PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

The evening will be fun and informative, but we’re going to be strict with timings, so anyone over-running will get hit with The Buzzer and their presentation terminated. So, give it your best shot to inform, entertain and amuse us all within the presentation guidelines.

• You can find an archive of presentations given at other events in other towns and cities here: http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/
• We found a great resource that even provides templates for Apple’s Keynote software and MS Powerpoint at the University of Salford

Here’s a clickable link to the report download : http://bit.ly/recrev1

TeenTech events give young teenagers the opportunity to try their hand at experiments, leading edge technology and, most importantly to meet the engineers, technicians and scientists behind their 21st century lives. Filled with interactive activities, global companies, start-ups, Universities and institutions pool their energy and talent to show young people what life is really like in the modern Science, Technology and Engineering workplace.

Further information:

Roland Allen: @rolytech
Teentech: @teentechevent | www.teentechevent.com

Listen Podcast#9: Roland Allen “Inspiring The Next Generation”

On 17th January, James joined us to present about e-commerce, mobile commerce trends using real-life examples, and digital marketing challenges that need to be addressed in order to satisfy the demands of an increasingly sophisticated audience.

You can connect with James on twitter @JamesGurd, Linkedin uk.linkedin.com/in/jamesgurd or Google+.

Podcast#8: James Gurd “The Future of eCommerce 2013 and Beyond”

Steve has over 18 years of experience across all major platforms in a variety of industries ranging from fashion, to sport to politics. He just needs to throw in a bit of religion into the pot and he’s covered most topics of conversation.

Previously at RAPP and currently multi-tasking as VP at video distribution and live streaming experts, Rightster; Consultant at SANDS Digital Media; and Digital Advisor at MoMedia.

Podcast#7: Steve Furminger “Emerging Mobile Trends”

Joe gave examples and illustrations of compelling content, outlining the human emotions that will gain best response and sharing of content online.

Joe set up his own Web and Digital Agency before going client side for a new challenge, where he changed his focus to digital B2B marketing and delivering marketing strategy. In 2009 Joe moved to Hurricane, which was acquired by OTM in 2011 (part of Target Media Communications Group the UK’s fastest growing independent media and communications agency). Joe now works across the group as a Digital and Social Planner delivering strategy and workshops across a number of different industries, including entertainment, technology and finance. Clients include: Adobe, Citi Bank, RBS, HP, Symantec, Colt, TfL, Universal and Studio Canal to name a few.

In addition to his role as Digital & Social Planner, Joe also delivers a module of The IDM’s ‘Diploma in Digital Marketing’ and is the lead tutor for the one day workshop ‘Content Marketing’.

You can find Joe on most social networks so feel free to connect with him on twitter @brandjoe, Linkedin http://linkedin.com/in/brandjoe or Google+ http://plus.ly/brandjoe

Joe has kindly shared his presentation slides with us, and this can be found on our Slideshare page

Podcast#6: “Killer Content: the essentials of content marketing”

After two years of running a great drinks meetup for people who work in web, we decided to make a day of it and organize a full blown speaker conference. What kind? The kind we’d want to attend, with twin tracks on web development and design, because that’s what we do. A day dedicated to creating cutting edge web experiences. With plenty of time to talk. On a Friday, because who wants to go to work the day after a conference?

So WXG – Web Expo Guildford was conceived. It’ll be delivered on October 12th at G Live in Guildford.

We figured that if we asked nicely, people would agree to come and speak. And they did. We’re up to 12 great speakers now, some you’ve probably heard of, and a few we think you’ll be hearing more of. We’ve got lots of people coming to listen and network and chat and get inspired too, but we’ve still got some room for more.

Early bird tickets end on Friday 14 September, so head to webexpoguildford.co.uk to see the full speaker details and book now!

Topics include: Accessibility (Artur Ortega), Agile (Pivotal Labs), APIs (Heroku & Github), Data design (Brian Suda), Web Design (Mike Kus), Hack Days (Rewired State), HTML5 Gaming (Turbulenz), Illustration (Matt Hamm), Open source (Jeremy Ruston), Web Copy (Matthew Stibbe) and Strategic User Experience (Eewei Chen).

More details and booking at: webexpoguildford.co.uk

Learn more about Kyan at: kyan.com

For the majority of online businesses, there are limitations. Unfortunately these limitations often mean it’s a case of one or the other and the right choice between PPC and SEO is not an easy one to make, not least because there is no right or wrong answer.

What are PPC & SEO?

Business owners aren’t always clear on the difference between SEO and PPC and the simplest way to describe it is that if a search engine listing is clicked, the advertiser pays for one (PPC or paid listing) and not the other (SEO or natural result). However, whilst on the surface it may look like one is free and one is not, there’s much more to it!

SEO is from Venus, PPC from Mars

Whilst both PPC and SEO are essentially the same; they make your business visible to potential customers in search engines based around keywords; they are in reality very different disciplines. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and some of these key points are highlighted below:

Cost

Many see that the PPC costs through the search engine and SEO does not. Unfortunately it is not that simple. Both incur costs at certain points down the online marketing timeline. With SEO, you pay the agency to optimise your website determined by your chosen keywords, this means you do not pay for extra clicks. With PPC, you bid how much you’re prepared to pay per click, with your ad ‘bid’ maximum agreed.

