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For the next TFT I thought we might switch tack so here goes…
This time we are going to apply our expertise, experiences, ideas and creativity and actually do something rather than talk about it. Greenwich Council is coming to work with us to explore what a digital society might be like – more specifically, what Greenwich might be like. Building on some of the themes from the last TFT, we will brainstorm together aspects of a ‘go-to’ state, supported by visualizers who will bring our ideas to life. The great thing is, this is not a hypothetical exercise. Two Taverners are actually on the Greenwich Digital Advisory Board and they are tasked with helping conceive and deliver a digital future society across the Greenwich Peninsula and beyond.
There are six themes to consider:
Education
Health
Transportation
Community
Business and Commerce
Governance
It’s simple… Bring ideas, show them at the door, name on the list? You’re in.
There are 80 places for the evening. A prerequisite for attending is that you bring a contribution – or three – with you. Around the themes we will explore, what ground-breaking examples can you find, what has inspired you? Print out (photocopy, tear out, etc…) a picture, a word, whatever it maybe and come armed with something to stick on the walls and together, we’ll enrich that.
RSVP to Michelle@thefantastictavern.co.uk for a place at the bar (and a beer voucher or 2)
The important information
Date Thursday 14th April 2011
Location Cellar Wine Bar @ The Horniman, Hay’s Galleria, Counter Street, off Tooley Street, London SE1 2BA
Time 6:30 for a 7pm start until bar closes at Midnight
Thanks and we look forward to your responses….
Remember to follow @TFTLondonNYC and the event is #TFTLondon
Also find out more about The Fantastic Tavern at www.thefantastictavern.co.uk
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This blog is for all those people lucky enough to get a place at the next "What Matters Now" Fantastic Tavern on Thursday 10th February 2011 at The Mudlark. To those are on the reserve list or could not make it, fear not we are already planning the next one in April.
The thing about the Fantastic Tavern is that it’s a bit of a moving feast. I hatch an idea for an evening and then seek out appropriate content ideas and collaboration through the network of the community. I'm never entirely sure what we'll serve up until we serve it up. I like this rather haphazard approach to the future - never over-planning and reacting to circumstances as they unfold.
To that end, next week's Fantastic Tavern will be a bit like either a speed date (not that I know) or an open mic comedy session. It will be rapid, varied, highly entertaining and there will be audience participation. Speaking of which, if you all turn up, there will be over 130 taverners so make sure you're first to the bar!
An important point to mention here. This time I'm not going to make you wait to the end of the night or even the middle of the main event for food, unlined stomachs mean more heckling – although this is not a bad thing. It will be served like our speakers - hot - at 6.30 to 7. After that and it's a liquid diet I'm afraid :) A big thanks to EMC Consulting and Marcus Donald People for picking up the tab.
However unstructured the evening might feel when we experience it, there is plenty going on in the background to ensure we have a great night. Ten speakers are current chalked to do ten topical, thought provoking 'speed debates'. Each one will answer the question "What Matters Now?" - to us as professionals and practitioners, to people more generally, to society. It's a broad, far reaching question of course. So what's on the menu?
- New Philanthropy
- The Nature of Work
- Journalism at the speed of the network
- The role of education
- Living in the Now
- My Information - access and ownership
- Tribal identities
- New Skills Economy
- Productivity - did digital deliver?
- Money still makes the world go 'round
What I can promise you is that there will be a little bit of something for everyone and there will be some great people to swig a beer with. At least that's guaranteed.
If for any reason you cannot come please email michelle.flynn@emc.com as we have a reserve list just waiting for their beer tokens.
Otherwise see you there
Details incase you have forgotten
Date: Thursday 10th February 2011
Time: 6:30pm until bar close
Venue: The Mudlark (Traders Bar upstairs), 4 Montague Close, London SE1 9DA
Facebook, @TFTLondonNYC
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Next month's Fantastic Tavern, "What Matters Now" is taking shape nicely. Over 120 digitally-fascinated Taverners will convene at the Mudlark in Southwark to participate in what I can only describe as 'speed debating'.
