I was invited to give the first keynote at the UCISA Spotlight on Digital Capabilities Conference at MediaCityUK. My brief was to consider digital capabilities in the context of the participants to consider "Who do you really think you are?"
My keynote began with asking the question "Who are you as a professional...and...What does this mean to others?" To demonstrate that communicating who we are, what we do, why we do it, where we do it, when we do it, and how we do it, is not easy, I used the analogy of bread cakes potentially outside of Sheffield know better as bread cobs, bread rolls or bread baps. Using a who wants to be a millionaire format we had a bit of fun thinking about how we use language and then related this to job titles and skills we might include in our LinkedIn profiles. Given the stats that say over 1 billion names are searched in Google every day, coupled with the fact that social media profiles rank highly on page one; it is vital we are aware what appears when our own names are searched.
LinkedIn as a site also has a well used and powerful search engine. Having the keywords others might use to search for you an individual must be added to your profile to increase visibility. Having a photograph is also important. Research indicated that people are more trusting of profiles with photos. Those without may be mistaken for others without a photo being there.
I went on to talk about impact and how everyone can personally make an impact by developing and challenging ideas; aligning these to their own values and aspirations; and by inspiring and engaging others.
Becoming a central connector is someone people to whom others turn, for information and advice, They become the influencers in organisations.
The talk continued with a selection of examples of how we can develop a professional online presence with examples of practioners who are doing this effectively through blogging and curating. My final words were to recommend that everyone present actively sought to make new connections and capture these via their chosen social networking sites.
The full programme can be found on the UCISA website.
Photos from the event were captured by Gaz Duncan and can be found on Flickr
Sue Beckingham #udigcap bread cobs, baps or cakes - language of technology pic.twitter.com/emSfwoy6Rn
— Moira Wright (@Moira_UCL) June 3, 2015
#udigcap Brilliant talk by Sue Beckingham on how to develop your online presence. Good tips for your students, or even yourself!
— Lost Librarian (@irene_lib) June 3, 2015
#udigcap really interesting presentation by Sue Beckingham at UCISA Manchester - makes you think about your online profile.
— Abigail Ball (@abigailball15) June 3, 2015
The tweets were storified by Fiona MacNeill
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