These days, a lot of what I write on DCSpring21 centers on the media + publishing industry.  While tempted to throw a few screenshots of the in-development BankDirector.com up today (to juxtapose where we are with where we're going), let me instead share the latest digital issue of Bank Director magazine and a "programming note" for the next week to ten days. 

Starting on Saturday, I'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona for our 17th annual Acquire or Be Acquired conference. Long recognized as the premier M&A and growth event for Chairman and CEOs of financial services companies, I'll be sharing thoughts from our 3 day conference via Twitter, LinkedIn and on this site. Corresponding to what I write?  Our team of writers and bloggers will be posting to our official blog too.  

Now, with so much time and attention being placed on the digital nature of our business, I think this is an ideal time to remember that information resources like ours, thrive, in part, on the quality of content that is both created and shared at events like this one.  So if you're interested in growth strategies, merger and acquisition ideas or what the leading investment banks, consulting firms and legal advisors believe is on tap for 2011, be sure to check back regularly.

Need more?  Here's the plan:

• On Saturday morning, I fly into the desert from Washington.  At some point that day, I'll set the table for the coming discussions with a post on what I'm expecting + looking forward to learning;

• During the day on Sunday, I'll regularly check in with observations via twitter.  We have well over 700 attending -- a record number for this event -- so I'm excited to think about the idea sharing and Q+A;

• On Monday, I'll be introducing various speakers.  Over the last few months, a number of investment bankers have shared with me their sense of a coming "wave of deals."  As I'll be introducing a number of them, I'll try to share some of their quantitative data as part of my post;

• Tuesday sees the curtain come down on the conference.  Before heading out to our golf tournament, I'm going to put some info. up from a few of the morning presentations; 

• Finally, on Wednesday, I'll test American's WiFi capabilities and put into words the trends I think readers of this blog would be interested in.

So at the very least, you have a framework for the next five Bank Director-inspired posts.  If you're attending the conference and want to talk -- or have a few ideas about what might make it onto this site -- drop me a comment below and I'll make sure that we connect.

Recently, I've found myself talking with a number of friends and colleagues about the value of networking (both in the classic, look-you-in-the-eye sense & digitally-inspired, tweet-driven one) vis-a-vis branding.  Take a step with me and acknowledge that in some ways, we are all marketers.  This doesn't necessarily box you into a creative world; it does, however, put your online activities and networking quests into a more appropriate light. 

I'm thinking a lot about branding, networking and the customer experience these days.  Maybe its not surprising given my job -- or the fact that I'll be packing my bags for an M&A conference we will host for more than 700 executives from the financial services community next weekend.  And yes, I'll admit that preparing to head to Arizona as a host + speaker requires a few more "connecting of the dots" before I'm ready to start shaking hands or walking the stage.

So let me share a few thoughts on online social networking vs. traditional meet and greets.  The two aren't as dissimilar as you might want to make them.  Now, Bank Director recently ran a five part series on social media authored by yours-truly.  Sharing where I see value for today's financial services executive was fun and rewarding -- and ties nicely into today's post.  Over the course of a month, I had a chance to think about the fundamentals and offer why some need to care about newer trends and social media technologies.  With so many just now getting into the social media game, I also took a look at how some banks successfully incorporated social media into their institutions way of doing business.  And I wrapped things up by reminding of the need to be both authentic and transparent -- and what might be ahead in 2011.

So against that work, let me pay forward five points on in-person networking that my executive coach recently shared with me.  Draw all the parallels to online networking you will:

1. Your goal at any networking event is TO BE MEMORABLE (not to meet 4 CEO’s).  Nothing else matters. 
2. If your follow up fails, your networking fails.
3. Walk into a room filled with people and see it as islands…groups of people, not a sea of people.  This makes it more bite size.  
4. Nobody cares about your message, they care about themeselves.
5. Fight your instincts to talk too much.

See the connections?  Its the quality of the conversations, not quantity of business cards you take home or names you count as friend, followers.  When I think of networking in general, I don't see it as selling.  Branding?  Yes.  Relationship building?  Absolutely.

##

Here's a question I posed via Quora earlier today: what is the most thought-provoking question that you have been asked while networking at a conference?  As I get myself ready for my trip west, I'd appreciate what's made someone else memorable to you.  Feel free to comment below -- on answer on Quora at http://qr.ae/FWG7

With an early wake-up call -- thanks to my seven month old daughter -- I found myself browsing "old" business school case studies [*yes, I was trying to go back to bed.  No, it did not work].  While a few kept my attention, one geared to the IT community captivated me -- based in large part on the reverential tones Gartner used to paint the potential of the corporate semantic web.  Penned in 2005 , I had to chuckle at the underlying premise: that economic and social consequences of a "massively connected world" are hard to predict.  But rest assured that the authors were confident that the impact would be highly disruptive!