Ensight - Jeremy Wright

I’m finally here at AdTech, hanging out with Aaron. Some interesting people here already. Some I immediately recognized, others only got a cursory nod as I was heading out the door… And then I realized who they were later and wished I could run back, spit on my hand and apologize. Hell, I’d flatulate (or is it flagellate?) myself for some of these people.

Crazy.

Anyways, I was (yes, this is a moment of pseudo-blog-celebrity self-indulgence) sitting on the can at AdTech, uh, relaxing. And I hear these people talking about “this new book, Blog Marketing” that they “heard I should really check out.”

At that point, I had a really, really tough decision.

I mean, do you call out “Hey, that’s my book!” from the farthest crapper in the room? If you do, how exactly do you move the conversation beyond that point? I didn’t say anything, but if I had, how could the conversation and situation have gone?

Them: … hear it’s a great book…
Me: Hey, that’s my book!
* they walk over to outside my stall
Them: Really? So what would it do for our company?
* me, from inside the stall, still (feeling mildly self-conscious about odor and such, I’m sure, but also figuring they can’t tell if it’s me or the guy next to me)
Me: Well, ultimately it depends on where you’re company is at, how willing it is to listen and track the blogosphere and how capable it is at responding. What’s your blog strategy look like right now?
* distant noise from another staff
Them: Well, we don’t really have one, but we’re thinking of starting a couple to talk to our customers.
Me: How many are you reading now?
* much closer to home noise from inside my stall
Them: Well we don’t really read blogs yet, we just figure we should be writing them.
Me: That’s probably the wrong way to go about it. Why not take a month and just read blogs to figure out what your customers are saying, so you can actually talk WITH them, instead of AT them?
* noise from just outside my stall
Them: Oh yeah, that’s good. And, that’s a good idea too. We should talk more, do you have a card?
* I fumble for my jacket, find the card and toss it under the door.
Them: Thanks, enjoy!
Me: I will!

…

Yeah, so I stayed quiet. But I wish I could have found a way to engage them