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I love theory and ideas … but even more than that, I love it when theory and ideas are put into practice. It is that whole "strategy is execution" thing that Russell Davies talks about … and it is the modus operandi of David Armano.

A couple of days ago, DA asked for comments on the year that has been 2006. He then pulled that together and has placed it into a presentation. It is a great way to see how many of us interpreted this year — on personal and business fronts — and it is a great example of co-creation.

For me, it was the way that technology came back to us all. Russell has a great quote by Brian Eno that says "Technology is the name that we give to stuff that doesn’t work yet" … and it sums up where 2006 has been heading. With systems like Typepad and WordPress, we are all able to write and publish online … even the word BLOG has a distinctly luddite feel. And while there is a long way to go … the WAY that these technologies allow for interaction and community is closer to a HUMAN rather than cyborg-style form. Perhaps the machines wont win afterall.

S.

You have got to congratulate Christina Kerley (CK) on reaching a blog milestone … her first 100 posts! As other bloggers will know, maintaining a focused and disciplined writing style is a real challenge — especially when you are first getting started.

Not only has CK reached 100 posts on her own site, she has also created quite a stir over at Ann Handley’s MarketingProfs Daily Fix, regularly coming up with catchy, provocative posts that keep the community humming for days. Best of all … this is the FIRST 100 posts … there are bound to be more in the same vein (notice the feint allusion to Buffy?)!

On a similar point, I noticed tonight that Servant of Chaos has been going for just over one year now. I remembered starting around November last year, only to find that it was, in fact, October 2005. (And woah … were there some bad posts back then!) It has been fun and I have learned a lot … and still have plenty of learning to go. My aim for the next year is to grow my readership to 10 😉

As always, thanks for reading!

S.

We all know that it is important to write a business plan. It helps with bank loans, venture capital and all the financial aspects of your business. But it also helps you think through and plan out the "how" and "why" aspects of your business … a business plan is NOT just the facts and figures — it is also the heart and energy of it.

Guy Kawasaki has some great posts on how to build a business plan and the elements to include in it. BUT it is important to remember that business plans are not archive documents, but living and breathing documents. And the more you work them and work through them, the more you will get out of them. Sound ridiculous?

There are obvious links between business and brand strategic planning. In fact, I believe that the two are inter-twined — and if you put all your focus and effort into the financial side and neglect the marketing, branding and consumer side, then you will end up in serious trouble. But there are serious challenges in bridging the gaps …

On a fundamental level it comes down to language. The accountants will have a certain expectation — they will be listening for key words, turns of phrase, and of course, numbers. The marketers, sitting there in the second row will be sleeping through the numbers, baffled by the taxation implications and benefits of offshoring and perk up only when it comes to brands, reach and above the line ad spend. The thing is, we all want the same thing.

Collaboration is the key … and those clever Decisive Flow folks across the lake have come up with a rather neat new online application. Now your business plan can have multiple authors, different levels of responsibility and a level of cohesiveness that most of us only dream about.

Not only that, with PlanHQ, you can make sure that your business plan is not "just" a strategy, but something that is ACTIONABLE. Will that make you stand out from the crowd?

Now, if only I had a business idea …

S.

Looks like there WILL be a BarCamp in Sydney next year. The 2007 event will occur on the 3rd and 4th of March 2007 … and there is still much to be done.

Interestingly, for the Sydney barcamp there topics will not JUST be focused on technology. New topics will cover entertainment, art, marketing, other technologies and content such as podcasts and so on. See other camps such as ArtCamp and MarCamp and BlogCamp. How will I be able to choose?

Should be fun.

S.

So we are mixing it up this week by having a coffee morning EARLY — at 8am in Surry Hills at Kafa, 216 Commonwealth Street.
Coming soon … coffee morning involving beer — at the other end of the day.
Oh, and I am looking forward to one of those link-ups that Russell is suggesting — 24 hours of coffee mornings.

There are a couple of conferences happening at the moment (I am attending none of them) … but looking at the blog coverage, there are some recurring themes.

Emily sums it all up with the following:

No one knows what’s going on in the new media space.
We’re all figuring it out.
A perfect opportunity to sit down and talk to each other. But all of our old habits of interacting are still firmly in place.
Posturing looks ridiculous in a world with no hierarchy.

And from the Ad:Tech conference there is this nicely self-reflexive gem:

Since the rooftop bar was filled with sweaty, semi-intelligent people, Ariel and I went downstairs where there was AC and sat for a while talking about why it seems there are an inordinate amount of people in the industry who talk about topics like viral marketing or search engine marketing but few who actually engage in the practice. Our conclusion? In advertising, we love to hear ourselves talk. We love to write books. We love to moderate panels and give speeches. We love to stand in front of a client and spew forth meaningless words that sound intelligent and one-up us because the client doesn’t know what they mean. We love to dress cool even though we’re over 30 and shouldn’t. We love to borrow other’s ideas and call them our own. We love to outsource work to others and take all the credit. We love to promise the client our agency can, of course, perform even the most obscure service when, clearly, we can not. We love to wallow in our perceived cool factor when the rest of the world hates what we do as a business. Isn’t this business great?

Probably saved myself a ton of grief by NOT being there … but then, I could have been lucky and been able to hang out with Emily or Steve.

S.

So after much dodging of the issue, Sebastian now has a blog.

Sebastian is one of our Sydney Coffee Morning folks … and has a decidedly different view of the world. Don’t forget to take a peek at his site.

If you are going to a conference and are planning on blogging it, Josh Hall has some great tips on how to make your life easier. I was following a little hypertext love and found this great article courtesy of the BarCamp wiki for Seattle.

His checklist covers hardware, software, strategy, planning and teamwork. Much of this applies to blogging away from home as well. Importantly, you need to remember to use Technorati, Flickr or even CoComment to reach out to other bloggers who are at the event.

The BarCamp phenomenon is intriguing and is a great way of bringing localised communities together — interesting to see if one materialises in Sydney!

Oh … and couldn’t resist his photo … it keeps popping up in my searches, so finally I gave in!

S.

Olivier Blanchard has a great post on his Brand Builder blog about commitment. He has a great perspective on what it takes to commit to a project — either a yes or a no. Make sure you read the whole post, but here is a taste:

Commit. Give it everything. Your project. Your job. Your relationship. Your race. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well… and if it’s worth doing well, it’s worth doing exceptionally well.

There is even a great section in the post that talks about projects that you aren’t passionate about. You know the type — the one where you have no choice — where it has been delegated to you or forced upon you.

If you can’t turn it down, if your boss or client forces you to work on something you would rather not spend any time on, then take a breather. Go clear your head. Find that one thing in the project or task that you know you can throw yourself at wholeheartedly, and focus on that.

Don’t ever, ever, ever do anything half-assed. Ever.

Of course, if you need something to be passionate about, check our www.KarmaCredits.org and contribute.

S

Looks like Diana is searching new horizons for her next gig. If you have never visited her site before, she lives in Bucharest, has an excellent visual/photo-storytelling ability (especially as it relates to her travels) … and, of course, has some excellent insight into the Romanian market and the use of social media.

Be sure to drop her a line if you are looking for someone in her neck of the woods.