I'm nobody... who are you?

Just a little nobody

cross posted to Marketing Roadmaps

My son Douglas (who turns 6 on Friday) in his I.A.N. shirt:

Tags: nobody, nobodies

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Nobody home in Birmingham, UK

Here's a question: can a city be a nobody, or should that be nowhere? Having moved from working in the creative sector in London during the dotcom boom to jumping ship just before the bubble burst to make camp in the Midlands, I've certainly noticed a similarity between the 'London' attitude and the so-called somebodies, the A-listers in the blogosphere.

Like many provincial cities in the UK, Birmingham has a thriving creative scene that produces some of the country's top visual, musical and multimedia work. Initiatives like the Custard Factory and the Big Peg (supported by the Chamber of Commerce) foster up and coming talent and sit in the city alongside established arts and media players such as the BBC and Channel 4's Ideas Factory. So why do businesses still gravitate towards London when they are looking to commission creative work?

Reputation is the obvious answer, although much the work being produced in Birmingham can lay claim to being as well-known and widely seen as work produced in many of London's Soho-based studios. Image, is the key. The Midlands and specifically Birmingham suffer from a public image problem that seems to be the polar opposite to that of London. Funny sounding accents aside (although the Birmingham/Black Country accent has been consistently voted as one of the least liked/respected accents in the UK), the city itself is still widely perceived as the concrete jungle that it was 40 years ago. As part of a major redevelopment scheme, the city has rebuilt itself and is now a vibrant, attractive place to live and work. But the majority of the country still perceives Birmingham through the stereotype of the concrete and the 'yam-yam' accent. Conversely, London is still seen as 'swinging London' of the sixties, a place of edgy cool and Michael Caine movie charm despite having turned into an expensive, inhospitable tourist trap.

Fed-up with being on the wrong side of this image problem, Birmingham's creatives have banded together to create an industry run and led forum with the aim of changing these perceptions and getting the work Birmingham's creative industries (and hopefully as a result, the city itself) recognised. Much like the I.A.N, they've produced a blog and are even looking into getting a wiki and a squidoo lens (although I don't think they have coffee cups and t-shirts printed yet).

So, I urge you, even if you have no plans to visit Birmingham or the  UK, take a look at what this nobody/nowhere city is producing and if it doesn't change your mind, at least leave them a comment or some professional advice.   

An open letter to Steve Crescenzo

Here's the comment I posted in reply to Steve Crescenzo's post.

" Interesting post, and I thank Eric Eggertson for bringing it to my attention.

Steve, you misrepresent me in your post, but I am sure it's friendly hyperbole. But I'd like to clear up a couple of points for your readers who don't know me.

First, while I responded tartly to David Murray on my blog, the message should be clear: I know of no credible communicator who sees social media as immediately revolutionary, but I know a hundred who are fitfully working toward an idea of what it will mean for internal communication over five to ten years.. In short, I answered "We don't know what it means, yet, but you are welcome to come out and help."

Ragan Communication could, if it wanted, help that discussion. As Robert French points out, the Global PR Blog Week could be an inspiration.

Second, I know of no credible communication blogger who disses any medium for conveying a message effectively. There may be bloggers out there who claim "print is dead", but not anyone I know. I challenge you or your readers to find a professional communicator who writes anything close to that on their blog.

Instead, the professional communicators I know embrace any medium that helps their client send a message effectively and listen to the audience. If we focus on social media in our blog posts, it is because they are new media -- the first textbooks are just now being written. Our interest in new media is not a dismissal of old media.

Third, as others have pointed out, I didn't come up with the "Nobodies" idea. But, if nothing else, 25 communication professionals linked up to share ideas. IABC Fellows, Gold Quill winners, PRSA leaders, Ragan Seminar speakers -- these are all somebodies who are happy to be nobodies in David's book if it suits him. But if you are are communicator on a budget, just read those blogs... saves you the price of a conference, and it's free.

Finally, Steve, I apologize unreservedly for any offense I caused you in my post. I have edited the paragraph in question, and inserted a "mea culpa."

I better buy Steve and David a button.

 

Lessons Learned from the Nobody Thing

(Cross-posted from my blog.)

Ragan Communications blogger Steve Crescenzo watched a colleague get crapped upon by what he and some others perceived to be a horde of rabid, hysterial bloggers.  He has learned several things from the episode:

• Don't insult people, if it makes you look like a pompous ass (I'm paraphrasing);
• Don't piss off insecure bloggers, or they'll attack you;
• A lot of bloggers are blindly prejudiced against the traditional media.

