Musings: Digital Kids 2013

This week marks the annual passing of the Digital Kids conference.  Once again, Digital Kids 2013 returned to New York City, operating in collaboration with Toy Fair, thus giving business insiders an opportunity to hear about strategy and innovation from experts, and time to walk the fun-filled aisles of the fair.

One of the coolest events to happen during a conference is the random “meeting of minds;” opportunities for passionate representatives of the industry to engage in off-the-cuff conversations.  Often times, these are unscripted chats, filled with unique insight, from partners and competitors alike, and (unfortunately) are never recorded.

Lucky for us, this year Scott Traylor of 360Kid had a camera on hand to record one of these conversations.  He had the wherewithal to film an impromptu round table of experts, including such gurus as Joi Podgorny of Smart Bomb Interactive, Nic Mitham of KZero, David Holifield of InterFUEL, Chris Priebe of Two Hats Security, and me (Izzy Neis of Metaverse Mod Squad).  Check us out as we cover new innovation, virtual worlds, parents, and safety:

It is so important to keep conversations like that going beyond conferences. And, the topics do not have to be toy or kid-centric. If you are in (or have) customer service, or community, or digital strategy – you still exist in this every-shifting “new frontier” of digital media, and the rules of the playing field seem to change by the quarter.

Take the Applebee’s Facebook issue from the last few weeks. If you don’t know much about it, I would suggest reading this article.  Although we are not a part of that situation, we have successfully handled multiple situations like this recently for clients needing a fast social media rescue.  Situations like this provide great opportunities for discussion around social media, staffing policy, responsibility, liability, and business.  Even when a product or event is “offline,” there is still a need to understand the digital landscape.

There’s always opportunity to learn and innovate, and that often happens when those who are passionate about a field or industry take time for discussion and sharing.  And, well, it doesn’t hurt to have a guy with a camera around to capture discussion.  If you’re interested in seeing more of the conversations from the Digital Kids conference, please check out Scott Traylor’s awesome youtube page.  If you’re interested in finding out more about innovative conversations happening in the digital space, and how such things might affect your company, send us an email at [email protected].

Also, as a aside note, many thanks to the Squishland and Mashmallow Shooter folks for the rad toy swag!  I can’t promise my roommate is too thankful though. 😉

Izzy Neis
Director of Digital Engagement & Strategy