Unprecedented Problems Call for Unusual Solutions: AIIP21 Day 2 Highlights
By Hashem ElAssad
The AIIP 2021 virtual conference was a condensed way to get to know fellow info pros, while enriching my knowledge. I’d like to share some of the highlights from day two that stuck with me.
Fostering a Culture of Creative Thinking in Client Relationship (Erlin Kakkanad)
This speaker suggested four questions to facilitate creative process, which I found useful and will start using with clients:
- What problem are you solving?
- Why is this a problem?
- How do you know it’s a problem?
- What is the job to be done from the client perspective? For this question, think of the jobs that the client has to do and how your problem can eliminate some of the work for them.
Making the Most of Change (Beth Plutchak)
As humans, we see the world in an overly simplistic and linear way. The world is much more interconnected. Something happening in a distant place in a city you’ve never heard of before can dramatically affect your business (e.g., Wuhan before Covid-19). This was an invitation to keep an eye out for things that can have a drastic impact on your business (e.g., future “Covids”).
Here are questions to help you gain an advantage from a complex economy perspective:
- What are some of the outliers that can affect your industry?
- What are your clients ignoring?
- How can you keep track of new trends and changes to help your clients? Exploding Topics is a useful tool here to “surface rapidly growing topics before they take off.”
Nine Dishes for Your Communication Buffet (Rhonda Bowen)
A participant’s comment stuck with me: When they’re listening, they fiddle with something because they’re kinetic learners. Some people (including myself) might interpret that as a sign of inattention. It was a good reminder to appreciate our differences.
Voice: The Next Marketing Channel (Emily Binder)
Voice technologies like smart speakers are on the rise, with a staggering adoption rate. Alexa flash briefings, which are short content blasts delivered regularly on a specific topic, are low-hanging fruit. The current scarcity of content makes it relatively easy to get to the top in that growing technology space because it’s a blue ocean with less noise and competition. This was the session that left me with the clearest action item: Look into creating your own Alexa flash briefing!
Information is Cheap. Knowledge is Priceless (Deb Hunt, Jennifer Pflaumer, Cindy Shamel, Ulla de Stricker)
The most memorable part of this session was an anecdote by de Stricker. A company received a seven-figure order that they were about to reject, because the chemist who had the recipe had retired. Fortunately, the company’s librarian had boxed the items of the retiree so the company was able to retrieve the recipe. The value of knowledge is near and dear to my heart, but I have struggled in quantifying it. This was a very concrete demonstration of that value.
In conclusion, Covid-19 forced us to confront unprecedented problems. Day two of the conference left me with some tools to navigate the new terrain: A new blue ocean marketing channel to dive into (voice), an extra nudge to keep track of global developments to prepare myself for future disruptions, a set of questions to guide my creative process throughout the journey, and meeting some fellow AIIP sojourners along the way!
Hashem ElAssad is a researcher with a background in psychology, education, and career development. He loves to find hidden gems: items someone is looking for but can’t find or that elicit reactions such as “Wow, this amazing” or “I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this before.”
