Arun Rajagopal

Thank you AOC! August 17, 2007

It’s been a month since the launch of ‘The Age of Conversation’ and I think it’s a great time to sit back and take stock of how the book has impacted my life and the AOC community. But before that, let me thank the people who worked behind and in front of the scenes to make this dream come true. It’s a huge list of people & contributions and I’m sure to have missed a few – my apologies in advance! Here’s to the heroes and heroines of ‘The Age of Conversation’.

It all started with Drew McLellan & Gavin Heaton.
Thank you for spearheading the Age of Conversation and doing everything that made this book a reality. Thank you for your emphatic leadership and vision. Thank you for bringing us closer and showing that the world is really a global village. You are our superheroes of the season. Yeah, the bots from Transformers, Spiderman and Jason Bourne all run a close second.

CK gave a new dimension to AOC by leading the initiative to gift copies of the ‘Age of Conversation’ to Fortune 500 CMOs. Toby Bloomberg, Mario Vellandi and I have also teamed up to spread the word on AOC in the corporate world through this smart marketing initiative. We are proud to dedicate the book to the memory of her darling momma, Sandra Kerley. I’d also like to thank CK for spreading love through her cookies. Though I haven’t had the pleasure of having your yummy cookies, I love the affection you gift to people through them.

PR Guru David Reich worked behind the scenes to ensure that AOC received its due share of PR coverage around the world. David Armano designed the elegant cover of AOC. Roger Anderson supported the editors on the intricacies of self-publishing. Thank you guys!

Amazing Matt Dickman brought the AOC community closer together through social media tools. He gave us our very own Flickr community group and Wetpaint wiki. Oh yes, and also a Google Map highlighting the global nature of this blook.

Sean Howard showed us that he is the unchallenged king of ‘nekkid comedy’ with a spoof video that celebrated the arrival of the AOC books at his office.

Steve Woodruff added a brilliant touch by giving AOC an official mascot. Curious George is currently on tour in the United States, before heading to Europe, Middle East and Australia before reaching home at Variety, the Children’s Charity. He also gives us a quick recap of every chapter in the book.

Mark Goren took the great initiative to create ‘Age of Conversation Contributors and Friends’ Group on Facebook. The Group has 167 members as of today.

Mark Blair went a step ahead and set up a Google CSE which helps search the blogs of all contributing authors of AOC. Brilliant, don’t you think? It didn’t stop there. Fuelled by what must have been barrel loads of caffeine, Mark then went on an enterprising 24-hour Internet Marketing Challenge liveblogging and promoting AOC online!

Lub Debaisieux did a brilliant post that effectively captures the impact of AOC on reality – essentially, how the seed of an idea germinates into a huge tree delivering the fruits of immense positive actions.

Press Mentions in the Sultanate of Oman & Middle East
A big thank you to the two angels you see with me in this snap. Dina Al Jafari, Account Manager & Bosky Dutia, Senior Account Executive at Buzzword Action PR, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman went out of their way to ensure that the voice of ‘The Age of Conversation’ was heard not just in Oman, but the entire Middle East. Their efforts created an incredible buzz for ‘AOC’.

On behalf of the entire AOC community, I thank Dina, Bosky, their PR associates, media persons and publications that covered AOC and helped ‘ping’ social media in Oman. Though most stories highlighted my contribution, the book emerged the real hero.

Print / National Dailies – Oman
Oman Daily Observer  (Zawya) – 18 July 2007
Oman: Local blogger is part of unique worldwide blog collaboration

Times of Oman – 19 July 2007
Oman-based Arun among bloggers authoring a book

Oman Tribune – 15 August 2007
Blog your way to fame

Thank you Jeta Pillai for plugging into AOC and offering sneak previews of chapters of Becky Carroll, Toby Bloomberg, Jessica Hagy and Ryan Rasmussen.

Magazines / Tabloids – Oman

Faces, Oman – July 2007
Making a ping!

Thank you Mary Paulose for plugging into AOC.

The Week, Oman – 25 July 2007
Of blogs and conversations

Thank you Aninda Sardar for plugging into AOC.

Hi! Times, Oman – 27 July 2007
Local blogger part of global ‘blook’

Gulf Marketing Review, Middle East – August 2007
Social networking and UGC spread across the Gulf

Radio – Oman
Cybertalk Show, 90.4FM – 19 July 2007
Tariq Al-Barwani, Oman’s IT whiz and Online Manager at Nawras Telecom promoted the ‘Age of Conversation’ on his weekly radio show on ICT. Thank you Tariq for plugging into AOC.

Web – Middle East
Zawya.com – 18 July 2007
Mideast blogger a part of first ever worldwide blog collaboration

Maktoob.com – 17 July 2007
Middle East blogger a part of first-ever worldwide blog collaboration

Middle East Events – 17 July 2007
Mideast Blogger A Part of First-Ever Worldwide Blog Collaboration 

Trade Arabia.com – 17 July 2007
Muscat blogger joins e-book venture

Forthcoming Media Coverage:
A special feature on AOC & social media in Digital Oman magazine. Thank you Prem Varghese & Hasan Kamoonpuri for plugging into AOC.