Which is too bad, because I hoped he and others would learn these truths instead:

• It's more gracious to apologize and move on than to bluster about why you should have used a different adjective to insult someone;
• Bloggers are a lot like ordinary people. In fact they are ordinary people (a lot like trade magazine editors and columnists);
• People generally have more in common with others than they think. When they can truly see the other person's perspective, they gain far more than they would by winning an argument.

Steve has a great sense of humour. If not for a personal attack on his reputation by Nobody Allan Jenkins, I'm sure Steve would have found something funny and enlightening about this situation to share with his readers. Instead, he launched a counterattack, slamming Allan for bringing up, out of the blue, an incident from years ago that suggested Steve once acted like a drunken boor.

I'm with Steve on this one. Even Nobodies can be insensitive, and even mainstream media can feel unfairly attacked and personally offended.

An apology for the original Nobody comment by David Murray would have been nice, but I didn't expect it. I'm not holding my breath for Allan to offer an apology for slinging mud in Steve's direction, either.

Assuming no apologies are forthcoming, what else do we learn? In the comments to Steve's post, Ragan Communications' Mark Ragan misses the point about the Nobody movement. He asks for a future report on progress, metrics, and sales.

The Nobody thing wasn't about sales, or site traffic or performance objectives, so don't ask for them. Our lofty goal was to bring people together and try something different. To follow a sense of indignation to its logical conclusion, and see where that took us once we got past the initial slam at an arrogant offhand comment by a trade magazine editor.

It was a bit of agitprop street drama, acted out in the blogosphere instead of at the corporate offices of its target.  It was a social thing, where creative people who barely knew each other beforehand had some fun, made some statements about personal dignity, and showed how a group can quickly coalesce around an idea.

Our goals were achieved when we first extended a hand to others, and got a response. Everything else is gravy.

If no one writes another word about the Nobody thing, we will have exceeded our expectations.  A bunch of people who I used to think of as competitors for audience are now acquaintances, maybe even friends, thanks to an experiment in satirical blogging.

I've learned that it's better to reach out with an open hand than a closed fist.

And that is a good lesson to learn.

Update:  Comments on Steve's blog and a new post to the Nobody blog renew my faith in people. Apologies all around (well, David Murray seems uinable to actually apologize, but he makes cheery noises), and promises to get together for beers at the IABC international conference this June in Vancouver. Now if somebody could strum a guitar, we can sing a round of Kumbaya and put the nastiness behind us.

BlogHer, a conference in the nobody spirit

Of late, I've been a nobody with nothing much to say. Mostly because I have been nose to the grindstone clearing away work before next week's vacation to "the happiest place on earth" (r) [sic].

Then finally, inspiration. I want to let all the nobodies know about a conference this July that is in the same spirit of the I.A.N. -- BlogHer. If you aren't familiar with the event, it started last year in response to the question, where are all the women bloggers? But it is far more than that, and I urge nobodies, male and female alike, to consider attending. You won't find the same old, same old sessions. Or the same speakers that you saw at the last few conferences you attended.

You will find a different kind of conference. More structure than an unconference, but a freshness and a spirit of cooperation unlike any I have ever experienced at a typical industry conference. Yes, you'll see a few "somebodies" on the program, but everyone acts like a nobody! Which is why it is one of the few events that I will spend my own money and travel cross-country to attend.

Now, full disclosure,  if you do decide to attend BlogHer,  I am part of an "unpanel" on Business Blogging Case Studies. Everybody's invited. We need your stories. If you're interested, drop me a note.

Tags: nobodies, nobody, blogher, business blogging

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Podcast: 11 seconds of fame?

A new service was launched just a couple of days ago. The service is called seconds11.com. Basically it is a grid of 11 x 11 squares where you can have your podcast listed. The beauty of the service is that when you move the mouse over any of the podcast icons, the (supposedly) best 11 seconds of the last issue of that podcast are automatically played. It’s like a sneak preview. Depending on the number of clicks a podcast receives, it is positioned more prominently in the grid and might even have a chance to enter the hall of fame. When the Nobody Podcast sees the light, this might be a way of letting other no- and/or somebodies know about it...