I've approached a host of new speakers and the odd old favourite (no offence intended!) and each one will make a brief monologue before we dive into the theme they have described. Each speaker has selected a theme close (enough) to their passions or area of expertise and I've endeavoured to give the evening as a whole the range of themes that digital touches - very aspect and every walk of life.
Let me give you a taste of a couple of the speakers (we have lots more too).
Chris Thompson from Ravensbourne, the relaunched centre of design and digital education excellence in Greenwich, will give us a point of view about the nature of education and how new social behaviours have forced educationalist to rethink how and when we learn and the role of institutions.
Richard Sedley, now of Foviance fame, continues a theme that is getting more and more attention - time and attention deficit cultures. As part of a cleansing trip to Vietnam this Christmas, I switched off from social media. Doing the maths, I worked out that I spent over two working weeks on Facebook and twitter. So while I'm desperately removing myself from email subscriptions (in excess of 1500 email a year), he's thinking about how a new 'always on' culture is impacting our productivity and quality of life.
I have a special guest, Gerhard Arnhofer, flying in from Paris/somewhere global. Gerhard is responsible for the global provisioning of content, its strategy and management, for a large Pharma company. Gerhard is someone of who it can be said his work is his passion - he genuinely in the business of making a difference to people's well being and health. And our relationship with Health Care, as a concept or as a set of institutions is changing dramatically. Like retail that proceeded the Parma industry, customers are approaching 'provisioners' better informed and with greater demands. How do brands adapt to accommodate this change in needs and expectations and what behaviours could emerge as a digital population faces ill health or senior citizenship?
There is still one speaker slot if you fancy the challenge. In all our discussions, debates, blogs, tweets etc and with cultures changing and being created so rapidly, is something missing in all of this. Where is God? And is he on Facebook?* In the four years, I have been on Facebook, I have never once got up on a sunday to read "I'm heading to Church". Why not? If you have an interest in beliefs and a point of view about the role of 'a god', deity, worship, religion and devotion, let me know.
I can promise you an exhausting, challenging, stimulating evening. Together, we will explore the broadest themes that the Tavern is concerned with and perhaps form an agenda for the year ahead.
Remember if you cannot make it, you can watch the speed debated unfold on twitter @TFTLondonNYC #TFTLondon
Date: Thursday 10th February 2011
Time: 6:30pm until bar close
Venue: The Mudlark (Traders Bar upstairs), 4 Montague Close, London SE1 9DA
SORRY THE LIST IS NOW FULL but if you email michelle.flynn@emc.com she can add you to the reserve list.
* God is on Facebook and 511,545 people like this.
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'Digital' - channels, interactions, platforms and lifestyles - has become so pervasive that it's practically ubiquitous or soon will be.
With planes and, shortly, the tube offering connectivity, always on is now a reality. Think about it. Where do you get your news from? How do you research a new purchase? Where do you book your holidays, make shopping orders, plan your entertainment? Your behavior as it relates to all these traditional activities have changed. And of course, there are new behaviours - tweeting, liking, updating status - these interactions are now common verbs.
In this changed world, in 2011, what matters now? And how does digital affect what matters? This is the theme of the first Fantastic Tavern of the year. We've found great location for the evening (see below), it's a bigger location, wired for sound and private (see, we did listen to your feedback!)
Some of you will remember the trends briefing at the beginning of 2010? Well the format will be similar.
I am inviting eight great speakers from all walks of life to briefly present a theme each. Think commerce, communities, education, tribalism, politics, health... We will then debate it. Finally, we'll collectively plot the theme on some quasi-scientific graph I'll think up.
Don't get me wrong. While the themes are serious and the content salient, together we'll ensure the evening has the typical entertainment values you'd expect from a Fantastic Tavern event. And of course, there's beer and food to wash it all down with, provided by kind sponsors, EMC Consulting and Marcus Donald People.
I'm sure we're going to have fantastic evening and I hope you can come. Also, feel free to bring other people too - there's always room for new taverners!