Thank you to:
Lulu.com – publishers of ‘The Age of Conversation’.
Variety – the US based international charity which AOC is supporting through book sales. As of 3 August 2007, we sold 695 books and earned $5,674.37 for charity.

Last but not the least, the Co-authors of ‘The Age of Conversation’
A BIG thank you – for coming together and giving your voice to ‘The Age of Conversation’; for sharing your unique thoughts, insights and ideas on how to create exciting conversations with the world; for the efforts you have taken to support the book during its creation and your constant endeavour to promote the book after its launch through book tours, podcasts, book readings, gifts, speaking engagements, audio books, meetings and more…

Gavin Heaton (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
Drew McLellan (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
CK

Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair

CB Whittemore
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G. Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg

And finally, a big thanks to all the visitors to my blog who have come in looking for information on ‘The Age of Conversation’. Thank you Tom Hoehn, Kamla Bhatt, Eric Kintz, Scott Berg and Karen Lawrence Öqvist for your comments of support and encouragement. And Dona Nazareth for being a good sidekick & naming me ‘Donga’ – it was nice meeting you through AOC. And a word to all my friends at work and elsewhere – Your support and encouragement keeps me going to be part of adventures such as ‘The Age of Conversation’. Thank you for being there!

Inviting HP to ‘The Age of Conversation’ July 26, 2007

I woke up this morning and knew I had to talk to this special group of HP bloggers. So I went out on the WWW and got the links to the people who I have to talk to in this post. So here goes: 

Dear:
Ash Ashutosh  
Claudio Bartolini 
John Bennett 
Giordano Beretta 
Scott Berg
Cannes team 
Duncan Campbell 
Marco Casassa Mont
Ged Collins 
Ozzie Diaz 
EMEA CSR Team 
Enterprise Printing Team 
John Erickson 
Vince Ferraro 
Richard Fichera 
Eileen Fritsch 
Stan Garfield 
David Gee 
Ian Griffin 
HP Inkjet Printing Team 
John Jantsch 
Eric Kintz 
Muriel Kopélianskis 
Pankaj Kumar 
Karen Lawrence Öqvist 
Phil McKinney 
Nandini Nayak 
Anneliese Olson 
Krishnan Ramanathan 
Archie Reed
HP Russia blog team  
Jim Rutherford 
Rahul Sood 
Rita Sully 
Sundance Team 
HP Technology Forum Team
Gary Thome 
Susan Underhill 
UK Corporate and Enterprise team 
William Vambenepe 
Jim Vanides 
Tanya Vaughan 
Alex Vorbau 
Jason Ward 
Susie Wee 
Ross West 
Ray Wu 
Fred Zuill 

How are you doing? I’m Arun Rajagopal from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman & I’m glad you have come by my blog. I work as a content strategist for UMSi, a leading web solutions company out here.

Have you read this interesting book called ‘The Age of Conversation’? If yes, great! Nope??? Then you are missing on something darn exciting.

But wait; do you know what the buzz on ‘The Age of Conversation’ is all about? Let me explain the big deal in a nutshell. Let’s get on with this conversation!

‘The Age of Conversation’ is a book about engaging consumers through conversations in a world being shaped by citizen marketers. Now for the exciting part. It is authored by 103 marketing bloggers from 24 states of the USA and 10 nations, making it a first-of-its-kind collaboration via the Internet!

So what’s so special about this book?

It really explores the art of conversation and how that is changing the face of marketing from virtually every angle possible. You get over 100 voices. 100 different perspectives.

And a single purpose – how to have more exciting, meaningful, interactive and memorable conversations.

The book was written for you. It is all about you. It is your book! Read a review by Advertising Age.

Let me give you a small example. My example. I’m one of the 103 co-authors of the ‘The Age of Conversation’. My chapter is titled: The Rules of the Garage. For Digital Media Conversationalists.

As a HP blogger, you know ‘The Rules of the Garage’ better than me. In my chapter, I talk about creating exciting digital media conversations by taking inspiration from HP’s ‘Rules of the Garage’ management philosophy. Cool, huh?

I think these rules are so wonderfully expansive that you can apply them to almost any aspect of life. I plugged them to digital conversations because that is my line of work and then interpreted them for digital pros who are interested in creating exciting online conversations.

I recommend that you not only read my chapter, but 102 other chapters written by marketing pros who value communities and conversations.

‘The Age of Conversation’ is all about ‘win-win’ conversations that are transforming the entire marketing landscape.

• About how various marketing disciplines such as advertising, digital, PR and journalism have to change the way they talk to their consumers to be heard.

• We remind you through our different voices that the most important part in a conversation is LISTENING.

