The SAP Influencer Summit dominated tech media and Twitter backchannel conversations about SAP all week. The event offers a good example of real time influencer relations management. If you’re planning an influencer summit for 2010, consider these 3 points:

1. Open discourse. Several tech providers nixed live blogging and live micro-blogging (Twitter) during their influencer events this year. SAP set an important precedent by keeping all social media channels open and participating in conversations in real time. Live sessions were blogged, reported, tweeted and debated by people in attendance and by virtual attendees around the world. Follow SAP’s example: Limit NDAs to the situations where they make sense, such as the strategy development work leading up to an event like this. When the content doesn’t mandate an NDA, don’t curb use of social media.

2. Employee engagement. Many SAP employees expanded on speaker and audience comments via Twitter. Creating a wider circle of employee commentators makes perfect sense. And you know what? The press, analysts and consultants were likely to contact their “unofficial” employee sources anyway. It’s a much better idea to involve more employees by design, than to pretend that exchanges are limited to the featured spokespeople and handlers in the room.

3. Diverse attendees. SAP invited a diverse group of influencers to participate. Among tech industry influencers, big brand analysts and media dialogued side by side with solo opinion leaders and every size in between as well as customers and bloggers. Gathering diverse opinion leaders together to share the same information at the same time at a flagship event is smart on several counts. One, it’s efficient. Two, it sets up diverse, multiple touch points with marketplaces. It also helps build enough momentum to flow directly to offline conversations. In other words, no single point of failure and lot of juice.

For more on the SAP Influencer Summit, check out:

• Timo Elliott, an evangelist for SAP. He offers light commentary on what was going on behind the scenes here.  He also links to a PDF document of Twitter feed from #sapsummit.
• Jonathan Becher, SVP marketing at SAP and official SAP blogger for the event, posted here.
• R Ray Wang, an analyst with Altimeter Group, offers one analyst’s summary of the event themes and SAP’s performance here.

Update December 14th: Adding 2 more links to analyst reactions. Please feel free to add more attendee links in the comments. - B

• Jon Reed, a fellow with PAC , weighs in on the experience and resulting expectations among attendees here
• James Governor, analyst with RedMonk, gives a candid analyst viewpoint that was widely accepted among other analysts here

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The Supernova 2009 forum was a worthwhile and compelling event on many levels: the mix of conversations, research, debates, and passionate and intelligent people — all from so many different facets of business, academia, R&D, media, law, government, finance.

Thanks so much to Kevin Werbach and Jeanne Logozzo of Supernova, the Wharton School, and the sponsors for organizing and hosting a superb gathering of minds. It was a privilege to attend.

I used to describe Supernova as a “mini-TED”. That was before there were mini-TEDs and before TED turned into its own kind of stylized performance art. Supernova is not at all a mini-TED. Supernova is a true forum. It’s as much about engaging as it is about listening. That’s a rare thing.

Mary Trigiani has posted a crisp written snapshot of the major conversations that unfolded each day at the Supernovahub. From there, dive into the Supernova Twitter stream using #sn09. Don’t delay. I’m guessing a few thousand tweets went out from and around Supernova. They’ll disappear in the next 10 days or so.

I took just a few photos yesterday, as Supernova 2009 wound down. Fortunately, talented photographers took lots of photos throughout the 3 days. Kendall Whitehouse, Howard Greenstein and others are posting sets at Flickr with the hashtag sn09. I understand videos are online as well; I haven’t seen them yet.

I’ll be blogging here about conversations and ideas and some products beginning Monday. For now, I’m happily heading into the weekend reflecting on it all.

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Where is analyst relations going? How is it changing? What are the implications for people and programs? What can you do about it?

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be leading a discussion on these points early next month with the Forrester Research Analyst Relations Council. It will be a lively exchange with practical and worthy ideas.

Special thanks to Trisha Mirel for inviting me!

And please take note:  Drop me a line if you’re not a member of the Council and you’re interested in attending. To be considered for guest entry, you must work in AR in an inhouse position.

Forrester Leadership Boards - Analyst Relations Council Fall Member Meeting
Marriott Magnificent Mile
Chicago, IL

“Looking Ahead: The Future of AR”
Wednesday, Wednesday, October 7 starting at 2:35PM
Where is AR going? How is AR changing to align with the growing phenomenon of so many smaller firms, independent analysts, and emerging influencers joining large firms in the influence mix? Hear one market expert’s opinion about future risks and opportunities for AR and lend your own to the mix.

See you there!

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Here are two great ways to get up to speed on influencer marketing. First up, there’s a new interactive video of Nick Hayes’ recent presentation at the Commonwealth Club, “Marketing Is Broken, Influencers Can Fit It”. Much of the presentation — including the case studies — comes from his book on influencer marketing. And you can purchase the book at a special 50% discount through August 20th.

The interactive video is available through videographer Ron Fredericks, at the Lecturemaker.com blog. You can view the entire video or use the red navigation dots to zero in on key points. I’ve known Ron for years as an industry analyst. We’re honored that he decided to bring Nick’s presentation to a much wider audience via the web.