Date: Thursday 10th February 2011
Time: 6:30pm until bar close
Venue: The Mudlark (Traders Bar upstairs), 4 Montague Close, London SE1 9DA
To get your seat at the bar email michelle.flynn@emc.com
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How productive is the time you spend online? Or in your email inbox? Could it be that twittering, responding to emails, writing them, updating your status, logging in to locations – all the micro interactions you do every day, every hour – are actually making you less effective? You, like me, might be spending hours ‘plugged in’ but are you actually switched on? In recent months, I’ve read several articles and books on productivity and our increasing reliance on digital interfaces and interactions. One or two have even argued that a subordinate behavior of updating your status, commenting and liking – the compulsion DNA of facebook- has the potential to make us less intelligent over time. And there was me on a flight to Vietnam, drafting a blog about the potential for new social applications! So I decided on a personal experiment. I unplugged. For two weeks, I didn’t log into Facebook. I didn’t tweet. I didn’t track my movements on Foursquare. I restricted email to less than ten minutes a day and then only to clear mails, not to create them. My iPhone is typically grafted to my hand so I had to lock it in a safe. I didn’t tell my friends I’d flown over the tallest building in the world, landed and then hit a swarm of mopeds, I didn’t wish them a Happy New Year and I didn’t witness their virtual hangovers. For the first two or three days, I actually felt the digital equivalent of withdrawal symptoms. But in time, I sat in restaurants and made conversation – with the people actually with me rather than in a virtual space. Eventually, I stopped asking myself, “What’s happening in the world?” It’s not that I didn’t care – I simply cared less. The email threads petered out, the digital twitch subsided. I’d be lying if I said I’d relinquished ‘work’ entirely. With my newly reclaimed headspace and time, I decided to read another business book – after all, without Twitter and Facebook, how else do you fill six hours in Doha Airport? I read Seth Godwin’s new book, Linchpin, cover to cover in about three hours. For the purpose of salience, the book can be edited down to these key points; be great at what motivates you. If that’s your job, do it as well as possible. If it’s not, get another job. Be nice and give gifts. So far, so so. But then the writer meanders in page after page talking about reptiles. Apparently our reptilian mind makes stops us making a difference – in work, in life. Those that master this behavior – discount it - achieve breakthroughs. Here’s the point – and this is why I mention it – one counter-measure to achieving that state of mind is to languish in a molasses of things that seem productive but actually are not. Email is a prime candidate. Seth Godwin cut his email access down to one hour a day. His productivity rose threefold. This isn’t a fresh insight but it’s repetition made me question how I was spending the majority of my time. Am I spending it fruitfully? Are others benefiting from the time I spend online, interacting, plugged in? Am I going to achieve my dreams on Twitter? I’m returning to work. But I have shut down my Groupon account. That’s 730 less emails a year and I don’t need that much teeth whitening or meal discounts. I’m not logging into FourSquare any more. I don’t care if I’m not the major of my street and I’ve never received a discount that I’ve used. Lets face it, why would you log in to one restaurant and than peruse a discount at one down the block? Twitter stays for the purpose of marketing but most of the watched columns have been deleted. In just 24 hours, Build-a-Bear, TopTable, Microsoft and Runkeeper Pro have all been unsubscribed. And then there is Facebook. I removed 30% of my friends at the end of 2010. But for those that remain, I’m wondering how such frequent interactions are either enriching my life or any one else’s. I’m going to upload some pictures. I want to share something of what I saw with a handful of people who’ll appreciate them. If nothing else, it’ll calm the nerves of one or two people who switched to text during my sabbatical to ask, “Are you OK?” After that, I think the relative silence should continue. You see I’ve done the math. Not being on Facebook will credit me with 84 hours a year. That’s about two weeks. A little over, actually. What will I do with all that regained time? Something productive. Like taking a holiday. Addendum The process of filtering out the digital noise begs a question, “What’s important now?” Certainly not how early I woke up, where I am, or what I think of a painter and decorator turned recording artist. That’s why the next Fantastic Tavern, February, 10th, is all about what’s important now in the world of Digital – the role of networks in education, the impact of social media on politics, how local community values can be re-established by big brands, personal data management… This will not be an evening about trends that may or may not have any impact. It’s a conversation about socio-economic and cultural themes and the role of digital within those contexts. A guest speaker, rapid firing a presentation before we dive into discussion, will introduce each theme. You are invited. On Facebook soon…..