• Plus, we share powerful insights on how to use social media and networking tools to transform the ways we converse.

Simply put, the book is a must-read for any modern marketer and communications professional.

‘The Age of Conversation’ has gold nuggets for everybody. And I mean EVERYBODY. And that according to me is one of the greatest strengths of this book.

Not just marketing people – parents, kids, service industry professionals, community leaders, anybody who is for conversations will come out richer after reading this book.

Dear blogger pal, it will be great if you read ‘The Age of Conversation’ and generously spread the word on the book.

It would be even better if you order copies and give away a few to your friends & colleagues.

After all, it’s not entirely talk about conversations and social media transforming your life.

It’s about helping kids around the world smile more.

In a true spirit of community sharing, we are donating proceeds of book sales to Variety, an international charity committed to serve children across the globe. Our commitment is to raise at least $10,000 for Variety through book sales.

You can buy ‘The Age of Conversation’ as an e-book ($9.99), paperback ($16.90) or hardback ($29.99) from this online store. For more information, please click on www.ageofconversation.com  

Trust me; we need EVERYBODY on board The Age of Conversation.

Remember: It’s no longer ‘I TALK, YOU LISTEN’. It’s ‘I ENGAGE, YOU TALK’.

P.S: Oh yeah, the pic you see there on top of this post is my workstation, and that’s the first snap I took with my new mob. Now you know how attached I’m to my PC, it’s got magnets, calendars & even a Harrods London Bus parked on it 🙂

Thank you for your time. And attention.

Arun Rajagopal

Joined by ace conversationalists:

Gavin Heaton (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
Drew McLellan (Editor, The Age of Conversation)
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair

CB Whittemore
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G. Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg

Getting to know ‘Age of Conversation’ authors – 8 & Finito! May 25, 2007

Hello there! Click here to visit the updated profiles of ALL ‘Age of Conversation’ authors on one page. UPDATED ON 16 JULY 2007.

So, the curtain finally falls on my long series of profiles of the ‘Age of Conversation’ authors. I’d like to thank the ‘100’ community for their inspiring shout-outs of support & encouragement. The profiling exercise has not only brought me closer to the lives & work of these stalwarts who are shaping ‘people-centric conversations in a world increasingly influenced by new-media ’, but also has been a terrific learning experience – personally & professionally.

For those of you looking for a backgrounder on the ‘Age of Conversation’, a path-breaking e-book project that features the seminal ideas & thoughts of 100 influential bloggers from around the world on conversations in a world driven by new-media, click here.

Drew McLellan gets branding and marketing and he desperately wants you to get it too. So he tells stories, asks questions, and milks sacred cows. All to help clients discover their brand so they can create authentic love affairs with their customers. Drew has not only survived 20 years in the advertising and marketing arena, he’s thrived in it. After working for several other agencies, including Young and Rubicam’s CMF&Z, Drew created McLellan Marketing Group in 1995. Considered a national branding expert in the USA, Drew is a highly sought after speaker and has given about a zillion presentations at national conferences, key note addresses, training for his peers in the profession, college students and even his daughter’s eighth grade class. When he’s not out preaching the good word of marketing & branding at work and on his blog Drew’s Marketing Minute, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers can’t seem to get back to the World Series.

Born on a boat on the Indian Ocean, Gavin Heaton was about three months early and nearly did not survive. As a newborn he was so small that his mother wrapped him in face cloths rather than nappies, and dressed him in doll’s clothes as nothing else would fit. OK … so only some of that is true. But which parts are fiction and which parts fact? What comes first the brand or the story? What is authentic and what is fable? For answers, you have to check out Gavin’s blog ‘Servant of Chaos’ which is his personal rant on the world of branding and storytelling. Gavin has held book editor and publishing roles at Butterworths, tutored and lectured in performance and postmodernism at University of Western Sydney, written technical documentation, marketed technology solutions, established a “knowledge factory” and run innovation teams for IBM, created comprehensive marketing and branding strategies, launched new services and run communications campaigns for Fujistu Consulting and now heads the Interactive division for a global marketing and promotions agency. (Btw, only the part of Gavin being born on a boat on the
Indian Ocean is untrue!)

Hip, hippie & happenin’ marketing guru CK, short for Christina Kerley, is one of the most powerful ‘human brands’ in the blogosphere. With her expertise in strategy, planning, social media and program development coupled to her passion for writing, CK excels in working with: (1) Ideas + (2) Programs + (3) People. Since 1999, CK & her consultancy, ckEpiphany have been working with businesses in varied industries helping them listen to customers & create epiphanies that energizes marketing through  fresh, new ideas. CK covers a lot of marketing topics through articles, speaking events and blogging – and tries to make learning fun. Here’s some fun stuff on CK: She digs reading, film, friends, live theatre, traveling, animals (zoos make her sad), outdoor concerts, cooking, good clean debates and dirty martinis. She finds sunrise to be the sky’s most spectacular moment and is a big fan of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. After she was born, she went 5 days without a name, because her folks were expecting a boy!!!
The ‘Age of Conversation’ e-book is dedicated to the memory of CK’s mum, Sandra Johnson Kerley. Click here to read ‘The many faces of Momma’. CK, I’m sure your mom’s rooting for you from her place among the stars.
Her best advice for bloggers? Don’t focus on how well your blog is ranked, focus on the relationships you make through blogging. Rankings come and go, but relationships evolve into colleagues and friends (if you treat them with respect and care). Point noted, CK.

