D.I.C.E – Get Digital

The final seminar of the year, on the 16th of April, was called Get Digital.

The first half of our conference was designated to presenting our group app posters which we had created in the weeks previously. Each team was visited by at minimum two judges on the top floor of the Helix and we were questioned on our assignment and given professional advice.

Our first speaker was Prof Martin Curley from Intel. He talk was called “Reshaping the future of industry and society – using Innovation 2.0”. There are three mega trends – Digital Transformation, Mass Collaboration and Sustainability. He told us that the relentless pursuit of Moore’s law opens the door to innovation. He told us that if consumption trends continue, we will need twp earths to support us. He also told us that computers have become nearly 3million% more energy efficient over the years.

 

Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev, a lecturer from Trinity College, was the next speaker. The Russian economist is the Head of Research for St. Columbanus.   He spoke to us about the potential of cloud computing. Dr Gurdgiev didn’t have any PowerPoint presentation so I found it really hard to follow his talk and take notes.

The third speaker was Claire Dylan. She spoke about cloud computing. She showed us a number of videos – “a version of the future” by Microsoft, “Razor vision” by 5D, “kinetic” by xbox.

Productivity future vision – Microsoft

Razor Vison – 5D

 

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D.I.C.E – Get Started

This guest lecture was held in the Helix at 2pm till 6pm on the 12th of February. It started with a panel of 4.

The first speaker was Michael Kelly. Who started Grow It Yourself. His talk was called “When is the right time to start?” He started G.I.Y because of his reaction to the fact the garlic he saw in a shop was grown in China instead of Ireland. He could not understand why? He set up G.I.Y in 2008, to group together growers. At the moment there are around 35000 people in G.I.Y and around 100 groups in G.I.Y. when starting a business you need to ask the following questions:

• are you sure there is demand for your product/service?
• can you pay your bills?
• do you have what it takes to pull it off?
• do you have a support network?
• are you willing to dedicate your life to it?
• has it reached a tipping point?
• what does your gut say?

  

The next guest speaker we were introduced to was George Boyle founder of the Fumbally Exchange. Her topic was “How to get going”. She told us there were five stages of recession

1. denial
2. anger
3. bargaining
4. depression
5. acceptance

She told us that after her previous place of employment had gone into liquidation, she picked herself up and founded the Fumbally Exchange, which is “A community of design-focused small businesses, sole traders and start-ups.” She explain she used seven catholic concepts to start the business. They are: Impulse, Freedom, Guilt, Fear, Personal Responsibility, Forgiveness and Permission.

John Fitzsimons of Camara education was next to speak. His talk was titled  “How to build the Team”. He told us that the key to a successful business was a cooperative team. “Lone heroes with good ideas only succeed in the movies”. He showed us a survey from the UK which showed that 59% of people believe that a good team is the most important factor of a successful organization. He posed the question how do major organizations attract the brightest and best to join their team?

 

The last to talk was Lucy Masterson of Hireland.ie. He talk was titled “How to get your message out there”. Her talk was short, just points we should consider.

• Marketing – tell a story you can spread
• Keep It Simple – you should keep your your message short and simple
• Break the Rules…Not the Law – traditional rules are not fit for purpose anyone
• Start A Movement 
• Embrace Evolving Technology
• Hello SO LO MO – Social, Local and Mobile
• Be Bold

 

After the break, there was another panel of entrepreneurs to talk about starting up business and DCUs new USTART programme. The panel all said that there was never a better time to start up a new business.

 

The second last talk was from Conor Winders. He is past pupil of DCU. Himself and a friend set up Redwind. He told us that starting your own business should be:

• Fun
• Hardwork
• Rewarding
• Do something your passionate about
• Not be about money, money, money
• Not be about “exit strategy”
• Not about creating the next Google
• Not about selling to Google
• You don’t need to do it alone
• Find the right partner
• Find out about support
• Hire + work with great people, who you can afford

The final guest speaker of the conference was Gerry Duffy. Who is from my home town of Mullingar. Gerry Duffy has done so incredible things including running 32 marathons in 32 days and running and coming first in an IronMan. He is a great motivational speaker. 

 

 

 

D.I.C.E – Get Mobile

On Tuesday, the 4^th of December 2012, I attended guest lectures in the Helix called get mobile.  There was 6 speakers, a panel discussion and two app expos.

• 1:00-2:00 Company App Expo
• 2:00-2:15 Theo Lynn (Opening Remarks)
• 2:15-2:40 Dominic Muldoon (BusDev/Sales Strategy and Execution, Puca)
• 2:40-3:05 Eoin Cruise (Head of Sales and Marketing, Nokia)
• 3:05-3:30 Patrick Ward (Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft)
• 3:30-4:15 App Expo
• 4:15-4:40 Louise Phelan (Vice President, PayPal)
• 4:40-5:10 Panel Discussion
• 5:35-6:00 Jonny Walker (Founder and Chairman, Global Diagnostics ltd)
• 6:00 Theo Lynn (Closing remarks)

Before the lectures started there was a company app expo. The apps made by the students of D.I.C.E were shown off to the students and business people who came in.  It was done on the top floor of the Helix. There were stands with a laptop on, where each app could be accessed and browses through.

