29th Annual Conference Brings New Model to Life

My head is full of ideas following yesterday's close of the Page annual conference in San Francisco. Aedhmar Hynes, the Page staff and a team of volunteers from our board and membership organized and delivered a truly great session for the 160+ members who attended. As always, we had great speakers -- John Chambers, Stephanie Cutter, Terry Jones, John Kelly, Adam Lashinsky -- but what struck me was how all the elements of the experience brought to life some aspect of the "new model" that the Page Society rolled out earlier this year.

That model suggests how our work as CCOs and the functions we lead should change, what new capabilities we must build for our companies. The conference speakers and work sessions, plus all the lively dialogue, illuminated "the how" - how to activate corporate character, how to begin to think about and utilize this era of Big Data and analytics, how to become and act like a media company to directly reach and engage stakeholders, and how to go from using social networking to becoming an social enterprise.

I know I will be taking back to my own company many ideas that can we can put into practice immediately. I also came away with the feeling that in several areas -- such as building an "owned media" capability - we are falling a little behind. All of this is great, since it's exactly what the Page Society exists to do - advance our roles, help us move to the future.

Jon Iwata
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications
IBM Corporation