 

[via media-ocean]

Frappr'ized, courtesy of nobody Craig Jolley

Craig Jolley, our nobody for the Southern Ohio district, has put us Nobodies on Frappr. Graciously, he has given "somebodies" a chance to mark themselves, too.

Nobody knows everything

The BBC News front page highlights today (Tuesday 11 May) a piece on its Business pages titled Business Bites the Blogging Bullet. For most of us in the Communications industry, it won't say anything that we haven't already heard a hundred times before in similar articles (that savvy businesses are starting to wake up to the 'army of online commentators' in the blogosphere and that engaging with them 'can [result in an] amazing piece of market research that you can get for free' - Matthew Yeomans, Custom Communication).

For me, the key phrase in the article comes from Hugh Macleod when he says 'It's all virgin snow and we're still dealing in unknown quantities, but that's what makes it exciting.' Whatever your take on the Edelman/Walmart situation, it goes to show that even the big fish, the 'somebodies' don't have a magic formula when it comes to harnessing the blogosphere for PR purposes. Countless bloggers offered their opinions and no doubt some of them will have got it right, at least in part. My point is simply that nobody has the answer but together, as Nobodies, hopefully we might be able to get a bit closer. Vive la nobody.

PS – possible venue for a UK meeting of the I.A.N?

working on a nobody manifesto

just to map up the past, present and tata.. future..

any ideas ? I will post it shortly...

any other ideas to grasp this as fully as possible - in the smallest ammount of time ?

Ten Reasons Why It Is Important To Be A Nobody

Nobodies don’t fear that sharing knowledge and experience will diminish them.

Nobodies must impress only clients.

Nobodies pause to learn the why so the how is successful.

Nobodies move easily with the currents of change because change doesn’t threaten.

Nobodies take clients personally as well as seriously.

Nobodies take risks so clients reap the rewards.

Nobodies are writing the case studies, while others are waiting to read them.

Nobodies embrace the wisdom of crowds (there are a lot of nobodies).

Nobodies build the companies somebodies buy (Flickr, MySpace, Weblogs.com come immediately to mind).

Nobodies get to decide who is a somebody.

Such is the gift of insignificance.

Semantic Tricks

I guess this must be a Nobodies Anonymous meeting, so: "Hi, my name is Sallie, and I'm nobody."

You see, there are quite a number of people around the world who have no idea that I'm nobody.

In starting this meme off by referring to our Fearless Leader Allan Jenkins, David Murray violated one of Jeffrey J. Fox's key rules of rainmaking: "Everybody is somebody's somebody." In other words, deal politely and respectfully with everyone you encounter, because you never know when the bratty teenager is going to turn out to be the nephew of the CEO whose business you're desperately trying to get. (Of course, one could also phrase this as "because a duck could be somebody's mother.")

If this is true, then nobody is "nobody", because everybody is somebody. And, in fact, "everybody" and "nobody" might be semantically equivalent in this situation. If you're just like everybody else, then you're nobody special.

But remember just how useful it was to Odysseus to be "Nobody" when he encountered the Cyclops. Think about how many companies, committees, and projects suffer from having too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

This business of being a nobody could be pretty valuable, when you get right down to it. You could even say that being nobody is my business. A big part of my job as a ghostwriter is to let another person be the "Somebody" while I remain invisible behind the scenes. Maybe I'll take that as my new elevator speech: "I get paid to be nobody."

Another example of a Web 2.0 meme-storm

Fellow nobody Lee Hopkins, on his Better Communication Results blog, wrote yesterday about "How to create a global project management tool in 72 hours."

He was writing about us, of course, but let me share the tale of another Web 2.0 meme-storm that predates us by about 15 months.

Within hours of the Southeast Asian earthquake and tsunami, three bloggers started Skyping, wondering what they could do to help. They turned to social media -- a Blogger blog, a wiki, Skype, and IM (all of it free, or nearly so). Within three days they had attracted 100,000 visits and 50 volunteer bloggers, wiki specialists, networkers. Within eight days, their SEA-EAT Blog & Wiki had attracted over 1 million visits, and 200 volunteers -- all unpaid, with no "organization chart" or "director" or "fundraising staff". They just did it.

Dina Mehta's early posting on the topic (5 days after the event), her later personal account and this Information Week article are well worth a read, if you would like to know more.