At 2 o’clock, Theo Lynn gave the opening remarks to get the get mobile lecture started. He spoke about who was going to talk, the key points to the lecture, the business schools involvement in mobile applications and information and statistics about mobile apps.

Dominic Muldoon, who works for Puca, spoke next. Puca are Ireland’s leading mobile marketing specialist. They were established in 2000. He told us that 91% of world population have a mobile phone and there are 6.4 billion mobile phones subscribers. Ireland has 74% Smartphone penetration and 100+% mobile penetration. Mobile phones touch every part of human life and it is a multi-channel world. He told us that 91% of human beings have a mobile phone within arm’s reach 24 days 7 days a week.  He told us that 9 out of 10 phone searches lead to an action. He told us that people think that there is not many aids out there to help people with mobile advertising but there is. There is loads of inventory online to help set up sites and apps. Mobile ads come in many formats such as SMS, banners, in-apps, in-games, mobile searches and social networks. There are some topics to consider when thinking about advertising using SMS. SMS are ubiquitous, interactive, they have a high read rate, instantaneous, they have limitations, they have click-through and privacy issues. If you send ads using SMS and you broke any rules under the data protection act, you can be charged up to €5000. He then went on to tell us that 45% of people use their Smartphone during their shopping process.

After Dominic Muldoon, Eoin Cruise, from Nokia, came out.  He spoke about Nokia’s transition from symbian and meego to the Windows phone. He told us that once they had the idea, within 12 months Nokia had completely changed their Smartphone offering. He told us along with Microsoft, developers and brand partners they began to develop a new ecosystem of content. They now have over 120,000 apps in situ and have a growth rate that is higher than that of the competing marketplace and store. He then did a short preview of the Nokia Lumia. It has a pureview, which Nokia feel has moved the camera phone forward. It has something called a floating lens, which will get rid of blurriness when taking photos on your phone. It has the best low light performance. It has an augmented reality which is linked with maps. You can take charge of power management; it comes with a portable power pack which will charge your phone. It has a faster way to accomplish task for business with windows office.

Patrick Ward, from Microsoft, spoke next. His lecture was about the windows 8 and the windows phone. He showed us how windows 8 work and its features. Windows 8 has a new way to unlock your tablet called picture password, which means you use a photo and finger strokes to login in.  Once you have login in, you are brought to a start screen. On the start screen, there are live tiles. The apps on your computing devices, scroll through live information on you start screen on the live tiles.  The original windows desktop is retained. The windows 7 apps and programmes will run on windows 8.

After Patrick Ward, There was an app expo. This was another expo to show off the apps made on Jampot’s app builder by the D.I.C.E students.

After the expo, Louis Phelan from PayPal spoke. She told us that 40% of Smartphone users have made at least one purchase on their phone. PayPal made $4 billion in global market payments in 2011 and made $10 billion in 2012. She told us what users buy – 46% buy digital good, 37% buy clothes and 35% buy tickets. She told us what holds mobiles back from take up a greater market share in mobile shopping. They are security, convenience and usability. She told us that in 2016, 46% of total retail sales will be impacted by the web. She told us that 34% of mobile shopping starts on one device and finishes on another. She told us that 21% of shoppers use their Smartphone to compare prices and that 60% of show roomers planned to purchase at the store but changed their mind and bought online. There are some key points to consider:

• Mobile optimised site
• App/tablet strategy
• Search strategy distinct for mobile
• People who use phones in the store
• Implement geo-targeting
• Simplify mobile payment
• Use payments to build customer engagement and personalization

There was a panel discussion next. The panel was made up of:

• Eric Weaver (senior vice president, social strategy and intelligence, IPG MediaBrands), he asked the questions.
• Joe Drumgoogle (VP Product Management, FeedHenry)
• James Howell (Operator Channel Lead, Microsoft)
• Michael Barr (CTO, JampPot Technologies Ltd)
• Conor Winders (CEO, Redwind Software)
• Sylvie McDermott ( Mobile Manger, Paddy Power)

The panel were asked questions about Smartphone, mobile shopping, apps and the future.

Finally Jonny Walker, who is the founder and chairman of Global Diagnostics Ltd spoke.

