Future of PR Technology - Speakers Confirmed

The next event in our intense seminar programme will be an informative and innovative half-day seminar on the topic of "The Future of PR Technology."

After sponsoring How-Do’s PR Agency of the year award, we are keen to talk to all PR professionals and PR agencies about the impending future of PR, and the impact of the digital world – social media releases, online press rooms and blogs. 

We have put together a dynamic list of speakers for this event, including KMP’s Chairman, Bill Daring, Jennifer O’Grady and Ross Brown from Democracy PR, Stuart Bruce from Wolfstar, and KMP’s resident blog expert, Paul Fabretti.     

The seminars take place on the 10th June in Manchester, and the 25th June in London.  We are offering an early-bird discount of 25% to all those who book before the 27th May, so register now to avoid disappointment!

 

Head of Technical Development required

So things change, and we now need to fill the position of Head of Development at KMP.

The role requires a multi-skilled individual with considerable experience in the Internet industry.

The successful candidate will be an experienced individual able to think “outside the box” to find innovative solutions to business problems whilst being aware of commercial pressures to select the best solution to meet both technical and budget requirements.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Technorati Tags: head of technical development, job, kmp

KMP Sponsor How-Do Awards

Last Thursday KMP staff glammed up and put their glad rags on to join what promised to be a collection of the finest media talent in the North West, ranging from areas of television, PR, advertising agencies and radio – who had all come together to celebrate the How-Do Awards. 

And we were not disappointed! Although we hadn’t entered the awards, KMP had sponsored the hotly contested “PR Agency of the Year” award.  Not only did this entitle us to a front-row table, but it also meant that KMP’s Chairman, Bill Daring, would have the chance to pucker up to congratulate the winner!!  The judges had created a shortlist comprising of Brazen, Citypress, Fido, IPB, Mason Media, MC2, Paver Smith, Spinoza Kennedy Vesey and Tangerine. 

And the lucky winner was…. Tangerine, whilst PaverSmith received a commendation.  Bill was on hand to present the award, and he relished the opportunity to congratulate the winners and promote KMP’s services as “The Future of PR Technology,” which will be revealed in more detail at our upcoming seminars. 

After the awards comedian Jason Manford, who has appeared on TV in "Whose line is it Anyway!?" and "8 out of 10 Cats", took to the stage in his rival football club’s home ground.  As a Man City fan (well someone has to be I guess!) there were many jokes flying around about the rivalry, but he did a great job of entertaining a room full of feisty and excited people, and was very funny. 

And it was a case of being in the right place at the right time, when Nick from How-Do asked if he could borrow my camera after the official photographer had gone home before taking photos of people receiving their certificates of commendation.  So I kindly nominated the services of KMP’s very own motion graphics expert, Dave Lee, who snapped away patiently despite some of the winners being slightly rowdy! 

A great night was had by all, so well done to everyone at How-Do for arranging such a fantastic evening.   

 

Bill speaks at Internet World

Internet World opens tomorrow at Earls Court, London to tell you everything you need to know about the digital business world.

Boasting over 200 inspirational hours of free seminars and hard-hitting keynotes from the likes of ITV.com, MySpace, LinkedIn and many more, it promises to be the ultimate digital business insight and understanding. 

KMP’s Bill Daring will be taking to the stage on Thursday 1st May, together with our associate, Sitecore, to discuss the "Processes for the Development of a Content-Managed Website." 

Bill will be using the case study of our client, Chester Zoo, as well as discussing the following topics:

• the key challenges in re-launching a website
• taking responsibility for a website's content
• taking advantage of Social Network Marketing
• the challenge of balancing the creative and content needs of a website

If you are interested in hearing Bill’s presentation, you will be able to find him in the Content Management Theatre from 1.30 – 2pm on Thursday 1st May.

 

Future of Web Design 2008

Last week myself and Darren attended the Future of Web Design 2008, the event was really interesting and informative.

Highlights included Steve Pearces' presentation on Brand Experience Vs User Experience, Andy Budds discussion on the User Experience curve and Jon Hicks creating the cheesophile site during his 'from design to deployment' presentation.

We listened, scribbled notes and learned a lot, although I have to say that I was slightly disappointed at the lack of 'Future' from the Future of Web Design Conference.

In contrast to the above the workshops the next day were superb and extremely well thought out, well presented. Miguel Ripoll talked us through 'Elastic Thinking: adaptable design in a world of uncertainty' which was really thought provoking, if a little scary for us designers when he suggested that you should leave design until last. 

The afternoon session from Andy Clarke was all about Microformats - The Building Blocks for a Beautiful Web. I've heard people say how good a speaker Andy is and we weren't disappointed, he was engaging, informative, knowledgeable and funny. Microformats are "designed for humans first, machines second" and provide a way of making data portable between applications from flat html. I believe they are currently be on the edge of web design but could make a big impact soon if large organisations begin to adopt them. However for this to happen I feel that browser developers have to start integrating tools directly into the browsers and not rely on extensions like the Operator toolbar or tails. Hopefully this will happen soon and open microformats up to the masses, meaning we can instantly add events we see on the web into our calendars for example. For now we'll just have to implement them as we design & develop and wait to see how they get used.....

Technorati Tags: fowdlondon08, microformats, web2.0, webdesign

NAB Show April 2008 - More sights from Las Vegas

Now that the NAB show is over, you wouldn't expect me just go all the way to Las Vegas without taking a trip the the Grand Canyon, now would you? So we hired a car and took the 4 hour trip, via the Hoover Dam to the West Grand Canyon resort staying overnight in a Wild West cowboy town on the Hualapia Indian reservation. When we arrived were entertained and informed by Cowboy singer Mark Brookes, and the next day we went out to Eagle point where I had my photo taken with Chief Brett on the Skywalk and then had lunch at Guano point before being dropped off at the Helicopter checkpoint.

