one of the new kids on the block, Mike Sharman

Mike Sharman

“As an entrepreneur in the digital world it is imperative that you are your brand,” says Mike Sharman.  So imperative in fact that his topic for WTFmediaconf is ‘The one-man brand’.

Mike Sharman is the owner of award-winning digital communications agency – Retroviral. With more than four years agency experience, Mike has successfully implemented traditional and new media campaigns for established brands and startups in the consumer and b2b technology / finance, and entertainment sectors – from conception and design to online and offline distribution.

He blogs, shoots and seeds video online and believes experimentation is the most important aspect of online communications.   His company  Retroviral Digital Communications, an online communications consultancy, advises brands how to communicate with their target markets online.

all the way from Australia, our keynote, Julie Posetti

Julie Posetti is an award winning journalist and journalism academic who lectures in radio, television and social media eporting at the University of Canberra, Australia.  She’s been a national political correspondent, a regional news editor, a TV documentary reporter and presenter on radio and television with the Australian national broadcaster, the ABC. Her academic research centers on journalism and social media, talk radio, public broadcasting, political reporting and broadcast coverage of Muslims post-9/11.

She is writing a PhD on “The Twitterisation of Journalism”. She also consults on social media strategy and trains journalists, educators & NGOs in social media practice. An internationally published academic and journalist, Posetti writes a regular column for the prestigious PBS Mediashift website, blogs at J-Scribe and you can follow her on Twitter

MC Heidi Schneigansz

Heidi Schneigansz

Heidi Schneigansz (SnowgooseSA onTwitter) is a digital native, blogger, speaker and eMarketer who believes that Social Media will fundamentally change the way we communicate. In her own words, her mission is to “convert ordinary people into geeks” through education.

Although young, Heidi is well-educated in various disciplines.  She studied Graphic Design & Multimedia, went on to attain her Cape Wine Academy Diploma, honed her HTML & CSS skills, mastered the art of Web Project Management and User Interface Design & User Experience Design and finished off with a Programme in Marketing Management.

Heidi displays a powerful mix of eMarketing brains and brawn.  No stranger to the world of digital marketing, she initiated and managed the Online Reputation Management for Standard Bank and delivered integrated digital campaigns for their Personal Banking Division. Fate brought her to Quirk eMarketing in their Johannesburg office as a Senior eMarketing Producer where she works with clients, speaks at events and generally causes mayhem.  Heidi defines herself as the consummate geek.  She is never without some sort of device that keeps her online and tweeting.

Date for WTF 2011

The date for the WTFmediaconf 2011 is Friday September 23, 2011.  It is part of a five-day conference which includes the inaugural Design, Development and Research Conference (DDR 2011), hosted by the Faculty of Informatics and Design of Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

Suggest a speaker

With so much admiration for what TED has achieved, I am going to be inspired by this greatest, but on a much much smaller scale.

As you know WTFmediaconf 2011  is themed  It is a smarter world.  It is going to have 24 speakers, who will only speak for 10 minutes or (15 minutes without Q&A).  This will be timed very strictly. (This limit makes it quicker and easier to load to YouTube; and makes the speakers focus on what they want to say – only the important stuff).  I would like to say that there will be no Power Points – as these are usually extremely boring – and that there will be intimate engagement with the audience.  Connect with the audience – a little Open Mike Night style.

Now we have 12 speakers confirmed… we are looking for the 12 new kids on the block.  People doing exciting things that no-one knows about yet.  Any suggestions…. please email wtfmediaconf@gmail.com  Looking forward to hearing from you.

Format for 2011 is TEDlike

There is no doubt that WTFmediaconf 2010 took the conference to a new level.  It was informative and the speakers were impressive.  Impressive in delivery and impressive in their innovation.  The just under 40 speakers were briefed to WOW the audience and that is what they did.  Each speaker had a 30 minute slot.  Matthew Buckland, a regular speaker at WTFmediaconf, suggested “You should make this the TED South Africa Conference.”

As good suggestions should always be investigated I found more about TED and speaking at TED.

A bit of background:  TED was first held in 1984 and featured early demos of the Mac and Sony’s compact disc.  Chris Anderson acquired the curatorship of TED in 2001 from its founder Richard Saul Wurman.  TED search for presenters who “will inform and inspire, suprize and delight.”  TED presenters, they boast “run the world’s most admired companies and design its best-loved products; they invent world-changing devices, and create ground-breaking media. They’re trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses.”

Well, I have watched enough TED videos to know that is true.  According to the website “TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. And in fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline.  The format is fast paced: 50+ talks over the course of four days (to say nothing of the morning and evening events). This immersive environment allows attendees and speakers from vastly different fields to cross-fertilize and draw inspiration from unlikely places. This is the magic of TED”  The result, also according to the website is “Unexpected connections.  Extraordinary insights.  Powerful inspiration.”

