At a healthcare new media conference in Arizona this week, I found a great young mind deeply embedded in Patricia Anderson’s new age soul. As she put on a headset and communicated to a virtual audience and real world audience simultaneously, she proceeded to blow the doors off both realities. Back to Patricia in a moment.
The exciting part of the conference for me, wasn’t just the presenters, but the crowd. As I looked around while Patricia was presenting and Lee, the head of Mayo’s Social Media and Shahid, CEO of hitsphere.com, Netperspective and prolific healthcare blogger, I noticed something that gave me goose bumps.
Only 20% of the audience were really listening.
This was 100 of the top marketing and advertising people that controlled Billions of dollars a year in healthcare revenues paying a lot of money to come and learn from the best. Blackberries buzzing, laptop surfing, glazed eyes glazing…you get the point. I likened it to putting a onesie on your grandmother. Something just didn’t fit.
The average age in the audience was probably 50, that wasn’t the problem the problem was they have just been doing things a different way for so long, it was maybe too late in the game to change things now. “If we let in the spiked hair and tattoo’s, what’s next, nipple piercings for Bob in Accounting?! “It’s just not the way we do things!â€
The goose bumps I had were, lumps of opportunity. We have a 10 trillion dollar a year market that is ripe for a Thanksgiving carve because so many people are happy the way things are. I confirmed my thesis in the lunch line. I commented to a guy wearing a salmon colored shirt that was branded as “a golfer color.†He said, “I know, we cannot wear these at work, it has a logo.†I looked and there it was very subtle but I could see it now. “Why can’t you wear logos to work?†He had a look on his face like I just took a dump on the desert tray, “Because we can only wear non-marked or logos that are from——————-. (Insert large bay area health organization). He went on to tell me about some young kid last week, came to work with a 49ers sweatshirt and he was taken aside before the CEO saw him. I told him; “maybe it’s time to hire a CEO who likes the niners?†He said, “Yea right, before you know it, people will be wearing their favorite teams to work.†Exactly! “That’s the whole point isn’t it?†From the look on his face it did not appear that our conversation would be anywhere near the employee suggestion box. (Note in Moleskin, make sure no stock in that company exists in the Harris family tree.)
Which leads me back to Patricia. Her grey hair covered a beautiful young mind. After her presentation I caught her in the hall and said to her, Patricia, “you have a wonderful young mind!†With a grin she said in an almost conspiratorial whisper, “I really do, I can’t turn it off.â€
Maybe things are easier to market in second life because just the idea of building a virtual island opens one’s mind to infinite possibilities and nothing seems too â€outrageous†in a virtual world. I get the feeling that dress codes are not a big deal in the virtual world.
Healthcare collaboration in virtual worlds.
At a healthcare new media conference in Arizona this week, I found a great young mind deeply embedded in Patricia Anderson’s new age soul. As she put on a headset and communicated to a virtual audience and real world audience simultaneously, she proceeded to blow the doors off both realities. Back to Patricia in a moment.
The exciting part of the conference for me, wasn’t just the presenters, but the crowd. As I looked around while Patricia was presenting and Lee, the head of Mayo’s Social Media and Shahid, CEO of hitsphere.com, Netperspective and prolific healthcare blogger, I noticed something that gave me goose bumps.
Only 20% of the audience were really listening.
This was 100 of the top marketing and advertising people that controlled Billions of dollars a year in healthcare revenues paying a lot of money to come and learn from the best. Blackberries buzzing, laptop surfing, glazed eyes glazing…you get the point. I likened it to putting a onesie on your grandmother. Something just didn’t fit.
The average age in the audience was probably 50, that wasn’t the problem the problem was they have just been doing things a different way for so long, it was maybe too late in the game to change things now. “If we let in the spiked hair and tattoo’s, what’s next, nipple piercings for Bob in Accounting?! “It’s just not the way we do things!â€
The goose bumps I had were, lumps of opportunity. We have a 10 trillion dollar a year market that is ripe for a Thanksgiving carve because so many people are happy the way things are. I confirmed my thesis in the lunch line. I commented to a guy wearing a salmon colored shirt that was branded as “a golfer color.†He said, “I know, we cannot wear these at work, it has a logo.†I looked and there it was very subtle but I could see it now. “Why can’t you wear logos to work?†He had a look on his face like I just took a dump on the desert tray, “Because we can only wear non-marked or logos that are from——————-. (Insert large bay area health organization). He went on to tell me about some young kid last week, came to work with a 49ers sweatshirt and he was taken aside before the CEO saw him. I told him; “maybe it’s time to hire a CEO who likes the niners?†He said, “Yea right, before you know it, people will be wearing their favorite teams to work.†Exactly! “That’s the whole point isn’t it?†From the look on his face it did not appear that our conversation would be anywhere near the employee suggestion box. (Note in Moleskin, make sure no stock in that company exists in the Harris family tree.)
Which leads me back to Patricia. Her grey hair covered a beautiful young mind. After her presentation I caught her in the hall and said to her, Patricia, “you have a wonderful young mind!†With a grin she said in an almost conspiratorial whisper, “I really do, I can’t turn it off.â€
Maybe things are easier to market in second life because just the idea of building a virtual island opens one’s mind to infinite possibilities and nothing seems too â€outrageous†in a virtual world. I get the feeling that dress codes are not a big deal in the virtual world.