D.I.C.E – Get Social

On the 16th of October 2012, I attended a lecture called Get Social in The Helix from  2 pm to 6 pm. There was eleven speeches during the lecture. The line-up was:

• Opening remarks by Dr Theo Lynn, DCU business school
• “Edelman Trust Barometer” by Mark Cahalane, Managing Director, Edelman Group
• “Anyone Can Be A Dog On The Internet” by Claire Wardle, Storyful”
• “Twitter For Business” by Jane White, Twitter
• “Electric Ireland’s Experience Of Social Media” by Philip Kelly, Electric Ireland
• “There’s Never Been A Better Time To Be Online” by Darragh Doyle, World Irish
• Panel Discussion “The State Of Social Media In Ireland”
• “Facebook For Business” by Catherine Flynn, Facebook
• “How to Become A Community Manager” by Brian Herron, Google
• Eric Weaver, IPG Brand

The lecture started with the video of gangnam style by psy. Then Dr Theo Lynn of the DCU business school come out and spoke about Psy and the song gangnam style. He told us that Psy has been making songs for 12 years in Korea. Dr Theo Lynn then gave us some facts about the song. The video is the most liked video on youtube and has been put into the guinness book of records. The dance from gangnam style was taken from an American man who lost American Idol. The song is about where Psy is from Gangnam, it is a comment on life in gangnam.

Mark Cahalane came out after and spoke to us about the Edelman Trust Barometer by  Edelman Europe. Trust is needed in communications and public relations. They deal with trust in key institutions such as government, business, media and non governmental organisations. The global figures of trust in these institutions are gov 23%, business 53%, media 52% and NGOs 38%. In 2011, Ireland was the least trusting country with gov 35%, business 43% and media 35%. The global majority still are distrusting in government. In Ireland almost 70% do not trust government leaders to tell the truth with the government falling a long way short of meeting public expectations. Globally, media is the only institution to see a rise in trust although there was a slight fall in Ireland, In Ireland trust rose in papers by 15%, online sources 12%, social media 9% and corporate by 7%. The was forward is through business competence, social purpose and public engagement to gain greater trust. Trust had tangible benefits as people will choose to buy a product or service if trust is 93%, so the path forward is important.

After Mark Cahalane, Claire Wardle from Storyful came out. Her talk was called ” anyone can be a dog on the internet”. Claire Wardle spoke about your identity online, as you can be anyone online. Offline we can manage our identity, the way we speak to different people for example, but online its hard to manage your identity. We have to realise that people can find out more about us than we think online using social networks. There are different types of social accounts – core services, corporate branded accounts, corporate individual accounts and personal individual accounts. If used properly, social media can work as a tool in your favour. A brand account needs to get the balance with the language they use when using social networks. When using a social network especially if using it for a business, you need to check three things: check your privacy settings, ensure you understand what the guidelines of using the social network are and get stuck in.

Jane White from twitter came on next. Jane White spoke about how twitter can be used for business. On twitter, the conversation is the canvas and the twitter canvas is for telling incredible stories. Its a canvas for driving transactions. An example of this is Bonobos saw a 1200% increase in return on investment by using twitter as publicity. It is a canvas for talking directly to your customers. Twitter should be used as in Match 2012 there was 14000000+  active users and in 2012 there are 1000000000 tweets sent every three days. Mobile phone access is increasing as well with a 40% quarter over quarter growth. In Ireland there are 570000+ active users with 1000000 tweets per day. There are three methods of promoting products on twitter: promoted accounts, promoted tweets and promoted tweets. In promoted accounts, you build a social community and grow incremental earned media  which causes increased brand exposure. Promoted twitters, reaches highly relevant twitter users and own key conversation.Two ways to do this on timeline or search. Timelines have greater reach, wider exposure, more engagement, increased media, cost-per-engagement auctions and able to promote to your followers and users like your followers. Searches have target trending topics, keyword targeting, real time and you can own the conversations around your brand. Promoted trends are prominent placement on the users homepage which equates to mass exposure for your brand.

After twitter, Philip kelly from electric Ireland spoke next. Electric Ireland started as ESB customer supply and the company itself was born in April 2011. They use social media for customer services. Boards.ie was the first social media site used. They now use twitter for brand engagement, customer services, partnership support. They have 7543 followers. On Facebook they have 33895 followers and is the digital home for campaigns. They run the tweet cafe, you tweet #tweetcafe and a door number and you get a coffee and treat.

Darragh Doyle from World irish spoke next. He showed us his favourite pictures online, He spoke a little about his company. Its a business set up for people who love Ireland and irish things.

We then had a 15 minute break.

After the break there was a panel discussion. They spoke about social networks for business.

