contentious.com

(UPDATE Oct. 19, 2005: The talk went well, I think. You can listen to the audio recording I made of it today.)

Tomorrow morning I’ll be giving a short talk at an event offered by the Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The event is “Communications, Technology, and the PR Professional,” and my topic is “The Future of Communications Technology.”

Because the talk is short and the topic is big, I’ve pulled together a fairly meaty and non-geeky handout. Here are a couple of highlights from that handout…

Before getting immersed in tech talk, PR people (and any media or communication professionals) should first wrap their brains around some basic concepts, starting with:

1. People talk –– and they’re curious. The internet has evolved to become focused on conversations and searches. That is, people are using a variety of simple-seeming yet very sophisticated and flexible online tools to connect with each other, to share stuff, and to find what they want (or to leverage serendipity in a way that meets their needs).
2. Technology is ephemeral, so think and act human. The key to success is to understand why and how people use online tools. Focus on human processes and needs, and it will all start to make sense. This is far more important than knowing geeky buzzwords or technical details. Technology will constantly change, but the human side won’t.
3. Participate and influence, don’t control. Your organization and clients live amidst a vast, complex, interconnected public conversation. It’s happening with or without you, so you might as well pay attention and participate constructively. Don’t try to make one-way pronouncements or attempt to control the conversation – that just looks clueless and undermines your credibility.

…Then I’ll discuss perhaps the most important and least intuitive technology affecting media and communication today and in the near future: feeds.

That will probably consume most of my time, so I’m leaving the end flexible, with room to discuss other techno-goodies like blogs, podcasts, tagging, and whatever else they’re interested in. But if I can get them to grasp the big picture and get them to try feeds (if they aren’t already), then I’ll consider it a success.

Read the whole thing: Download my handout in pdf format.

I’ll also be recording this talk and will post it as a podcast later.