Social Media Meets Corporate Storytelling: The Good, The Bad, The Unauthentic

That’s the title of the IABC lunch panel that takes place in Silicon Valley on April 21.

I have the pleasure of joining social media guru Steve Farnsworth for what should be a lively discussion.

Steve does believe in storytelling.

And I absolutely embrace social media.

Still, there’s plenty of provocative turf to navigate around these two areas.

But I’m not going for the sensationalistic sell, painting a picture of contention likely to degrade into a wrestling match (and one that would certainly see me pinned against the dessert tray).

Instead, Steve, Meta Mehling (who organized the lunch panel from the IABC side) and I settled on the following description:

Join communication futurists and social media leaders Lou Hoffman and Steve Farnsworth for a give-and-take panel discussion about your role as a communicator and why the “F word  (facilitation) matters. The discussion will challenge traditional beliefs – does the world need another set of pristine messages? – as well as share pragmatic approaches to social media that align with today’s world.

There is no holy grail (just ask King Arthur).

But this session should cause you to rethink social media, storytelling and all the other elements that go into communications. No doubt, it will also prompt reflection on whether your own career path is on a trajectory to be successful tomorrow.

We debated that holy grail part and whether it wouldn’t be more accurate to say, “Just ask Galahad, son of Lancelot who sat at King Arthur’s Round Table.”

When in doubt, simple is better.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the lunch panel.

It should be fun.

You can find the online registation details here.