Catherine Flynn came from Facebook. She spoke to us about how facebook can be used for business. Facebook has 1 billion monthly active users with 2.5 billion pieces of content shared every day. Ireland has 2 million+ users in Ireland with 1.5 million of those users return daily. Irish businesses are using facebook to grow. There are 4 steps in promoting business. Step 1: build your facebook page – search your business and claim your place. Connect the online and offline worlds by telling your in-store customers about your page, invite friends, family and key customers and create a personalized link. Step 2: connect to people with ads – to acquire more fans and make sure existing fans are hearing from you. Explore the targeting options and develop 4 or more ads. Step 3: engage your audience with quality content – post regularly and quality content. Step 4: influence the friends of your fans – use sponsored stories which encourage word of mouth and boosts social interactions. Find what your fans like and engage with that.

Brian Herron was next to speak. His talk was called “How to lie, cheat and fake your way to the middle”.Brian Herron is from Google. He told us that social media is a group of channels. The elements of social media are marketing, customer service and public relations. Community managers are the ones that make the products marketing engaging and exciting. Brian Herron told us that every tweet is a mini press release, When using social media do not talk nonsense and don’t use lots of jargon. You need to know your brand and your numbers. Your numbers are your return on investment and not the number of followers, tweets, status etc. You need to manage your message. Use the social media professionally and protect it.

The final speaker was Eric Weaver from IPG Brand.

D.I.C.E – Get Creative

This guest lecture was held on the 2nd of October 2012 in the Helix building. The lecture was given by Nigel Newman from the Edward De Bono foundation. There was two halves to the lecture. The first half was on understanding how creativity happens and preparing the way. The second half was on different ways to be creative and doing things with ideas.

The first thing we were shown was a very brief introduction to who Edward De Bono is and   a bit of information about his foundation. Edward De Bono wrote a book called “The mechanism of the mind”. His foundation was set up in Cambridge in the 1960’s and is in over 40 countries with about 7.5 million users.

Nigel Newman started the lecture by talking about the psychology of idea generation. He spoke to use about how our brains work and how it forms patterns and how those patterns can hold us back.

Nigel Newman told us that “the excellence of the brain arises directly from its ability to make, organise and use patterns.”  An example of this is putting on your shoes, you don;t even notice your doing it. There is no really thought needed in complete this task. Your brain remembers the pattern and carries it out.

However, these patterns or mental routines, although they allow continuity, they can cause problems with your ability to be creative. They can prevent your creating a new idea or having any idea generation. These patterns form perceptions, we can use these to spot ideas and help make decisions.

To see new ideas or spot a niche in a certain area of life where you could improve on, we may need help to leave our existing patterns and routines behind. “Up to 90% of errors in thinking are in perceptions not judgement” prof. David Perkins, Harvard University.

Nigel Newman spoke about a book called “Thinking Fast and Slow” by David Kahnemann. The books central thesis is the two modes of thought. System 1 thinks fast, intuitive and automatic thinking whereas System 2 thinks slow, rational and calculating thinking. In the book Kahnemann puts forward a theory called What You See Is All There Is (WYSIATI). this states that when the mind is making decisions it deals primarily with known knowns, things it has already seen. It rarely considers known unknowns, things that it knows to be true but has no previous engagement. Finally it appears oblivious to unknown unknowns, things that is unaware of and is of unknown relevance.

Nigel Newman than showed us a way to direct our attention. The method was called P.M.I, which means Plus, Minus and Interesting. So when we have an idea we first make a list of all the plus points, then all the minus points and finally all the interesting points. Another way is O.P.V, which means Other People’s Views. So basically we get a list of other people’s views of the idea.

The first half of the guest lecture ended with Nigel Newman showing us the “six thinking hats” by Edward De Bono. the six hats are:

• White – information and data, considers just purely the facts
• Red – emotion and intuition, the gut reactions and emotionally feelings
• Black – negatives and caution,  identifies the reasons not to follow through with the idea
• Yellow – benefits and positives,  identifies the reasons to follow through with the idea
• Green – possibilities and alternatives,  considers where the idea will go
• Blue – overview and process, the steps start and finish with this hat, evaluates the outcomes and what to do next

The second half of the guest lecture started with Nigel Newman talking about thinking patterns. He told us that we solve problems by thinking in the dominant logic, which means A to B. Nigel Newman told us we should use lateral thinking instead, which means A to C to B. Basically look at a problem and solve it by looking at it in an indirect and creative way. The term “lateral thinking” was coined by Edward De Bono in 1967. We should expect the unexpected.

Nigel Newman then went on to talk about the traffic light system. The red light means stop doing, amber light means keep doing and the green light means start doing. You look at a business  and its methods and apply this system.

Nigel Newman showed us two quotes by Albert Einstein about encouraging creativity. “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it” and ” Imagination is more important than knowledge”.

The next sections was about doing things with ideas. Nigel Newman showed us three steps to further an idea. 1, share ideas with others, 2, nurture your idea and 3, plan your idea.

The final slide was about the word team. He explain team to us.

T= find and set aside Time for thinking, E= generate Enthusiasm by welcoming suggestions and ideas, A= change Attitude and M= Model the creative behavior you desire for your colleagues.

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