With Collaboration as its motto, the Good Ideas Salon São Paulo was the first to happen in South America. About 60 people attended the event, which brought together speakers with radically different backgrounds to discuss the theme.

Marta Schonhorst, a former Brazilian Olympic rhythmic gymnast, exposed her experience on how collaboration is fundamental to the development of sports, particularly given the synchronized dynamic so particular to her sport. Ricardo Freire, a travel blogger, spoke of how his readers have became co-authors of the content he publishes, limiting his role to curator within a highly collaborative information network. Augusto de Franco, a self-denominated “Netweaver”, explained some of his research and experiments with horizontal social networks and how their configuration represents an antithesis to a hierarchic, command and control, centralized structure. Ari Raynsford, a PhD in Nuclear Physics with a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from MIT, is a specialist in Integral Vision due to his extensive studies of Ken Wilber’s work. He stated that social networks are potentially an evolutionary experience with a greater human conscience, arguing that nobody detains all the truth and only through an integral model that accepts collaboration between individuals can we continue to evolve.

At one point Ari said the evolutionary process is inherently hierarchic, because as you transcend from one level of consciousness to the next, new elements become part of your rationale, rendering the “system” increasingly more complex. Augusto offers a contrasting view, making clear that he does not believe in esoteric explanations nor does he believe human beings exist in different evolutionary stages. If this were the case, society would legitimatize the power of one individual over another, and that is not what collaboration and horizontal social networks are all about. Ari then said that while this vision may be partially true, it certainly does not constitute the whole truth. Hierarchy and human evolutionary stages in the negative form that Augusto sees them, Ari says, originate from a misconception caused by our present level of consciousness, which is insufficient, and we are thus unable to judge nor properly understand subjective matters through an objective prism. Quite deep and complex, to say the least.

Wikis, crowdsourcing, democracy, spirituality, blogs and grassroots movements: the discussion became deeper and broader with new methods and tools for collaborative models mentioned. If there’s one key takeaway to remember, it’s that there are a number of ways to structure, manage and sustain collaborative models, and that no one model is necessarily the best for everyone.

The event took place at The Hub, a collaborative and collective workspace. In their own words:

We’ve been working across four continents, and 12 cities to create places for people who want to change things. This is the ambition. We set out to create places that borrow from the best of a member’s club, an innovation agency, a serviced office and a think-tank to create a very different kind of innovation environment. Places with all the tools and trimmings needed to grow and develop new ventures. Places to access experience, knowledge, finance and markets. And above all, places for experience and encounter, full of diverse people doing amazing things. We call these places Hubs. In many ways we’re just getting started. And we’d like you to be part of it.

The next Good Ideas Salon, São Paulo will take place 1Q 2010 on ETHICS.

Good Ideas Salons

On August 6th, PSFK and YouTube hosted a Good Ideas Salon on the topic of community in San Bruno CA, at YouTube headquarters.

It was led by Mia Quagliarello (Product Marketing Manager – Community YouTube) who was joined by Jen Burton (Senior Community Manager, Digg), Heather Champ (Director of Community, Flickr) and Matthew Stinchcomb (VP – Community, Etsy). They engaged in an in-depth discussion on the communities on their respective sites, and shared tips on building, managing, and harnessing the incredible power of vast online audiences.

You can watch the video of the panel in its entirety below, or simply read the suggested takeaways:

Community management is the new brand marketing

All of the panelists recognized their users not only as the ultimate ambassadors for their brands, but also as the engines behind them. “[Community] is the brand; it differentiates us,” said Matthew Stinchcomb of Etsy. “If not for the community, we’d be ‘bad eBay with bad search’.” He also mentioned that traditional advertising (banner ads, etc) were simply ineffective- 90% of Etsy’s advertising comes from word-of-mouth. Embrace and empower your users, and let them carry your messages for you.

Keep it real

Stay focused on your users’ best interests, stick to your core principles, and always be open and honest. “It’s important to be able to make bold decisions confidently,” said Flickr’s Heather Champ. “Sometimes, you know that you’re going to piss off a very vocal minority, but as long you have the vibrancy of the community in interest and are transparent about your vision of the long view, people stay happy.”

Don’t forget the real world

Online may be where most of the interactions are happening, but the real world is important, too: meetups are a good way for users to meet each other and for staff to meet users, and they can help to deflate any negativity that might persist in places like forums. While the majority of these physical gatherings are user-organized, all three sites partake in events big (Digg’s annual SXSW bash) and small (whenever she’s in a new city, Champ will go out shooting photographs with local Flickr users; she says it’s a great way to see a new town). Etsy even has a work space in its Brooklyn, NY, office for its community to create crafts together.

Set clear rules of engagement

If you’re trying to build a community from scratch, it’s important to let growth occur organically, but you’ve gotta have a solid framework while it happens. These usually come in the form of Community Guidelines, and they are a must-have for anyone looking to have passionate communities carry their products forward.

Micro-communities

Matthew from Etsy discussed growing the community internationally, and kept mentioning the importance of “micro-communities”- and his hopes for strengthening them in the future by supplying users with tools that bring people with niche interests together (example: a group interested specifically in ceramics discussing topics/projects pertinent to them).

Held in December 2008, this Good Ideas Salon provided an interesting discussion around social media and the struggle between transparency and professionalism. Moderated by Colin Nagy (PSFK/Attention), the panel included Darren Paul (Night Agency), Faris Yakob (McCann), Caroline McCarthy (CNET), and David Art Wales (Ministry of Culture/Prudent Boozers).