This coming Thursday, August 11, at 12.00 noon Eastern / 11.00am Central / 9.00am Pacific / 5.00pm GMT, there’s going to be a special interactive Question and Answer session here on the blog.
Using the interactive features of the Livefyre comment system, my special guest will be Geoff Livingston, author of the new book Welcome to The Fifth Estate. Geoff is one of the smartest writers around today, and brings both organizational and non-profit smarts to the business world.
His new book has been praised as one of the best on sale today, and helps businesses and organizations build long-term and sustainable success using social and new media channels, alongside traditional ones.
Instead of me writing “just another book review” (although the book is that good, I’ll be breaking my “no book reviews” rule here soon), Geoff has agreed to be a “live guest” on this blog on Thursday.
So how’s it going to work?
Watch the video below, and let Geoff give you a small overview of what Thursday will be about. Then, start thinking of questions you would like Geoff to answer – on social media, new media, what channels are best for your business, how to measure and track goals, what part bloggers play in the new business landscape, and more. Seriously – if you have a question about social media and its ramifications for your business, Geoff is the guy to ask, and now’s your chance.
And to make you really get your thinking caps on, Geoff will kindly be giving away two signed copies – one for the best question about challenges business face, and one for the best question on social media and business sustainability (use your own examples, if you like). I also have a little surprise for anyone buying Geoff’s book on the day – details Thursday!
Then come back here at 12.00 noon EST on Thursday, where Geoff will be here to answer your questions about the book, social media and business, online channels and more.
The difference is, this will all happen in the comments section.
Because Livefyre offers real-time live updates, it’s more like a chat system than your normal blog commenting system. The cool thing is, when a new comment has been posted and you’re on the page, a little alert box pops up to say there’s a new comment (or several, if more than one new comment has been posted as you read).
You can then click on each alert, and it takes you directly to the new comment, so you can see what questions and views are being shared as soon as they’re posted.
So all you need to do is ask your question for Geoff via the comments, and he’ll be spinning his fingers all over the place to respond. You can then reply to Geoff, or anyone else’s comments, and really make it an interactive book overview and discussion like no other.
To take part, all you need to do is the following:
- Choose your profile. Because Livefyre is a profile comment system, you need to either have a Livefyre account (which you can create here by using the Get Livefyre Now option), or sign in to comment using your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google or OpenID profile. You’ll see these options under the Comment As option to the right of the comment box.
- Set yourself a reminder (I’ll be tweeting and using Facebook to send out occasional reminders) to be here between 5-10 minutes before noon on Thursday August 11 to watch the video again as a reminder for the chat.
- Get your questions ready, and fire away from noon onwards.
- Be interactive – if you use the little “@” function when commenting, you can bring your friends from Facebook or Twitter into the conversation too. So if you think someone specific could be a great addition to the chat, invite away!
Like any live chat, there could be some technical gremlins, but hopefully not. The Livefyre guys are working behind the scenes to try and make it as smooth an experience for you as possible. And Geoff has his gremlin-slapping gloves ready, just in case.
Hopefully you’ll join us on Thursday and have a bunch of great questions for Geoff. I think this could be a lot of fun, and something to show how blog comments can really come alive.
Look forward to seeing you here – cheers!
Update Thursday, August 11: Anyone who buys Welcome to The Fifth Estate between now and 11.59pm EST on Sunday, August 14, will receive a free copy of The Parables of Business too. Simply email me a copy of your Amazon receipt and I’ll send you the book – simple!
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