“You have GOT to be kidding!” I screamed to no one in particular.

I re-read the email. And re-read it again.

Me. Invited speaker. IABC World Conference, San Francisco, June 2009.

Unheard of.

For those who may not be aware, the IABC is the International Association of Business Communicators. To be asked to speak at one of their conferences is the business communicator’s equivalent of gaining an audience with the Pope.

Dear Lee,

I crafted a letter to you introducing IABC and referencing a mutual colleague, Allan Jenkins whom you mention on your site, and then I pleasantly discovered that you are an IABC member (or were, since your membership has lapsed)! My single purpose for writing now is to invite you to speak at the IABC 2009 World Conference in San Francisco, 7-10 June.

A member of the conference program advisory committee came across your web site and was immediately impressed by the rich communication-focused content. You wrote, “Effective communication is the single most important skill any business person must master if they are to survive” and we could not agree more.

IABC’s annual World Conference is the premier international event for business communicators. More than 1,600 mid- to senior-level communicators from over 35 countries are expected at the 2009 World Conference in San Francisco. We would like to invite you to speak at the conference on a virtual communication topic of your choice on Sunday, 7 June, 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Yours would be one of four or five Skill Builder sessions, each led by some of our best rated speakers on topics that are essential to communicators. These sessions focus on key skills-related topics on the opening day of conference prior to the Opening General Session that begins at 5:20 p.m.

As a speaker, you will receive a complimentary Regular Conference registration for the entire conference, with the exception of additional fee events. IABC does not provide speaker fees or expenses but speakers benefit from the excellent connections and networking opportunities found at the event.

Lee, an exceptional program is being planned for San Francisco and I hope that you can be a part of it. I have attached the speaker agreement and addendum detailing the terms of your acceptance to speak at the IABC 2009 World Conference. If you’re able to accept this invitation, please review both documents carefully and return the completed agreement by 30 October or sooner. I would need at that time your proposed session description and bio.

You can view the preliminary 2009 conference web site at http://www.iabc.com/wc/ and I invite you to see the 2008 conference web site at http://www.iabc.com/ic/.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to your response.

Best Regards,

Vicki Yim
Director, World Conference
International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA

But here’s the challenge: just like the academic conferences I go to, no assistance is given to get there. At academic conferences I even have to pay to attend when I’m presenting at them, so I’m especially grateful to receive free entry to all of the IABC conference sessions.

But I have to find the airfare. What with flights, meals and so on I reckon I’m up for around AUD$7k.

The ever-gracious and amazing Shel Holtz has kindly offered to open his front door and guest bedroom to me while I’m there. So that’s the otherwise expensive hotel accommodation dealt with, just the flights and meals an’ stuff to find…

The bit where YOU benefit

Now, here’s where YOU get to benefit from that totally unexpected email.

I’m selling everything I have at 50% off.

Yes, that’s right — everything at 50% off. Well, almost everything. Mrs BetterComms and eBay both have a policy about auctioning the kids and my mother off… But everything else is half price.

• 50% off my consulting services (see the next paragraph for more information)
• 50% off my Better Business Writing courses (click for more information)
• 50% off my social media flash cards (click for more information).

Consulting services at half price

If you book my services for any time from now until Dec 31 and pay in full during the month of October you will receive a 50% discount on my prices.

For example, that’s a saving of:

• $500 for a keynote speech
• $750 for a full day of consulting

And a minimum saving of $7,500 on my SEO-optimised website design and build service.

