Robert Scoble Keynote at “Blogging Goes Mainstream”
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Written By Reprise Media | May 3, 2005 | Share This
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For a moment it sounded as if Robert Scoble was channeling Dustin Hoffman as Rain Man as he described how he once memorized over 6,000 product SKUs while working as a manager of a camera store. The crowd was impressed, and even more so when he revealed that half of those belonged to a camera […]
For a moment it sounded as if Robert Scoble was channeling Dustin Hoffman as Rain Man as he described how he once memorized over 6,000 product SKUs while working as a manager of a camera store. The crowd was impressed, and even more so when he revealed that half of those belonged to a camera seller up the street.
“Being an authority means you tell the whole story,” Scoble explained, including that of your competitor. It’s what makes fans of his Scobelizer blog so fiercely loyal and Scoble such a popular speaker at today’s Blogging Goes Mainstream event, hosted by Microsoft in Midtown, NYC.
Sam Whitmore was on hand to interview Scoble for the keynote, which focused on blogging and its place in corporate culture.
Some quotable quotes - let’s call them “Scobleisms”:
- On why, out of over 1500 Microsoft bloggers, he’s worthy of being the keynote: I take potshots at people. Even the CEO. I write in a blink style - straight from my head as it comes out.
- On how blogging is changing communication: Word of mouth networks are becoming far more efficient. Bloggers are amplifiers of your message.
- On how he’s avoided corporate ire: There are no factories at Microsoft. Software is ideas…You have to be able to argue out that your idea is the best one.
- On how you know when you’ve gone too far: Corporate culture isn’t a line, but rather a membrane. If you have a relationship network holding you in place, you won’t get pushed out.
Scoble and Whitmore went on to the lightning round, with Scoble’s 20 Point Blogging Manifesto, of which #19 some will likely find pretty distasteful.
On the whole an excellent keynote - it’s amazing how everything that comes out of Scoble’s mouth sounds like a wise, pithy one-liner. A refreshing change from the long-winded keynotes I’ve sat through in conferences past. You know the kind - the ones that start with a joke about the weather/golf/traffic and end with you checking the time on your cell phone every 3 minutes. Then again, it’s supposed to be different - it’s a seminar by bloggers and for bloggers. It’s not the same old stuff we’re used to.
Topics: Conferences & Events |
Great post: you’re telling the whole story yourself! Scobel et. al. are definitely articulate. There was one other bon mot I took down that might rise to the level of those above (http://www.catalystgroupdesign.com/cofactors/?p=41)
JF