I first heard this story from Dina herself at last year's Reboot conference, and blogged about it in "We don't have the tools is OUT as an excuse." And I still believe that (and Web 2.0 skeptics should wake up to this): if three Bombay bloggers who had never met each other can form a distributed 200-volunteer charity information network in eight days... think what rich companies and associations can do.

Technorati Tags: International Association of Nobodies, nobodies, Dina Mehta, SEA-EAT, tsunami

How Can You Be A Nobody...

...if EVERBODY wants to be a NOBODY?

The first thing I thought when I saw this meme sprout, weed-like, last week was, "Gosh, that's an esteemed group of smart, caring, thoughtful people.  I'd like to join them." 

So, first off, thanks for allowing me to join the Club.  I don't know how much farther this Nobody thing will go, but now I'll always be able to look back and say, "I was a nobody, once."  In fact, isn't that a goal for most of us? ;)

With a dash more seriousness - it is fascinating to consider how the blogosphere has empowered a widely-dispersed group of like-minded professionals to coalesce around a handful of topics each week, and make an incremental impact on the state of our industry. 

Do you foresee a day when the PR blogosphere is a "place" where our best practices are shared, evolved, standardized?  Isn't that starting to happen, already (e.g., the Wal-Mart/Edelman brouhaha)?

Do you envision a world in which the PR blogosphere (all of us, not a single spokesperson) is "asked for comment" by members of the media - or  by members of different interest groups?   

I can see such a day dawning.  And it's cool.  Not bad for a bunch of nobodies.

Nobody knows

Nobody knows the power of nobodies...

do I want to be in a club..

that would accpet me? Guess so: the Nobody club. Does it mena I can give anonymously because nobobody will know who I, a nobody am? (will leave what "give" means in ambiguity because I gather that somebodies might flame some nobodies, not naming names, of course, in the spirit of being positively nobody (but you stopped reading already, eh?)...what will we do when the Nobody Group gets so well-known that we, well, become... I think I'll go sculling

Nobody, but you... David Murray

Nobody could have spurred on the growth of this community more than David Murray.

This blog, with the accompanying wiki, Google Group, podcasts and more is a perfect example of how a select group of people - with shared interests - can take social media (blogs) and turn them into a fun network sharing ideas and opinions.

David, you asked for essays to help you understand social media in your recent journal editorial.  I say, "David, read this blog and those of the contributors, and think of it as one broad essay 'loosely joined' (thanks David Weinberger) which can serve you in helping to understand why social media might mean something."

OK, I'm only sort of kidding.  But, David, you should be paying attention.  You have now been thoroughly taken to task in a number of blogs (as has your employer, Ragan Communications) and those blog posts will be showing up in Google/Yahoo! searches.  What will that say?  Well, it will say that Ragan Communications hasn't grasped that social media is a force to be reckoned with these days.  It will also say that you don't know how to handle it, either.

Now the interesting thing is, we don't claim to "get" it all, either.  The real purposes of everyone's online activities - via blog, wiki or any other channels - is to discuss these ideas and share information whereby we all do a remarkable thing.  We learn.  We learn from each other and allow others to comment on our thoughts and opinions, too.  David, don't you think that such a task can be accomplished with employee communication?  Firms are using intranet blogs and portals to do it every day.  Didn't you know about that?  What does that say about Ragan Communications and their ability to share valuable advice with their readers?

Your Ragan Communications site and Journal of Employee Communication Management don't necessarily do that because you are stuck in the old one-way communication model.  No comments allowed.  No trackbacks.  No links to those you deride.  So, you won't learn from your posts.  They have no link to you because they can only email you.  That, David, is just the most basic of aspects about social media that you haven't yet grasped.  And, you don't link to people when you write about them.  That, David, keeps you from enjoying these learning conversations.  New words for you, today, David.  Trackbacks.  Links.  Comments.  Try them.  You'll see that they can be useful tools.

I hope you're enjoying the ride, David.  I'd get involved and take part in the conversations.  It can only help you.  We're really only talking about new tools and tactics, not the next big thing.

from a brazilian nobody...

hi, nobodies friends.

excuse my bad english, but I would like to invite you to see the post I did on my blog

at the permalink http://ghetto.blogs.com/jotaesse/2006/04/_im_nobody_.html

thanks, Allan, by the invite to me: the community, now, have a brazilian nobody

that is living in villas do atlantico - bahia - brazil.

jotaesse

jotaesse@gmail.com

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/jotaesse

Titular nobodies

One of the (many) interesting discussions enjoyed by those of us fortunate to be ‘in’ on the ‘nobody’ meme has revolved around the concept of nomenclature and in particular titularicity (like that? ).