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I remember when I was young, I worked out that we are propelled through life facing backwards and that we seemingly accelerate towards our terminus. This has to be true as we cannot see what is ahead, we can remember things that have just happened vividly and memories disappear into the mists of time. The soothsayer or trend analyst simply had the skill or resources to look over their shoulder and glimpse the future. The model might be flawed and this would certainly explain how fast this year has passed by and yet how much seems to have happened ‘ages’ ago.
So while its seemed like only yesterday when we did the 2010 New Year’s Trends briefing, on Thursday December 9th 2011 The Fantastic Tavern heralds the start of the Christmas session with mince pies, mulled wine and it’s Review of the Year.
I’ve spent the year competing with the guys at Number 6 for the Mayoral Office of my street by checking in to my own home. I have to admit that as the year comes to a close, I’m questioning why that was ever important enough such that I spend any time at all ‘logging into’ Four Square. After a temporary high when I attended the Manhattan Halloween Party on Sixth and got the ‘Swarm Badge’, its all become a little pointless. I’m just relieved I didn’t bother to start my own virtual farm yard.
Things could have been worse. I could have been a footballer and spent every Sunday morning panicking that it was my turn to be ousted by the News of the World after a twitter leak about my exploits. Which brings me neatly of course to the water cooler phenomena which is the X Factor and Katie Waissel’s granny. What interests me about current ‘reality’ TV programming? That the water cooler conversation happens in real time across social networks while the shows we inflict on ourselves are broadcast and that digital ‘look-a-likes’ can actually build significant follower volumes, over and above the personalities themselves.
Join us on the 9th, when we’ll hurtle in Rewind mode across 2010, taking rich pickings from the year on line and off, from Raging Against The Machine to the Chilean Miners. And as we draw the year to a close, take an opportunity to sit on The Fantastic Tavern’s knee and make your wish for 2011.
Of course, if you cannot make it, the happiest of Christmases to you and yours and all the very best wishes for 2011. The Fantastic Tavern is excited to share it with you, living as we do in very Fast Forward.
Date Thursday 9th December 2010
Time 6:30pm until close
Venue Old Explorer, 23 Great Castle Street, Oxford Circus, London, W1G 0JA (downstairs bar)
RSVP michelle.flynn@emc.com
Facebook event
Twitter
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On Wednesday 3rd November we are taking The Fantastic Tavern to New York for an evening meeting of minds to share insights, expertise, experience and beer.
The theme of the evening is “From Twit to Twitter”
Time: 6:30pm onwards
Venue: Houndstooth Pub, 520 8th Avenue @ 37th Street, New York
The event this time is all about the power of ‘Social’ as an enabler within and beyond the enterprise, for sales, services and engagement.
There will be five rapid fire presentations with discussions through-out – the TFT is an interactive discussion, not a passive presentation.
The five confirmed sessions are:
Anthony Effik, SVP, Director Strategic Consulting at Publicis Modem
Managing Brand in Social Spaces – Matthew Bagwell Global Creative Director, EMC Consulting
Facebook while you Work? - The Role of Social within the Enterprise – Patrick Steger, Head of Operations, Application Architecture, Design and Development, EMC Consulting US
Measuring the Value of the Social web – David Ellis, Head of Performance Measurement, UK
Using Social as a Weapon in the War on Talent – Michelle Flynn, Head of Recruitment, EMC Consulting UK
If you would like to join us please email Michelle Flynn on michelle@thefantastictavern.co.uk and she will send you all the details.
You can also find us on Facebook.
Our site is also in the process of being updated but can be found at www.thefantastictavern.co.uk
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You know when a Fantastic Tavern event has been a success when it’s about 6pm the following day when you’re sober enough to actually start typing...
I mused in the spring, "What would happen if we did 10 Fantastic Taverns in one day?" Now we know!
For one thing, doing an all day event with three tracks of speaker sessions, breakfast, lunch, teas and coffee, bar and the Awards Ceremony takes ten times more planning than one session in a pub. I couldn't have done this on my own. So right off the bat, let me salute the hard working team who planned, prepared, carried, fetched, filmed, guided the lost, cleaned up and everything in between. Clare, Mark, Jamie, James, Kate, Georgia, Rob, Jemma, Michelle (I pray I haven't forgotten anyone) - you made it all happen around our guests and I cannot thank you enough.
