Some minor issues

Not last week, but the week before, I was on holiday. I enjoyed the beautiful Provence in France, and while we were there I had time to read some books. And so I did. I finished 5, which I’m going to review here.

1. "Join the Conversation" by Joseph Jaffe
2. "Motorworld" by Jeremy Clarkson
3. "Once you’re lucky, twice you’re good" by Sarah Lacy
4. "My Organisation is a Jungle" by Jef Staes
5. "The exceptional presenter" by Timothy J. Koegel

Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe. Book website.

If you’re familiar with new marketing you definitely know Joseph Jaffe and/or his company Crayon. I myself had the honor to meet him about 2 years ago, and since then I try to follow what’s he’s doing more or less. His previous book, Live after the 30 second spot, was an eye-opener for many, and especially useful for the classical marketing manager or CMO to discover new techniques in the overcrowded marketing space. It involves lot’s of techniques, but bottom line is respect for your consumers, who with the rise of new media in general become an important success factor in marketing attempts. Where live after was all about listening and responding, Join the conversation is literally about the conversation brands should engage in with their customers. So the price for the best title goes to ..
This conversational marketing is really the way Crayon is going, but is this really the way brands should go? A good thing about the book is Jaffe tries to really show the benefits of what he’s preaching. Having too many people out their knowing stuff because they know, this is a relief.

First I really have to say this book was sent to me by the man himself. That’s because I joined his UNM2PNM program, or in English: Use New Media To Prove New Media. This is a program where he sends out free books to marketing bloggers / podcasters (on their request) so they can review it. I stepped up and received my copy.
Following Jaffe’s own theories I was a bit disappointed he didn’t sign it with some personal insights. That would really have nailed it down. But I guess logistics is the lame excuse here
Pssst: there are ways to facilitate this, as enrolled by the freakonomics book. Too bad, in this latter case, I never received my sticker

Back to the book. So I got it for free, will this make me less objective. Honestly, I don’t know, but I try to be as objective as I can.
This also means telling you I’m probably not the best target group. I know what conversation marketing is, I even use it. So a lot of the insights in this book aren’t new for me. However, if this field is new for you, I think the book in general can be very enlightening. But in the end I absolutely enjoyed reading the book.

I wasn’t so convinced about the first chapters. There’s some theory, tasted a bit dogmatic from time to time, but as the book evolved this made place for a more practical approach which I preferred.

I like reading Jaffe. He’s energetic, activating. I always feel like doing cool and clever stuff (and conquer the world in the meantime). He’s a good writer in general.

So conclusion: time well spend. Must if you’re new to conversational marketing and want to digg deeper (who doesn’t!! ). Good recap for those who’re familiar with it.

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Motorworld, by Jeremy Clarkson.

Well, this book is from the man with probably (no definitely!) the best job in the world. As the presenter of Top Gear he and his team can drive with the nicest cars in the world and make a political non correct satirical program out of it. I just love the show, so was very curious about the book. And it was just .. plain fun!

This book is in fact a collection of columns, most short and a few longer (those about countries). So it’s a very easy read. Most of the stories off course do involve cars, though not all. Jeremy Clarkson has an unique view on the world, and peaking in his brain is great. Was a bit surprised he called the dodge viper as one of his top-3 cars. Sure, it has got a lot of power, but I always thought JC appreciated the finesse in cars, and in my mind the Viper is lacking this. But since it’s all columns recycled, it might be an older one
That’s I guess my only comment on this book: they should have included a first published date. Now you have to guess based on car model numbers, but in France, without internet, this is kind of hard.

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Once you’re lucky, Twice you’re good by Sarah Lacy.

The subtitle of this book is The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.

Man, I truly LOVE this book. It’s literally the best book I read in years. This definitely is because I’m very interested in the subject, but besides that it was beyond expectations.

I really don’t like the term Web 2.0. I hardly use it anymore. That’s because to many people who don’t know a thing about it start to use it as a commercial punch line, and it makes me vomit. On the other hand, you can’t deny what’s going on the last couple of years. You can’t deny the movement, and the influence this has on millions of lives. Just to set the scene: I didn’t buy this book because of a hollow term. I bought it because I was/am interested in what’s going on in the valley and see if I can learn from it.

The book brings a lot of history to me. Things I didn’t knew about. So part of this book is a who is who. Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, Jay Adelson, Marc Andreessen and Sean Parker .. they were all new to me, and their heritage is enormous. Sure I knew about Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Rose, Evan Williams and the Trott’s, and they’re al here as well.
It’s about people that matter, but especially about things that matter. And how they came to existence. I just love to read about this stuff. It’s sometimes so simple, and yet so hard. It teaches you you can accomplish anything, as long as you try hard enough and have passion.

The book is also great because it compares what happened with the bubble with what’s happening now. Why was it different back then, why is it better now?
An other thing what’s great is that the book reveal what’s going on with all these Venture Capitalism (VC). Sure I knew the concept, but I wasn’t too familiar with it. Now I have the feeling I can see it for what it’s worth. Again here, the difference with nowadays and pre bubble time.

If you’re interested in this subject, just buy the book! You won’t regret it.

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My Organisation is a Jungle by Jef Staes

I didn’t knew this book was available in English untill I just found out. It’s a book about innovation, about how innovative ideas (metaphor, a red monkey) can survive and evolve in an organization.

I don’t completely agree with everything in the book. I think the organizational culture, in my mind one of the biggest enablers of innovation, has been left out of the equation, or at least doesn’t weight enough. On the other hand I do like the idea cycle, the idea to let idea’s evolve (with support) before you pitch them. The idea to win critical mass in the heads of people, and so on. Good read, but doesn’t go far enough in my mind.

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The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy J. Koegel.

A book about how to present. Not only a pitch or presentation, but literally anything (elevator, phone, ..).

A book to OPEN UP! (and own the room). Open up standing for an acronym: Organized, Passionate, Engaging, Natural + Understand your audience and Practice.

I’m not gonna brag that I’m a good (let alone exceptional) presenter, so I won’t claim to know better . I think it makes a lot of sense what he’s telling, on the other hand is quite logical as well. But that’s typical: it’s not because it sounds logical that people follow these rules. Same goes for me I guess. So this book is an excellent confrontation and recap, and provides you tools (forms to fill) to make you improve. Sadly enough I don’t really like this DIY books, so I’m probably not gonna do this anyway . But I think from time to time I might grab this book back and refresh the basics.

There’s two things I considered a missed opportunity in this book.
1/ It really is about classical presentations. Kind of the presenter in suit addressing an audience. I know there’s a new movement, more nonchalant but based on knowledge and respect. I know even these presentations have underlying rules, and was good to have an opinion on this as well. But it’s untouched in the book.
2/ I was hoping to also found tips to create exceptional presentations (as in powerpoints, ..) as well. But it’s all about the presenter, not the presentation. For me however, a good presentation (as in the act) needs a good presenter and good supportive material as well. To bridge this gap I just keep referring to Seth Godin‘s Really Bad Powerpoint guide!

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That’s it for now. In 2 weeks I have another week of holiday (France again) so more reading tips after that!