Ms. Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni connects people & ideas on her blog ‘Conversation Agent’ and explores how talk can change our lives. In Italy, Valeria moved into communications while studying linguistics at the University of Bologna. A passionate marketer, she has since worked on the agency, consulting and corporate sides of communications. Since May 2000, she has been the chair of a Philadelphia professionals organization tied to Fast Company magazine. Her passion and drive to learn from, understand and practice in the fields of communications and marketing takes the form of engaging conversations where content, product and service providers come together with audiences, customers and publics to create meaning. Click here to read her Blogger Story.

She is a trained private investigator. She does stand-up comedy in her spare time. She takes time out to meditate. She’s one of the most interesting people you could hope to meet. She’s also been a planner at Goodby Silverstein and M&C Saatchi Sydney and a copywriter at Mad Dogs and Englishmen. She blogs at www.conformistsunite.com. Originally from Oregon, she loves hummus & coffee. (Add shawarma to that and that’s a common interest for both of us.) She is also the Sydney-based partner of Open Intelligence Agency, an international consultancy operating from four global hubs – Sydney, Amsterdam, London & New York. OIA is an ideal gobal small business, bereft of hierarchies and bureaucracy, collaborating with all sorts of people 24/7 to deliver brand and communications thinking and creative ideas for top global brands. Meet Emily Reed. And here’s her page on PlannerSphere.

On her blog ‘Get Shouty’, Katie Chatfield blogs about digital strategy and well, blogging itself. She’s recently moved over from Sydney to Chicago. Katie says that blogging makes her hungry for her day, helps her to simplify, allows her to listen and lets her know that there is no one right way, there is only conversation. She’s hilarious & knows to speak her mind. Oh, she’s totally into swimming & reading.

A consummate marketing & new media blogger, Greg Verdino is Vice President / Director of Emerging Channels at Digitas LLC, where he provides clients with thought leadership on engaging consumers and creating brand experiences through emerging platforms such as digital video, mobile, social media and gaming. A recognized expert on emerging media channels, Web 2.0 and convergence, Greg rides on an illustrious career that has seen him work for big names in advertising (Wunderman & Saatchi & Saatchi) as well as new media (ROO, Arbitron NewMedia, Akamai Technologies, Loudeye and Globix Corporation).

Mack Collier is a Social-Media Consultant / Community-Evangelist, helping big and small companies develop a social-media strategy that helps them reach, and excite their community of customers. His blog, The Viral Garden, is ranked in the top 0.01% of all blogs on the internet, according to Technorati. He is also a regular contributor for Daily Fix. Mack also has over 10 years experience working with major retail clients, helping them solve their online and offline marketing and production problems, as well as both a BBA and MBA in Marketing. Any additional free time he has is spent collecting antique toys, watching the Tide Roll, reading business periodicals, reading the latest marketing and branding news on the web.

Lewis Green is the Founder and Managing Principal of L&G Business Solutions, LLC, and has over three decades of business management experience. In addition to his business experiences, Lewis is a published author and a former journalist, sports writer and travel writer. His feature articles have appeared in books, magazines and newspapers throughout North America. He has taught in public schools; lobbied for organizations both in state capitols and in Washington, D.C.; delivered workshops, seminars, and training programs; and made presentations to audiences in colleges, businesses and professional organizations. Lewis also has served as a book editor with a large publisher, the Executive Editor overseeing four magazines, and a newspaper department editor. Lewis served eight years in the U.S. Air Force, where he received the Air Force Commendation Medal. At his blog bizsolutionsplus, Lewis features business tips, ideas and innovative thinking to grow your business. What makes a prolific writer & blogger? Click here to know his secret!

Sacrum’s blog literally made me laugh with his unique language, which I’m christening as ‘Sacrumspeak’. Truly, there’s something very endearing to this language (peppered with conscious avoidance of articles & pithy stacato phrases), that makes you sit up and take notice of what Sacrum’s got to say. Let’s hear him introduce himself in Sacrumspeak: I am European man with skills in advertising. I should be in advertising yes? Yes! But I am not and this is a shame. Shame is worry, shame is darkness. I must have light! So I must get in to funky advertising agency. I have my own pencils. Sacrum, I dig the kind of illustrations your pencils come up with.