to find out more and receive a quote.

~~~~~~~

Better Business Writing Course at half price

My five day course normally sells for $69.95, but for the month of October only you can pick it up for just $34.97 AND receive a load more of bonuses than you would normally receive:

• Tom Peters: The PSF is Everything! / 50 Ways to Succeed / Tomato
• Seth Godin: Really BAD PowerPoint
• Cliff Atkinson: Beyond Bullet Points (1st chapter - purchase the entire book here)
• Ken Evoy: Netwriting Masters Course
• Claude Hopkins: Scientific Advertising
• Daniel J. Solove: The Future of Reputation: gossip, rumor, and privacy on the internet
• Theron Q. Dumont: The Power of Concentration
• Trevor Cook and Lee Hopkins: Social Media: or how we stopped worrying and learned to love communication
• Lee Hopkins: The Subtle Psychological Power of Suggestion
• Lee Hopkins: The Three Es for Business Profit
• Lee Hopkins: Brand Identity: why managing it is so important to your success
• Lee Hopkins: Internet Business: 20 secrets you NEED to know about you, your business and the internet
• Lee Hopkins: Accent and Tone of Voice
• Ken Evoy: The Netwriting Masters Course
• Ken Evoy: The ‘Make Your Price Sell’ Masters Course
• Ken Evoy: The Service Sellers Masters Course
• Ken Evoy: The Webmaster Business Masters Course
• Ken Evoy: Why People Fail
• PDF and Flash copies of every presentation I have given about Social Media and Virtual Worlds in the last two years.

If you are serious about taking your business writing skills to the next level, you will want to take advantage of having your ‘Advanced Better Business Writing’ course homework personally marked by me.

The Advanced course, including all the aforementioned bonuses, usually sells for $1,499 but you can snap it up for just $749.50. You can even spread payment over six equal monthly instalments of just $117.

~~~~~~~

Social Media in a Flash set of cards at half price

I’m also offering the extremely popular ‘Social Media in a Flash set of cards’ set at half price. Instead of paying $247 you can snag them for a mere $123.50.

And if you pick up the ‘marked homework’, advanced version of the ‘Better Business Writing’ course you’ll receive the cards for free!

Naturally, you will also receive the whole swag of bonuses that I’ve mentioned already. Plus I’ll throw in the basic ‘Better Business Writing’ course!

The catch

Naturally, this largesse cannot last.

I have until 30th October to confirm that I’ll attend. The BetterComms CFO (Mrs BetterComms) has dictated that if I am to go to San Francisco the trip will need to be funded by income not yet planned and budgeted for.

So all of these offers will expire at one second to midnight, Central Australian Time, 31st October.

Summary

To recap, during the month of October only:

• If you pay in advance for my consulting or presentation services you will save 50% on any of these services delivered before 1st January 2009
• If you purchase the basic Better Business Writing course you save 50% (saving you $37.50)
• If you purchase the Advanced Better Business Writing course you save 50% (saving you $749.50)
• If you purchase a pack of ‘Social Media in a Flash set of cards’ you save 50% (saving you $123.50)

All financial transactions are handled by PayPal and of course everything is covered by my ‘90 days, no questions asked’ refund policy.

• Order the basic Better Business Writing course
• Order the Advanced Better Business Writing course
  • Order the Advanced course, pay in six instalments
• Order the Social Media in a Flash set of cards pack
• to discuss my consulting or presentation services

But rather than fly to Melbourne, Sydney or the Gold Coast we presented in-world, at a venue built especially for the event.

To say they (the CPA organisers) were nervous would be a MASSIVE understatement! I could see their avatars shaking from the podium {grin}.

But to everyone’s delight the event went swimmingly well. Naturally, there are always little gremlins that creep into any event and do their best to cause niggling annoyances, but they were kept to a minimum and the feedback from the audience has apparently been incredible. Even at the event itself, during the Q&A session after Lindy (’Decka Mah’ in-world) and I (as ‘Lee Laperriere’) had presented, the interest in repeating the concept and running more presentations and events in-world was very strong.

“Just to say congrats on a good seminar. I found it very good in terms of the venue layout, technicalities and content…I rarely can get into London, so miss out on most CPA Australia events even when they’re held over here, and am delighted to have been able to attend this.”

As one of the organising team, Alex Dalidakis, said in an email to Lindy and I:

On behalf of the CPA Australia Second Life project team I’d like to say a very big thank-you for last night. As this was our very first event in Second Life we were all a little nervous to say the least. Your enthusiasm and help throughout the development of our Second Life event was amazing and without this support the session would not have been the success it was.

Alex has written a great post on his reflections on the day, too.

