We thought we’d start a new tradition and put a spotlight on our truly amazing partners. The first one we chose to start with (just in time for his birthday tomorrow, March 8th, so be nice!) is none other than super event planner, social media strategist and all around great persona – Andrea Romoli. We Interviewed Andrea …here’s what he had to tell us!
Tell us a bit about yourself – who are you? Give us all the dirty details 😉
In the first part of my life I was a programmer and a System Engineer, so a little bit geek, then starting from 2011 I began to work in the social media marketing field, initially as Account Manager then as Community / Social Media Manager. Now, I like to define myself as Digital Connector.
What exactly do you do?
I am helping startups and digital companies to develop their professional contacts network and developing and managing their online presence managing online conversation on social network.
In addition, I organize events for startup and digital companies; events like hackathons, workshops and conferences.
How long have you been doing this?
I started to do social media consulting in 2011, first as an Account Manager for a company which distributes a social media monitoring platform and evolved from there.
Why did you decide to do this?
After many years in technical roles, I felt the need to have new challenges and fell in love with social media marketing 🙂
What’s your secret sauce? What makes you so good at what you do? ☺
I think that my secret sauce is the great passion for my job and for what I do each day with maximum effort and that allows me to acquire new know-how constantly. My preferred quote is: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life again” (Confucius)
What is the funniest or strangest thing that happened to you in your work?
The funniest thing that happened to me in my work was when I was working in technical positions and a customer saved their data on a 5.25” floppies (I hope someone remember this kind of device) and he had hung them like paintings with nails to the wall, so you can imagine the problem when he needed to restore the backup of the data 🙂
If you had to name one thing only – what is the most important thing to think about or consider when planning an event?
Uhm… only one thing is not so easy to name, but given the question: I think to find the right speaker (in case of a conference) or mentor (in case of a workshop) to share their experience in both cases with the attendees.
What is the worst thing a company can do when organizing or attending an event?
I think that the worst thing a company can do is not planning the event in time, so it happens that a company thinks that organizing an event could be done in 1 month, normally it is an exception be able to create an event from zero in one month, could be possible but, as I said, it is an exception.
What’s the best event you organized?
It is not easy to answer to this question: I am very attached to the Lean Startup Machine that was the first event that I organized by myself in 2013 finding location, catering, sponsors, Mentors, Speakers and obviously the attendees. The most successful event that I organized with a team of people was the last edition of Mashable Social Media Day: 2 days conference with more than 40 speakers and 600 attendees.
What was your biggest failure or disappointment in your career?
I don’t know if it is a failure, I think it is more of a disappointment: in 1997 I worked for one year outside Italy, in Dublin (Ireland) but the job was less challenging than they promise me. To explain better it was a technical support by phone, and in my previous experience (of more or less 10 years) I was a System Engineer, able to solve hands on the customer’s problems. Still, perhaps, if I stayed now I could work for one of the web giants.
If you had to give 1 tip to founders or CEOs – what would it be? (can be about anything!)
Don’t be afraid to fail, “fail fast, succeed faster”! (it is the claim of Lean Startup methodology).
To contact Andrea:
