Advertising Events in NYC

The next few weeks: You should search for these talked-about events. They all take place in NY:
- The Influencers organized by Girls in Tech NY
- PPC: Not Just About The Numbers sponsored by Clickable (Webcast,Tueday, Sep 22)
- Advertising Week Sep 21 - 25
- Adeaters, Sep 25 - Digital Wednesday
- SMX East Oct 5-7

Last week: Panel of Discussion
The best thing about attending a panel of discussion full of experts is the chance to analyze and gain industry's perspectives that are different than my own. I encountered such an opportunity at the Sempo Meetup event last week. The event featured Stephen Baker, Kevin Lee, Mike Moran, Mike Grehan and Bill Hunt. It started out with Stephen presenting some thoughts, especially over his last written book - The Numerati.  When Stephen use Gordon Bell's MyLifeBits project as an example, the audience got really enthusiastic.... Follow are some of the ideas being brought up that got stuck in my head after the evening:

- Memories/History vs. Truth:
History is written by the victors. I don't think the ability to record history in details will change how people interpret the past. The way history has been written depends less on the amount of events being recorded but more on how people reacted emotionally to the events themselves when they experienced the events or saw in a video later on. What can't be recorded is human emotion and that's usually what makes everything complicated. Therefore, truth might not be what being seen or interpreted at all.

- People vs Machine:
E-memories and how people will forget to do many things because machines are available were brought up. I was thinking because everything is automated, will human memories become poorer or they just choose to store different, more complicated things. The concept of what being valued is changing everyday, which requires marketers to find out what is relevant. Automatic tools do not capture the complexity of human minds and that is why a good marketing job is done with a person behind it.

- Social trends and the influence on internet marketing: 
Many people are against online data collection done by internet marketers yet they willingly fill out a Facebook profile about their lives, things they love and hate. No one ever thanks data collection for enabling them to find a nearby store instead of somewhere halfway around the world online. Relevancy is not achieved overnight. It is not easy to explain by collecting data about a person, the person benefits from knowing about products/services he truly need. Would he like someone knocking at his door and handing out an irrelevant piece of paper? Capturing online data is not much of a difference than talking to a stranger on the street and learn about her life. Stop marketers from collecting data should not be a concern, having ethics for keeping data private is.

What's up: Right now I am researching on some real-time SEM, maybe that's my next blog post so stop by when you get a chance ;-)