Here’s some photos I took during the event…

More photos on my flickr Second Life set. And there’s a tag set up for photos from all of us there: cpaaustralia-sl

If you want to avail yourself of the presentation I gave, feel free to download it as a pdf [2mb].

Many kudos to the team behind the whole in-world event: Helen Mitchell, Julie Egonidis, Marcus Coghlan and Alex Dalidakis, as well as the crew from NetEffective.

————————

Says the article,

UniSA joins elite US institutions such as Harvard and Duke Universities and Australia’s University of Queensland, in its foray into new ways of teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Project leaders of the virtual campus, UniSA Island, Dr Denise Wood and Associate Professor Gerry Bloustien believe that while the 3D virtual learning experience does not replace face to face contact with teachers on campus, it does provide a more flexible environment for students to participate in campus activities – from just about anywhere they may be.

Dr Wood and Prof Bloustien are the principal researchers of a recently awarded Australian Learning and Teaching Council research grant of just over $220,000 to further develop an accessible open source 3D virtual learning platform with the aim of improving the accessibility, and teaching and learning benefits of such environments.

The project will be undertaken in collaboration with five Australian Universities – Monash, RMIT, Edith Cowan, Flinders and Sydney and an international partner in the UK, the University of Sheffield. Other team members from UniSA include Dale Wache, Associate Professor Tony Spawton, Dr Sheila Scutter, Jen Seifert, Frank Kurzel, Rosie Kerin, Kyle Tripodi and Phil Marriot.

"The preliminary case studies undertaken by Dr Denise Wood and our interviews with academics in other institutions show that it provides greater flexibility for students unable to attend the real campus who through a 3D virtual learning environment have a chance to see, hear and interact with those present on campus. It is an excellent platform for students to take part in presentations from international experts and guests speakers – something not normally easily accessible or viable in everyday academic life," Prof Bloustien points out. "There are obvious benefits where students may be isolated by distance because even hundreds of kilometres away, they can feel involved in their learning through the Second Life platform."

Dr Wood says the popularity of 3D virtual worlds is opening up once unimagined educational opportunities and has the potential not only to benefit students who have been isolated from student life by distance and disability, but to enrich the educational experience of all students.

"Alongside the regular campus experience it is offering a uniquely collaborative, flexible and dynamic approach to the delivery of courses."

The outcomes from the project, which include both the development of the open source 3D learning platform and guidelines for the application of these technologies in the graduate and undergraduate curriculum, is already paving the way for future cross-disciplinary research partnerships with industry.

More information about the ALTC funded project at UniSA is available from Dr Wood at

Cool! Well done, Denise!

But the idea was such fun that I certainly did toy with the idea for a moment or two, then let it fall by the wayside as one of those ‘too hard’ and certainly ‘not relevant’ possibilities that life occasionally throws our way.

But now that my research is potentially edging down a slightly different track, the idea again surfaces in my mind.

I have owned a copy of Dramatica Pro since 1999, but never actually got more than a third of the way into writing one novel, and little more than a bare-bones sketch of another. But its methodology is sound, I believe, for creating stories; and let us not forget that stories are how we share our cultural viewpoints.

I also have a temperament that is better suited to short-term projects rather than longer ones, lending itself to creating cultural and social artifacts in a day rather than a year (and making me wonder why on earth I chose to pursue a doctorate!).

So perhaps, as a creative aside and yet still tied somewhat very tenuously into the autoethnetnographic documentation of parts of my research, I can write some short stories and illustrate them with posed pictures of Penny and Isabella.

In the name of research I shall now conduct a quick google search and meander down the corridors of online comics and illustrated short stories, to see if there is a ‘layout model’ that I can use for my own creative output.

After all, if I am already using clothes washing and painting as excuses to avoid ‘real’ research, surely writing short stories and illustrating them with pictures of attractive young digital women is no greater crime?

Would anyone be willing to put together a title banner, in the manner similar to Indiana Jones, with the words, "The Adventures of Penny and Isabella"?

———————-

p.s. Of course, it would be great to have the cgi illustrative skills of folks that create stunning 3D visuals, but I have neither the time, training nor patience for such artistic endeavours, alas.

