A Successful Australian Book Launch for ‘a practical guide to social media in financial services’ (Sydney, 26 October 2011)

In Sydney, more than 20 people joined us for some drink and my speech on my first published book ‘a practical guide to social media in financial services’.  The following financial institutions were represented: CommInsure, Commonwealth Bank, GE Capital, ING Direct, National Australia Bank (NAB), Suncorp, UBank.

After a successful soft launch and a few hundreds copies of the book already sold all over the world in countries such as the UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, the US, Brazil, Japan, Singapore and Australia, my publisher organized our first official book launch party (London, 12 September 2011).

I had the opportunity to talk the crowd (30+ journalists, students and financial services professionals) through the story behind Visible-Banking.com and my book, and answer questions from an engaged audience.

As I was going to travel to the Asia Pacific region in October and November, I was keen to put together similar ‘book launch’ events in Singapore and Australia.

I loved Sydney.  It was my very first trip (of surely a long series) to Australia, and I loved every minute of it.  I met some fantastic people, I saw some wonderful landscapes and landmarks, I came close to the cutest and most entertaining animals, I enjoyed some great food and wine, and last but not least I met in person many of my online contacts and supporters of Visible-Banking.com.I came to Australia to deliver a number of workshops and interview several thought leaders and innovators.  At the same time, I was keen to take advantage of my visit to organize another ‘book launch’ party.During those events, I’m always keen to invite exclusively financial services professionals and journalists. Those events are not open to vendors and other digital agencies.In Sydney, we received about 20 registrations from the following financial institutions: CommInsure, Commonwealth Bank, GE Capital, ING Direct, National Australia Bank (NAB), Suncorp, Telstra Digital, UBank.

It was great to make new connections in Sydney, and meet the men and women behind the twitter handles 😉

The event was very relaxed and informal. Most people in the room were familiar with my work on Visible Banking and aware of my book,  Contrary to Singapore, I delivered a longer speech (over 45mn!) on topics such as the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Know your Followers/Fans (KYF).

We decided to organize a draw and give one copy of my book to a luck winner.  Suzy from ING Direct picked my social media friend and fellow ‘bacon enthusiast’ (private joke ;)), Derek Jenkins – Research and Development Manager at Commonwealth Bank.
Derek, I look forward to reading your book review on Amazon.com.

So if you couldn’t join us in London, Singapore and Sydney, this is what you missed. But I’m travelling quite a bit, and I am regularly invited to speak at conferences all over the world, so chances are I will come near you in the next few months. Please check Visible Banking on regular basis, I’m keen to connect with you in person and discuss the exciting topics of social media and digital engagement in financial services.

In the meantime, I invite you to find more information on my book athttp://www.SocialMediaFinancialServicesBook.com and check out the reviews on Amazon.com.

My publisher and I have already put together half-a-dozen sizable deals with financial institutions in the UK, France, Singapore and Australia. We would be delighted to put together a similar deal to distribute the book within your organization.

Pictures
I invite you to check the pictures we shot during the event. As usual feel free to like and comment them, and add yours.