Last week, I attended the New Communications Forum in San Mateo, California; belatedly, it was my first time.

Over at the Voce Nation blog, I have delineated some of the learnings, thoughts, comments and questions that came up over the week. Please have a look and add your two cents if you like.

Beyond that, it was great to see some of my friends in the profession, some of whom are local to Boston and I see regularly, others whom I see too rarely, and many whom I met for the first time. It is important to make and sustain these connections, and to make new ones continually. Rather than try to list folks and leave people out (I already omitted enough in my session roundup), I will leave one last thought: the Bad Kids’ table lives on. The members change, and our behavior may not live up to its original outrageous billing, but the spirit of the Bad Kids from the December 2007 SNCR symposium was alive and well (sadly, the Seesmic videos from my original post are not):

NewCommForum 2010 007

Flickr Photo by Priya Ramesh

Pictured here along with me are original Bad Kid Chip Griffin, Bad Kid Emeritus Shel Israel (he did not sit with us at the 2007 symposium but gave us an ideal to strive for), and new recruit Priya Ramesh.

What is the Bad Kids’ table? Originally, it was a little overenthusiastic experimentation with social media during the SNCR symposium program. We were much less disruptive at New Comm Forum this year, but the spirit of playfulness, teasing and healthy snark was present- at least enough to amuse ourselves.

9 thoughts on “New Comm Forum; Return of the Bad Kid’s Table”
  1. The thing that draws me to this post is the part about the bad kids table. It is one of the things that shocks me about adulthood — that is basically the same as high school but we have traded up in the uniform department. Sometimes I want to take my son out of school and just homeschool him. I think school is so bad for learning. But then I think, how will he know what the bad kids table is if he doesn’t go to school????

    Penelope

  2. I don’t know nothin’ ’bout no bad kids table. I was an early fan of Lady gaga. I just didn’t know aboiut the claw ’till @JackieHuba told us about her at #NCF10

  3. Original Bad Kids Table represent! This reminds me that I haven’t caused a ruckus at a social media event in a good long time. The closest I’ve come is spewing feminism all over the LadySpeakers discussion at PodCamp Boston last summer and trying to school CC Chapman about male privilege (much to his horror, hehehe).

    I must rectify this situation, when’s the next event? ;-)

  4. Penelope- It’s fascinating that you took the post this way, because in social media marketing circles we do tend to get into cliques, and often that is detrimental. In fact, a lot of us refer to “social media high school” the way some folks act.

    Funny, I didn’t see the Bad Kids’ Table this way- because we didn’t mean it as some exclusive club, but more as that table at a wedding (congratulations, by the way) that is a bit rowdier than the aunties’s table (or maybe it is the aunties’ table!) – but others might.

    Shel- speaking of arrested development- you know, you were our inspiration back in 2007

    Sarah- It’s all about being part of an active audience, right? That was the idea, even if ewe got a bit rowdier that first time

  5. I get so many flashbacks. In high school, I always ended up sitting at the table nearby, looking jealously on to the bad kid’s table. At the 07′ event, same thing. This time around, at least I was sitting with Shel Israel, causing our own (minor) disruptions and backchannel conversations.

  6. Well, I’d say you were all very well behaved, but I’m afraid that would just give you something to strive for at the SNCR Fall Symposium!

    It was so great to see everyone, and I’m glad you had a valuable, interesting and most of all – fun – time!

    Thanks for being there.
    Jen

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