There are three TED events:  TED Conference, TEDGlobal or TEDActive.  (You can find out more about each at http://www.ted.com/)  I also found out that you cannot attend TED without an invitation.   TED invites (and you can apply to be invited) 1’000 of the world’s most remarkable people.  And that you can to apply to be a speaker.  It is also interesting to note that TED limits their speakers to an 18-minute talk.  The idea is that the speakers only communicate their best ideas.   I must admit that I like this idea very much.  Neither does TED pay speakers – apart from covering travel costs and accommodation.

So WTFmediaconf  2011 is going for shorter talks and vibrant speakers who we will continue not to pay.

Now how can I get myself invited to TED in February 2012.

Theme for 2011

The theme for the media conference is WTF! Its a smarter world.
What does that mean. OK I know everyone knows what WTF means, but its a smarter world. We are a smaller world. We are back to being small town people with a big city lifestyle. Everybody knows our secrets, but like any small town, they are too discrete to tell us they know or to talk about them.
But secrets are not the conversations we will be having at the media conference. We will be talking about the applications that make it possible to know our secrets. Collaboration – do you think that in small towns collaboration was another word for gossip – and for greater knowledge. We all know everything know, but at one stage the more you knew the more valued you where. How do we find value now?
If sharing is caring how come we care less, but share more? Is information knowledge or is it just gossip? What is knowledge in today’s world? I can be an expert in minutes, but can I use that knowledge to the greater good of all people? Or just for me?
Think about the applications and the tools and the wow of them all. I only want to hear about the WOW. Do you have a WOW you want to share?

Programme

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010Y

07:30: Registration

08:30: Dave Duarte: Master of Ceremonies

08:35: Welcoming address: Johannes Cronje

08:40: Dave Duarte — Transmedia storytelling

09:10: Simon Leps — Convergence of the mobile and social media

09:40: Paul Stafford — The Cloud: A South African success story

10:10: Eran Eyal — Crowdsourcing: Traveling beyond the barriers of social media space

10:40: TEA

11:10: Shel Israel — Twitterville people

12:10: Yossi Hasson — Wave 3: Understanding the driving forces behind cloud computing, Web 2.0 and social media and why

your business survival depends on it

12:40: LUNCH

13:40: Mark Gray — Recruitment 2.0: Recruitment reinvented

14:10: Justin Spratt — A peek around the corner

14:40: Justin Hartman — Social Media ROI: Does it exist?

15:10: TEA

15:40: Vincent Maher & Nic Haralambous — Building a mobile-web startupu in South Africa Part 1 & Part 2

16:40: Hannes van Rensburg — Poverty alleviation through mobile phones

17:10: Gordon Parkin- Simbiology: The study of mobile lifestyle

18:00: SOCIAL

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010

07:30: Registration

08:30: JP Naude — Master of Ceremonies

08:40: Andrew Cardoza — Mobile: The glue between the digital world and the real world

09:10: Daniel Neville — Crowdsourcing and its effect on the marketing and communications industry

09:40: Andy Hadfield — Online reputation management: 10 considerations for shaping your strategy

10:10: TEA

10:40: Mandy de Waal — Writing the new world of journalism

11:10: Jason Xenopoulos — Transmedia storytelling : Building brands across a fragmented mediaverse

11:40: Sheena Gates — Personalising social media in business

12:10: LUNCH

13:10: Paul Jacobson — Social media: Giving traditional legal paradigms the finger

13:40: Matthew Buckland — Future of social networking: A concept investigation with augmented reality

14:10: Zibusiso Mkhwananzi — The effective use of social media in the marketing mix to meet sales and marketing targets

14:40: TEA

15:10: Heidi Schneigansz — Social media, SEO & ORM: The holy trinity of e-marketing

15:40: Marion Walton — Teens and mobile literacies:  The m4Litproject.

16:10: Marlon Parker — Breaking social barriers through social media

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2010

07:30: Registration

08:30: Johannes Cronje — Master of Ceremonies

08:40: Andrew Brand — The rise of digital doesn’t mean the death of traditional

09:10: Christine da Silva — Discovering search marketing

09:40: Matt Visser — Musicians and social media

10:10: TEA

10:40: Beverley Schafer — The rise of social media in politics

11:10: Wesley Lynch — Ebooks and the future of digital media

11:40: Dirk Visser — Open innovation

12:10: TBA

12:40: LUNCH

13:40: Mark Horner — Using open-everything and social media to support the teaching value chain

14:10: Jarred Cinman — From websites to digital presences: The changing landscape of marketing and media in the digital age

14:40: Johannes Cronje — The role of social software in a learning organisation

15:10: Johann van der Merwe — Back to reality

Exploring social media society

WTFmediaconf explores social media, mobile media, cloud computing and other interesting stuff.  Come socialize with us.

The conference is powered by Neotel and organised by CPUT.  Website by Buynary (www.wtfmediaconf.co.za)    Cost R4500.00  Early Bird R2000.00

Do you know how social media, mobile media and cloud computing will affect you?

Are you a social media junkie?  Do you wake up and check your twitter account?  Not that hooked yet?

Technology influences important aspects of our lives – do you remember a time before the ballpoint pen (1938) or the barcode (1973)?  Did you know the mobile phone arrived in 1947? Understanding what’s changing, why it’s changing, and what might come at us in the future, is key to our success and should be at the top of our to do list.

