Report by Kyra Aylsworth, Special Correspondant, PRGirlz.com

I found my notebooks and camera at the MaRS centre this morning. It was with great relief that I started my day. Now that I have my notes, though, I feel like I have too much material. I’ll try to keep it simple.

Today has been especially exciting here at mesh. The first keynote featured Richard Edelman, Global CEO of Edelman Public Relations, the world’s largest independent public relations agency. The second keynote of the day featured Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster.

Rather than try to sum up everything that was said during those first few hours, I’m going to post my favourite topics and related answers from these two influential thinkers:

Richard Edelman

How do you define success in public relations today?

Public relations is about telling a story. It is not the black arts. Public relations people need higher standards than before. Ad equivalency is not adequate - it’s fallacious. The power of free media is more valuable than purchased media … Some people are prepared (to enter into Web 2.0) and some are reticent. They’ll pitch to CBS and ABC and think ‘I’ve done my job’. We’re not salesmen. It’s better to have 3 to 4 quality interactions [than to 'hit' everyone with the same pitch and vehicle].

Would you ever counsel a client against using social media? What happens if you/your client loses control?

Even in a situation where a client might be walking into an arena of ridicule, the organization will still need to communicate their messages and to tell their side of a story. In the case of Chevy Tahoe, they benefitted by letting the humour run its course. You have to think ahead - about what sort of situation you’re getting into - but if something goes wrong, it’s important to let it happen. If Chevy had ‘put their fist down’ and tried to stop the conversation, it would have been much worse.

Three things to take away:
1. Make your stories visual.
2. Don’t be defeated by setbacks.
3. Don’t let clients say ‘here’s your little box’ (here are your set of conditions). Be bold.

Jim Buckmaster

My 7 favourite quotes:
1. We’re making enough money for all of our needs.
2. The way we do things is actually more fun than worrying about making more money.
3. That’s the benefit of not going public.
4. We only do things that our users want us to do.
5. Craigslist is a site where people connect through basic human needs.
6. We don’t have business meetings.
7. We’ve never lost a tech person in twelve years.

Report by Kyra Aylsworth, Special Correspondent, PRGirlz.com

Canada’s premier Web 2.0 conference, mesh, strives to ‘connect, share and inspire’. It’s a mighty task, but mesh delivers. This event is packed with interesting people and topics and if you’re like me, you don’t want to miss any opportunity to make connections with people and highly nuanced trends and ideas. Today I spoke with public relations professionals, venture capitalists, computer people who went into advertising and startup wonders from all over the map.

I forgot how much energy and focus conferences require. By midday, the conference starts to feel like you’ve been at an interactive art gallery or a museum of modern thought - and it feels like you have a lot to catch up on. I highly recommend it. (Disclosure: I am a mesh volunteer.)

I volunteered at last year’s mesh conference, and from what I can tell, this year’s gathering seems to consist of far more people outside of the tech loop (or I’m just finding myself in sessions that appeal to communicators). More people from public relations and marketing backgrounds are interested in what is happening now and what they can do to incorporate social media into their practice. Last year the scene seemed to be dominated by tech insiders and blog personalities. It’s heartening to see that there are more people in our field who want to make these technologies ‘work’ in the business world.

Of course, this conversation means that there is a lot of talk about ‘authenticity’ and how to manufacture it. Public relations practitioners and marketers keep asking, “How do we connect with our audiences in an authentic way?” Community builders and bloggers usually have the same response to this question (no matter how many different ways we phrase it) and that is, “Be authentic.”

From the perspective of the communications field, it’s social rocket science.

Here’s an example of authenticity (coming from a person who is making their debut in the Toronto public relations community): I would have more details about speakers and what they said if I hadn’t forgotten my notes at MaRS. There it is. Complete disclosure. However, given that my notes and camera are in tact tomorrow, I will be posting here with more quotes and details then.

That said, I need to reference ’someone’ who made the point today that social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, they said that although we talk about ’social media’ as a separate entity now, that in the future, all media will be social media. This means that we should prepare to enter into dialogue with our audiences with the expectation that this dialogue will continue for years to come.

Stay tuned for more mesh musings tomorrow, when I’ll be talking more about who I met and what they are thinking now.

We have our very own special correspondent at the Mesh Conference. Communications enthusiast, Kyra Aylsworth will be reporting on Canada’s premiere Web and social media event.

We look forward to her account of the proceedings!

-ETA-
Here is a brief bio for Kyra:

Kyra Aylsworth is an aspiring communicator with a background in merchandising and promotions. She is a graduate of Seneca’s Corporate Communications program and recently completed her Masters in Communications at the University of Western Sydney. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Toronto. A self-described ‘geek cheerleader’, she hopes to find extremely rewarding work in the field of public relations.

Geek Cheerleader. One who admires and encourages the development of computing technologies without fully understanding those technologies oneself.

About a year ago, while doing a media event for a client in a University of Calgary facility, I liaised with a balding middle aged Boomer like myself and in the course of doing the job we exchanged cards and email. A few months later, he ‘hit me up online’ for a donation to his Team in Training fund-raising campaign and, as any self-respecting PR Girls would do, I checked it out. I was amazed to find that the internet has spawned a brilliant way for charities to raise money by finding the essential win-win. It isn’t a new way, but it was the first I heard of it.

At any rate, Greg raised the money he commiteed to raise and he traned every day for 4 months and he kept all his supporters in the loop with his writing talent and he ran his marathon last October. I felt so good about his success, it was like I ran with him! Greg told me that it was the most significant thing he had done in his life for decades and that it had made him a better person in many ways. And oh yes, the cancer crowd got some money out of it too for research and patient services.

The upshot of meeting Greg in the course of being a PR Girl is that I have myself joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada’s 2006-07 Team in Training program too. Please visit my Team homepage and find out more about what I’m up to and support me if you can. I’ll stay in touch.

Judi Gunter has been an independent PR consultant since 1990 and has been in the communications business since her first job as a reporter in 1969. This year, she is special counsel to the CPRS Calgary board.