My Next Project

It's actually two projects:

Project 1: Speaker Wiki
For the MediaPost show I'm working on currently, I'm in speaker-headshot-and-bio hell. I'm collecting about 100 high-res headshots and 100 bios (via website link, on PDFs, in Word docs and in the body of emails), organizing them, and then sending them via www.yousendit.com in 1MB chunks to my client for publishing in the conference book.

Every other conference producer is does the same thing, and everyone in the interactive industry is doing the same thing with - in many cases - the same speaker bios and headshots. The process is rife with redundance and inefficiency. Worse, it puts the burden on the show producer - and not the speaker - to get all the information right. So the likelihood of error is massive.

So I'm going to create an Interactive Industry Speaker Wiki. As soon as I confirm any speaker for an event, I'll ask him or her to update the wiki him/herself. Even better, I'll work with PR agencies and PR departments to update the wiki even before a speaker is confirmed. Anyone who wants to speak at an interactive industry event should have his or her info up there. Not only will this make it easier for conference producers to assemble show content, as they'll just be able to select by show and pull down everything at once - as a programmer, having a real-time database of who is available to speak on what topics is a huge asset. It's essentially a mass-collaborative speakers' bureau, for any conference programmer to use. (And press and litigators, for that matter - it's a catalog of talking heads and experts.)

Project 2: Interactive Industry Event Calendar Wiki
During the same week at the end of this month, three separate and overlapping shows are running: OMMA Hollywood, iMedia Breakthrough and Digital Hollywood. And it's not the first time - last September, shows by MediaPost, IAB and iMedia all ran simultaneously as well. Think that's bad? Try scheduling a road show this summer. Just try it.

So we need another wiki - an Interactive Industry Event Calendar Wiki - one where everyone can post confirmed or tentative dates for their events in order to avoid conflicts. True, some will use it to create conflicts, but at least there will be some transparency in what different show organizers are doing, and why.

It will also include call for speaker terms and deadlines, various contact and promotional information about the show, a list (with appropriate links to aforementioned wiki) of confirmed speakers, etc.

So those are my next projects. Anyone want to chip in with suggestions, advice, $upport or feedback?

To start, can anyone make me a recommendation of which wiki software I should use?

Comments

[Gregory Narain]

Mike - these both sound like really useful projects and I hope they succeed. I'm still amazed at how "digital" things are and just how little re-use there still is.

In any event.. on to some recommendations..

If you're looking for something you host, I've had success with MediaWiki.

If you're looking for something hosts, I might take a look at JotSpot.

I'd let you use our wiki but it's still buggy :)

[Cliff Kurtzman]

I think that this would be useful. We run a calendar of interactive industry conferences and seminars ( http://www.o-a.com/conferences.html ), but it isn't interactive in quite that way. I'd be glad to add a link to your Wiki once it is up and running.

[Mike May]

Cliff, your calendar is the best one going, and I've linked to it here more than once. It would be an honor to render it obsolete...

[Mike May]

Thanks Greg. I'll have a look at JotSpot. I have an unexplained phobia of hosting.

[Bennett Zucker]

Mike, Fantastic ideas! We post events on our corporate wiki, but it's tough to keep up with the most relevant ones, let alone all the others that might be of interest to someone in a 100-person company that's running at full throttle all the time. Happy to contribute what we can to your project. Bennett