World Internet Summit – A disturbing trend? October 16, 2007
Posted by Brett McFall in : General , trackbackHey I felt I had to give you my latest thoughts about something which has been on my mind for a good year or so now.
There is a trend happening which Tom Hua and I have been able to observe because we travel the world teaching people how to marketing online. And in short, you need to know about it.
Why? Because the consequences of it could see a ‘changing of the guard’ very soon when it comes to who is leading the internet world.
A world-first has just been announced for World Internet Summit UK, November 15-18, London
Read it about it immediately at:
www.worldinternetsummit.com
Comments»
Hey Brett
Great new video!
Yeah, that sounds like an interesting trend. And I cant agree with you more that learning ought to be a lifelong process – and that we should be lapping it up continuously. Ever since I’ve started Internet Marketing, it’s simply been a continuous and increasing learning curve. And if I look at some of my peers, who stopped learning when I started, it’s as if I’m speaking a different language now.
I always wonder about the reasons for certain trends to occur. In this case, I wonder why people are REALLY not staying inside the lecture rooms to learn and would rather be outside “networking”. Is there maybe an opportunity in knowing why they are staying outside? Is there maybe an unmet market need there?
Perhaps the perceived value of being outside is greater? Perhaps people think that they’ve already heard it all? Or perhaps the population really is just getting dumbed down and people simply are not interested in learning anymore, which would be pretty sad if you ask me.
It would be interesting to find out what you think about the reasons WHY this trend is actually happening – and then maybe where you think it’s headed.
Talk soon!
Gideon Shalwick
Hi Tom and Brett,
Thank for the video…. kind of shocking actually
I couldn’t agree with you more! I attend about 6 to 8 seminars per year at a minimum. In fact, my husband and I live in our motor home full time and plan our routes based on the seminars we will attend.
Having just hosted my first event a few weeks ago alongside my partner, Henry Gold, I made sure that we planned networking events every night of the conference to encourage people to stay IN the room during the event. That way they would still ahve plenty of time to do their networking outside of the learning!
I’m hoping that more of the seminar hosts start putting some thought into this. The costs were only minimal for planning the networking each night. The extra effort for doing so wasn’t that big of a deal either.
By planning the networking for the attendees, we were able to also have another added benefit. For those who are a little shy and often struggle with networking, having structured networking events each night helped them to come out of their shells. In this way, even the networking became part of the learning too!
I’m whole heartedly in agreement with you on this one! We need to do BOTH while at these events! As hosts, let’s do our part and plan the networking better.
Thanks for the great info!
Gina Gaudio-Graves
Hi Brett,
Great video and great comments. I can relate exactly to what you are referring to. Having been involved is various different things prior to internet marketing I was stunned at first, then thought – people don’t change – once one has heard a topic they believe they are the experts.
As an Australian having had some business as well as non-business dealings with people from Asian countries-they have an insatiable desire to learn all that they can, I cannot recall at any time any of them saying ” I know that, I don’t have to listen again”. To me they have the attitude ” I have heard this before – what can I get this time that I missed last time?”
I have always had the opinion that we continue learning until the day we leave this world. There is always something to learn from the person on the stage, they are there because they know more than the person sitting in the chairs before them.
I am relatively new to internet marketing at this level, but to me internet marketing is like mainstream marketing – you need to be one step ahead of the opposition at all times, or the opposition will rule.
Brett, you and Tom may hae discussed this occurrence, but statistically, according to a recent USA consumer survey result Americans of Indian and Chinese origin are the highest Internet users. 90% of Asian Americans spend the most hours on the Internet and young Asian Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are the largest Internet users. With figures like this it is apparent who may be the next masters of the net.
Thanks for your blog.