On 12th July I travelled to the big smoke, London, to attend an event by Adobe to find out about a new product they were launching. More importantly, to listen to someone I had seen before in London, at Stamford Bridge for iStrategy 2012. His name is Brian Solis, and he was the opening key note speaker at iStrategy. He blew me away on day one. Brian looks at how people use Social Media and Brands and analyses it.
When I saw Brian’s name as a speaker on the invite from Adobe I had to book my place there and then. The first 100 people would get a signed copy of his new book that he was going to be promoting, so the event was a double launch.
The launch of his book “The Future of Business” was to be held at The Mayfair Hotel – another reason to attend!.
What's the Future of Business by Brian Solis
A few colleagues asked me why I would travel all that way for a few hours and a book launch. “Is it really worth going all that way?”, and the simple answer to this question was, “Yes!”.
At iStrategy Brian asked the audience the question of “Why do you do what you do?” which was a turning point in Social Media when brands and businesses understood more about their why. So when I was invited to see Brian speak again, I had no hesitation in registering bearing in mind that I would need to get up for 4am to get the train to London and be there on time for 9am.
So why was I going?
- To see Brian Solis speak again and to hear about the Future of Business
- To get inspired by a leader in my industry
- To meet like minded people
- For an experience – I had never been to the Mayfair Hotel before
- And to ask Brian for an interview! – If you don’t ask…
I got all 5 plus more…
#1: Brian Solis was fabulous and didn’t disappoint. I could listen to him all day talk about social, people, business and brands. My favourite thing Brian said during the presentation was “Most marketers are in marketing because they don’t like maths, which is why R.O.I is a touchy subject!”
#2: Everything he said hit the nail on the head as you would expect, especially the ego-system where we expect people to be interested in absolutely everything we do every day
#3: I met two new people and we even went for lunch afterwards and spoke about Social, Digital and everything Internet. We followed each other and in fact still speak on Twitter every week! Lovely people!
#4: The hotel was beautiful, in fact stunning!
#5: I asked Brian if it was OK for an interview whilst he was signing my book and he said yes! I just needed to wait until everyone else had been sorted out
So, was it worth going? Yes is the simple answer. It was a very successful and inspiring day! Sometimes you have to do things because they feel right or just because you want to; you just never know where your choices will lead!
