St. Patrick’s Day Gift: An Update On Social Media In Ireland And A Free E-book

Once again, Eoin Kennedy (@eoink) our friend and Irish Social Media expert, has agreed to let us know what is up in the Emerald Island. We are going to let him tell you what is going on in his own words, but we also want to make sure you download the free social media e-book he put together.  You can find it here: http://www.congregation.ie/ebook-download.html

“ I am a hypocrite. For over 5 years I have closed the doors of lecture rooms, blasted through 150 slides, talked for three hours solid and then run off leaving a blaze of educational destruction in my wake.  And I still do.

But there is absolution.  

The traditional one to many conference format is very efficient (and profitable) way to spread insight but I have long felt it’s not the most effective. So in November 2013 I experimented with a social media ‘unconference’ that aimed to break the mold in a number of ways with a six week run in.

editorial calendar

  • It was held in a small village in the West of Ireland 
  • You could not buy a ticket
  • You have to blog or earn your way in – produce a paper on social media
  • Every body presented for 10-15 minutes
  • Each group was smaller than 10 people with 2 presenting
  • Venues were a mix of coffee shops, book stores to bars and restaurants
  • Groups rotated every hour – both people and venues

The result was an intimate sharing, connecting and engaging event for 50 social media thinkers who travelled from all over the country.  All their papers were publicly published in advance for all to read so the presentations on the day were just catalysts for discussion and dialogue, of which there was plenty.  Everyone was equal having earned their way in so questions, insight and ideas were all peer based.

Outside of the physical the event has left behind a robust digital footprint including:

  • Website with 57 blog paper submissions
  • Over 2000 tweets
  • Animated explanatory video and vines
  • 3 technology.ie video interviews
  • 4 podcast interviews
  • 80+ Flickr photos #cong13
  • 27 Audioboos Boos
  • 50 Klout influence score
  • 10+ external blog posts
  • 7,000+ visits to www.congregation.ie
  • 1 Google+ Hangout with USA & Canada
  • Curated List.ly lists
  • Trended on Twitter
  • 140 eBook and ePub

2014 looks exciting with a book club /exchange furthering the conversation using #congbookclub and an Autumn date for Congregation 14 where we are aiming for Dunbar’s number of 150 people.”

GCAi will keep you up to date on details for Congregation 14, but in the meantime, follow Eoin on Twitter and download the free e-book which contains all the blog posts and more.