Category: Technology Events

1. Four Tips for Corporate Content that Stands Out

   Posted on 12:00pm Monday 2nd Mar 2020

   Last month I was invited to the Corporate Content Awards. It was the first time I’ve been, but the third year the event has run. I have to say it was one of the best organised and professional awards events I have attended – and the food was good too! I took three things away from the evening (and my client took away 2 awards!)

   There are many ways to tell a B2B story today. The range of awards and the innovative, high-quality campaigns that won them was extraordinary, and a reminder to any brand that they should be challenging themselves to always be looking for new narratives and new places to tell them.

   My initial reaction when faced with an evening of 27 different awards was to groan and check that there was plenty of red wine on the table, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was each award category sufficiently defined to attract focused applications, but each celebrated an important aspect of corporate communications. So, from ‘technical’ awards like best use of Video, to audience-focused ones including ‘Best content targeted to an investor audience’, each showed how effective corporate communication teams are utilising new technologies and channels in innovative ways to build profile.

   Owned platforms provided the infrastructure for many campaigns. Although social and traditional media relations, as well as paid campaigns were all important, the majority of winners leveraged owned channels and the foundation of campaigns. Using content, whether written, visual, video or audio to draw an audience in and create a community was a common approach. Finding the right issues, and the right language to do this was often the defining feature of a winning campaign.

   Which underlines the third learning. Effective storytelling is still crucial to communications. Even the most technical narratives, including that of my client, a leader in sustainable data centres, need real human interest and emotional resonance to connect. I always counsel my clients to find the people in their narratives; both the people you are talking to, and the people the story is about. By building a really clear image of both these people even the most technical and dry subject can be given emotional resonance.

   So, my advice – do 4 things with your corporate narratives this year…

   1. Try new channels and new approaches to help tell your story; where could a podcast or animation add value, or even reverting to a printed hard-copy?
   2. Don’t neglect the platforms and audiences you already have and own. Think of them as your foundations.
   3. Find the people in your stories and put them at the heart of corporate communications.
   4. And finally – consider entering the Corporate Communications 2021 awards – it’s a good night out.

2. You have just 2-weeks left...

   Posted on 12:00pm Friday 30th Aug 2019

   

   February 2020 may seem a long way off, but if you entertain hopes of securing a speaking slot at next year’s Mobile World Conference – you have just 2 weeks to submit your pitch to organisers the GSMA.

   The GSMA gets thousands of pitches, and carefully rates each one against the themes it is planning for the conference. Knowing these themes and aligning your pitch to them is crucial to have a chance of being included. Landing a keynote is unlikely unless you a CEO of a multinational, a minister or a regulator, but there are hundreds of opportunities to participate in roundtables, panels and specific interest sessions. The GSMA builds the programme underneath its umbrella themes based on the speaker pitches it receives. So, it is certainly worth taking time to craft a compelling angle to submit.

   Next year’s themes are set out on the Conference Confidential blog https://cc.gsma.com/mwc-barcelona-2020-the-themes/ but I’ve briefly listed them below. Prospective speakers should also bear in mind the GSMA’s wider mission to “Intelligently Connecting Everyone and Everything to a #BetterFuture”. Conference speeches are not sales pitches, nor are they broad and bland overviews of established trends. The organisers are looking for well targeted themes that are innovative and show real impact on specific issues, industries or communities. Finding a story that connects your business messages to this type of real benefit will help get your speaker chosen.

   The themes for MWC20 are (perhaps unsurprisingly)

   5G – especially the global potential and added value across industries and societies from a network purpose-built for the digital economy.

   AI – looking beyond the hype to the reality, and especially at the issues and opportunities of managing such a profound change with ramifications for virtually every aspect of business and society.

   Industry X – meaning digital transformation and IoT in particular

   Media and Entertainment – not just the emerging ‘immersive’ entertainment themselves, but the commercial and technical realities of delivering bandwidth-hungry services profitably.

   Security and Privacy – greater scrutiny and ever-increasing threats combined with the centrality of mobile networks ensure security remains a hot issue. Winning back trust and acting ethically with people’s data are also right the top of strategic agendas.

   Customer Engagement – mobile has shrunk the world, but it means that customers are better informed, can make global comparisons, and expect 24/7 attention wherever they are. How different players along the value-chain delivering this?

   And last, but certainly not least…

   Our Planet – the mobile industry was the first to commit itself to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and this remains a huge priority for GSMA. It’s Digital Declaration seeks to lead the way in ethical and responsible leadership as it strives to reduce digital divides and its own ecological footprint.

    

   Writing a clear, compelling pitch which touches on one or more of these themes will increase your chances of getting selected. The GSMA has made this helpful Facebook video with more advice.

   Good Luck.