Mike Dover

Mike Dover is a highly connected research executive who has spent the past fifteen years investigating the impact of technology on business and society. Currently he is Managing Partner of Socialstruct Advisory Group. Previously, he led New Paradigm, a world-class think tank. He was a member of the senior management team that built the think tank’s business and reputation to make it an attractive target (acquired by Moxie Software in 2007).

In his book, Wikibrands: Reinventing your Business in a Customer-Driven Marketplace, Dover investigates how companies are using technology to enable meaningful conversations with their customers and was named one of the top 10 business books by Booklist Magazine in 2011.

Dover was responsible for operations, content quality, and client management for $10 million, multi-year research studies on the intersections among technology, business strategy and society. He led more than 100 professionals over the course of the programs. The research in these programs formed the basis for the bestselling books Wikinomics: Mass Collaboration Changes Everything and Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. These projects were funded by senior executives at Global 2000 companies such as IBM, Cisco, Procter & Gamble, Federal Express, Disney, and Accenture.

Dover has written dozens of white papers and reports, mostly on the subjects of generational theory, the relationship of technology to business models, and popular culture.

As an experienced public speaker and panelist, Dover has delivered dozens of highly rated speeches about the role of technology, generations in the workplace, and popular culture. 

• 4. Harnessing Social Media

  This presentation will describe the social media phenomenon including its roots, current status and future. The audience will learn about best practice cases of how corporations can deploy social media as well as the best way to build their personal brand. Case examples will be customized to suit the audience.
  
  Also included in the presentation are:
  
  *What are the most important Social Media platforms?
  *What are the key performance metrics for you Social Media?
  *What characteristics should a Community Manager possess?
  
  

• 3. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

  Lessons from the bestselling book authored by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams (Dover led the $4 million research program that formed the basis for the book).
  
  Wikinomics describes the phenomenon of mass collaboration enabled by interactive technology. Billions of people connected through the Internet self-organize into a powerful collective force. Examples in the presentation come from business, industry, government and society. It can be customized to provide examples from whichever industry is most relevant to the audience.

• 2. The Net Generation as Customer and Employee

  The Net Generation (the oldest born in 1977) was the first to grow up surrounded by digital technology (or "bathed in bits"). This immersion in technology dramatically affected the way these young people think, work, communicate, and play. They operate differently in the workplace and the marketplace. This presentation will describe the key findings from the multi-million dollar research program that formed the basis for Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott (Dover was the research director). The study validated the following norms of the Net Generation.

  The presentation will describe how each of these norms manifests for the Net Gen as employees and as consumers.

• 1. Wikibrands

  Based on the ground-breaking book Wikibrands: Reinventing Your Company in a Customer-Driven Marketplace (Co-authored by Mike Dover and Sean Moffitt), this presentation discusses how companies can deploy technology to include customers in discussions about their brands in a meaningful way.

  This presentation will look at how firms deploy technology to increase the authenticity of conversations they have with their customers. The currency at play within these companies is no longer mass communication and passive consumption but customer participation and genuine brand engagement. It will discuss how firms harness cognitive surplus and identifies organizational hurdles to achieving  true community. It identifies the skills and characteristics of community managers and discusses a new way to evaluate performance metrics.
  
  

• Mike spoke to the Alliance of Independent Practitioners, a group of self-employed communications consultants to which I belong. He did a great job of explaining how to use social media tools to boost one's profile and generate more revenue.

  Alliance of Independent Practitioners

• Mike was a featured speaker at the October 2009 conference of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants, a group of leading experts in the worldwide hospitality industry.....his presentation regarding the evolution of social networking in the hospitality industry was terrific....informative, precise, intriguing and most importantly to this group of type A consultants, it was a call to action.

  Goodwin & Associates Hospitality Consulting

• Mike appeared on a show I produced on TVO. He's engaging and really knows his stuff. I hope to use him again on shows in the future. He was also extremely helpful in the research stages of putting the program together.

  TVOntario

• I am pleased to recommend Mike as someone who understands 'mass collaboration' and can challenge his audience as to what can be possible if we move in this direction. A very powerful presentation that has good synergy with the times we are in and paradigm shifts we are encountering!

  PetLynx

• Mike is extremely versatile, insightful, and knowledgeable. He stays well ahead of a broad range of developments not just in IT, telecom, & high tech, but also emerging social and demographic trends and paradigms that impact technology adoption. From research analyst and director, to emceeing rooms full of 200 senior executives, Mike brings a rare mix of skills and knowledge to any endeavour.

  AT&T

• Knowledgeable and succinct, Mike dealt deftly with questions and left us with no doubt that he really knows his stuff. He connected with our audience, and facilitated a fine discussion. Recommended!

  Toronto Wiki Tuesdays

• Mike was a Transcontinental keynote speaker at the 2011 Alberta Magazine Publishers Association annual event. Mike is a brilliant speaker who immediately engages with his audience, presents relevant and timely content and provides examples that the audience can easily incorporate into their own marketing programs. Audience feedback expressed the highest levels of satisfaction with many positive comments surrounding Mike's skillful presentation style and the amount of key 'takeaway' from his session. As a professional speaker Mike is highly prepared, organized and is vastly knowledgeable about his subject matter. He is able to tailor his presentation to specific audiences and delivers an educational experience by inspiring his audience to think in new ways, while revealing how to breathe new life into business and marketing strategies. I would engage his services again in a heartbeat - he was a pleasure to work with and a consummate pro.

  Alberta Magazine Publishers Association

• Mike's business and research experience, along with his recent co-authoring of Wikibrands, make him one of the most relevant and informed business speakers on the circuit. He has a gift for combining practical information with dry wit into a very approachable, actionable presentation. Our audience overwhelmingly enjoyed Mike's keynote, and we intend to have him back again in the future.

  Partner Brainrider

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  December 2010

  WIKIBRANDS: Reinventing Your Business in a Customer-Driven Marketplace

  WikiBrands explain what your business needs to do NOW to embrace the power of p-2-p technologies like word-of-mouth, user generated content, social media, microblogging, crowdsourcing, and customer rating systems to engage customers and enlist them in brand building and value-enhancement. Featuring fascinating case studies of how Microsoft, P&G, Nike, Starbucks, Ford, Best Buy, Zappos, and others, launched, built, expanded, or rebuilt their brands through Wiki-style collaboration with customers, this book is part wake-up call, part action plan-and the total blueprint for how you can drive innovation and growth through technology-based immersive customer interaction.