Trust Agent Authors from OTA Sessions

April 1st, 2010 by

In addition to Mitch Joel’s interview (which I previewed on Tuesday), Lindsey and I were able to interview Julien Smith and Chris Brogan, co-authors of Trust Agents.  Along with Mitch, both Julien and Chris are spreading their ideas about the future of social media. We were fortunate that all three, as a part of the “Building Trust in a Connected World,” kicked off the OTA Sessions.

Here’s a bit of what Julien had to say in an interview with Lindsey. 

Julien Smith on “breaking habits”

 

Without mentioning it specifically, Julien described the basic concept of ReImagining Rural.  He recommends people step out and try new things.  As they do, people will discover new ideas and ways of doing things. Isn’t that what we are calling on rural communities to do? 

Most of us recognize that what we’ve been doing in small towns for the last 50-80 years hasn’t been working.  So why shouldn’t we try stepping out into new experiences?  That, in part, is what motivated me to do these interviews.   I’m never going to become Tom Brokaw, but hopefully, by stepping out into new experiences, I will continue to grow and develop new ideas.  Hopefully, along the way, my new experiences will lead to successes and failures that all rural communities can learn from.

 

Chris Brogan on saying “I See You”

 Of the three “Building Trust in a Connected World” presenters, I was the most familiar with Chris Brogan.  I discovered his wisdom when I first began the process for developing ReImagine Rural, and I really started paying attention to him based the connection he had with Small Biz Survival blogger, Becky McCray.   (And thanks for the introduction Becky. Chris is incredibly gracious and down-to-earth, as were Mitch and Julien.)


 

Chris nails his description of why “I see you” is so important today.  We’re all tired of people not recognizing us for who we are.  Rural leaders seeking to promote their communities can’t just rely solely on traditional marketing because it’s a one-way conversation.  We need to build relationships that recognize people for being unique and make each person feel special. 

And this brings us back to how we treat each other in our day-to-day, face-to-face lives.  Chris suggests an opportunity is present for rural communities to tap into people’s increasing desire for human interaction; it’s supposedly something we’re good at. But is it?

We often like to talk about how friendly our small towns are.  I’m not sure I buy it.  Does the ceremonial small town wave mean that we’re really friendly?  Or does it mean that we’re good at saying “Hi”?  In today’s world, casual greetings won’t cut it.  We’ve got to become better at seeing each other for who we are.

Mitch, Julien, and Chris:  Thanks for the great presentations and for being so generous with your time.

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural, Training and Events | Comments ( 2 )

2 Responses to “Trust Agent Authors from OTA Sessions”

  1. Julia Says:
    April 2nd, 2010 at 10:16 am

    Another thing that Julien said about pattern breaking during his presentation was that if you create something different you create an emotional response, and that’s memorable and engaging. But it can be scary to be different and to break patterns. You take a risk when you do this–a risk that some people might not like the challenge to the old way of doing things. Julien really encouraged us to take those risks and confront our fears. In doing so we become innovative and create new opportunities — reimagining ourselves and our communities. It’s exciting to think about this — harder to do, but that’s where the fun is. One last thing Julien said that I liked — we will never need more advertising, we will always need more connection and community.

  2. Mike Knutson Says:
    April 2nd, 2010 at 2:16 pm

    Julia,
    As Julien said, put your “hands to the burner.”

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