A good Hammertime was had by all

MC Hammer Social Media Club SydneyI must confess, MC Hammer’s appearance at Social Media Club Sydney significantly exceeded my expectations.

I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised if it had been a mildly diverting appearance relying mainly on the novelty value of having a celebrity around.  

But Hammer had something to say. With one of the world’s largest Twitter followings, he had insights into authenticity, entrepreneurialism and marketing.

Except for the background hum on the tweetstream of people imploring him to dance, anyone who’d wandered into the hall would have got the impression they were hearing from a business high flyer rather than an entertainer.

He had both a unique point of view, and substance.

(Hat tip on the twitpic to Pakula)

 

Tim Burrowes

November 11th, 2009 at 10:08 am

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Comments


  1. Scott Pettet
    11 Nov 09
    10:23 am

    2. Although I was unable to attend, I heard good things about the event, and Hammer, from colleagues.

    I also heard however, that as is often the case with events like this, ‘question time’ was mistaken for ‘opinion time’. Moderators need to nip this in the bud. The only opinions attendees want to hear are the ones they paid to hear. Lengthy opinion monologues are unwelcome and get in the way of genuine, considered inquiry.

  2. Michael
    11 Nov 09
    10:42 am

    3. I heard MC on radio this morning. I had no idea how astute a business man he is. An EVP of a major baseball team (the Oakland As) at 15 yrs of age – you can’t touch that!

  3. adwrighty
    11 Nov 09
    10:56 am

    4. Excellent night, thought he came across very well. Low on BS and high on genuine POV and experiences.

  4. Beaudacious
    11 Nov 09
    11:33 am

    5. So annoyed I missed out on tickets!

    Didn’t he go bankrupt after his music career died? Not saying you can’t be a successful business operator after bankruptcy but I’d be interested to hear how he made the transition from punch line to prosperity.

  5. John Grono
    11 Nov 09
    1:09 pm

    6. A trip downunder that was well worth it, just for the guy who confessed on radio that he didn’t realise that MCHammer sang “can’t touch this” but thought he was singing “Ken Sutcliffe” … pure gold!

  6. Mr Corbett
    11 Nov 09
    1:11 pm

    7. Hammer was terrific; articulate, intelligent and provocative in a number of areas.
    I didn’t agree with everything he said which is just the way it should be. But he knows that social shit fo’ sho’ (sorry but been listening to Hammer all morning)

    BTW Scott , sorry but I have absolutely no idea what you are refering to in your post above. Are you refering to MC Hammer answering questions or attendees asking question?

  7. James
    11 Nov 09
    1:15 pm

    8. Oh come Tim, don’t be using the word ‘insights’ out of context. The Hammer had a preprepared speech and once that ran its course he stumbled over nearly every question, and went on wild tangents that had me spinning to remember where we had started. Indeed MC was constantly in the same predicament.

    His knowledge of twitter was at best ancillary to his celebrity status and the best advice of the night was, “Be an entrepreneur”. The key to happiness being ‘low expectations’ I did walk away mildly bemused and happy that my money had gone to charity.

  8. Fridley
    11 Nov 09
    1:44 pm

    9. Was the bar run well? Prob not… Did Xbox wow me with their displays, or presentation? Not at all… But was the event a success? I think it was.

    Hammer was far more interested in the medium than I had given him credit for. While his focus on the entrepreneur mixed with his talk of “not changing things in the past” made me feel Tony Robbins was in the room, I think Hammer’s perspective was, if nothing else, interesting to hear.

    My only worry now is that the next SMCSYD event will have a lot to live up to….

  9. Cut N Paste
    11 Nov 09
    2:03 pm

    10. Contrayed to the back-slapping on this thread, I was interested to read a tweet last night from a high profile and respect Aussie digital bod who said he prob wouldn’t go to social media club again on the strength of last night’s performance…

  10. mumbrella
    11 Nov 09
    2:19 pm

    11. Hi James,

    Prepared speech?

    Well – I was sitting a few seats from him – during the first presentations he made a few notes on an A4 pad, which he took up with him to the podium.

    If that counts as a prepared speech, then sure, it was a prepared speech. But, um, so what?

    Yes, he sometimes went off on tangents when takign the questions (or you could call them anecdotes), but did you notice how he then came back to the point?

    Cheers,

    Tim – Mumbrella

  11. Scott Pettet
    11 Nov 09
    2:48 pm

    12. @ Mr Corbett – I’m referring to the tendency of event attendees to express opinions instead of asking questions in open forum Q&A sessions. Typically, you get 2 minutes of opinion, and then a 10-second token question tacked on the end.

  12. Mark David Moran
    12 Nov 09
    10:55 am

    13. I thought he delivered incredibly well considering the twitterfall gags interupting the flow of his answers. It was entertaining and high profile. The gags were pretty funny too… plus the professor guy at the start had some cool stuff to say. Especially liked his unintended gag of “lots of C words to describe gen Y” – he meant communication and collaboration but everyone else instantly thought something different ;-)

    The main thing that jumped out at me was Hammer’s WTF moment when he asked how many people in the room were entrepreneurs. A handful of embarrased people (out of 300+) put their hands up. He was astonished and so was I. He pretty much said “so WTF are the rest of you doing here?”. Tall poppies?

  13. Chris Harris
    13 Nov 09
    11:20 pm

    14. Mark, only a few from 300+ put their hands up – the response was not only brilliant but warranted! So bummed I missed this? Did anyone video/stream the event?