Secondly, The Fantastic Tavern is a community and without the attending Taverners, the day wouldn't have worked at all. Taverners know that they are there to contribute and they did - all day long. Thanks for making the effort - to be there and getting involved.
Finally, ten sessions need ten facilitators. People who are prepared to give their time and expertise for free and share their experiences with the crowd. You all did a sterling job and everyone who gave me feedback said the same thing - you made the day. Antony Mayfield, Kathy Brown, David Ellis, Jo Robb, Duan Evans, Michael Alves, Paul Dawson, Michael McClary, Tricky and Phil Haworth - you are all true friends of The Fantastic Tavern.
Right, Oscar speech done, let's see if I can remember what happened. I'll keep this brief here but shortly there will be lots more stuff including the presentations and films on The Fantastic Tavern website, here (it might take a bit of time, keep trying...)
I kicked off as the bacon sandwiches arrived. Late. And without ketchup.
The Taverners had explored ten trends at the beginning of the year and rated them Hot or Not. How accurate had we been? Had we hit on the next big thing or is it still too really to say?
When I'd starting writing this section, I'd decided to personalise the impact of the trends - what had I done, where had I been, how had I interacted and how did it align with our predictions? Foursquare Mayorships, The World Cup, The General Election, researching cars, downloading apps, the iPAD, customer service battles; they had all entwined to make a rich tapestry of interaction through digital platforms and channels. And our top trend - playfulness - had featured albeit lightly. Nevertheless, this trend - to "apply a gaming layer to the world" (Seth Priebatsch) - seems to be gaining gravitas in virtual and physical spaces. Hundreds of brands are rushing to add mini-challenges and tasks to SCVNGr, trading fun for rewards. Personally, I agree with one of the Taverners - some of these interactions can feel like a chore - but we are just at the beginning and play without clear initial purpose isn't for all of us. We should continue to watch that space.
Antony Mayfield, author of Me and My Web Shadow, took on the theme and introduced the need for a framework for contextualising and valuing trends as they emerge. This was to be a theme with the Innovation sessions - the thesis beginning that as practitioners, marketers and brands, we need to ascertain how to capitalise on opportunities and institutionalise innovation while anticipating value and understanding the elasticity of our organisations to extension and change.
Introduction done, we then trebled our numbers over lunch and started our plot for the rest of the day - three themes and three sessions in each. The idea was that there was supposed to be something for everyone. And what a selection the Taverners had...
- In Innovation, we discussed how organisations could partner for innovation, how to develop the right cultures for ideas to embed and took a look at how Microsoft is inspiring us with new interfaces and technologies through its patterns and platforms for development. Thanks to Underbelly for sponsorship.
- In Craft, we were reminded that every word counts, how to have ideas and how to maintain creative integrity through great partnerships. Thanks to EMC Consulting for sponsorship.
- In Effectiveness, we discussed how to balance voluminous prospect generation with advocacy - challenging the 'linear' nature of the classical marketing funnel - how to create value models and how to make small changes for big returns. Thanks to KnowledgeMill for sponsorship.
All the sessions were interactive rather than lectures - in keeping with the more successful Fantastic Tavern events we have run. Feedback from the day suggests that this format works and that having a chance to actually talk things through with fellow practitioners is what differentiates the Fantastic Tavern from other events people attend. And while the day was a success - or so I have been told - I'm reflecting on all the things people have told me and the suggestions for improvements and if I run another Lock Inn, it will be even better.
As I said, more detail, films, presentations etc will be found here thefantasictavern.co.uk - in the next few days...
With the main event done, we made a bee line to the bar - adequately stocked by Marcus Donald People, for the 2010 Fantastic Awards.
Two days before, Chris Robson from YouWish, Chris Howell from Dixons Retail and Hisham Anis from KnowledgeMill, scrutinised all the work that had been entered for the three categories, Innovation, Effectiveness and Craft. I'd anticipated getting through the shortlisted work quickly but the judges really went into detail and hours later, were still judging.
And so engraved bottomless Tankards at the ready, we headed into the Ceremony.
