Voce, Cooley Co-Hosting Panel on Corp Blogs

I’m *really* fired up about an event Voce has in the works for next week so I’m cross-posting a piece here that I recently scribbled for the Voce Nation.

In short, we’re teaming up with the law firm Cooley Godward on a panel discussion that will dissect some of the policy/legal issues organizations should consider as they move forward with corporate blogging initiatives.  As I’ve said before, I think one of the biggest hurdles to larger scale adoption of corporate blogging resides with a lack of education and understanding of what the real and perceived risks are of corporate and employee blogs.  This, plus a dearth of good corporate blogging models and best practices to mirror – or at least a lack of open access to the people behind these efforts – is more than enough to deter most organizations from pushing forward with their plans.

That said, I think we’ve assembled a great panel of speakers – all of which can talk directly to these issues and more important, really arm the attendees with some practical advice and best practices that they can take back and share with their organizations. The original post follows below.  If you’re interested in receiving an invite, leave a comment here or drop me a note and I’ll see what I can do.

As corporate America continues to examine the impact of social media on business, particularly blogging, it’s clear that some significant challenges remain, not least among them are legal and communication issues involving fair disclosure, corporate policy and to a greater extent, freedom of speech.  While a growing number of companies recognize the need for transparency in their communication with customers, partners, investors, and the media -- and see social media as a means for helping with this important goal -- transparency must be balanced with purpose and responsibility.

With this in mind, Voce’s teaming up with Cooley Godward and co-hosting a roundtable discussion on corporate blogging next Wednesday evening, July 20th in Palo Alto.  The purpose of the discussion is to examine and hear first-hand how some of today’s leading corporations and decision makers are approaching the new opportunities and challenges of business blogging.

A select group of panelists will lead the discussion and share their views on corporate, executive and employee blogs and how they are deploying them, or not, within their organizations.

The panel includes:

• Jodi Baumann, Senior Manager, Corporate Public Relations, Network Appliance
• Chuck Schwab, Attorney, Cooley Godward
• Chris Shipley, Technology Analyst and Executive Producer of DEMO conferences
• Catherine Peterson, Vice President, Investor Relations, Business Objects
• Jeremy Zawodny, Technical Yahoo, Yahoo!

Charlene Li, principal analyst at Forrester Research will moderate the discussion.

Unfortunately seating is limited, so if you’re a corporate communicator, marketing practitioner or legal professional that’s grappling with these issues and would like to attend, please email John Welton or call 650/228-5183 and request an invitation.

Comments

[Susan Mernit]

Mike--
I emailed John that I would like to attend on behalf of a corporate client...as you know, I am also a blogger.
thx, susan

[Media Guerrilla]

Susan, it would be great to have you there!

[Jeremy Pepper]

Just the line up is enough to want to fly in, and I have no doubt that Charlene would be a great moderator - it's so hard to moderate, and keep everyone in check.

Podcast it, if you can. :)

[Media Guerrilla]

Funny you should say that, we're actually looking for a podcaster to record and podcast the panel. Know of anyone?

[Renee Blodgett]

I also posted about this event here.
http://www.downtheavenue.com/2005/07/adapting_to_a_n.html

[John Furrier]

Sorry that I couldn't come down and podcast...I actually had a podcast with Mark Cuban exactly at that time where we talked about the impact of blogging and podcasting to corporate marketers. The podcast is up tonight at www.PodTech.net

If anyone is interested in some of my findings doing both blogs and podcasts for some corporate marketing initiative I'd be happy to share my experiences and best practices in this constantly changing but effective corporate communications environment.

I also have done a InfoTalk Podcast series on this topic as well. www.PodTech.net

Best
John Furrier
Founder PodTech.NETwork