When hiring an intern at Invoke to help out with the Eat St. App, I wanted to take a page from Google’s book and offer her a chance to dedicate 20 per cent of her time to either our internal processes or our customers in any way she sees fit. Then, I realized this would be cutting a day out of the week to help with projects I desperately needed her assistance with. How could I empower her to be creative while still completing our objectives? It’s simple — I could give her 80 per cent time instead.

Essentially 80 per cent time is this – hire the people you can trust to manage their time, create quality products and act in the best interest of the company. Take up 20 per cent of their time providing direction, purpose and a clear objective and then get the hell out of the way.

Eighty per cent time isn’t an official Invoke policy. But it’s part of the company culture whether employees realize it or not. When I first started, I was attending a company party in the Hootsuite office and I distinctly remember asking Invoke’s COO, David Tedman how Invoke managed to pump out such quality products with a young staff roster. His answer was that they look for the best and brightest locally, nationally and internationally. There’s a huge focus on the people. What I didn’t realize then was that he was only telling me part of the reason. The secret sauce is 80 per cent time.

The 80 per cent of the time Invoke employees aren’t in meetings with management, they’re coming up with creative ideas to fulfill their objectives, bouncing them off colleagues and executing them. There are set milestones to check-in at, but management isn’t standing over their employees’ shoulders micro-managing.

So how’s it working out? Recently, Hootsuite hit two million users, Eat St. got featured in a full page Apple ad in the NY Times and Invoke’s own Kate LeGresley got her transmedia article published in Forbes online. There’s no reason to be shy about 80 per cent time, because it can’t be stolen. It’s baked into the company culture. I encourage other companies to empower their employees in the same way, but it has to start early and come from the top.

Article written under his own free will by Corey Dilley, a recent Invoke hire working on Eat St. You can check out more of his marketing ideas on his personal blog.

Here’s some to consider:

What: Interlink Conference
Where: Vancouver
When: June 2-4, 2011
Why: Any conference that ties in a dodgeball ice-breaker event and movie night is good in my books. The Interlink Conference is a small and carefully crafted three day web event for all web professionals. This international web design conference has put together a stellar list of industry veteran speakers and workshops ranging from topics about tapping into your on-demand creative inspiration to more hands-on work dealing with the latest and greatest from CSS, as well as the history of font usage online.
Follow the Interlink Conference on Twitter @interlinkconf

What: Internet Week
Where: New York
When: June 6-13, 2011
Why: Go big or go home. That is NYC’s motto. One conference wasn’t good enough. No. They had to do an entire week. Internet Week is a festival celebrating NYC’s thriving Internet industry and community. The festival incorporates various events held in different locations across the city. The result is a critical mass of web-focused events that raises the profile of NYC’s proliferating internet and digital media community. Some of these events include Story Worldwide’s Digital Archaeology, Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) The Future of Display, and Flavorpill’s Culture Hunt (think: scavenger hunt 2.0).
Follow Internet Week on Twitter @internetweek and don’t forget to hashtag #iwny

What: Conversational Marketing Summit
Where: New York
When: June 7-8, 2011
Why: Groupon? Twitter? Facebook? Foursquare? Where do you begin? Digital platforms present massive opportunities, but one significant challenge: finding the signal in an increasingly noisy ecosystem of sites, apps, and services. All this data is extremely overwhelming, especially for consumers. Consider Conversational Marketing Summit to be the philosophical compass in the burgeoning digital environment. The conference is two days of case studies and insightful conversations that will help marketers push aside the clutter for consumers. Federated Media, the organizer of the conference, caught our attention by bringing together Adam Bain, president of Global Revenue for Twitter, with Food Network personality Rachael Ray and music producer will.i.am in one event. You’ll have to see it to believe it.
Follow Federated Media on Twitter @federated_media

What: The Art of Marketing
Where: Vancouver
When: June 9, 2011
Why:  If you ever needed a crystal ball to answer all your marketing questions, The Art of Marketing would be it. Building on the success of the sold out 2010 Canadian national tour, the one day conference brings together five internationally renowned bestselling authors and leaders who will offer up their experience and knowledge on the most critical marketing issues we face today. Some of the speakers in this stellar lineup include Guy Kawasaki, who will be heading up a talk on creativity and innovation, and Mitch Joel, who will be discussing digital marketing and social media.
Follow The Art Of on Twitter @theartof and don’t forget to hashtag #TAOM

