We've been called the “gold standard” of SMM conferences, but the gold standard was truly the great attendees, speakers,sponsors, partners, volunteers, etc. What a great group. The Boston SMM community is vibrant and lively and we greatly appreciate their support.

See you all at Gravity Summit NYC on Nov 16 – focus on Media and Entertainment. Who should speak? Let me know @beverlymacy

Epic.

“Perception trumps reality.” One of my tenets of professional and personal communication is that perception IS reality. It doesn't matter what *you* think you or your organization is about; what matters is the perception that exists in the minds of the folks that interact with you. (Yes, that's a favorite definition of brand, too.)

When perception meets expectation, though, the effect is exponential. If you already perceive someone as a social media rockstar, you enter any interactions with them *expecting* rockstar-level thought and behavior.

That's why our social media evangelists are so powerful within our own circles–because they preach, most often, to the converted.

But it's the agnostics who are the future of social media. While I love reading, listening to, and debating with my follow evangelists, I have to be fully aware that I'm speaking to…fellow evangelists. The way to convert agnostics, I think, is not to dazzle them with our fervor, but acknowledge where and how the doubt exists, and how to overcome it. In that light, Gary V. and MC Hammer could do so much more for social media if we could find ways to get them to step outside of the proverbial meeting tent, particularly since both of them came from outside the expected path of social media success (i.e., not marketers or techies.)

And yes, there are social media atheists, but they're not worth our time (though we all probably spend way too much time trying to convert some of the ones we know. For them, it will likely take an act of god (whichever one you choose) to get them to see the light.