Today is a great day. An idea that popped into the heads of myself and Gabriel Amorocho a couple of months back is gathering steam and tonight is our first Meetup for an impressive group of online marketing professionals. During the past months, we’ve had some excellent discussions inside the Linkedin Group that Gabriel created and now has almost 200 members. One of the discussions was about what needs to be done in order to accelerate adoption of online marketing tools among Colombian organizations.
Among the suggestions related to market education or evangelization is the need for more events or activities where potential customers can learn and appreciate real life success stories. This was an excellent validation of an idea I’ve had for quite some time and that I’ve been discussing with the founder of Social Media Week in New York. The potential for an event like this is huge (attendees, sponsors and industry players)!
That particular event is a perfect fit for Bogota (and really a number of cities in Colombia). Aside from the excellent content, the format is extremely open and collaborative. For instance, many of the conferences (speeches) can be held at venues which can be used in return for “in kind” sponsorships. This provides a new and more connected experience for the attendee while maintaining costs in check.
The momentum that’s been building during just the last month is quite exciting. Aside from how things have been coming together with the impressive group of online marketers and the event, I’ll soon have some exciting news to report on my role within the Colombian online marketing market. There are some impressive and great people hear and I’m, first of all, grateful to have met them and, secondly, looking forward to working more closely with them.
We’re still ironing out some details, but I’m confident that Social Media Week will be held in Bogota (and hopefully in other Colombian cities through streaming) in September. Tonight, at the Meetup, we’ll be talking with a core group of industry members and sharing with them some general news about the impressive lineup of speakers and potential sponsors that are on deck for this event.
In keeping with the theme of the online media and the event (it’s social), I’m sure we’ll get excellent feedback there and through the Linkedin group channel. If we work together as an industry we can accelerate adoption of these tools (e.g., social media, etc.), which will have a domino effect on digital innovation, productivity, competitiveness, profitability and, ultimately, development of the country (in economic, social and quality of living terms) in general.
Well, time to run to one more meeting and then it’s off the the Meetup. I’ll post some pictures and a video tomorrow with more news.
A week and a half ago, I had the pleasure of judging a number of entrepreneurial initiatives for Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition. It was great to see how innovative and dedicated Colombia’s youth can be to creating great technology while helping out the needy. As usually happens during these events, it is a truly enjoyable experience not only to meet these youths, but also to meet and get to know my fellow judges.