ‘007 themed advertising this year (it has already started over at Virgin Blue!)

My wife and I have just got home from 10 or so days on the Gold Coast… about 80km south of where we live.  Just far enough away from the normality of life to relax, and for my skin to go from white, to tomato red, and then to a shade just darker than white (this tan might last a week!).

Of course all that relaxation is going to go to waste now that I have taken a sneak peek at my work email inbox.  It will be a busy morning tomorrow!

Speaking of work, it has been about 2 or 3 months since I moved into my new role at Data#3.  Not a technical role, but as the team leader of the Marketing Communications Team.  Before all you developers, architects, *nix fanbois,  BizTalkers and friends from my Microsoft days say “Paul, how did a smart guy like you end up in Marketing” (**NOTE** Actual Quote from a colleague!)… this job is pretty cool!

Not only do I still get to “geek it up” because I am working in what can be best described as a “technology” company… but I am in a position where I can actually make a positive difference to how things are done and hopefully help grow the company.  My kind of role! 

With that in mind, I am going to rebrand my blog a little.  Well not rebrand, but become more focused on topics relating to my day job (one of my new years resolutions).  Whilst technology will still be a regular feature… more focus will be put on the marketing side of things… like:

• Marketing Communications (industry issues)
• Copywriting (B2B, web etc)
• Branding, and re-branding (brand management)
• Market Research
• Marketing ROI, Metrics, Scorecarding
• Product management
• Online Advertising
• Traditional Advertising
• Public Speaking
• Public Relations
• Event Communications
• Internal Communications
• Shareholder Communications
• etc etc

You get the point… and I am sure I will have some running commentary on tech product launches like Vista and Office 2007 (Speaking of which - have you checked out The New Paperclip yet?)

So what else is in store for the remaining 364 days and 1 hour of 2007?  Like everyone else, my new years resolutions include getting fitter… and:

• Going back to university for some post-graduate business study
• Compete in (and finish) a triathlon.
  … and most importantly
• Buy our first home 

It is going to be an exciting year, both at work, at home, and in general!  Bring on 2007!!

The best breakfast ever?

I am down in Melbourne for the final leg of the Quantifying the Value of Improved Collaboration speaking tour that I have been doing for Data#3.

I am sitting in my hotel room preparing for the early start tomorrow morning (need to be at Crown Casino by 7:15AM to set up).  I just reached for the breakfast menu for tomorrow morning.  Guess what the first breakfast option on the menu is?

Champagne
Tattinger Curve Brut 750ml      $125.00

Hmmm the Champagne would probably improve the presentation tomorrow, but would I have a headache when it comes to my expense claim?

Might stick with the $7.50 Orange Juice and some scrambled eggs

This morning I presented the first of three sessions I am running about quantifying the value of collaboration (or more to the point, the quantifying the value of intangible assets).  We had a great turnout in Sydney, and almost all of the feedback forms stated that it was a very useful session (unreal!)

One of the key points I touch on in the presentation is one raised by Jeff Raikes, who is a VP at Microsoft (and part owner of the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club).

“Instead of focusing on outputs, we need to focus on outcomes”

Do you find it difficult to articulate the value of SharePoint, or hard to build a business case for Vista or Groove?  It might be because you are focusing on the outputs of the technology, instead of the outcomes to the business.

Interested in learning more?  If you are in Brisbane or Melbourne, you can still catch the seminar on quantifying the value of collaboration in the coming weeks.  Check out the events page on Data#3’s website (http://www.data3.com.au/events) and register today.

Did I mention you get a free breakfast?

I am about to begin a speaking tour along the east coast of Australia, with my presentation focusing on how to build the business case for collaborative technologies such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Windows Vista, Live Communications Server etc.

I must admit it has been an eye opening experience preparing this session.  I could quite quickly turn this into a one or two day workshop, diving deep into all the issues, challenges, tools and techniques you can use to quantify the value of intangible assets (such as those that you can benefit from by successfully deploying collaborative technologies aligned with your business objectives).

I will be speaking in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne over the coming month.  If you are looking for some insight into how to build the business case for any collaborative technology (not just Microsoft), I encourage you to come along.

Sydney
Thursday 9 November 2006
Data#3, North Sydney
http://www.data3.com.au/Events/NSW/Microsoft+Colla…

Brisbane
Thursday 16 November 2006
Chiefly on Lennons, Queen Street Mall
http://www.data3.com.au/Events/Qld/Collaboration+S…

Melbourne
Wednesday 22 November 2006
Crown Casino, Southbank
http://www.data3.com.au/Events/Vic/Microsoft+Colla…

I draw on quite a few resources, but one of the most valuable resources I have found has come from the Society for Knowledge Economics… an Australian based group comprised of Microsoft, CPA Australia, Institute of Actuaries of Australia, and Westpac.  If you are interested in seeing how organisations in Australia deal with the issue of reporting on and managing intangible assets, check out the reports on their website.

And if you come along to one of the events, make sure you say g’day!

Technorati Tags: Event, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, Business Case

Windows Live Local have released a new update… 3D maps!  To access the beta 3D maps, go to http://local.live.com, then download and install Virtual Earth 3D (beta).  Currently the 3D imagery only covers 15 US cities, but they are quite impressive.  I love the textures on the buildings, a little better than the simple grey boxes I have seen represent buildings when using Google Earth.

See screenshots below of the Seattle Spaceneedle, and one of my favourite cities in all of the US, Boston.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Local, Virtual Earth, Google Earth,  Boston, Seattle

That’s right, I have now joined the blogging Mile High club!  I am currently on Virgin Blue Flight DJ222 from Brisbane to Sydney.  25 minutes into the flight, and we have just levelled out at our cruising altitude.  I am assuming I am somewhere in between Ballina and Coffs Harbour (although being on the right hand side of the plane looking west, there are not many landmarks I can make out).

If only I could actually send the post to Wordpress from here… oh well I guess it will just have to sync up when I get to the office hotel in Sydney.

Next – Podcasting from 40,000 ft

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Virgin Blue

With rumours that the Microsoft Zune will not be available here (or anywhere outside the US) until 2008 I have been investigating other MP3 options.  Whilst this new shuffle does not meet my needs for video playback, it is still very cool (I mean small).  1Gb for AUD $119 (or USD $79).

I have a lot of respect for Apple.  Their ’Maketing Engine’  seem to always get the marketing right with these things (not just promotion and advertising, but the other 3 P’s of marketing as well - Product, Place, and Price). 

From Apple.com.au

One size fits all

You know what they say about good things and small packages. But when something 4.1 cm (1.62 inches) long and about 15 grams (half an ounce) holds up to 240 songs, “good” and “small” don’t quite cut it. Especially when you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours.⁽²⁾ In fact, iPod shuffle just may the biggest thing in small.

Technorati Tags: iPod, Shuffle, Apple, Marketing

If you have not already checked it out, head on over to http://www.thenewpaperclip.com.  It is another blog that I am working on, building up some tips, tricks and tutorials for Office 2007.

If you have any ideas for an article, shoot me an email and let me know.  Also, if you like what you see, I would love it if you sent a brother some link love!   

Thanks to Alistair “Take that Angus, I am on the first Google results page for the search ‘SharePoint Australia’, and you call yourself a SharePoint guru” Speirs and Long “Diggbait” Zheng who have both supported TNP from the beginning!

Technorati Tags: Office 2007, Help, Tutorial