I’ve purchased the US$25 MyCyberTwin.com object and an anti-idle object for each of my avatars, so that they can remain permanently ‘present’ in SL as long as a browser window is open.

The MyCyberTwin object links back to the profiles I’ve set up on the main MyCyberTwin.com website, so that answers I am slowly entering over time can guide the avatar on responses to questions from visitors to the Better Communication Results office.

Currently, as I type, Penny is the most ‘advanced’ in terms of answers prepared, so she is ‘on duty’ in SL while I am off doing other things.

Costs:

• MyCyberTwin.com object = US$25 x 3
• Anti-idle object = L$50 x 3

I’ve already got my own research to get on with, thank you very much, but if everything goes pear-shaped I can always go back to my first degree background (psychology) and research a new topic: Identity Theory and how it can be shaped, manipulated and extrapolated in the 3D virtual world.

As a way of putting off actually writing — apart from becoming obsessed about washing everyone’s clothes and neatly hanging them up to dry, and discovering the joys of painting as an art form — I have been spending an inordinate amount of time ‘dressing’ the two female avatars associated with Better Communication Results, the in-world representation of my consultancy.

Those whose memory goes back to the early days of my research ponderings will remember that I not only created Lee Laperriere as my ‘alter ego’ in SL, but also Isabella Scheflo and, later, Penny Cazalet, as the buxom brunette and blonde females of the team.

The reasoning behind their creation was simple: attractive females garner more positive attention that attractive males.

But the amount of attention I have personally lavished on them has become a potential fixation and certainly an interesting case study in online gender identity should someone wish to follow it up.

To wit: although I personally hate clothes shopping, I have spent innumerable hours clothes shopping for the girls, purchasing everything from the ‘office/business’ friendly to the outright raunchy. I have dedicated hours to finding just the ‘right’ kind of shoes for them to wear with certain outfits, the right kind of hair, the right body shape.

I have taken lots of photos of them in their various outfits.

Now, all of this smacks of a potentially unhealthy obsession, I agree. But there is more.

I overhead a remark by a colleague the other day, where as a young mother she confessed to loving ‘dressing up’ her daughter. Society would deem that an acceptable behaviour, no doubt, but me playing ‘dress up Barbie’ as less than. But enjoy it I really have.

There’s some fun in shopping for clothes for my male avatar, but not nearly as much fun as shopping for clothes for the girls. Perhaps Richard Gere’s character in ‘Pretty Woman’ is a part of the psychological makeup of a lot of men who, given the opportunity, would mimic his actions.

If Yee is right that around 34% of online ‘players’ change gender, then perhaps I am not alone. I accept that it is certainly unusual, but I wonder how many middle-aged (or otherwise) men would play ‘dress up Barbie’ if given the freedom?

Another point of interest: whilst I have engaged in virtual rumpy-pumpy (a long time ago, when I first entered SL), and purchased a penis in order to participate with an in-world prostitute, 
 
[and as a side note, how can you type your 'expressions' and 'emotions' when you only have one hand with which to type?] I have not bought anything more raunchy than a pole-dancing set for the girls, and certainly don’t intend to have them engage in anything ‘unprofessional’.

Is this the in-world version of the father’s double-standard whereby he nudges his son in the ribs and encourages him to ‘get out there and taste the fruits of the world’ but wants to keep his daughter locked up behind security doors until she’s 30 years old, precisely because he knows ‘what boys and men want’?

Anyway, there it is — part of my autoethnetnographic diary for the world to see. Lucky ol’ you.

Lots more photos over in my flickr SL collection.

Denise was out, but spent a few good minutes with Jackie, who helped me stay positive during this phase of the project.

What has happened so far:

Well, one of the two research partners has disappeared into the ether (I’m awaiting an email back but it may have been sent and disappeared into a black hole — more on this in another post).

The other research partner left her role at the clothing company and is now ‘between jobs’. She has become passionately involved with yapstuff, a charity that targets breast cancer health messages to girls between the ages of 12 and 17. Naturally, going into Second Life for this charity is completely irrelevant — the target audience wouldn’t be able to get in to SL to view any messages!