What: ReadWriteWeb 2WAY Summit
Where: Columbia University, New York
When: June 13-14, 2011
Why: One-way communication. One-way roads. Who ever liked those? Everything is better if it’s 2WAY. ReadWriteWeb is a summit gathering of the best tech, people and ideas the Web has to offer in two (not one) unique and fun ways. Day one features talks from some of the smartest folks in technology and media. The speakers include Baratunde Thurston from The Onion and Danah Boyd of Microsoft Research. Topics range from the creative exploitation of social media to teen sexting and its impact on tech companies. The highlight of day one is The Gentleman’s Throwdown between Jason Calacanis of Mahalo and Nick Denton of Gawker. Day two is all about learning and interaction through a variety of breakout talks. The topics covered include social gaming, community building, NFC (near field communication) technology, and a great debate over web apps vs. native apps. The highlight of day two is Speed Geeking!: think high-energy, short presentations from start-ups and established tech companies.
Follow ReadWriteWeb on Twitter @rww and don’t forget to hashtag #rww2way

What: The 140 Characters Conference
Where: New York
When: June 15-16, 2011
Why: Experiencing the state of now. Wise words to live by and the theme of this year’s 140 Characters Conference. This event from Jeff Pulver is expected to be the largest worldwide gathering of people interested in the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and “we” the people. This conference exposes the power the Internet has to disrupt businesses, change lives and create serendipity. The schedule is unique and fast paced with the intention of providing a platform for as many people as possible to share thoughts and engage in conversation with the delegates. The themes are global in scope and include topics such as the Use of Social Media to Overturn Entrenched Political Powers Around the World, Medicine and Social Media, and Online Philanthropy and Large Scale Social Change.
They don’t have a Twitter handle, but be sure to hashtag #140conf

Questions with Jamie Garratt

Garratt is the president of Idea Rebel and is responsible for providing strategic direction for the company, driving new business and working directly with external clients and internal teams to ensure the delivery of world-class digital experiences. Garratt has been involved in the development of many highly recognized brands, with a core focus on digital media. His sincere passion for innovation is reflected in his interest to build world-class marketing solutions. Garratt will be speaking about Social Brand Platforms and how to innovate social and web strategies for clients, as well as why websites are dead.

When you say websites are dead, what do you mean?

Website are dead! “Websites” came to life in the early ’90s, when the Internet was born, as way to share information. Traditionally this acted as a one way/ one-to-many conversation to users, more like a physical billboard ad that you would see on the side of the road, the difference being it was interactive. As the Internet evolved we saw an introduction to one-to-one conversations and experiences through blogs etc. More recently we’ve seen it evolve from one-to-one/ or one-to-many to many-to-many with what we now call social experiences. When I say websites are dead, I mean the traditional way of thinking about a web property is over. Brands need to embrace this evolution and create experiences that are more engaging than just being interactive and introduce social and mobile marketing into their strategies. Don’t build the same solutions that worked for consumers 15 years ago — websites are dead.

I’ll have some examples to show of that transition from big and small brands during my presentation.

How do you think businesses can stay on top of the ever changing digital world?
Each business needs to create their own unique platform to allow for change.  Some can make drastic changes overnight and some have to be carefully planned.  One thing they all need to have in common is the willingness to accept change, especially in our volatile digital environment.  Here are a couple of ways to achieve this

1. Stay youthful.  Every company needs experienced staff, but they also need to embrace new and fresh ideas.  Keep existing staff trained and don’t be afraid to hire new grads.
2. Don’t keep your eggs (or technology) in one basket — don’t invest in one technology.  We’ve only seen the beginning of what open source and community development can achieve.

What do you think are some of the most relevant web technologies coming up for 2011/2012?

• HTML 5 and the supporting technologies to follow.
• Augmented reality and location based apps
• Anything that will allow for better mobility

Do you think the web is becoming more closed or open?

In some cases closed and in some more open. Hardware developers that tie into software will continue to close out as much as they can. However, that only sparks the need for more sharing and open development. The primary objective for the Internet, when it was developed,  was to allow “free sharing” of information. I think we need to understand why that model worked in the first place. Closing it out will only create opportunities elsewhere.

