This week was the first time I have taught for a Chamber of Commerce crowd. Riverside has weekly “Business in Action” meetings where the Chamber arranges for other members to come in and speak on topics of their expertise. Being a board member for the Public Relations Society of America (IE Chapter) and the Riverside Chamber, I was asked to come and speak on a topic. “Web 2.0: Why is far more important than how” was the title of my 20-minute talk.
In the room were around 30 people. A few young faces dotted the crowd dominated with those 40 and over.
The meeting started with introductions. Each person stood up, introduced themselves, and answered the question: “What is web 2.0?”
Probably 80% of the crowd had no idea what web 2.0 was and didn’t even try. Those that did talked about things like interaction and technology. That’s a good ratio considering I belong to several marketing-specific organizations and I am still floored at the lack of acceptance and understanding of technology and change in the industry.
From the introductions, I knew there would be one issue. An architect in the back of the room when answering the introduction question quite boldly stated: “I have real job. I don’t have time for web 2.0.”