Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Please read my previous post if this party is news to you.

I thought it was worth providing an update as we’ve seen just over 100 tickets go within a couple of days. There are only 200 tickets available so please make sure to register to avoid disappointment. Everyone is welcome; agencies, brands, technology providers, freelancers, students, graduates, civil servants, bloggers, twitters… you get the picture. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re from either. It’ll be a night to remember!

Tickets are free for BIMA members and just £15 for non-members. I’ve noticed registrations from at least 4 countries so far. Keep ‘em coming and see you on May 20th. Register now.

I’d like to thank diffusion for sponsoring the event. Please get in touch if you’d like to sponsor.

Do you want to make a difference to the interactive industry in the UK? Do you want to raise your profile and that of your company?

The British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) is now seeking 7 new Executives to join the Board. Please read my post on the BIMA blog for more information. Closing date is May 16th, so there’s isn’t much time left.

Please leave a comment (on the BIMA blog) if you’d like to learn more. That way, others get to read the responses.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago, complaining about Yahoo!’s stupid integrated registration system. I was so pissed off with the login process I decided to can my use of MyBlogLog and Upcoming. Fortunately I’ve never had a problem with Flickr.

However, since removing the mugshots of my readers from my blogs, I’ve felt like something has been missing. So, I’ve managed to sort out my login details and Kamrul has reinstalled the MyBlogLog widget.

What is MyBlogLog?

MyBlogLog provides a widget that you can place on your blog. MyBlogLog users who then visit your blog are automatically added to the “community” of visitors and you will usually see an image and/or text with the visitor’s user name. Only the most recent visitors MyBlogLog members, will show within the MyBlogLog widget (found on the sidebar to the right).

If you have a MyBlogLog account and remain logged in, your face will automatically appear in the widget on every blog you visit (assuming they have the widget installed - TechCrunch also has one). I didn’t really care for it that much until I had it removed from my blogs. For some strange reason I missed seeing (some) of the faces of my community. I say ’some’ because only a small fraction of people have an account - not because I don’t want to see some people

I’ve gone a step further than most blogs. MyBlogLog users who leave comments also get their mugshot displayed beside their comment. It would be fun to encourage more to join.

Setup an account now and join the community.

Would you like to work with the UK’s longest established association to represent the interests of the interactive industry? If yes, we’d love to hear from you, via, twitter.

You’ve gotta embrace social media tools, techniques and importantly, communities, before you can even think about taking on BIMA’s public relations. So, please make sure you’re on Twitter and are a member of the BIMA Facebook group before getting in touch. Why? Well, if you need me to answer that question you’re not right for the job

I have quite a few PR people following me on twitter so this approach shouldn’t limit us to the extent that we don’t find anyone. Well, I hope not anyway.

Who I’m looking for

I’m looking for a freelancer or small agency to work on a contra basis. So, in return for your amazing craftsmanship with words and untouchable contacts within traditional media, we’ll help raise your own profile. You’ll also have the opportunity to educate industry via BIMA, with respect to the new PR world we live in today. You could even use your work with BIMA as a case study. That’s it. More defined requirements should actually come from you.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank immediate future for its amazing contribution to BIMA over the years. Katy Howell in particular has been personally very helpful to me over the past couple of years. Thanks Katy. Katy is of course, on twitter. You’re probably wondering why we’re looking for someone else if immediate future did such a great job. The answer is simple, Katy did such a good job that her company has grown quickly, winning all of Sony Europe, BT, Diageo, Kinder Kids, NSPCC and BBC in the last 3 months alone. Eek!

Please DM me to get the conversation going. I look forward to hearing from you soon. You’ll first need to follow me on twitter before being able to DM me.

I get asked quite often, to promote openings available at agencies and brands. Whilst I’m more than delighted to do this for companies such as Adobe, I’m not prepared to do it for companies that don’t pay at least minimum wage.

I refused to promote a work experience position for a major record label this morning on the grounds that I don’t believe in promoting free labour. Paying for travel and expenses isn’t enough in my personal opinion. I don’t care if it’s the norm in the record or fashion industries. If the roles are so coveted they shouldn’t need to promote the positions in the first place, they should have students lined up already.

I solicited opinion from my trusted community on Twitter and received a few immediate responses which I’ve included below. Some of them have their updates protected so I asked for their permission before quoting them here.

chrismehigan

sometimes experience is worth more than a few £’s. But some basic pay should really be part of it imo. Original message on twitter.

jackiedanicki

if the role is so coveted that they needn’t pay, they shouldn’t need promotion for it. Original message on twitter.

sarahblow

that’s a difficult one. Most work experience positions up north when I was a kid weren’t paid either… maybe london’s different. Original message on twitter.

Daljit_Bhurji

you were right. In the UK it is illegal not to pay min wage to work experience peeps unless its part of a uni course. Original message on twitter.

JofArnold

surely lack of pay is illegal, and that includes work experience people. It’s fairly clear cut, with many legal precendents. Original message on twitter.

redwinegums

Spot on. Never bought this “we’re ‘training’ you so we don’t have to pay you crap” Original message on twitter.