What impact do you think open source is going to have on the web in the long term?

Open source will be a, if not the, fundamental part of the progression and evolution of the web. Any type of progression, wether it be medical, architectural or technical requires sharing in order to succeed. We’re going to see some drastic accelerations in web technologies over the next five to 10 years due to this. We’ll most likely see stuff like new or modified programming languages, changes in the way we store and access and share data, and even faster and more efficient methods of communication (email is dead? ).

Questions with Lauren Bacon

Lauren Bacon co-founded Raised Eyebrow Web Studio with Emira Mears. They also co-wrote’ The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business‘. In the ten years they have working together they have been helping clients in the nonprofit, government and progressive business sectors use online tools more effectively. Bacon is extremely passionate about helping to grow online communication by helping people connect heart-to-heart using technology. Bacon will be speaking about how important it is to be curious for a living and the importance of asking clients the right questions.

What is the most important question to ask a client?

“Why?” When designers and developers find themselves frustrated by “stupid” client requests, it’s most often because we don’t understand how their request translates into a business need – and so we are stymied in trying to help them identify the best solution. When you ask them what’s behind the request, it gives you the information you need in order to help them solve their problems with your specialized expertise.

When did you realize that spending your time implementing client requests rendered you replaceable?

It was more a question of waking up to the fact that what my clients really valued about me was that I bothered to take the time to ask them questions, rather than a.) wanting them to do all the thinking, or b.) giving them an “expert opinion” without taking the time to understand their organizations. Those are two mistakes designers and developers make far too often.

What is the most important tool for getting your job done?

A sincere interest in, and enthusiasm for, my clients. My commitment to my work is completely fueled by relationships with people and organizations I feel excited about working with.

Moving forward, what impact do you think open source platforms are going to have on the web and how people use it to communicate?

I think some of the most interesting developments are happening at the intersections between open-source and for-profit models, like SAAS. There are stimulating breakthroughs happening on both sides. I’m a firm believer that information wants to be free, and people’s willingness to commit volunteer time for projects they believe in is beyond inspiring. At the same time, profit and competition can be powerful motivators as well. One of the reasons I’m attending MWNW is that I’m very interested in the creative friction between both models.

What do you hope to learn at Make Web Not War?

I’m totally intrigued by the keynote topic, HTTP for Poets. I’m hoping my techie side and my inner English lit geek will be equally engaged.

Questions with CT Moore

CT Moore is  a senior strategist at NVI, where he handles client SEO, PPC, and social media. He is also a blogger, journalist, podcaster, and speaker and has more than five years of experience in SEO. He consulted on web strategy for brands, such asAmerican Apparel, Yellow Pages, and Microsoft, as well as a number of media start-ups.  He also sits as a staff editor at Revenews.com. Moore will be talking about technical SEO for enterprise level & dynamic websites at Make Web Not War, with Mohamed Hamad.

What do you love about WordPress?

Well, there are probably two things about WordPress that I love. The first is that it’s free. I first encountered WordPress back in 2006. I wanted a blog, but was too cheap and broke to higher someone to build it for me. So after some Googling around, I found Wordpress. At the time, I didn’t even know what an FTP client was, and it took me two weeks to figure out how to properly install and configure it. But I would’ve never started my web dev education it wasn’t for WordPress being free. Just goes to show that freedom is power

The other thing I love about WordPress is how versatile it is. I mean, you can use it to build a blog or static website, or you can use it build a small ecommerce store.

The open  source community behind WordPress has resulted in so many different plugins, add-ons and themes that you do just about anything with it. Come to think of it, WordPress’s versatility is owed to the WordPress community so I guess it’s the community I love.

What impact is do you think WordPress is going to have on open source platforms moving forward?

I think, if anything, WordPress has demonstrated the power of communities. Like I said, WordPress’s versatility is owed to the community behind it, so I think that open source developers will really be forced to invest in their community when developing platforms. It’s that kind of crowdsourcing that streamlines new releases and bug fixes, and it’s that kind of crowdsourcing that can take a platform to a level where it’s a viable and dependable business options.

What do you think are some of the most relevant web technologies coming up for 2011/2012?