Ann Handley is is the Queen of all Things Content (also refers to Chief Content Officer) on the MarketingProfs website and newsletter and the Primary Caregiver to the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. Prior to that, she was the co-founder of ClickZ.com. As a longtime freelance journalist, Ann has written regularly for the Boston Globe as well as a million (give or take) mainstream and trade publications. Ann lives near Boston with her family and four dogs. She loves: cooking, sweet potato chips, sitting on a beach with a really good book. She hates writing about herself in the third person. She aspires to someday write for the New Yorker.

And for the profiles of the rest of the crew… here you go!

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Mike Sansone, Paul McEnany, Roger von Oech, Anna Farmery, David Armano, Bob Glaza, Mark Goren, Matt Dickman, Scott Monty & Richard Huntington.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Cam Beck, David Reich, Luc, Sean Howard, Tim Jackson, Patrick Schaber, Roberta Rosenberg, Uwe Hook, Tony D. Clark, Todd Andrlik, Toby Bloomberg, Steve Woodruff, Steve Bannister & Steve Roesler.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Stanley Johnson, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Bob Hruzek, Rishi Desai, Phil Gerbyshak, Peter Corbett & Pete Deutschman.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Nick Rice, Nick Wright, Mitch Joel, Michael Morton, Mark Earls, Mark Blair, Mario Vellandi, Lori Magno, Kristin Gorski, Krishna De, Kris Hoet, Kofl Annan & Kimberly Dawn Wells. 

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Karl Long, Julie Fleischer, Jordan Behan, John La Grou, Joe Raasch, Jim Kukral, Jessica Hagy, Janet Green, Jamey Shiels, Dr. Graham Hill, Gia Facchini & Geert Desager. 

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Gaurav Mishra, Gary Schoeniger, Gareth Kay, Faris Yakob, Emily Clasper, Ed Cotton, Dustin Jacobsen, Tom Clifford, David Pollinchock, David Koopmans, David Brazeal, David Berkowitz & Carolyn Manning. 

Getting to know ‘Age of Conversation’ Authors – 7 May 19, 2007

Hello there! Click here to visit the updated profiles of ALL ‘Age of Conversation’ authors on one page. UPDATED ON 16 JULY 2007.

I’m back with my seventh post in the ‘soon-to-end’ ‘Age of Conversation’ authors series. Have got one more left. I would like to thank Cam Beck, Sean Howard, Roberta Rosenberg, Toby Bloomberg & Tony D. Clark for their kind comments 🙂 Sure Toby, you can be envious of my 43 days off… I just hope I can keep blogging on a regular basis, especially when I get to India for a month in a few days from now. It will be the height of monsoon rains when I get home and I will post snaps of the rains, some trains and a lot of greenery. My blog will then look more like a travel blog… Let the profiles begin…

Mike Sansone from Des Moines, Iowa has got probably one of the most interesting domains on the World Wide Web – www.converstations.com. Nope, it’s not conversations, but ‘converStations’ – a coined word obviously, but one with a lot of meaning. And Mike calls him a ‘conversation conductor’. Mike is an independent business consultant specializing in business blogs and conversational copywriting. His experience in public speaking, sales and marketing, writing, and real-time online communication are strengths Mike relies upon in his role as a Conversation Conductor. Mike’s passion is to build communities – offline and online. He’s taken on many avatars do that – property management, online community programming, volunteerism, and – for a short time – as an assistant pastor at a Baptist church in Maryland. (Interesting that I’m now mentally imagining Mike as a conductor in a symphony leading ‘conversations’ between different ‘players’ and then also as a conductor in a train or bus helping people be a part of the ‘travel experience’ and then as a conductor in physics helping  the conduction of ‘charges’ which also a type of ‘electrical communication’. So there you go, so many meanings from a simple word – conductor.) Wow! Kick in the Caboose????!!! Mike, are you a rail-fan? Paul McEnany is a new media marketing strategist at a Dallas agency, and writes for Beyond Madison Avenue and The Madison Avenue Journal. He is also the greatest advertising human alive today. 🙂

If you were looking for the magician with the key to a box full of fun ideas to stimulate your creativity, look no further. Roger von Oech is an author, inventor, and consultant. He started his company, Creative Think, in 1977 to stimulate creativity in business. He’s probably best known as the author of A Whack on the Side of the Head and the Creative Whack Pack, and, most recently, as the creator of the Ball of Whacks (a set of 30 magnetic design blocks that act as a creative stimulant and mind freshener). Roger has a Ph.D. from Stanford in “History of Ideas;” and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Ohio State. Read his post ‘Think Like a Fool’.

Podcaster-Blogger-Coach Anna Farmery qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, joined the printing industry as a Financial Controller before being made Managing Director at the ripe old age of 25. She continued in industry with a growing reputation for motivating people, working for FMCG companies. After 20 years of being a Corporate Director – and latterly as a Group HR/Finance Director for a major worldwide brand she decided to establish her own company – The Engaging Brand. The Engaging Brand works with companies both small and major corporations on how to boost profits through motivating their people. She is a regular speaker on areas such as personal and employer branding, motivation and social media. She produces The Engaging Brand podcast and also coaches individuals on how to improve their leadership capabilities. Anna lives every moment like her last & can be the ultimate brand ambassador for iPod.