So, there I am, walking along in the middle of an Indian Reservation in the heart of Arizona ..... and who should I bump into but my old friend Professor James Powell Vice Chancellor of Salford University. In all the bars in all the world.....

James and I first met when we went on UK government sponsored Internet trade mission to Malaysia in 1998. Since then we have worked together on a number of projects including enterprisenw.net. James said he was in Las Vegas to watch the world title boxing match between Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins which I also had the chance to go to ... and describe below.  Small world eh ?

The Grand Canyon West included sights and sounds of the old west including a traditional Indian dance troupe (although I think they were from Canada) and well you've got to see it if you are there haven't you?

Continue reading "NAB Show April 2008 - More sights from Las Vegas"

Technorati Tags: Bill Daring, Grand Canyon, KMP, Las Vegas, NAB Show

Blogging for Business - Manchester

So, as some of you know, Friday 11th April was the first of our Blogging for Business seminars, held at the MDDA offices in Manchester.

The idea of the event was (and remains to be for the London event on the 25th April!) to de-mistify blogging as a niche, early adopter tool and show it to be the essential business communication it is.

The speakers

To get this message across, alongside me (Paul!) giving an overview of why blogging has become something you can no longer ignore, we were delighted to have with us Mark Rogers, CEO of Market Sentinel and Chris Bland, Senior Account Manager of our search partner Greenlight.

Mark spoke about the importance of understanding the blogosphere and the nature or tone of the conversations taking place on it. The benefit being that once you understand the conversations and the people holding them, you know the correct way to talk back to these people but also, what it is that they are interested in talking to you about!

Chris covered the increasingly important area of how blogs can enhance (in some cases dramatically) your SEO strategy.

The Feedback

It is always a challenge to set these events at just the right tone, to strike a balance between providing enough detail to add to the knowledge of those people who are already know something and not being so detailed so as to alienate those people who know very little.

With some significant brands such as Bentley Motors, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Liver, dabs.com and SSL International already attending, it was essential to get the balance right. Looking at the feedback , I think we have managed to do just that!

Experienced digital professionals from these and many other businesses left us glowing feedback about the speakers and the event itself.

This with some understanding of blogs felt that they learnt a lot, whilst others who simply came to find out more felt that they had a significantly better grasp of blogging than when they first came!

We will be taking the seminar to London on the 25th April, so if you were unable to attend the Manchester event, there are still (a few) tickets available.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogging for business, blogs, chris bland, greenlight, kmp, mark rogers, market sentinel, paul fabretti, seminar

NABShow - New Media 2.0 production day two

Yesterday, 15 April,  I attended the Blogging and New Media session given by Scott Bourne President of Podango.com. Scott is Lee Gibbons partner who I mentioned in the previous NAB blog.

Bill Daring with Scott Bourne of Podango.com after the NAB  Blogging and New Media seminar

Much of what Scott had to say was Blogging 101, but nevertheless gave us some useful tips particularly about monetarising the blog and the relationship between his blog and promoting his site or next podcast . He cited a number of websites that could provide useful information on blogging including podcastingtricks.com, bloggingtricks.com, kdpaine.blogs.com

Scott talked about "blogging content" being "Google juice" (the first time I've heard that expression) and that once the content is out on the net it is able to direct traffic to your site and get brand exposure for your company or your sponsor.

At the end of his session one of Scotts colleagues Lianna demonstrated setting up a Wordpress blog and  discussed the social networks aspects of distribution and video upload. She felt that if you hosted your video on Youtube the quality was not so hot, but the video would get exposure and  reach. For a quality delivery of your video then vimeo.com was a better choice.

If you needed to upload a number of videos at the same time Lianna suggested that Tubemogul.com was a good solution.

Technorati Tags: Bill Daring, Blogging, NAB Show, Scott Bourne

AMS-Neve demo new products at a hospitality suite in the Bellagio

We launched the new AMS Neve website last week in time for the attendance of the company at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. On arrival Dave Walton described the nightmare he had in getting the gear through customs and up into the suite on the 31st floor of the Bellagio. "All these logistical problems meant that we were running a day late on the set up and important appointments to view the equipment had to be postponed" he said. Eventually the DMC and the Genesis demonstration equipment were rebuilt in the hospitality suite and the demonstration programme got back on track.

The AMS Neve DMC was on show at the hospitality suite

The suite offered a relaxed atmosphere where visitors included buyers from 20th Century Fox, Panasonic, Pixar and others could chat about their own particular requirements and experience a customized demonstration of the equipment without the noise distractions  they might experience on the main floor of the show. Many of the visitors were from the US but representatives attended from major manufacturers and production houses from Japan.

Continue reading "AMS-Neve demo new products at a hospitality suite in the Bellagio"

Technorati Tags: AMS-Neve, DMC, Genesis, NAB Show

NAB Show April 2008 - Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas at night

Just thought I would share some of the sights and sounds of Las Vegas at night with you. As those of you that are following this blog will know I am currently attending the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Last night we walked around the city to enjoy the lavishness that Vegas has to offer.

Lots of glitter.... lots of walking, but no Elvis, Barry Manilow or Elton John ... they were all out of town !

Continue reading "NAB Show April 2008 - Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas at night"

Technorati Tags: Bellagio Hotel at night

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