I don’t believe in clients forcing suppliers to pitch for free either, especially when the pitches run into thousands, let alone hundreds of thousands. This approach is unfair to those paying for the pitches and the industry as a whole. I’d go as far as to say it’s bordering unethical, as it alienates potential suppliers who could in fact, be the most appropriate supplier, but due to their size, can’t afford to invest in expensive pitches.

By the way clients, nothing in this world is for free. You can rest assured that you end up paying for those free pitches in other ways. Perhaps this is something I should focus my attention on.

Some suppliers will actually refuse to pitch for free. Good on ‘em I say. If only every supplier took this position.

irishstu

we refused to do design concepts for a pitch recently - client asked why, refered them to http://snurl.com/27iu3. Original message on twitter.

I’m keen to hear what you think regarding free work experience and free pitches for major clients. I can’t help but feel too many creatives are willing to sacrifce profit in return for working with ‘cool’ brands either.

Ok, end of rant. What do you think?

I need your help. As some of you know, I Chair the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA); the longest established association to represent the interests of the UK’s digital industry. In short, one of BIMA’s goals is to ensure the UK remains as the center of excellence worldwide, for creativity in the interactive world.

When most people think of BIMA, they think of the Awards. Known as the BIMAs™, they rightly take their place on the top shelf of prestigious Awards, alongside the BAFTAs, the Brits and the Oscars. Each year we revisit the categories to ensure they reflect what’s happening in the industry currently. With this in mind, I’d like to solicit your help in defining the descriptions and success criterion for two sub categories under the Social Media category.

What do you think the description copy and success criterion should be for

• Best Blog Award (personal and corporate) and
• Best Network Application (e.g. Faceboo, Bebo)

Let’s get straight to the point…

Tickets are free for BIMA Members and just £15 for non-members.

• When Tuesday, May 20, 2008 from 19:30 to 01:00
• Where Soho House, 21 Old Compton Street, London

We only have room at the Soho Private Members club for 200 people and tickets are expected to go even faster than the Great Facebook Debate that I hosted last year.

People are flying in from around the world just for this party so it’s set to be a night to remember!

If you need a hotel, why not check out http://www.londonhousehotels.com/ it does the job and it’s quite cheap.

Register now.

Hope to see you there!

Even the WiFi error messages at the Clift Hotel are unfriendly

403 Forbidden: The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it.

This is my first post about the Web Mission and I’m afraid to say that the most prominent memory I have so far involves a few trolls that work at the Clift hotel in San Francisco. It’s a shame that the tone needs to be negative, but others are voicing their concerns over the little village people employed by the Clift, compelling me to write about it. I will of course write some positive posts about all the fantastic things that are happening on the trip. I’ll also address Ryan Carson’s attack on the Web Mission. In short, I agree with Mike Butcher and Paul Carr.

Here’s just one example of how the Clift hotel is a place to avoid when staying in San Francisco.

A friend of mine (TV presenter from Norway - FYI she’s not part of the Mission) checked in last night and was almost put out on the street by the receptionist for not having a working credit card to cover incidentals (stuff she may or may not want to buy in the future!).

The conversation between her (AKA cardless girl) and the ejit (AKA troll) behind reception went something like this

Cardless TV girl

Hi, my name is x, I’d like to check in please

Troll

What is your name ? !

Cardless girl

Xx Xx

Troll

Can I have your credit card! please

Cardless girl

I’m afraid my card doesn’t work. It’s ok though. The room is being paid for by company x

Troll

Have you got a card!

Cardless girl

No, it doesn’t work. Company x is paying for the room.

Troll

I need a card from you!

Cardless girl

I don’t have one.

Troll

Then there’s nothing I can do!

Cardless girl

But what’s the solution then!

Troll

There isn’t one!

Cardless girl

OK. My friend is staying here. He’s in room xxx. Can you call him for me please?

Troll

No. There are phones around the corner you can use to call (note, these are pay phones)

The situation was finally resolved but only when the company CEO responsible for giving the hotel card details in the first place, drove here to give the same details again, for the incidentals which may or may never be bought.

Here’s an article in the Irish Independent in which I’ve been quoted by Marie Boran.

What gadgets do you use?

Since writing my last post about how to win a Mac Air, I’ve been asked by journalists if they could have an exclusive and asked why I decided to run this little game. Here’s my response:

1. The exclusive has yet to be given. Although a national newspapper has it in Ireland specifically.
2. I’m running this little game to get people talking about my newest venture, wubud
3. I’m also doing it to demonstrate how the power of conversation with communities of people is the way forward. If it’s the way forward for brands then it must be the way forward for traditional media folk to embrace tools/communities such as Twitter in order to find out what’s happening in the world. I’m likely to announce what wubud is and who my shit hot team is, on Twitter at the same time as whoever gets the exclusive. Some of my team is known to every reader of this blog.