 “Stop calling yourself a blogger,” proclaims David Armano. A Creative VP at Digitas, David Armano’s personal blog Logic+Emotion exists at the intersection of Marketing, Brand Engagement + Experience Design – where passive consumers become active participants. In his 100^th post, Roger von Oech chose to interview David. His post ‘What makes David Armano tick?’ is the probably the finest piece on the David Armano story.

At his blog ‘One Reader at a Time’, Bob Glaza asks: why not bite off more than you can chew? Bob’s blog is about blogging and building community – learning and growing. He says: I hope one person at a time will find a bit of value. My wanderings stumble onto worthwhile blogs and sites. The reflections and posts focus broadly on imagination, marketing, print media, building community…and baseball. This blog expresses my opinions only. In addition, it expresses opinions of the people behind the links. Any similarity to real life just might be true! Bob has been in the newspaper business for over 20 years. “Technically in circulation and distribution for 19 and Consumer Marketing for the past 2 years.”

Mark Goren worked for 10 years in marketing as a copywriter at several traditional advertising agencies, before learning one sure thing: the traditional advertising model is broken. Mark’s now into new marketing consulting, freelance copywriting, social media advocacy, and anything else that’ll pay for a family of four to see the Habs in person. His marketing consultancy Transmission Content + Creative is designed to help ‘open-minded clients reach their targets in non-conventional, financially friendly ways by cutting out waste and targeting qualified prospects’. Openly. Honestly. Authentically. 

Matt Dickman (Mattanium) is the quintessential technomarketer as well as an interactive marketing strategist, speaker and technology evangelist working at DigiKnow, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. Click here for his recent seminal video tour on ‘Web2.0 for marketers: what it means for you’. Though he describes himself as ‘an amateur photographer finding the balance between work and photos’, I recommend a visit to his Flickr Travel snap collection.

The Social Media Marketing Blog is where you find Scott Monty’s perspectives on B2B implications of social media – the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web – for marketers, agencies and companies. Scott is currently Relationship Director & Consigliere at crayon, LLC plus Writer/Content Developer/Strategist at The Social Media Marketing Blog & The Baker Street Blog. He has also served time as Account Director at PJA Advertising & Marketing. A ‘benevolent idealist’ according to his DNA type, Scott is one of the most passionate online canons of Sherlock Holmes giving us what the world really needs: a blog about the world of Sherlock Holmes. 

Richard Huntington is a planner by trade and the former planning director of both HHCL and United London. Over the years he has made rodeo sexy, produced food porn for Diet Tango, helped men confront their fear of the phone, got the frozen retailer Iceland to care about food issues and had his last Tango ad banned for encouraging bullying. More recently he was busy making Sky more appealing to digital refusniks and doing serious harm to the ad industry by popularising their DVR, Sky+. He is on the management committee of the Account Planning Group in the UK and the Chair of Judges for the APG Creative Strategy Awards as well as a member of the IPA Strategy Group. He blogs at adliterate where he provides radical thinking for the brand advice business. It aims to be deliberately provocative with radical views and sets itself against orthodoxy in any form. The modern-day agent provocateur. Neat. 

Getting to know ‘Age of Conversation’ Authors – 6 May 17, 2007

Hello there! Click here to visit the updated profiles of ALL ‘Age of Conversation’ authors on one page. UPDATED ON 16 JULY 2007.

The weekend’s here in Muscat and I managed to squeeze in some time today to profile some of the participants of the ‘Age of Conversation’ e-book project. I’ve just got a couple left now! And oh yeah, my annual vacation has just started… 43 days where I’ll be away from work. But I will hold on to blogging, and all I can tell you now is that there will be so much to look forward on this blog in the days to come. On with the show!

At ChaosScenario, Cam Beck (aka Cameron Beck), along with a motley crew of online media specialists, provides information, insight and commentary on the chaos that marketers are facing as the forces of technology, consumer apathy and marketing integration shape our world. Cam has spent his career looking for easier ways of doing things. As an information architect and content specialist for Click Here, the interactive unit of The Richards Group, Cam takes full advantage of troubleshooting skills developed over 14 years in to create an easily understandable, highly usable interactive land of milk and honey. He’s got a personal blog here (comes with some powerful commentary on US Government, politics and military), and let me share some insider dope: Cam is an ex-Marine, having worked as a Electronic Switching Equipment Technician with the US Marine Corps for over 8 years, and is the Webmaster for and Chief Operating Officer of OO-RAH.com, a unique company dedicated to helping United States Marines and their families flourish. Read this post on the origin of OO-RAH, the spirited cry of the US Marines. Way to go, champ!

