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August 11, 2008
Announcing SWOMfest
Jackie and I are excited to announce SWOMfest '08, an annual event for the members and friends of the Society for Word of Mouth, our lil' ol' social network dedicated to helping companies and brands build word of mouth and customer evangelism into the DNA of their organization.
We plan to make SWOMfest about the building blocks of grassroots-driven word of mouth. It'll be about understanding the culture and science of networks. About creating a buzzworthy company purpose. About telling the story of your company or product in a way that makes it easy for others to spread it.
Here's a quick Q&A:
Where and when is it?
SWOMfest '08 will be at the Long Center for the Arts, a beautiful, new facility in the heart of funky-cool Austin, Texas, ranked as the most-creative city in the United States. There's more word of mouth stuff happening here than you can shake a blog at. The date is Oct. 30, 2008, starting at 9 AM and lasts all day. We will get together Wednesday. Oct. 29 a a local Austin watering hole the night before, so book your travel accordingly.
Who should attend?
- People who believe that word of mouth should be built into the DNA of their business
- Busy entrepreneurs striving for long-term, organic growth
- Marketers in small, medium or large businesses who want a deeper understanding of building word of mouth into their product, services, departments and organizations
So what am I going to learn, dude?
We'll divide SWOMfest into three blocks:
- Discovering your company's purpose: Are you in business to make money or change the world? You'll get an inside look at how companies and brands with a strong purpose and cause inspire buzz and evangelism.
- Telling your company's story: How can you tell the story of your company, or product, in a way that makes it easy for others to spread it? We'll venture beyond the realm of traditional PR and give you the tools to think about building and telling a buzzworthy story.
- Understanding networks and communities: Paying people to secretly spread buzz within networks is unethical. Some say it's evil. It's against the law in some countries. How, then, does your company's purpose and story spread through networks and communities? In this session, we'll jump into the science of information flow among networks and how communities coalesce toward action.
Are sponsorships available?
Absolutely. Contact Jackie at (512) 495-9707 for more information.
How much and how many seats?
Attendance is limited to 200. Cost is $325 but a limited number of seats are available for $199 and $229.
And I register where?
Right here!
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You're bumming me out, guys! I'm going to be in Austin, but teaching my class at Wizard Academy! Let me know if you guys do something special for dinner one night - would love to join the group! Good luck on the event - I'll blog about it!
Wish I could come to the event. It sounds like it will be very intresting. But seeing as I'm in major fundraising mode I can't afford to spend on anything other than this current project. Not conicidently, the sucess of which will depend a great deal on word of mouth.
Is this event more North American or will there be some transatlantic traffick?
Linda,
As this is our first event, we will have to see where the attendees hail from. I would not be surprised to see some folks coming from across the pond :)
Ben and Jackie:
I've just registered for the event. I'm a "dedicated swomie."
I'll be moving to Austin next week (from Boston), and I'm looking forward to meeting you both.