I guess pretty much anything mobile. Obviously, Android is huge, and is going to continue to influence what developers choose to develop.

I also think it’ll be interesting to watch the development of Window Phone 7 (disclosure: through NVI, I currently work with Microsoft Canada and worked on the Great Canadian Apportunity mobile dev contest with them). The deal between Nokia and Microsoft has a lot of potential. Nokia makes great hardware but needed a really strong OS, and Windows Phone 7 needs quick marketing penetration. If consumers buy into the Windows Phone 7 platform via Nokia, it’ll definitely have a significant impact on mobile developers.

Why are you passionate about open source platforms?

The freedom, versatility, and possibility they afford us. Open source technologies afford people the tools and experience that they couldn’t get if they had to pay for licenses. As I mentioned already, I learned about web dev because of WordPress.

But being free from licensing constraints and having access to the source code also allows people to take something that is only partially what they’re looking for, and customize it to their needs. That can save you countless hours in product development and make the impossible otherwise possible.

But “the possibilities” go so far beyond that. The idea of having a strong community of sharp minds collectively working on a platform means that the technology can evolve very quickly and in so many ways.

Just imagine where WordPress would be today if Matt Mullenweg had been trying to make money off of it as a licensed solutions. He’d only have a small team of developers working inside the box, and WordPress would’ve never evolved the way it had. Instead, you have thousands of developers finding bug fixes, developing plugins, and making themes so that WordPress can be used in so many different ways. And the result is that a lot of business get started or save a lot of money on what they otherwise might not have been able to do.

I honestly believed that open source is one of those paradoxes where everyone gets richer because something is free. It opens the door to so many possibilities and minds to so much inspiration.

Questions with Morten Rand-Hendriksen.

Morten Rand-Hendriksen is creative director for Pink & Yellow Media. He is a web designer, developer and educator and specializes in remarkably customized and unusual WordPress themes. He is also an author for Pearson publishing and Lynda.com and has published three books and two video series on web design and WordPress. He enjoys writing about anything and everything web related on the his blog Design is Philosophy. He loves web standards, information design and making the web make sense for everyone. He recently launched  PhotoPivot.com with Chris Arnold. PhotoPivotcreate a digital lightboard for professional photographers by using the Microsoft Pivot application. His topic for the Make Web Not War conference is: open source in the cloud – PHP on Azure.

What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about SEO?

SEO as a service is a bit of a scam (cue flame war). In the past you could game the search engines to get a better ranking. That just doesn’t work any more. Today search engines are simply too smart. If you want good search engine ranking (SER?) what matters is well written and well formatted content. In my opinion you’re better off buying the services of a great copywriter than getting an “SEO expert” to look over your content.

If you could suggest one thing to improve someone’s SEO, what would it be?

Focus on proper markup (page title, description, headers etc.) and put some effort in attaching accurate and descriptive alt tags to your images. Images are largely overlooked and search engines – being text driven – don’t understand them. Simply tagging your images with a proper description will make a huge difference in your findability.

What do you think are some of the most relevant web technologies coming up for 2011/2012?

Cloud, pure and simple. As solutions become more advanced and people need more space, faster transfers and larger pipes the old world of static servers and shared hosting will quickly be supplanted for the new and more agile cloud system. Yes, it’s more complicated, but the payoff is immense both in lower cost-to-performance, better stability and the benefits of a properly distributed network.

Why are you passionate about open source platforms?

In Norwegian we have a word “dugnad”. Translated to English it would mean something like “work done voluntarily by the community for the common good.” Open source is that – dugnad on a massive scale. To me open source is what the internet is and should be about: people working together for a common good. Open source is crowd sourced innovation on a scale not possible when run by an organization or a corporation. The ability for everyone to pitch in and add the little details they think matter produces an organic evolutionary process that often ends up with things no one ever thought of before. Sure, open source also produces a lot of garbage, but it’s easily balanced out.

What impact do you think open source is going to have on the web in the long term?

If we jump back in time we see open source as this fringe element written off as a joke by the people in power. Now we see open source leading the way and taking over for proprietary solutions. This organic collaborative environment can easily be the way forward for both the web and society as a whole as long as we, the people who work in it, keep our bearings and focus on innovation and betterment.

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