I went to the official launch of CorkMeet 2010 yesterday.

In Cork County Hall, 17th floor of what must be the tallest live building in Cork, at 5.30pm.   There were about 150 people there for the event (15% women).  I stood alongside Conor Keane, business editor Irish Independent – media partner to CorkMeet.

Jim Daly, new Cork County Mayor, introduced the launch.  Martin Riordan, county manager, Ciara Crossan WeddingDates.ie, Conor Healy, Cork Chamber, and Micheál Martin, Irish minister for foreign affairs also spoke.

I was surprised Cork City Council was not there.

At CorkMeet 2009, this business made many excellent contacts – and subsequently gained  new clients.  I was very impressed with the first year of CorkMeet – and 2010 it may even improve.

George Hook & Newstalk Radio are behind it – supporting it as media partner.

After the speeches I met Kathy O’Dwyer of Internsinternational.ie & Yvonne Coughlan RSVP - among others.  There was a good buzz in the room.  I also met one of the Polish embassy staff whom I’d met in 2009.  It looks as if there will be businesses from France, Rumania, UK, Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic – at least – at 2010.

The new feature for 2010 is a “Meet the buyers” session.  About 25 multinational buyers will meet SMEs for a facilitated round table discussion.  This is designed to get the people from big corporates closer to small business entrepreneurs – for the benefit of both, I’d say.

CorkMeet 2010 will target all Ireland – hopefully get people from Northern Ireland down too.

Maeve Bowen is the overall project manager – and I hope to meet her in the Enterprise Park in Macroom soon –  for a bit of the inside story behind this enterprising business development.

Anther business partner to CorkMeet 2010 is B2B Print.

Ran out of time now – but I have notes on what was said by the speakers – hope to add those later…

Last Tuesday, I joined them in the Café that Denis built on Washington Street, downtown Cork City. It was my first meeting with Lisa & Denis.  We got together to discuss Cork. I guess we all have vested interests in the future of Cork.

I’d already written my dissatisfaction with the image of this place where I live (and am growing to love). I’m disgruntled you could say.  I’m also committed to changing its reputation, so that I can relax and be proud of the place where my child will grow up.

But alone I’m useless.
A solitary voice bleating away into a vacuum.  Collaborators matter so much that nothing decent will be done by me without the active co-operation of others.  ”Collaborating Cork” – I hope.

The meeting was wonderful: we got on well.  We found an shared interest in the future of Cork and all we had to do was buy into the idea of doing our best to transform Cork.  All four of us are big networkers; we use Twitter and other tools to link people, to build little communities of like interests.  As we chatted about what Cork is like, how difficult many Irish people find collaborating, how lots stay in their silos – a stranger interrupted.  She butted in and told us she we collaborating with at least 40 pubs in Cork.  She was interested in our conversation.  A new link was made.  A ball began to roll in my head.  I began to sense that the notion of re-branding Cork was a mover.

The next thing that happened was on Twitter. #TransformCork began to be used.  You can see a few of the recent tweets here.

I’m going to continue this story here.  I’ll add new material when I have time.  The most important thing is to do this now.  Transform Cork is going to become a movement…  Citizen Branding lives…

Thus spoke Greg Canty of Fuzion Communications (Cork & Dublin).  It was a free gift, out of the blue.  Greg listened to me voicing some thoughts about my business vision.  He knows a small bit about my approach, but he has lots of experience. We were working together led by Aodan Enright.

I was delighted to get unsolicited advice from a professional Marketing & PR person.  You don’t ignore such generous support.

Problem is: I’m not an experienced LinkedIn user.  It’s the tool I’ve never really explored.  My profile is up on LinkedIn: I even have some contacts.  But that’s it.  I’ve not yet used it properly.

“LinkedIn Groups are where it’s at on LinkedIn.  Go there.”  That’s the call to action.  So this morning I joined two Groups: “Ghostwriters” & “Poets Corner”.  I begin with established interests: I should be comfortable there.  As a member of those groups, I’ll become active and see how I find it.  I’ll learn.  It’ll be a while before I think about setting up & managing  a LinkedIn Group.

Do you use LinkedIn Groups? Any tips for me?  Thanks again Greg Canty Fuzion Communications: you are a #smarteregg.

This is my Action List (in no particular order): I’ll take it to discuss with #SmarterEgg tomorrow.