Instead, the charity has approached Habbo with a view to setting up an information presence there. The approach has apparently been received favourably but it is still early days of negotiation, and far too early to introduce a further complicating factor: me and my research.

However, all is not lost. Denise is applying for multiple research grants for SL/Education projects and would like me to be a research assistant on them, which means money and different case studies.

Jackie confirmed my suspicions that research projects quite often go in directions not anticipated at the outset, as research partners come and go, circumstances change and obstacles present themselves.

I remember an early co-supervisor, Collette Snowden, telling me her supervisor told her that a doctorate isn’t so much a struggle with the literature or the subject matter, but is more a struggle with oneself. I can appreciate that.

I struggle with feeling adrift; my post on my other blog about whether to abandon all but research-focused activities seems to have generated some appreciative commentary. But I still feel as if I am adrift. When that happens I am more susceptible to melancholia and the beginnings of a slide downwards towards my ever-present dark side.

To keep the wolves from the door I keep little projects on the go — I am about to create a four-page website for a doctoral colleague for the money to help this month’s blown-out budget (the eldest step-daughter’s car needed urgent and expensive maintenance).

As Jackie reminded me, I need to keep writing, writing, writing. Not only for my degree, I remind myself, but to stave off the feelings of helplessness, uselessness and those darker thoughts that are never far from my surface.

Here’s an excerpt:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Autoethnetnography: does my neologism look big in this?

Robert Kozinets has put forward a comprehensive and compelling case for a new branch of ethnography — one that takes into account the online activities and potential motivations of the denizens of the online world. Kozinets calls this particular form of ethnography ‘netnography’, reflecting its internet base of interest and technological platform.

Many have followed in his footsteps, recognising the distinctions he has outlined in comparison to offline ethnography.

Of course, ethnography itself has many sub-branches, including the monitoring, reflecting and reporting of one’s own research — autoethnography.

I propose, by way of further elongating the terms by which we pursue our research craft, another sub-branch of ethnographic research — the monitoring, reflecting and reporting on one’s own online behaviour, or ‘autoethnetnography’ for short long.

But why propose such a tongue-twisting term? The author’s own research actively tracks the author and various research partners through the rapidly growing 3D collaborative virtual environment. Not only can text-based conversations be saved for later content analysis, but also video footage of one’s 3D avatar and its interactions with other avatars that can be subjected to later reflection, as well as images captured from the screen for later viewing and analysis.

So why wouldn’t Kozinets’ original term still suffice and cover my research? Or, equally, why create a new tongue-twister when ‘autoethnography’ should, could and would suffice?

‘Autoethnetnography’ as a term is reflective of the elements that inform any research carried out under its rubric. Auto: self, reflective, qualitative(?); ethno: concerning a certain group (in this case those who are the subjects of my research, including myself); net: internet, virtual, online, not face-to-face; nography: writing about, analysis, qualitative and quantitative(?).

The author feels that the 3D collaborative virtual environment will continue to grow as a focus of and platform for research. Thus, as the Academy’s body of knowledge continues to expand, a term that allows for easy ’searching and finding’ in our various databases can add considerable value — through speeding up searching, through promoting the method as a legitimate area of study, and through helping we researchers in this domain not feel so alone.

Because, as Hollywood once recognised, in (3D) space no one can hear you scream.

Greg Verdino, chief strategy officer at social media consulting agency Crayon, argues corporate brands should integrate social media and community capabilities rather than simply creating branded spaces. For instance, he pointed to successful interactive corporate applications by book publishers involving virtual author tours and readings with authors.

So says Enid Burns (Mr Burns’ sister?) over at Clikz in an article about corporate brands and how they have so far got it wrong.

Of course, Enid talks about a report but there’s no actual link to it. Bloomin’ frustrating that! Perhaps ClikZ might like to listen to the blogosphere and discover that we really detest that ‘old media’, ‘mummy knows best’ practice!

