About the Episode

I am here at Opticon 2023, Optimizely’s annual conference, here in San Diego, California where there have been a lot of exciting announcements, and we’re going to get to at least a few of those today.

Innovation and creativity don't happen in a vacuum. Humans work better in groups, and the right platform provides a base for their collective imagination to flourish.

Today we’re going to talk about content creation and management as tools to boost creativity and effectiveness of marketing efforts, all to the benefit of the customer.

To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Deane Barker, Global Director of Content Management at Optimizely.

About Deane Barker

Deane Barker is the Global Director of Content Management at Optimizely. He’s been working in content management for 25 years, and has written four books about the patterns and practices of modeling, creating, managing, and delivering digital content, including “Web Content Management: Systems, Features, and Best Practices” for O’Reilly Media and the just-published “Web Project Guide: From Spark to Launch and Beyond.” Deane lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Resources

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Synopsis

Opticon, Optimizely's annual conference held in San Diego in October, serves as a platform for exciting announcements. The episode mentions that Opticon 2023 had numerous thrilling announcements. However, specific details about these announcements are not provided.

In the episode, Deane Barker from Optimizely discussed that creating writing prompts can be a challenging task. Even small variations in a prompt can result in vastly different responses. Writing prompts are considered an art form that requires collaboration, effective platforms, and team communication to enhance. It is crucial for organizations to establish a center of excellence or practice dedicated to writing prompts. Through collaboration and communication, teams can learn from each other's experiences and determine what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating prompts. Good platforms also play a significant role in this process as they enable teams to process ideas more efficiently and thoroughly. They allow for the refinement of ideas within the team's context. The episode emphasizes that collaboration, good platforms, and team communication have always been fundamental in content creation.

During the episode, the guest speaker discusses the power of platforms in fostering creativity and enabling effective collaboration within teams. The speaker highlights the importance of platforms in facilitating faster and more thorough idea processing. They explain that platforms allow teams to refine ideas collectively, bringing together different perspectives and insights from various individuals within the organization. This enables teams to combine and solidify these ideas into something valuable for the business.

The speaker also emphasizes the role of software platforms, particularly their content marketing platform, in amplifying creativity and innovation for creative teams. They argue that great content, ideas, and innovation stem from networks of people working on platforms and externalizing their thoughts. The speaker challenges the traditional notion that creativity solely originates from an individual's mind, proposing instead that collaboration and externalization on software platforms are the driving forces behind creativity and innovative content.

Furthermore, the speaker references historical content creators such as Leonardo da Vinci and Eminem, noting their shared practice of externalizing their creativity and thoughts. They emphasize the importance of transforming ideas from mere thoughts into tangible artifacts and the value of gathering in a specific place to work and externalize ideas.

Overall, the episode highlights the role of platforms, particularly software platforms, in facilitating collaboration, fostering creativity, and enabling teams to effectively generate valuable content and ideas by working together.