Blog Panel in Boston

On Thursday, February 23th, Cymfony's own Pat Fennessey will speak at a Boston based panel for IABC on navigating the blogosphere.  We've taken a different approach with this breakfast meeting and have asked pre-registered attendees to submit questions prior to the event directly to the speakers.  I thought I'd share some of the questions that the panel will be discussing. In talking about consumer-generated media, word of mouth marketing, and blogging on a daily basis I often forget that many people are still learning about this new form of communication. 

Questions for the Panel:

General questions about blogs:
 
-What criteria can you use to assess the reliability of information on blogs?
 
-What is the profile of people reading blogs and how do we reach loggers who are reaching our audiences?

-How do you decide which blogs to stay on top of?

-How can I get people to COMMENT on my blog, rather than just reading it? I've tried posing a question at the end of my blog postings.

-How do you monitor blogs without getting overwhelmed by the volume?

Managing Risk:
 
-How does an organization combat negative or unauthorized blogging that can potentially be hurtful?

-What are the potential risks associated with having a blog in corporate communications?

Internal Use of Blogs

-How are companies using employee blogs? Are there specific case studies of successes?

-How do you measure the success of a blog and whether it's worth the return on investment?

-For those with CEO/COO blogs, who actually writes them?

Dan York, CISSP, and a Yankee IABC member, will moderate the panel discussion. Dan has been blogging since 2000 and was recently chosen as one of the “Top Voice-over-IP (VoIP) Bloggers of 2005”. He is also a weekly correspondent to the “For Immediate Release” podcast where he comments on how tools such as weblogs, wikis and podcasts impact the world of communication and PR. With over 20 years in information technology and as the author of several books, Dan reports to the CTO of Mitel Corporation evaluating new communication technology and leading Mitel’s public communication on VoIP security issues.

John Cass is director of Internet Marketing Strategies, Backbone Media, Inc., a search engine marketing and web design agency based in Boston. He was lead author of “Corporate Blogging: Is It Worth The Hype?” a 70 page study and website on the value and benefits of corporate blogging. The study reveals how such companies as Microsoft, Macromedia and IBM are using blogging. He is the 2005/6 President of the Boston Chapter of the American Marketing Association and a Research Fellow and Member of the Advisory Board for the Society for New Communications Research Cass has been blogging at his PR Communications blog since 2003 and now runs blogsurvey at Backbone Media.

Patricia Fennessey is vice president of Professional Services and Customer Support at Cymfony, Inc., a market intelligence and media analysis company based in Watertown. She has more than 27 years of experience in technology, strategic planning, large organization management and consulting. Prior to joining Cymfony, she was a partner at USWeb/CKS and a managing partner at marchFIRST.

Tony Sapienza, is a senior partner at Topaz Partners, communications consultants in the technology industry. His background includes agency, corporate communications and journalism experience. He served as president of Miller/Shandwick Technologies, one of the world’s leading PR firms, and was global practice leader for Weber Shandwick Worldwide. In his 11 years with Miller and Weber Shandwick, he launched a worldwide technology practice that helped clients reach across geographic markets, in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

A breakfast buffet will be served at 7:30 a.m. and the panel discussion will begin at 8:00 a.m.