Some, in the early hours of the meme-spread, wanted to vote Monsieur Le Jenkins in as Chairman of the Board; others wanted (by virtue of being in on the ‘ground floor’) rather ‘grand’ sounding titles — like ‘Grand Universe Master Overlord of the Southern Hemisphere’, and such.

Monsieur Le Jenkins, however, deftly pointed out the potential error of such a path.

How could we be ‘nobodies’ if we had ‘somebody’ titles? How could we all be nobodies if there was a disegalitarianistic (how’s that one, then? ) culture whereby all were equal (‘nobodies’) but some were more equal than others?

Whilst it pains this humble megalomaniac from the Adelaide Hills to admit it, Monsieur Le Jenkins is onto a bit of a ‘winner’ with that idea.

Tapping into Australia’s ‘tall poppy’ syndrome and the Scandinavian concept of ‘Jantelov’ (wherein a key tenant is ‘Do not think you are somebody’), Brother Allan has challenged me to create and accept as my lot a more humble title.

Hence I sign off this post and remain, as always, your humble Deputy District Supervisor (Acting) for Adelaide Hills Region.

Should you wish to apply for the role and oust me, please request a Job and Person Specification from me via my new email address:
nobody at LeeHopkins dot net

Au revoir and bon chance, as Monsieur Le Jenkins would no doubt say...

· · · · ·· · · · ·· · · · ·

Technorati: nobody

Nobodies sort of randomly getting together in Vancouver?

How many nobodies are coming to the IABC conference in Vancouver? Enough of us to do a dine-around thing? And if not, 2-3 of us to a pick-up dine around Saturday night? Spouses, friends and drag-alongs welcome...... hell, if we are nobody, they probably are too.

Shopping as a nobody... the first steps

Being called a "nobody" in print has curious effects that psychology can probably explain, but which continue to surprise and plague me.

For example, I found myself unable to enter a grocery store, for fear that I would be spotted as a nobody. Can you imagine the scene at the checkout? "Hey, Louise, get a load of this... this nobody is trying to buy balsamic vinegar! Thinks he's a somebody, I guess!" (Although I live in Denmark, so they'd say this in Danish, of course).

However, surveying my rapidly depleting larder, I realized I had to snap out of this, otherwise I would literally soon be nobody.

So I visted our International Association of Nobodies Online Store. And I found... even as a nobody, I can shop. I bought a BBQ apron, a mug, and five badges - one for me, one for my teddy bear Alfred, and three to give away. Actually, I am thinking of buying about 100 of the badges and giving them away to true nobodies at the IABC Conference in Vancouver.

Now that I can shop... well, maybe I can toddle down to the supermarket and get that vinegar. Thank you, Nobodies!

Podcast: why not start with a song?

Our own song? Mmmm... That's a thought. But I guess nobody can really sing or play music that well, can we? If we could, we would probably not be a nobody. Of course: everybody... well, every nobody is welcome to prove me wrong and write the Song for Nobody. I, for one, would love to hear it!

In the meantime, I thought we might just start off with an existing song. When surfing the net, you will come across quite a number of songs about 'nobody in particular'. But if there is somebody this nobody were to choose as a hero (musically and otherwise), it would be John Lennon. And reading the lyrics to his 'Nobody told me' song, I had a feeling it was still relevant today. Especially the opening sentence 'Everybody's talking and no one says a word' could apply perfectly to the blogosphere as well (if you were, for example, to replace 'talking' by 'blogging')...

Anyway, here's the entire lyrics - and if you don't remember what the song sounds like, you can listen to the first 30 seconds of it :

Everybody's talking and no one says a word
Everybody's making love and no one really cares
There's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs

Always something happening and nothin’ going on
There's always something cooking and nothing in the pot
They're starving back in China, so finish what you got

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed, strange days indeed

Everybody's runnin’ and no one makes a move
Well everybody's a winner and nothing left to lose
There's a little yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu

Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground
Well everybody's crying and no one makes a sound
There's a place for us in movies, you just gotta stay around

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed, most peculiar mama

Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
There's UFO's over in New York and I ain't too surprised

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed, most peculiar mama

Like it? Ideas for other songs? Post or comment!

Technorati Tags : nobody, song, lyrics, john+lennon

Podcast: "The best thing about being a nobody is..."

