Keith Shirley

I can write an advance review because I know it’s going to be great. I so thoroughly enjoyed Podcamp and Barcamp last year (especially Pat Phelan’s lunchtime chat) that when talk of organising a Bizcamp came up I knew I had to help out.

(insert name here)Camps are very informal but productive conference type events. They’re referred to as unconferences because you’re not going to be lectured at or given sales pitches in the regular sense. A camp has a general theme to bind it together and everyone is free to give short (15 minute) seminars/chats/presentations about topics they feel are helpful.

Helpful is the magic word – the whole point is to get to know people, get some insight into a topic and be helpful. You can pickup a huge amount of info in small chunks and followup later. I promise – you’ll come home with stacks of notes.

Bizcamp is obviously themed around business. The potential topics could range from funding to how to handle the stress. Unlike a normal conference – the agenda is not fixed. Anyone can decide on the spur of the moment to do a session – you just grab a timeslot on the day. Is there something you wish you knew when you started? Now’s your chance to pass on some pearls of wisdom. You don’t need to do a session at all – just come along for the ride.

I’ll be helping to organise the Dublin Event which is on Sat 7 March 2009. There will be a second bizcamp in Limerick on 21 March 2009.

I’ll be writing about this again but if you need more info then call me ( 087 9112027 ) or Email me K.Shirley@Shercom.com.

Yes – That really is my phone number and mail address.

You can already sign-up to Bizcamp or you can see who is going to Bizcamp.  I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

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If you write a blog for your business then please make sure you complete the IIA Social Media Working Groups survey. It’s really going to help us get some solid numbers for the whitepaper.

Please also have a look at another survey being done by Sinéad Cochrane for postgraduate research. Her survey is targeted at both people that write blogs and those that are just readers. It should only take a few minutes of your time and she’s offering a prize.

I found the link to her survey via Darraghs blog. His bio says he’s a storyteller and I can confirm it. He writes some great posts that are a pleasure to read. Go read some of his posts after you have done the surveys – he won’t be around much longer as I imagine his sister will kill him when she sees what he has posted.

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Damien Mulley sent me an email last week with copies of his Online Marketing training notes and his Business Blogging notes. The good news is that he is making them available for everyone. Fair play to him for doing this – it’s a great way of spreading the word. He makes a good point when he says the value in training comes via the trainer and not the documentation. If the notes were the most valuable part we could just read a book.

I’m going to go through them in detail soon to see it there are any points I need to add to my own trainings. Maybe I’ll find something that I disagree with – Damien seems to like a good discussion. I’ll be seeing him at the Blog Awards but I’ll have to be very sure of my facts first.

If you download a copy of the notes from Damien – please make sure to leave him a comment.

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Why do some people freak out when they receive spam? There seems to be a weird kind of joy of the hunt within Irish web “guru” circles  when they receive a spam mail.

As an Irish business, God forbid that you should send a spam mail to any of the well known bloggers or twitter users. It might even be that the mail you send is relatively innocent but it probably won’t matter. You’ll be tarred and feathered in public from people on high horses.

I’m not saying it’s right to spam. The Irish government agrees that it’s an increasing problem and a recent news report talks about how the fines can now hit 250,000 Euro. The trouble with the new laws is that I doubt they will be enforced. What we need to do is help everyone understand what they can do to avoid sending spam:

• Get peoples permission to send them mail. Do it at the same time they sign up for an account if you can.
• If people sign up over the web – makes sure it’s really them by getting the software to send an automated mail asking for confirmation – This is called double opt-in
• Make it easy for them to be taken off your mailing lists. Make sure that they stay off
• If your customer database has not got email addresses or your customers permission to send them mails then phone them and ask them. Yes it’ll take ages BUT a real call will give you the opportunity to keep the communication channel open with your customers. Don’t be afraid to speak with your customers.
• Just because you don’t receive much spam does not mean that they don’t. Are you really going to be sending them information that is useful to them? Even with their permission – a boring sales pitch will just get deleted. Ask yourself why you want to send mails.

Update via Mulleynet - Denise Cox’s Blog has some great details on the new regulations.

Update2: They say when you look back on things you always have 20/20 vision. I’d like to point out that my link to Damiens blog was not meant to point the finger at him. In that particular post I agree with him – The PR company should have just apologised, removed him from their list and do better next time. When they try to convey the attitude that you should be greatful for being spammed they are damaging their own customers image.

I get 1000’s of spam messages a day and they do annoy me but the piles of junk mail that come through my letterbox at home annoy me more. Dan Sullivan has an interesting post on his blog about how people react differently depending on how they receive their spam.

Please make sure to read the comments for this post – there are a number of interesting answers.

The deadlines have been set. I’ve got 1 week to update the sections on SEO and publicising your blog for the IIA Blogging whitepaper. A major part of it will be from the comments people made on the draft copy that was made available online and the comments made during the workshop. The podcasts are also available if you are interested.

If you have anything you think should be included – be quick and let me know. Shortly after the deadline the version will be locked and sent for print. Online versions will be available sooner I’m sure – but people still need a copy in their hands.

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Supervalu Carlow are running a special offer until the end of January – for every 50 Euro you spend on Thursday and Fridays you get 6 Euro off. It’s in the form of savings stamps but they can be cashed immediately.

That’s 12% off – Not bad in a cut throat industry. After that it’s continues but at 3 Euro per 50 Euro.

It’s my local Supermarket so I was wondering if the prices are higher in the first place – negating any savings. I decided to test it against Tesco to see what the totals would be – and boy was I surprised.

Here are the products I was able to compare directly – no special offers.

I was surprised that Tesco was more expensive – and that the prices were either almost exactly the same or wildly off.

The funny thing is – price is not everything. I would have accepted a slightly higher price for Supervalu as it’s so convenient for me.

That’s it – I guess you think I’ve finally gone mad. The point is however – if I’m paying taxes then it means either:

• I’m making a profit
• I still have a job

Both of those points are things that can’t be taken for granted at the moment and I always try to find a silver lining.

I’ve never really minded paying some(*) taxes when I can see what I’m getting for it. Unfortunately in the last decade I think there has been a sinful amount of wastage going on. The solution to many problems seems to have been – just throw money at it. I hope that one positive thing that comes out of the current recession is that we and the government will pay a lot more attention to getting value for money.

(*) I say some because there’s a limit. My personal preference for income tax would be a flat rate of 25% (after a buffer for low incomes) and get rid of most of the benefits that are being made available. I don’t mind the high tax on petrol – if I use more I pay more. I think the VAT rate is too high and really discourages spending – there should be just 2 rates – zero and something like 10% or 15%.