On Monday April 6th, I had the privilege to attend MeshU 2009 to learn, to mingle with fantastic people and to have a good time. This one day workshop was broken down into three categories - design, development and management. I spent most of my time in the management workshops.
Two of the most impressive (for me) presentations were by April Dunford and Jason Oke.
April Dunford’s (Rocket Launch Marketing) session was “Segmentation, Positioning and Storyteling: How a Smart Market Strategy Can Drive Growth”. Whereas some marketing majors would have found some of the content rather basic, it was nevertheless good to refresh my memory. Non-marketers in the room probably enjoyed an exercise in segmentation and positioning and took down relevant notes.
Jason Oke of Juniper Park presented on how to get everyone else as excited about your idea as you are was enlightening. Top lessons that I took home with me are:
- you absolutely have to believe in yourself when presenting an idea. Don’t thrash your own ideas!
- be multi-modal and address the fact that people have different learning styles
- know people. Remember that new concepts and ideas oftentimes get rejected. Jason then showed us some of the comments from Mac forums following the release of the first ever iPod.
Oh yes, and that Helvetica Neue Light is the best font for Powerpoint presentations.
Afterwards, The Drake hosted all MeshU participants on its premises between 6 to 9pm and pampered us with pleasant music, fantastic food and drinks.
Oh yes, if you were at both Mesh and MeshU, don’t forget to provide feedback to some of the speakers that you saw! Via Rypple. Follow this link
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