I gave a presentation this morning on social media issues at a TechAlliance breakfast club event.  Thought I would share this one slide.

If someone posts something about you or your organization that you don’t like, it’s best to so some sober reflection to consider the best response.  Sometimes attempts to suppress things on the internet can backfire and bring more attention to it.  It’s called the Streisand effect.

For example, you might be better off ignoring it if the comment is on an obscure place few will see, or if the person who posted it is clearly a lunatic.

If they are right and you actually did do something wrong, you may want to post an apology.

If they simply have their facts wrong, you might politely set the record straight.

Consider if there is a way to turn what was said or done to your advantage.

If a legal response is necessary, it must be drafted very carefully with the assumption that it will be posted and ridiculed.  The traditional throw in every specious claim and intimidate the recipient into stopping approach may not be the most effective.

I’ll talk about:

• The legal traps of Social Media use.
• That fuzzy line between work and personal account posts.
• How to respond to negative social media.
• How a social media policy can help you.

I’ll also create a sample social media policy using an online tool based on audience input.

For the record, my position on social media is not to exaggerate the theoretical dangers or suggest it should be suppressed in the workplace.  But there are a few things that should be kept in mind to reduce the legal and business risks that arise from it.

Hope to see you there.

Conventional wisdom is that law firm web sites should contain a list of major deals the firm has worked on. I’ve always thought that was wrong – but didn’t really understand why until this morning.

I attended a TechAlliance breakfast club seminar where Nick Hall of Hall Associates ( @hallassociates ) spoke about Brand Promise.

One of the examples he used was a hairdresser. The brand experience a good hairdresser provides is confidence – not a haircut. Confidence that the hairdresser uses her/his expertise to make the customer look and thus feel good. That results in loyal customers who will come back and refer others.

If it was just about experience, a hairdresser would line their walls with bags of hair they had cut.

Law firm web sites listing all the deals they have done is like displaying bags of hair.

Canadian futurist Jim Carroll (@jimcarroll)just spoke about innovation at the London TechAlliance AGM. Here are some of the points that got my attention. (We used to call these sound bites or bullet points – I’ve already seem some of these show up in Tweets from the audience – so lets call these Slaw Tweets.)

Change is so rapid – 65% of public school children will be in a career that doesn’t exist yet.

1/2 of what science grads learn in first year is obsolete when they graduate.

Product lifecycles used to be measured in 2 digit years. The product lifecycle of a digital camera is 3 -6 months.

Big doesn’t beat small – fast beats slow.

We should choose not to participate in the recession – use it as an opportunity for growth.

A brand is no longer what you say it is – its what they say it is.

Experiential capital (accumulated experience trying to do things we have not done before) is crucial.

That was the title of a presentation I attended this morning at the London TechAlliance breakfast club series.

David Ciccarelli of Voices.com was the presenter. He is well qualified to present, as he has built his business using these methods. Voices.com is interesting in itself. It is essentially a job mart for voice actors that puts together voice actors with those needing their services. As you will see from their web site, they have an impressive client list.

Here’s the press release:

It reads as follows:

Lawyers often talk about how entrepreneurs should make their companies “investor ready”. This uses the term “investor” in the widest sense, meaning everything from a bank loan, to a VC investment, to the sale of the business to Google that allows the owner to retire early in luxury. By “ready” we mean being able to easily survive investor diligence without risk of losing the deal or diminishing the value – by having taken all the right steps and having the right documentation for such things as an up to date corporate minute book, trade-marks for brands, documenting IP ownership, proper employment agreements, privacy policies, etc.

Our harping on this sometimes falls on deaf ears. Perhaps the owner needs to focus on its product and sales (being investor ready after all means nothing if there is nothing to invest in), or doesn’t want to spend money on lawyers, or thinks it is important but not urgent.

I was one of three speakers last night talking about intellectual property issues at the TechAlliance Entrepreneur 1.0 course. All 3 of us mentioned this.

The best perspective came from Colin Macaulay – Director, Research and Development of Viron Therapeutics Inc. Its one we should keep in mind when talking to clients.

He said entrepreneurs should keep in mind that they themselves are investors in their own companies. They should be their own harshest critics and do their own diligence in order to maximize and protect that investment.

A person’s business is probably the biggest investment they have, so owners should be vigilant to do what is necessary to maximize the value of the business. In essence, a business owner is better off doing continuous diligence on their company as if they have a continuous exit strategy. It leads to better decisions and doucumentation along the way. While it may seem like a daunting task, it is in reality far easier and better in the long run to approach things this way than to have to scramble to try to pull everything together after the fact to meet a pressing need, or to try to deal with problems that others find.

The London TechAlliance is having its annual biotech week next week.

Check out their calendar for the various events.

One of the events that might be of interest to any tech business, not just biotech, is a seminar on Sept 24 entitled “Accelerate London Business Seminar”.

From TechAlliance’s promo material:

Attention technology companies and entrepreneurs! TechAlliance is pleased to present an informative session about three exciting new programs designed to help Ontario technology companies grow and prosper. In this session, you will learn about the Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) delivered by Ontario Centres of Excellence, and the Business Mentorship and Entrepreneurship Program (BMEP) delivered by MaRS. The third program featured is ACCELERATE Ontario – a new Ontario Graduate Research Internship Program, delivered by MITACS, a national research network that connects Canadian researchers with companies and other organizations to solve key business and social challenges

He also suggested that ingenuity and creativity is enhnaced by more communication and collaboration, but that there may be a point where too much of it becomes counterproductive.

I have not read any of his books, but if his talk is any indication, they would be a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to make a difference on these issues.

Go to his website.

First, London IT companies are doing a much better job of letting the community know about them. It is becoming more of a community than a group of islands, which bodes well for the future of London’s IT sector.

Second, there was some excellent discussion dealing with common issues such as human resources and the promotion of London’s IT sector outside of London. TechAlliance (including its IT advisory council which I am on) will make good use of that feedback.

On a related note, London’s Digital Extremes is to be congratulated on their release of their latest game – Dark Sector – for the XBox and PS3. Their launch party was held last night. The game has been well received by reviewers – early indications are that sales will be brisk.