As nobodies it makes perfect sense to do a podcast instead of a video, since no one would recognize us anyway. We first thought of recording 18 minutes of silence in honor the infamous Watergate tapes, but Eric "Nobody" Eggerston had the more inclusive idea of asking all you nobodies out there to participate.

Here's the concept: Record a brief statement answering the question "The best thing about being a nobody is..." It can be serious, funny, provocative, sad, inspiring or depressing. Do whatever you want -- remember, you're a nobody, so no one is going to care about what you have to say anyway.

When you're done, send the audio file to "thepeople{at}marcominteractive.com" and we will assemble all you nobodies into a podcast. Or if you prefer, use Dropload and we'll pick up the file from there.

It's easy -- well, for us, anyway, since you'll be doing most of the work. We may be nobodies, but we're not stupid.

nobody

More nobodies coming out of the woodwork

I suspected we were legion, we nobodies. Oh, you don't turn to your partner at a dinner party and ask "So, are you a nobody, too?", but you suspect it.

Nobodies are getting thick on the ground at the "I'm a Nobody" blog, so let's welcome them:

Lee Hopkins, Australia (such a nobody, I gave him a futon)
Shel Holtz, USA (yes, he is known as a somebody, but I personally vouch for his nobody-ness)
Henriette Weber Andersen, Denmark (suspiciously long proto-somebody name there, you might want to shorten it)
Jeffrey Treem, USA (never heard of him, approved)

Are you a nobody? You know you are. Admit it by sending me a mail at allanjenkins (then the little sign that I won't put here, to spoil the spammers) gmail.com.

I'll sign newcomers up about once a day, though more often if I feel special.

Making Something from a Bunch of Nothings

The I.A.N. is off to a rousing start, which isn't bad considering there are a bunch of nobodies in charge. It's like the U.S. House of Representatives, only this group gets stuff done.

The logo is great and the store is proof that despite our interminable self-loathing, we still have some PR and marketing saavy. But what if people actually, you know, buy something? We're nobodies -- who's going to give us a bank account?

So here's my thought: Anyone dumb enough to buy swag from an organization of nobodies should be rewarded by having the proceeds go to charity. We're international so the charity should be global. And since we are nobodies, we should help other nobodies -- or at least people who are considered nobodies by much of the world.

I'm thinking of the homeless in Los Angeles. Of refugees in Darfur and displaced families from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Of Southeast Asia Tsunami victims and Pakistani earthquake survivors. I'm thinking of the millions who don't have blogs or computers or Internet access, but who would welcome help from those who do.

These are the real nobodies -- and if we could raise some money to help them, well, now that would be something indeed.

Being that I'm a nobody, however, it's possible that this idea is lame, and I should just go back to watching Seinfeld reruns and wondering how the banana got its name (did you know bananas are the earth's first fruit? It's true!)

Nevertheless, if you agree or have a different suggestion, please post a comment or let one of the nobodies know.

International Association of Nobodies Newsletter - Vol. 1, No. 1

This archival e-mail from lunchtime April 6 was already out of date two hours later, but is recorded here for posterity, much the way The Declaration of Independence is cherished in the United States, and the Magna Carta in Britain.

Vol. 1, No. 1

Dear Nobodies:

 

Things have happened so quickly with the formation of The Nobody Club that a few small details have been overlooked. (see later posting about name change)

 

Obviously, we need to elect interim board members, set a date for an inaugural annual meeting, and get started with a membership drive. The more Nobodies we get involved in the administration of the club, the more we can distribute the work.  If each of you can commit to 30 hours of volunteer work over the next six weeks, I think we can pull this off!

 

I have started on a budget, and I'm hoping one of you will volunteer to start the visioning process, which hopefully will lead to a slogan and a logo.  Someone else will need to start making paper hats, so we can maintain a dress code appropriate to the nature of our club. 

 

Can anyone find room on a server to host our club web site and online store?  I doubt our initial club novelty items and clothing line will put much of a load on the system, but once sales exceed $1 million annually (by 2008, if my projections hold water), we may need to move the store to a dedicated server.  Scalability is key.  If we get good uptake on Fark, Slashdot, Scoble and Boing Boing, we may find our sales are beyond our wildest dreams right off the bat!  I'd like to brainstorm the potential for a beanie cap with a propeller, a "Kiss Me, I'm a Nobody" line of quality t-shirts and teddies (we can change the wording once our visioning process is completed), and a non-reflecting titanium "mirror" with "You're Looking at Nobody" laser-etched at the bottom.