Social media has gone mainstream, but as you know true revolutions are the result in changes in infrastructure and not just in new inventions.  Is social media a change in infrastructure, or just a change in the way we communicate?

The personal computer did not change the world until the internet arrived with its distribution channel.  Are we still on the World Wide Web or are we back on the Internet?  There are sleeker apps than the browser – the foundation of the World Wide Web – available for online or mobile connections.

WTFmediaconf will explore social media, mobile media and cloud computing and other interesting stuff in the digital world.  It will strip social media to its core so that we are able to understand what it is, how it works and what has worked well.  It will educate and inform, as well as provide access to the online/mobile environment, explore, explain, speculate, debate and talk about things that matter to us.

Shel Israel, our keynote speaker and co-author of Naked Conversations, authored the best seller Twitterville.  He will share his experiences and anecdotes as well as touch on new trends and developments.  He shares a platform with Matt Buckland, Vincent Maher, Justin Spratt, Eran Eyal, Mandy de Waal, Yossi Hasson, SheBeeGee, SnowgooseSA and many others.

Who should attend?

Just about everyone:  Business – Small, Medium or Large, Media /Multimedia Specialists, Social Media Consultants, Journalists, and Agencies:  Advertising, Digital, Marketing, Public Relations and Branding. Information Technologists, Knowledge Managers, Entrepreneurs, Corporate and Retail,  Lawyers and Accountants.

Topics include:

The Rise Of Digital Doesn’t Mean The Death Of Traditional

A Fragmented Mediaverse

Crowdsourcing and Its Effect On The Marketing And Communications Industry

The Glue Between The Digital World And The Real World Transmedia Storytelling – Building Brands Across

Twitterville People

Structure of WTF Media Conf

The conference comprises of KEYNOTE address, presentations, case studies and exhibitions.

Enquires and Bookings

Ms Wardah Peck & Ms Lauren Dyers

Telephone: +27 21 460 4287  or 021 460 9069

website:  www.wtfmediaconf.co.za   Gmail: wtfmediaconf@gmail.com

Twitter: @WTFmediaconf  Hashtag #wtfmedia

The daily line-up

Wow, we feel very honoured to have put together such a great line up of speakers.  This is the line-up as it stands today.

The format is TED-like (no panels).

Each speaker will have approximately 20-minutes to teach, explain or remove the mystery of one or other aspect of social media, mobile media and cloud computing.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER  20, 2010

Dave Duarte – Blended Learning: Social Media, Cloud Computing And Augmented Reality In Education

Simon Leps – Convergence Of  the Mobile And Social Media

Paul Stafford – The Cloud: A South African Success Story

Eran Eyal – Crowdsourcing: traveling beyond the barriers of Social Media space

KEYNOTE   Shel Israel – Twitterville People

Yossi Hasson – Wave 3: Understanding The Driving Forces Behind Cloud Computing, Web 2.0 And Social Media And Why Your Business Survival Depends On It

Mark Gray – Recruitment 2.0: Recruitment Re-Invented

Sheena Gates – Personalising Social Media in Business

Justin Hartman – Social Media ROI: Does It Exist?

Vincent Maher &  Nic Haralambous – Innovation At Mobile Operators Part 1 And Part 2

Hannes Van Rensburg – Poverty Alleviation Through Mobile Phones

Gordon Parkin – Simbiology – The Study Of Mobile Lifestyle

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010

Andrew Cardoza – Mobile – The Glue Between The Digital World And The Real World

Paul Jacobson – Social Media: Giving Traditional Legal Paradigms The Finger

Andy Hadfield – Online Reputation Management: 10 considerations for shaping your strategy

Mandy De Waal – Writing the new world of journalism

Jason Xenopoulos – Transmedia Storytelling – Building Brands Across A Fragmented Mediaverse

Justin Spratt – A Peak Around The Corner

Professor Johannes Cronje – The Role Of Social Software In A Learning Organisation

Matthew Buckland – Future Of Social Networking: A Concept Investigation With Augmented Reality

Zibusiso Mkhwananzi – The Effective Use Of Social Media In The Marketing Mix To Meet Sales And Marketing Targets

Heidi Schneigansz – Social Media, SEO & ORM: The Holy Trinity of E-Marketing

Khaya Dlanga – The Age Of Participation

Marlon Parker – Breaking Social Barriers Through Social Media

FRIDAY, OCTOBER  22, 2010

Andrew Brand – The Rise Of Digital Doesn’t Mean The Death Of Traditional

Christine Da Silva – Discovering Search Marketing

Matt Visser – Musicians And Social Media

Beverley Schafer – The Rise Of Social Media In Politics

Wesley Lynch -   Ebooks and the Future of Digital Media

Dirk Visser – Open Innovation

Ivor Price – I Am The Media: Social Networking And Journalism

Mark Horner – Using Open-Everything And Social Media To Support the Teaching Value Chain

Jarred Cinman – From Websites to Digital Presences: the changing landscape of marketing and media in the digital age

Daniel Neville – Crowdsourcing and Its Effect On The Marketing And Communications Industry