Today I had the privilege of presenting the first ‘Social Media Marketing Masterclass‘ in JHB for the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy (ODMA). The ODMA present training on a range of digital subjects, backed by the expertise of Ogilvy. BUT, anyone can attend…today I worked with participants from four different digital agencies, and other media businesses.

**OK OK…For those of you who don’t feel like reading my ramblings, at least scroll to the end and watch the TED talk by Aaron Koblin – he has done amazing things with data visualization, his talk is one of the coolest things I’ve discovered.

I facilitated a masterclass, which meant that most of the participants were pretty familiar with the challenges and opportunities that social media offers. This was new territory for me, for the most part I’m used to presenting to people who are new to the digital playground and the opportunities it offers. I was pretty nervous (in a good way), I know some of the attendees and respect what they do and know.

I wanted to create a space where we could all stop for a moment to learn, engage, debate, question and think. Yes I did a lot of talking and passionate preaching (I’m only human), but it was important for me to field questions as they happened and debate the issues.

We all learnt something, it excited me that everyone got involved and got stuck in and asked the questions that we don’t have time to ask in our daily ‘working/doing’ mode.

It was a very good day. I hope to do it more often.

**I love the concept of the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’, the power of the collective consciousness is emotional. I played this TED talk today by Aaron Koblin – “Artfully visualizing our humanity” He shares his examples of data visualization and the power of the collective. It’s worth a watch. (Tweets during the video also confirmed that he’s a cute geek – that doesn’t hurt!)

Oh, and if you’re a Johnny Cash fan it’s a must!

The ODMA offers public workshops as well as customized training for companies who request it, in addition anyone who attends is then offered access to the ODMA network which is packed with free resources. There is a sh*tload of info on this network, if you’re looking for stats and case studies it’ll save you a lot of googling time  

If it’s your vibe then ask the ODMA peeps about the ‘Social Media Marketing Masterclass’……I have bag, can travel