1.  Try Google Trends

2. Try Facebook Lexicon

3. Google search to see all websites that link to me

4. Set up Technorati

5. Restart my RSS Reader

6. Create video podcast

7. Call my clients/blog commenters by a consistent name

8. Use Website Checklist from p.52 of “Six Pixels of Separation”

9. Write my “Why List” (see p. 50)

10. Pull out all the blog advice for my corporate client

11. One good photograph (to represent me)

12  Keep track on regular blog posting

13.  Audit me  - including % of twitter contact I meet face-to-face

The world is different.  It’s never been like this.  You can do things you could never do before.  The technology has moved us on.  The people behind the software have transformed our world…

None of this kind of thinking is new. It’s several years since The Cluetrain Manefesto, since we were Google-ised…

This is certainly an era for revolutionary thought.  To prove it I’m going to share a mad idea I’ve had.  I could never have had this idea until recently.

I wish to re-invent Cork. Completely change the way people think of the city. Re-brand the place.  Not only do I wish to change things radically, but I even think I could do it – with a little help from my friends…

In the old day, who would have branded the city: Cork City Council?  Some power would have commissioned a consultancy.  There might even have been a competition for the work.  The contract would have been worth a fortune. There are wonderful consultancies out there, companies that excel at Branding.  They could do it, their way.

I’ve thought: there is another way.  Citizen branding.  A few people who feel really passionate about Cork could link up & have a go at re-inventing the way Cork is thought about.  It would be people who are not satisfied with how Cork seems today. In other words, a coalition of the grumpy who are ambition for Cork.  We wouldn’t even have to agree with each other at this stage. But we would have to engage an awful lot of people in the process.

This is the beginning of an idea in action. While I was cutting the grass yesterday, I had a stream of consciousness.  All about citizen branding – whatever that is.  Haven’t even had time to look up a search engine to see if the term is in use. [Found this]

Who last branded Cork?

Twitter introduced me to LikeMinds2010. @drewellis just asked me “What did you think? We want to improve things for our online audience.” I began my response, but it was too hard to do justice to Like Minds via Twitter.

My first impressions of Like Minds:

(1) I found out about Like Minds by accident, at the last minute.  This meant I was always playing catch-up. I already had plans for how I was going to spend Friday & Saturday. Meant I tuned into Exeter while strolling through the streets of Cork.  I was tuning in and doing research at the same time.  Exciting and frustrating.

(2) My first contacts with Like Minds was via #likeminds. Hash tag contact: I could look at the stream of tweets from people travelling to Exeter from USA, London, even Bristol. This got me into the mood. I started following a few people.  Why did I pick those particular individuals? Probably because there seemed to be a mixure of information and personal stuff in their tweets. I was curious to find out whether these new media heads would be friendly to outsiders.

(3) The amount of background stuff was awesome. The Like Minds website and live streaming resources were so impressive.  I began to treat Like Minds as a case study in cutting edge use of media. With very little information, I imagined, empathised, fantasisied… I decided I would treat Like Minds 2010 as a case study in my education.

(4) I realised gradually there were many layers to Like Minds. This was not simply a conference: it was some sort of movement. It was also a partnership between commercial heads (big brands and marketing companies) and non-for-profit people.  Public and private sector.  And there seemed to be a fundraising for good causes element.  Like Minds got more and more interesting the more I found out.  And I was able to suss all this out while rushing round the streets of Cork, doing my normal business.

(5) A few people contacted me via Twitter. They seemed perfectly normal enthusiasts. I felt I would have been among some of my own kind if I was in Exeter.  I’m puzzled: why Exeter?  There is a story here.  I’m the kind of person who’s most interested in the behind-the-front warts-and-all story.  The biography of Like Minds is somewhere waiting to be written. I now realise that LikeMinds2010 has a history and context.  It’s an event in a story that began in the past and intends to change the future.

(6) Better declare an interest: I spent the best years of my life in UK. 30 years 1975-2005.  I love the place.  I have reasons for coming back to Ireland.  But I still love so much about UK that I come over all nostalgic, almost tearful whenever I dwell on how much I miss places like Devon.  I’m attracted by Like Minds because it might give me an excuse to pop over (hopefully on Ferry Julia from Cork to Swansea).

Enough @drewellis… you have opened up a floodgate…  My readers won’t all share my passion for new media, media people and building communities of conversation. I have a meeting with Mary Corbett, Life Coach, in Radisson Hotel in 45 minutes.  But thank you so much for tweeting me back.  I would love to stay in touch with you.

I’ve recently written a great pitch for work with a potential new client.

The problem was I didn’t know the client personally.
I had no rapport to begin with.  It was like pitching into the abyss. The client didn’t even ask for the pitch.  I simply made my own assessment of the client’s business interest, and pitched to that.