The report, "Serious Games for Marketing: Learnings from Corporate and Amateur Efforts in Second Life," from One to One Interactive’s T=Zero research division, compares the efforts of corporate- and user-built locations in the virtual world based on aesthetics, popularity, and marketing to analyze why user-built sites seem to gather more visitors than name brand counterparts.

You can find the report here at the One to One Interactive site.
[note: important info about the report at bottom of this post!]

Overview

"Serious games" refers to the use of games and game technologies for non-entertainment purposes. Traditionally, the education, health, and military sectors were the primary actors in this domain, but in the past few years, marketing has arisen as a major sub-domain of this area. Examples range from the selling of advertising inside video games to dozens of small, experimental corporate-sponsored spaces in virtual worlds such as Second Life, to the fully realized first-person shooter America’s Army, developed as a recruitment tool for the U.S. Army. The results have been uneven, as most of these early efforts have had an experimental edge. This report releases findings that compare player engagement in some of Second Life’s most successful user-generated areas compared with some of the more ambitious corporate-sponsored efforts in Second Life.

In making these comparisons, particular attention was paid to:

• Production Quality
• Publicity and Advertising
• Social Infrastructure
• Role of Commerce
• Population Density

From this analysis, we learned that the top corporate builds are as good as or better than user-created builds in some areas, while lagging behind in other areas. Based on our findings, we offer five insights for the design of future branding and marketing-oriented builds in virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Download the full report, free of charge, to learn more.

For which, of course, you will be required to hand over your email address, name, birth-date of first child and naming rights of your next SL island…

For a tech company supposedly on the leading edge of VW and web2.0, why does their marketing have such a heavy web1.0 stench?

Downloading the report — important info!

Colleagues: here’s how you get around it — feel free to enter any ol’ details because you then get taken to the pdf itself, no matter if you enter ‘Mickey Mouse’ or not.

One To One: just let us have it without the heavy-handed marketing guff and search the blogosphere for mentions of it; you will then find your target ’sneezers’!

"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are."
The Talmud

"I know Kung Fu."
Neo, The Matrix

Ok - here’s where you can read a whole lot more about this, but this new series in production at Fox in the US sounds well cool.

Just a sneak:

Twelve astronauts onboard Earth’s first starship, the Phaeton, are on a ten-year expedition to search for a distant solar system. To stave off boredom the astronauts spend time in the self-created worlds they experience in virtual reality modules. The crew are faring well until someone downloads a bug into the system — is one of them the saboteur?

from tv.com

And with that we meet Francis "Frank" Pike or at least according to the virtual reality simulation he’s experiencing, Colonel Pike of the Union Army, circa 1863. He’s leading a surprise attack against a platoon’s worth of Confederate soldiers transporting supplies - only to have it backfire as a trap. And in an even stranger twist - one of Pike’s own men, a green-eyed corporal, pulls out a gun and kills him. A surprised Pike awakens in the real world as he’s about to start another day as commander of the Phaeton, Earth’s first starship.

…

From here we begin our introductions to the crew as Pike makes his way through the football field-sized ship - there’s nuclear scientist/engineer James "Jimmy" Johnson, a slightly bitter paraplegic; happily married exobiologists Alice Thibadeau and Kenji Yamaguchi, who have "christened" most of the ship’s compartments; microbial ecologist Rika Goddard, who’s having a "virtual" affair with Pike; life partners Manny Rodriguez, a mathematician, and Valentin "Val" Orlov, a Russian geologist, who always seem to be bickering; Dr. Eyal Meyer, the ship’s medical officer; Billie Kashmiri, the ship’s computer specialist; Sue Parsons, the Phaeton’s co-pilot and resident surfer chick; Dr. Julius "Jules" Braun, an ex-NASA scientist/college professor/New York Giants fan; Roger Fallon, Rika’s husband, who serves the dual roles of psych officer and - oddly enough - on-board media liaison; and last, but not least, Jean, the ship’s onboard computer who’s always just a chirp away.

from TheFutonCritic.com

Go over to The Futon Critic for the whole inside goss!

Mind you, I hear the name ‘Pike’ and I still get carried back to Dad’s Army… I wonder if there’s a script link?