At ‘My 2 Cents’, P.R. veteran David Reich muses on marketing, media, public relations… and life. David says: After 30+ years in this business, I still look forward to going to work. Rarely are two days the same, and the challenges are varied and stimulating. Before founding his own business, Reich Communications, Inc. in 1990, David worked in senior roles at Manning, Selvage & Lee and The Rowland Company. David lives in southern Westchester, 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan, in the same town where he grew up. “Money-earnin’ Mount Vernon” is how the town is now known, as a center of hip-hop culture, but it also claims as native sons Denzel Washington, Dick Clark, author e.b. White, Art Carney, Art Buchwald and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs. David plays an active role in his community’s civic and school affairs and has served as a pro-bono public relations consultant to two mayors and the city comptroller. If he were not a P.R. man, David would have been an all-night Jazz DJ. (After all, he’s co-hosted a jazz show with the master horror filmmaker Wes Craven, for a semester at college.)

Luc is a man who wears many hats – marketing communication specialist and film producer, head of TV for an international advertising agency, managing director of small size company and so on. He is always on the lookout for: new challenges (!) – strategic planning – innovation – technology – state-of-the-art – cutting edge – pioneering processes – project research and development. The title of his chapter in the ‘Age of Conversation’ e-book is : “The Dawn of Shared Consciousness” and it floats around evolution and revolution. His blog Mindblob is nominated for 3 categories on Blogger’s Choice Awards: Best Blog Design, Best Marketing Blog & Best Blog about Stuff. At the moment, he’s probably having a ball holidaying in South of France.

Sean Howard’s blog is titled… CrapHammer. Prone to addiction ofcoffee, gadgets, software, cats, ideas and exploration, Sean’s currently a partner in spinglobe inc., a word of mouth, viral and social networking digital communications firm in Canada. His interests include ultimate frisbee, philosophy, gadgets, cats, and anything resembling ultimate frisbee. Sean blogs on Social Media, Social Networking, Viral / Word of Mouth & Web 2. His LinkedIn summary reads: Hacker turned Juggler; Brief foray into 3D special effects and Animation; Web Developer in the early standard war years; VP at a dying CD shop; Partner in an Interactive Agency; on to a Senior Strategist at ICE; finally Head Banana at spinglobe inc.

Tim Jackson is a ‘life-long, dyed in the wool jersey bicycle geek’ who is now living out a dream as the Brand Manager of the bike he lusted after since he was 12 years old; Masi Bicycles. In Jim’s own words: If you ever saw the movie ‘Breaking Away’, then you probably recognize the name Masi as the bike ridden by the movie’s hero Dave. Since seeing that movie in 1982, I have been a compulsive bike geek with little hope of salvation. Tim’s blog is the ultimate journey to a bike geek land. Happy ridin’ buddy! Oh yeah, did I tell you? Tim’s daughter Katie is on the blogosphere too… Katie’s a bright creative genius, philosopher & kindergartner whose blog you must visit.

Patrick Schaber is a Marketing Manager at Transition Networks, B2B manufacturer of networking hardware products in Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area. His blog is titled ‘The Lonely Marketer – a discussion for the small business marketing manager’ and serves all those with great marketing ideas, limited time and budget, and only a small crowd to hear you present your thoughts. Patrick believes that a small company Marketing Manager has an exciting position – maintaining a consistent marketing plan while expanding boundaries into new and unchartered territories. And the Lonely Marketer serves his purpose of writing about and generating discussions on a variety of current marketing trends for such marketing professionals.

‘The Copywriting Maven’ is the ultimate online epository of direct response marketing & SEO copywriting tips, techniques and reviews of incredibly useful resources for professional and aspiring marketing copywriters. And that just about makes Roberta Rosenberg the ultimate copywriting diva on the blogosphere. Click here to read her “elevator speech” about who she is and her experience. And what makes her so special for young writers such as myself: her need to share her knowledge. Here’s my high-five for you, lady. Tony D. Clark his home at ‘Success from the Nest’, a resourceful yet entertaining blog that offers inspiration, tips and advice for the home-based entrepreneur and those aspiring to one – laced with humor and cartoons. Being a work-from-home parent himself, Tony has given advice, shared resources, and helped others who are interested in working from home. When it comes to work, he is…an entrepreneur, artist, writer, and designer. He is also the founder and partner of EfficiencyLab, LLC – a software and Website renovation company and a regular contributor to lifehack.org – a productivity and personal development blog. And the cartoonist for Implementing Scrum – a site designed to help software teams with the methodology. Tony lives in North Carolina with his wife, 3 daughters, and a dog.