 

NobodyClub.org is available, so once we get a start-up budget approved, I can register the domain.

 

In the meantime, we obviously should set out to destabilize, or perhaps infiltrate the existing Nobody Club. Check out www.nobodyclub.com, and maybe look into the owner of the URL and this (address deleted) who is listed as their contact. It's highly suspicious that the existing Nobody Club is operating at or near one of the Axis of Evil countries, North Korea.  We need one of the American members of our club to send out some feelers to the CIA or NSA to see if we qualify for any dark ops money to take out our competition. 

Oops!  I got so carried away with my excitement over the club that I forgot to give a big group hug to Allan Jenkins, without whom we wouldn't be nobodies, and Ike and Andrea, whose support over the first few dark hours were crucial in helping me maintain my slim grip on sanity.  Gary, you just haven't been pulling your weight much yet.  I hope we can count on you to ramp up your invovlement!

 

Until we have our online presence established, and a secure site for confidential club matters, I propose that we keep in touch via e-mail.  I will try to keep club newsletters down to no more than once a day, as I know you're all busy people.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Eric "Nobody" Eggertson

(hoping to be nominated as Vice-President of Promotions on the board!)

 

P.S.  Can I ask you a special favour?  Go through your contact lists and identify 50 people who you think have what it takes to be a nobody.  If each of us can come up with an initial 50 prospects, and if each of them embraces nobodyness and has 50 more prospects ... well, you can see the sort of exponential growth we could be dealing with!

 

(Please contact Allan before compiling a database for the purposes of spamming  potential nobodies in Europe.  Apparently the legal situation there discourages exciting organizations like ours from flourishing unless we jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops.) 

- 30 -

Stay tuned for updates about our progress in this remarkable new venture that is less than 24 hours old.  Membership details should be posted soon.  In the meantime, just post an item on your blog declaring yourself a Nobody, or leave a comment on this blog.

Who is that guy?

Who is that wierd guy in that cubicle with his headphones on pounding on his keyboard all day?

I don't know, but if he were somebody, I bet I would know his name. I bet if he were somebody we would be having lively conversations by the water cooler about fine wine and croquet.

He must be a NOBODY!

I guess I wont bother talking to him. I bet he has nothing to offer. I bet he doesn't know anything I don't already know.

Even if we had some tools in our organization to share information, to let me work more quickly, to help me meet the people I work with and learn what they are good at, why would I want to use that?

After all, those people are a bunch of NOBODIES!

Sure, I'm a nobody

You pass us in the street and never turn your head. We are the neighbors down the street who, when the police knock at your door, are not the subject of the investigation. Rupert Jee would never pick us to come into the deli -- in fact, it would not occur to us that he might, so we don't stand in line in the first place. Somebody would, and anybody might....but not us.

We're nobody.

Oh, we watch the same games you watch. Laugh at the same jokes. Watch the same shows. You just don't notice us because... we're nobody.

Garrison Keillor populated an entire town with people like us.. 900 or so... but he named only about 20. The other 880? That's us.

Well, we have news for you.

To some degree, we aren't going to take it (much) anymore (that is to say, the short term). No sir. And if Somebody doesn't need this soapbox, we're using it. Unless Anybody objects.

Who are we? Nobody....
Allan Jenkins
Eric Eggertson
Andrea Werckerle
Ike Pigott
Linda Zimmer
Gary Goldhammer
Richard Nixon (honorary, for now)

And anyone else who wants to join us as we creep down the nobody path of communication... to find ourselves... to the one day when we become (dare we say the word... no, let us just avert our eyes and cough up a little phlegm) Somebodies!

Our store is well-stocked, so you Somebodies are welcome to just load up the carts.

Ramblings about nothing.

What a day.  I got to use my brand new media alert system, while watching the traffic roll in from Micro Persuasion, What's Next Blog, and a couple of other heavy A-listers.

I also saw the universal acceptance of my NOBODY! button, which turned into a massive PR meme.

Then I opened up a web store on Cafepress, which features merchandise for the International Association of Nobodies.

Then I went to the airport, where I had to deal with local media.

Just the usual kind of average everyday humdrum.  Thanks for reading.  I'd write more, but the tedium has made me sleepy.