Sharpcloud.com won the Innovation category, with The Flickerman begin commended. Sharpcloud is a business to business marketplace, where members share and improve business tools and processes. While still in its infancy, the Judges liked the collaborative, helpful and open-handed nature of the proposition and felt its demonstrated a fresh approach and thinking about sharing for mutual benefit.
The Bureau for Visual Affairs beat the homegrown BMW configurator to win the Craft Award. Sometimes, it's really seeing the real problem that leads to a great solution - here, repetitive page refreshes and reloads suspending experience. B4VA have created an elegant single-page solution to browse and search around Tate's filmic content and it makes for a simple and immersive interface.
The judges most challenging Award - to judge - had been the Effectiveness Award. Results had to be taken on face value. Nevertheless, as Chris for Dixons Retail had reminded the Judges, this was one of the values of The Fantastic Tavern, mutual trust. So with that said, Virgin Media took the Award for outstanding results coming from its Bundle Builder, piping at the post both Pull Digital with its commended work for Explore and Fortune Cookie for its commended work for CIMA Global.
And not begin satisfied with sticking to the rules, the Judges created their own Award - aptly named The Judges Award - for a piece of work that they felt scored across all three categories. Congratulations to the EMC Consulting team for designing and delivering the Barclaycard.com and the MyBarclaycard concept - the judges recognising it as innovation in its vertical, undoubtedly effective and a tour de force in ergonomics.
A point here. The judges didn't know who had entered what and as Taverners, were furiously impartial. nevertheless, next year’s award will be managed 'anyone' who doesn't also work at EMC Consulting so that no criticism can be levelled at The Fantastic Tavern.
What followed cannot really be written about - save to say that huge amounts of alcohol were consumed and the innovation, effectiveness and craft quota for the following day was shipwrecked all across London.
Here are some quotes from the people who were there:
"Thanks for the opportunity to be inducted into the tavern Michelle. I found the whole thing really interesting and insightful. Matt and Anthony were both very good and I have been busy goggling trends this morning! Great people....great day!"
"Thanks for a great day and thanks for the award. The day was both fun and interesting, and was a good chance to meet some like-minded people"
"I wish I'd been here for the whole day and found a way to see all the speakers"
"Just to say thanks and congratulations on yesterday’s event – awesome as always"
"The Fantastic Tavern was so inclusive and welcoming I felt at home the moment I walked in. It showed the world runs on ideas and there’s still no shortage of people creating new ones and it made me realise what I don't know but now want to know about creativity"
You can get an real time insight by following @TFTLondon.
Also Underbelly has written up a great blog as well. Thank you
All in all the day had gone very well. There will be another LockInn. And Awards. But thankfully, they are a year away. Normal Tavern activity returns at the end of this year... well normal enough except for the fact we will be on Street Pedalos...
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So yesterday, I wrote a blog about an advert I had seen. That blog is here. The advert had angered me because I thought it represented poor process and execution around centralised marketing. In fact, it appears I was wrong. On further research the headline - "I am such stuff as dreams are made on" - is a paraphrase of a Shakespeare quote from The Tempest.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
So this wasn't a hugely obvious copywriting fail, a lazy marketing director or a bad process. It just another pretentious car ad that might not encode well for drivers and is being decoded incorrectly by creatives and the odd Creative Director. Sadly, my blog entry on this subject is only 14th on a google search.
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It's an ok car. In fact, it's probably quite an attractive car, despite the rather unconventional angle of this pack shot. It's even got red brakes like a real sports car. She has red lipstick too. See what they did there? Hey, I'm not going to criticise this ad for its obviousness. That's a rather unimaginative agency for you. No, the problem with this ad is the headline copy. Actually it's not the copy itself, it's what it represents. "I am such stuff as dreams are made on" Really? What exactly do you mean, Giulietta? Maybe, you mean, "I am the stuff that dreams are made of." Oh really? Centralized marketing strategy, templated ads, cheap - even automated translation services and local marketing directors that signed this off to appear in local magazines, 48 sheet posters etc without correcting some simple grammatical errors. What does this represent? Not my next car that's for sure. For me, it represents poor thinking, poor process and poor execution - all too often the outcomes of globalization. Is this the stuff dreams are made of? No Giulietta. Nightmares.
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