Podim and the power of networking

PODIM 2008

Last three days, I was at the Podim Conference (ning page) in Maribor. Podim is a conference about entrepreneurship and innovation. This year’s topic was »The power of networking« and that’s the main reason why I attended the conference. Lately, I’m interested in SNS more and more. Especially in implementing social networks onto the mobile platforms. And yes, I also needed a break from working on my diploma and a run away from work.

WHY GO?

I attended the conference all alone and decided to meet new people and establish new connections, hell if the topic is networking, than, let’s throw the nets. At the same time I wasn’t sure if this is the place to be for me, because I’m not really an entrepreneur type of guy. But, it’s always good to widen the horizons and after all it’s good to know how to set your price tag. Heh.

 FIRST DAY

The first day started with an excellent talk from Terri Whitesel (USA). She was speaking about identifying and addressing the »influencers« and how to build the networks upon them. Really a great talk. After Terri, there were 3 Slovenian speakers, which I must admit, were not interesting. At least not for me. Although I have my outmost respect towards the founder of Instrumentation Technologies, Rok Uršič (SI). His company is building important parts for particle accelerators around the world. You know, those are the huge pipes buried in the biggest research centers, such as CERN in Europe. Respect. After that, there was a great »history lesson« about Cambridge college and how it became the business incubator of the greatest ideas and also a business success. The speaker was prof. Alan Barell (UK). After that, again one lecture which was not to my taste. But after that, there were two great lectures. First was John Allen (UK) who formed the Manchester  Science Park and is also helping to form the Maribor Science Park. After him there was the most interesting talk from Les Squires (USA), whose theme was Social networking. He is a professional network builder, and helps to build social networks around the globe. He’s also a great speaker and has also vast experience. He has build networks for Disney, Microsoft and others. He was speaking about skype, Ning, and tools such as Google Reader. After that, there was a round table discussion, which was interesting, but I think that some people were not chosen correctly. I had some comments, but I wasn’t in the mood for arguing J .

 SECOND DAY

Second day started with two great lectures from a Swedish and a finish speaker. First was speaking about the importance of innovation in big companies such as Volvo and Porsche. He showed as different approaches towards project management and was talking about the open innovation. The second talk was about the finish university in Turku and the mergers which are happening in Finland on universities. Later it got was even better, because we were »networking« even more intense. We had a workshop with Miloš Čirič about business networking. We were working in groups and exchanged many thoughts and experience. I also met some new and fascinating people, with which I’m sure we’ll build strong relationships. After the workshop we took the lunch together, exchanged the contacts and au revoir. See you next year?

 WORKSHOP WITH LES SQUIRES

Oh, yes. There was the workshop on Saturday with Les Squires. I decided to participate because Les is THE master of social networking and a very interesting person. And yes, also because I’m interested in SNS. We worked with Skype, build our site in Ning ( http://mamutrevija.ning.com ) and went through Google reader. It was really a great workshop and great opportunity to meet new people. And off course an opportunity to bombard Les with questions about his experience. Thank you Les!!!

 NEX YEAR?

Well, I must admit that I didn’t expect much from the conference, but I gained a lot. The new connections and friend are more important than the knowledge itself. And that’s the main point of networking, right? 

Friends face…

Because I’m ill I have time to kill. I can’t go to work, I can’t watch TV, I can’t even play games on my PSP. All I can do is watch the ceiling and think about things I otherwise never think about. To hell with it. Take a cup of tea with two aspirins for my headache and turn on my sisters laptop (so pretty – laptop, not my sister:-) ).

I could easily survive without TV, without sun light and vitamins, but I woul’d survive a day without internet. Why? Because I am addicted, because I feel like I’m on a deseted island. There are mails from my friends, mails from people who owe me money (yes, Ebay could be tricky), mails from work… And there is Facebook - a place for friends (ok, the slogan belongs to Myspace, I know). It’s funny, that I signed in to Facebook only a couple of weeks ago, not earlier, although I proudly present myself as a social networking techno geek.

Facebook is a tipical social networking platform – founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. It was first meant only for students in the US, than opened for students across the globe and now, Facebook is inviting everyone. The main purpose is connecting with friends in your trusted network. You can share photos, videos, documents, intimate thoughts, whatever. It’s fierce rival is Myspace, but I think they differ in many ways. But I’m not going to talk about pros and cons of Facebook – perhaps some other time, without the headache. If you are interested in debates about Facebook vs. Mysapce you could try here:

- MySpace v. Facebook: “It’s not a decision, it’s an IQ test” by Michael Arrington

- “Facebook Hammers Myspace on almost all key feature” by Ben Gold

What I would like to point out, is the fact, that more and more I think that applications like Facebook are those who help me maintaining realtions with my friends. I even dare to say, that it has come to the point that those friends who are online are better friends or different said; closer friends. Because I’m always busy, I can’t stay in touch with everyone, and that’s a shame, because I don’t want to lose my friends, BUT, with just one click in Facebook I can make the difference. I can for example superpoke all the friends in my network. That means I haven’t forgoten them, that means they mean something to me. It’s much easier to interact through Facebook, than inviting everyone to a drink. But is it the same? Is it really the same, if I send Boštjan an “interactive” beer or if I invite him on a genuine Zlatorog beer?

Social networking platforms like Facebook and Myspace are a great way to interact with friends and they say, that they should strenghten realtionships between friends. But is it so?

Yes, I know, I’m annoying with moral questions, but recently I’m thinking a lot about friends, because friends are the best thing you have in life, they are sometimes even more important than family. And that’s why I’m asking myself if it is the same if I interact with them through Facebook. Yes, it’s better than forget about them, but what about those friends that don’t use internet that often.

Because of my headache, I must end my philosophical thinking… Perhaps it’s better so, perhaps I’ll even delete this post tomorow. But that were the toughts running through my aching head. Your thoughts, arguments and anything else about my moralization are of course welcome.