I feel very fortunate to have attended the second Like Minds conference in Exeter and had the opportunity to absorb some top class thinking from people who came from all over the World. In my little corner of the UK came some great thinkers and doers in the world of Social Media/Business/Communications.

After attending the first conference and by following the excellent Like Minds Blog site I was very clear on what I expected to get. I expected the conference to be ‘high-minded’ – with a title People-2-People you wouldn’t expect it to be a workshop on how to use Twitter. Equally, looking at the roster of speakers I didn’t expect it to be about Devon businesses – even though there were plenty of local small business tidbits in there. Like Minds delivered what I expected – I thoroughly enjoyed absorbing the ideas and thoughts that were, by nearly every speaker, superbly delivered. I was surprised however at how entertaining at times the presentation were – more a kin to a concert or comedy show than a business conference! I loved it.

Like Minds 2010 Speakers - photo Benjamin Ellis

But best of all was the chance to network and have conversations with people right across business sectors and parts of the country (and the World). And this raises the question in my mind what will the legacy of Like Minds be to Exeter, Devon and the Westcountry? I have no doubt that Scott and Drew now have the opportunity to take Like Minds to a new level. (Maybe an international level – Like Minds USA perhaps?) I hope that it retains its Exeter connection in the future because I believe we need these water-shed events to inspire us. But what can we working here in our small businesses in the Westcountry hope to get from it?

I’ve already read some comments about how Like Minds didn’t provide useful information for small businesses like those found here in Devon. And on the face of it I can understand that – it didn’t specifically. But I knew that before I went – I believe that my job as a participant was to absorb the contents of Like Minds and re-hash and re-mix it into something that works for my business sector. (I intend to blog about these ideas soon.) But how can we ‘locals’ use these ideas to help benefit one another?