I saw Chris Brogan last week. At SocComm. I talked with him for a couple of minutes and heard him talk at the summit. Here is my account of what I learned and experienced that day -
NOTE: SKIP TO THE SLIDESHOW IN THE END IF YOU WANT A QUICK RECAP OF THE NOTES I MADE FROM THE CHRIS BROGAN TALK AT SOCCOMM
Chris Brogan’s first question to the audience was “Why are we not connecting all the time?“
I am sure I missed out on the next couple of minutes of his talk as I wondered why I do not connect all the time? Maybe I equate connecting to schmoozing/selling? I cannot seem to connect in order to connect because I really need to believe in everything I do. And until I heard Chis Brogan talk about why we should connect, my head and heart were in disagreement about “always connecting”.How can I do something that I believe in my heart to be sleazy??
Watching Chris Brogan, I learned a simple truth. (The following paragraphs are my thoughts – not things Chris said ) . We should all be connecting all the time because the connections are what define the social media space. Without us, there is no medium. We are the medium. By connecting all the time, we are keeping the medium alive. Adding value by participating in the fabric of social communications.
We are all the system. Does that make sense? Social Communications is not about a bunch of social networks or facebook or twitter. It is all of that along with the people in it. Social media will work best when the people become the medium because that is the way it is meant to be. By accepting the fact that we should connect because connecting is what defines the space, we will make the space more effective, add value, share value and help others connect.
Why am I picking on Chris Brogan?
I don’t know. Because he gave a talk so close to a talk about life, maybe? Perhaps because, amidst all his social media geekiness, he first and foremost appears like a person? Maybe I pick on him because he is the perfect beauty of paradoxes… because how much he taught me so much in such little time. I pick on him because he knows how to be BIG by being small, really small.
This is one guy who has gotten it. He floats seamlessly between the real and virtual worlds, the digital and the analog. He seems to tweet all the time but manages to be present wherever he is.Brogan is a genius. And a real person.
I wish I had spoken more with Chris Brogan. Especially after his advice about connecting. But it is hard. For someone like me. To hang around a multitude of people waiting to talk with Chris. The conference space was crowded enough and there were bigger crowds around people like Chris. I stopped to say hello to Chris. I did not know what to say – we might have had 20-40 seconds between us.Some highlights of the 5 minutes I hung aorund him:
- Chris looked me in the eye while he talked. He does that with everyone.
- And he says people’s names. Multiple times.Every time he talks to them. Perhaps 5 times in 40 seconds?
- And then, when other people jumped in to say hello or were lurking around, he pulled them into the existing conversation, ever so gently, by introducing us to each other.
- In the few minutes I hung around him, he had introduced me to 2 people that I’d have never met otherwise. Chris is not just a person in this space – he is THE space – the medium. Guy Kawasaki introduced me to someone the minute I told him about my startup, Melanie Notkin did that too. On Twitter. These people get it. They are the space. They define it and help it evolve. And they don’t make a big deal about it.
Here is why I wish I had spoken more with Chris Brogan. I came home and watched his talks at the Tools of Change conference that took place in New York the same time that SocComm took place. I was following the #toc updates all day on twitter (thanks @writermama!). If I had just hung around Chris longer, would we have been able to talk about #toc? What would Chris Brogan have to say about my startup dealing with children’s books? My startup that is leveraging the social, the collaboration aspects and the new trends in publishing? If I had hung around Chris a little longer the conversation would have perhaps steered that way?
But then, as Chris Brogan says,“always think about what will be”.
The next time I meet someone like Chris or Chris Brogan himself, I will have a lot to talk about. But then, I wonder how much I will say because I will be busy being the medium – helping others connect. And who knows, perhaps we ALL will have an enlightening discussion and people I never knew existed will give me the greatest insights into what I am doing! I await this magic of the Social Media space.
So there – be connecting, all the time. Magical conversations and learning happens from connecting. Connect for the sake of yourself, connect for the sake of the others and connect because you cannot be a lurker in this space.
Enjoy the little presentation I made with a few other things Chris Brogan taught me that day. I will put a follow up post and a presentation with what I learned from the other speakers with my take on Social Communications.
image by chrisbrogan
Lessons for Social Media — From Chris Brogan
Were you at SocComm? What did you learn?