At ‘Todd And – The Power To Connect’, Todd Andrlik blogs at the very serious yet often comical crossroads of marketing and media. Todd says that the power to connect is vital in today’s global economy and broadband society. In addition to ‘Todd And’, he’s also a contributor to Forward, a blog providing career development and professional perspective for students and young PR professionals. Todd has spent several years working for global PR firms, including a four-year term at Weber Shandwick, before taking up his current position as director of marketing and PR for one of the largest construction firms in the US. Tony and his wife are parents to an eight-pound Silky Terrier, Wrigley. He enjoys European travel and improvisational comedy. In 2004, Todd retired from his improv troupe after 14 years of performing.

Uwe Hook is Director, Interactive Marketing Strategy at Genex, a full-service digital agency in California. Uwe has over 15 years of creative advertising, marketing, strategic planning and client experience, coupled with 10 years of online media experience. His blog’s where ‘Real Life 1.0 meets Web 2.0’. His Interests: Anything. Except Professional Darts. Click here to check out his profile at AdGabber. Or click here to read his articles on imediaconnection.

Here’s the scoop on social media marketing expert Toby Bloomberg. A native of Boston who found her way to to Atlanta. Over 15-years experience in marketing. Hooked on potential of the Internet in ’97. Always reseach-based. National speaker and facilitator of Social Media Marketing and traditional marketing topics for organizations like the American Marketing Association, the Olympic Organizing Committee and SCORE. “Other life” includes serving on boards of the American Marketing Association, the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association. Has most fun chairing the American Marketing Association’s online communities and being moderator of Internet/eCom SIG. Blogspeak: Diva Marketing is a state of mind. It’s an approach to marketing that’s fun, bold and savvy … but always strategically aligned with your brand’s objective. Steve Woodruff is Founder of StickyFigure, a consultancy that provides ‘sticky’ creative branding, identity, and market strategy services. Steve is a complusive lover of effective communications and can’t help thinking about more impactful logos, taglines, and market strategies. Steve led sales, marketing, and business development efforts for two decades in the healthcare field before launching StickyFigure and a consulting business on pharma sales training. Steve describes himself as ‘an unusual hybrid of conceptualizer, strategist, analyst, wordsmith, semi-techie, and all-around nice guy.’ Except when there’s bad coffee or lousy wine. Steve also writes as a contributor at the Small Business Branding blog, has been interviewed as an industry expert by TheStreet.com, recently launched the Marketing Bloggers Portal, and is working with other marketing bloggers on some new collaborative initiatives.Steve’s chapter in the ‘Age of Conversation’ e-book is titled ‘The Lowered Fence of Collaboration’.

Steve Bannister is a speaker, coach and educator from Canada who uses high-energy customized programs to empower people and organizations to get results. A ‘positive change catalyst’, Steve motivates people and organizations on how to get from planning to performance. An expert communicator and motivator for 20 years, Steve has a Masters in Education specializing in Teaching & Learning and is certified as a Professional Speaker with the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). Click here to read his article ‘The Secrets of Effective Decision-Making’.

Steve Roesler is the guy behind ‘All Things Workplace’, a blog on ‘Life at the intersection of people and work. . . for executives, leaders, employees, and their consultants’. Married to “B”,  Steve and his better half live 20 miles from Philadelphia in a tranquil, wooded area surrounded by lakes. Steve incorporated the Organization Effectiveness firm Roesler Group in 1977, specializing in communication training and development with an emphasis on improving systems, relationships, and large-scale change. He has spent lengths of time developing up-and-coming managers in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He has also served as a Drill Instructor in the Army, musician and singer, and has been involved in broadcasting for more than 30 years. He has attended various institutes for the study of human behavior, but believes that none of them equals a single day’s education watching people at an airport check-in line.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Stanley Johnson, Spike Jones, Nathan Snell, Simon Payn, Ryan Rasmussen, Ron Shevlin, Roger Anderson, Bob Hruzek, Rishi Desai, Phil Gerbyshak, Peter Corbett & Pete Deutschman.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Nick Rice, Nick Wright, Mitch Joel, Michael Morton, Mark Earls, Mark Blair, Mario Vellandi, Lori Magno, Kristin Gorski, Krishna De, Kris Hoet, Kofl Annan & Kimberly Dawn Wells. 

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Karl Long, Julie Fleischer, Jordan Behan, John La Grou, Joe Raasch, Jim Kukral, Jessica Hagy, Janet Green, Jamey Shiels, Dr. Graham Hill, Gia Facchini & Geert Desager.

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Gaurav Mishra, Gary Schoeniger, Gareth Kay, Faris Yakob, Emily Clasper, Ed Cotton, Dustin Jacobsen, Tom Clifford, David Pollinchock, David Koopmans, David Brazeal, David Berkowitz & Carolyn Manning. 

Profiles of ‘Age of Conversation’ authors: Craig Wilson, Cord Silverstein, Connie Reece, Colin McKay, Chris Corrigan, Cedric Giorgi, Becky Carroll, Andy Nulman, Amy Jussel, Kim Klaver, Sandy Renshaw, Susan Bird, Ryan Barrett & Troy Worman.