The special 50% discount on the book, “Influencer Marketing - Who Really Influences Your Customers”, runs through August 20th. You can only get this low price via the book website, InfluencerMarketingBook.com.

The live event took place in late May at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. It was produced by Kevin O’Malley, chairman of the Business and Leadership Forum at the Club and a principal at TechTalk / Studio.

About 60 of us attended the reception and presentation. There was a very good QA session at the end, and Ron has included excerpts of that in the video. Thanks everyone for making it such a special evening.

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Market influence is earned, not appointed. Yet, I’ve got to believe that Aneesh Chopra, recently appointed as the first CTO of the United States, is going to become a force of influence very quickly. And I’m looking forward to hearing him speak next week at the Churchill Club.

Most of the government tech influencers are people advising on government tech spending, government tech purchasing processes and tech-related regulatory and legal matters.

Mr. Chopra presents a new possibility in the role of government as a force exerting influence on the tech industry and as a target for influencer relations.

Check out details and costs here. Let me know if you’ll be there too. Would love to connect.

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The Silicon Valley chapter of the AMA is teaming up with HP Analyst Relations for an evening focused on what’s working and what’s not working in marketing today. Rohit Bhargava will keynote, then moderate a panel of HP and Intel marketers.

Rohit publishes the Influential Marketing Blog, ranked among the top 50 marketing blogs in the world, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and other global media. He is a frequent keynote speaker on marketing and business and is commonly recognized as the creator of the new marketing concept Social Media Optimization (SMO).

Cost is $30 and up. Networking, food and cocktails start at 5:30pm. More info at SVAMA.org. See you there!

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You can get a good introduction to influencer marketing at the IABC 2009 World Conference. It’s just around the corner — in terms of timing, it’s next week; in terms of location, it’s here in San Francisco.

This year, Nick will lead a session on influencer marketing. Don’t miss it if you are attending. He takes a 360 degree viewpoint on influencers. Whatever your comms specialty, you’ll find some good ideas to take away.

T3 / Influencer marketing and the rise of decision maker ecosystems

Date: Tuesday, 9 June
Time: 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Track: Strategy & Counsel

The way large-scale business purchases are made has changed. Company structure, corporate governance, the Internet and numerous other factors have led to the rise of decision-maker ecosystems‚ networks of individuals whose opinions shape the eventual purchase decision. These ecosystems play a major role in the success of every sales force, thus marketers need to consider communication strategies that include them.

What you’ll learn:

• How and why purchase decision making has changed
• Types of influencers who make up most decision-maker ecosystems
• How different influencers impact decision-makers

The IABC expects to host 1,600 communication practitioners from 40 countries for this 4-day event. You can discuss the event at the special IABC blog InSession and follow on Twitter using hash tag #IABC09.

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Hannah Kirkman was in touch with an invitation to the IIAR breakfast meeting in conjunction with the Forrester IT Forum EMEA in Berlin next week.  It’s an opportunity to find out about the IIAR (Institute of Industry Analyst Relations) and network with analyst relations peers.  

The informal breakfast meeting starts at 8:00AM CET on Wednesday, June 3rd at the Maritim Hotel. 

If you plan to go, please RSVP to Hannah via the IIAR or her agency, Richmond Green.

Forrester’s IT Forum EMEA 2009 runs June 3-5 at the Maritim Hotel in Berlin.

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I’ll be at BiteBash in San Francisco tonight, “Navigating Your Brand through the Great Recession”. It’s such a timely topic. Bite’s David Hargreaves sums up the risks and opportunities that surround marketing right now:

“Harvard Business Review recently reported that companies who slash marketing spending often find that they later have to invest much more than they saved in order to recover from their prolonged absence from the media landscape. A separate article from Harvard Associate Dean John A. Quelch suggests organizations should even be spending more during a downturn to exploit the gaps left by their competitors.”

I’m focused on working with influencers as a straightforward approach to aligning marketing with business objectives so I’m keen to hear perspectives from the different speakers and the audience participants.

Please say hello if you’re there as well.

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NewComm Forum 2009 is just around the corner. I agree with Tom Foremski that this is not only the largest gathering of social media experts in the US, it is also a favorite of most of us who have attended over the years.

I recommend it to anyone serious about meeting, hearing, influencing or simply hanging out with the A-listers and the in-the-trenches practitioners setting the most important precedents in social media today. In short, if this is your market or these are your target influencers, you should not miss this event.

Now celebrating its fifth year, New Communications Forum will once again bring together thought leaders and decision makers to discuss the impact of social media and emerging communication tools, technologies, and models on PR and corporate communications, marketing and advertising, media and journalism, business, culture and society.

It takes place April 27th to 29th, at the San Francisco Marriott. It’s produced by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR, pronounced ’snicker’). This time out, it’s co-located with the Inbound Marketing Conference.

Influencer50 is pleased to extend you savings on registration. Use discount code SNCRFRIEND to save $100.

I attend every other year, and this is an off year for me. If you are in town for NewComm Forum and want to get together, ping me here or at Twitter (@bfr3nch) or by email. Our office is over in the Financial District.

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