It’s been a disaster.
Complete failure to get past square one.  The ‘client’ rejected the proposal without seeming to consider it in detail.  Judging by the email reply I got, I hadn’t even communicated the key feature of the proposal.  I don’t think I’ve ever bombed so badly – not even a chink of light left open for a follow-up face-to-face discussion. And we didn’t even get around to discussing how much the proposed work would cost the client.

I’m incredibly disappointed.
I so wanted to do the work.  It was one of the best projects I’ve ever designed.

However, there is a good side.
The design is inspired: the  template can be used with another client – when the rapport is there.  The project was conceived with a collaborator: we have had the experience of working up the proposal together on Google Wave.  We are much more ready to pitch other proposals to others.  The work of thinking, talking-over & drafting the proposal was quick: not a lot of time has been invested.  What we invested were our professional skills.  Life goes on…

I got this blogpost out of it…
Turning adversity to advantage is one of my strongest traits, thank goodness.

I was sitting in Douglas Shopping Centre today, drinking coffee with a friend.

Along passed Philip Carter, whom I knew from BNI.  He joined us and told us all about his new business.  It’s a water business which is running in Galway.

The details grabbed my attention.  I was ever  so impressed.

“Tell me Philip, all this stuff you’re  telling us, is it written down?  Have you a written record of all this business development for future reference?”

Pause…  ”Or is it all in your head?”

It turned out Philip was carrying round all that business intelligence in his head.  I have a disastrous memory.  I write everything down.  I can’t trust my memory, so  I outsource it to my Moleskine Notebook.

“Have you a mobile phone with an audio recorder on it?  How about dumping the story on to your phone, in bits, so that it isn’t lost? You don’t have to write it up – you’d have it safe for someone like me to turn it into valuable writing for your business.”

The penny dropped.

Very few entrepreneurs are writers.  Their skill is inventing, pulling businesses into existence, and making them work.  Writing is a different skill.  But every business needs writers.  Writers need material to turn into valuable content.

So how about recording your work, your business history, on your mobile phone?  A skilled writer could then turn your voice recording into an impressive document for you to use on your website, blog, Facebook page.  Efficient eh?

The 300 companies of CorkMeet2009 will find out who they’re due to meet when they register in person @Radisson Blu Hotel Little Island Cork

We picked 27 companies we’d like to meet.

Everyone’s allowed to select 20. Some lovely software programme will match us with our preferences.

I spoke to the organisers in Mallow today.  I was confused about the timetable.  I was champing at the bit to know who we’d be meeting.

In our business we practise using the internet fully.
We “Google” everyone we’re going to meet.  We check out whether the business has an internet presence.  We even check out its personnel, especially the CEO.

Here’s a good tip: check yourself out. I heard @krishnade say this @ Network Cork:

“Have you googled yourself recently?”

Her advice was that you check yourself & your business out on a monthly basis.

The News from today:

• Frank Maguire of  BNI Phoenix Chapter in Cork & McCorry Stuart & Co is sorting out a business card for us – at short notice.  He’s well worth talking to.  Wait till you see the print of the design @sabrinadent did.
• Gordon Murray of Murrion Software sorted Paul O’Mahony’s Twitter out.  He’d been grappling with two identities @marketingwrite (business) & @omaniblog (personal). Solution @twhirl. How do you switch between the personal & the business on Twitter: @twirl is simple. (We’ll post more on this another time.)
• Rubicon Centre on Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) campus is where I spent lots of today.  Genesis is the name of a programme they run.  It’s a place worth visiting.

That’s what it’s like today.  CorkMeet2009 is coming soon.  In order to appear “cool, calm & collected” among 300 companies, we are having a crazy time preparing…

• Business partners
• Designers
• Printers
• Logistics
• Network of supporters

These are some of those we’re in touch with, face to face & virtually.

Actually most of  the excitement is going on over the internet (& down mobile phone) – from our Head Office in the English Market.

It’s about time we took a look to see who’s Speed Dating with us on Thursday (when the one-to-ones happen)?

Whoever the good people @CorkMeet2009 have linked us with are exactly perfect people for us to meet.  It’s most likely we’ll build a longterm relationship with a business we’ve never heard of.

Serendipity drives our world.  Things are so much in flux, it’s best to embrace surprise – as if it was exactly what we expected.

ps If you’re reading this & start wondering whether we’re worth meeting @CorkMeet2009, find us there by ringing us.  You can find our contact details on the website. We’ll always have time for contact.