Hello Hamburg, Two Days is Not Enough

This week my travels took me to Hamburg, Germany. I was in the land of Bratwurst, lederhosen and attractive men for the lovely M2C conference, run by my favourite German- Nils Andres. I must admit, Nils puts on a good show. Each year he rounds up some of the best minds in social media and the result is a conference so good I have nicknamed it “Notes”, because its the one conference I actually end up taking notes at. That says something.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what I look like with no sleep, no make up and no cares in the world, look at the photo on the left. I’ll give you a few minutes of silence to marvel at the well-photographed hotmessedness…

I only had two days in Hamburg. Hardly enough time to explore the local sites, get into trouble or have an torrid romance with a foreigner. However, I did see enough of Hamburg to realize it’s only in my best interest to make sure my travels bring me back here. I am happy I got spend the short time I did Germany and am even more grateful for all I learned. I was going to do an exciting tweet wrap-up and etc etc, until I found my buddy Simone, all the way over in New Zealand, had already busted one out ( she has a habit of doing that). You can check it out here.

Ramone De Leon, Nils Andres, Jaime Punishill, & Me

Presenting in Hamburg was a little nerve wracking because I was sharing some new research I had put together on crisis management. It struck me over the past few months that all crises are not the same, so I spent a good amount of time trying to understand if and how they could be categorized. I found that most things that escalated into a larger issue could be organized and, more importantly, resolved using category specific tactics. Luckily my presentation, Badvocates: Crisis Management and Trolling for Social Change, went over well and I could chock all my worry up to stupid human self-doubt.

All in all, I learned a lot in Hamburg:

1. Ramone DeLeon may be the most enthusiastic presenter ever. On top of that he has the ability to give free pizza. He may rule the world someday
2. Conferences with an even share of lady speakers are possible ( and they’re more awesome).
3. Adrian Parker is attempting to give Scott Monty a run for his title of “best dressed man in social.” However, the community feels he is still too “matchy- matchy”
4. With out fail, Chuck Hemann will get name-dropped at every conference I am at.
5. I can get a McRib sandwich whenever I want in Germany; I might move to Germany.