Guaranteed Clicks

SEO might give you ‘free’ clicks, it is PPC that guarantees you will receive clicks. This is providing that the advert you display is relevant and reasonable. So when it comes to making a choice between the two, think about whether or not you can afford not to guarantee the number of clicks you receive. For instance a retailer that has specific sales targets, or ecommerce as their only retail channel, may want to give preference to PPC as not only will you be able to control the number of clicks you receive, you will also quickly be able to calculate sales vs. PPC click spend, enabling you to easily budget for future company growth.

Trust

Web users are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to search engine results; they are able to distinguish between paid and natural searches, despite the continual tweaks and updates Google uses to display the different types of results. This understanding has increased the trust to the organic searches due to their ‘neutrality’, which often results in better click through rates and conversion rates.

Speed of Results

A key consideration when deciding which search marketing is best for your business is the necessity for immediate results. How quickly do you need results? Do you have the luxury of waiting as long as six months before you see the results from your campaign? PPC will give you results almost immediately; SEO builds results over a longer period.  The timescale of these results is not guaranteed, however any reputable agency will tell you to expect at least three to six months before you reap the fruits of your (or their) SEO labour.

Long Term ROI

Ask yourself; is long term return on investment (ROI) more important to your business than a quick turnaround of results? PPC ROI changes very little throughout your campaign’s lifetime, and so as it reduces your costs per click (CPC) and you carry out general refinements during a campaign, this will only provide minor improvements in the long term. Alternatively, SEO delivers better long term ROI, with long tail (search terms made up of three or four words) niche terms delivering higher quality, higher converting traffic.

Best of Both Worlds

If you have the resources available the ideal approach would be to utilise both SEO and PPC giving you a more integrated approach to search marketing, merging both short term and long term results, together increasing the return on investments and higher website conversion rates. The truth is SEO and PPC are both piece of the same puzzle, one fits where the other doesn’t but their collaboration creates a complete picture. This combination means a broader level of coverage as well as your products or services being visible to a wider range of web users.

Is There a Definitive Answer?

Whether to choose PPC or SEO is not a question we can answer for you in this article. If your budget permits you to, we recommend you use both and enhance both giving you guaranteed clicks as well as building your natural traffic for long term improvements in ROI.

However, if required to choose, pay careful attention to three factors:
1.    Urgency
2.    Available budget
3.    Desired return on investment

Always make sure that you choose a reputable agency to implement your campaign for you, and insist on comprehensive monthly reporting to give you a full picture of the activity that has taken place and the results that have been achieved.

Choose your keywords carefully. It’s not about getting to number 1 for any keywords you can. Make sure they are relevant, appropriate for your target audience and are the keywords that are likely to convert for your business – whether your conversion is a purchase, enquiry or other action. There’s no point being top of the search results for ‘how to play guitar’ when what you sell is a guitar book called ‘How to Play Guitar’. Use your keywords carefully to capture your desired search intent.

It is also worth looking beyond search to see what other online marketing could bolster your search marketing efforts – content marketing and social media marketing not only support your SEO activities, but are also a great way of driving deeper engagement with your brand.

This article was contributed by Metakinetic. Metakinetic is a full service ecommerce agency, providing website design, build and marketing services to online retailers.

For the last six months, Dr Morris has been working with The Royal Shakespeare Company, Cisco, educational network provider Ja.net, and the London Olympic Committee on a radical project that brings together multiple disciplines in an innovative way. Based around the play I, Cinna (The Poet), written by Tim Crouch, the project aimed to rewrite the way Shakespeare is taught in secondary schools. This was shot as a film, which was streamed to thousands of secondary school children around the UK on 2nd July 2012.

For his Digital Berkshire presentation, Dr Morris discussed how this project illustrates a trend to much more interactive media and education. I, Cinna (The Poet) is a classic example of “transmedia”, bringing together theatre, filmmaking, TV production, website design, social media and user-generated content into one cultural artefact. The trend is increasingly in this direction, and this huge project is only a first step towards media which routinely crosses boundaries, providing greater engagement both in education and in the wider landscape of digital culture. Dr Morris looks at where this trend is heading.

Links:
www.tzero.co.uk
www.icinna.org.uk
www.allisnotlo.st (HTML 5 demo)
www.thewildernessdowntown.com (HTML 5 demo)

Dr Morris has kindly shared his slides from the presentation with us and these can be found on our SlideShare account.
Slides : Rewriting Shakespeare: the convergence of digital media, culture & education

Listen: Digital Berkshire Podcast#5: Dr James Morris “Rewriting Shakespeare: the convergence of digital media, culture & education”

20 x 20 : Get To The Point

Thursday 13 December 7.00pm
South Hill Park, Bracknell RG12 7PA

Our Digital Berkshire pre-Christmas event takes place at South Hill Park. We’re opening sign up for this event from now, just add your name and contact info in the comment section below to register and we’ll be in touch. You’ve got up to the night to hone your presentation to the most effective it can be using the Pecha Kucha format of 20 slides on screen for 20 seconds each, but let us know the title of theme in advance.

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

The evening will be fun and informative, but we’re going to be strict with timings, so anyone over-running will get hit with The Buzzer and their presentation terminated. So, give it your best shot to inform, entertain and amuse us all within the presentation guideline.

• You can find an archive of presentations given at other events in other towns and cities here: http://pecha-kucha.org/presentations/
• We found a great resource that even provides templates for Apple’s Keynote software and MS Powerpoint at the University of Salford