[Brian Solis, Tom Foremski, Richard Brewer-Hay, Bryan Rhoads, David Gelles at NewComm Forum 2009 (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com.]

One of the most highly regarded communications events - at least from what we hear - the New Communications Forum took place in San Francisco this week. PRNewser was unable to attend, but we did ask two attendees, Brian Solis, PR 2.0 blogger and FutureWorks PR principal and Paull Young, Conversion strategist and Young PR blogger for their key take-aways.

From Paull Young:

The Society for New Communications Research events are the best social media conferences that you're (probably) not attending. I go to a lot of the new web conferences and the discussions and knowledge amongst the attendees at NewComm Forum are a long way ahead of the normal 101 "same-same" discussion you'll find at the web conferences you can attend almost every week these days.

Highlight for me was the opening keynote from Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org. In talking about the experience and success he has had launching his innovative charity had some great lessons for marketers, in particular:

- "Donors want a more meaningful connection – to become philanthropists, not just cheque writers" – likewise consumers will want a deeper connection with a brand, if there is the right underlying cause

- "A-List bloggers didn't drive the most donations, smaller blogs that had a greater level of connection and engagement with their readers had better results' – Forget an 'A List' mentality to online communication, find the people who matter to you/your brand and build a meaningful relationship with them."

- "Individuals who made a real world effort for the charity (like growing a mustache for a month) and documented it online drove a great deal of donations’ – the best WOM marketing will connect the online and off-line worlds."

It sounds fuzzy, but Charles also shared with us some results from a partnership DonorsChoose.org had with Crate And Barrel – their customers who were given the chance to make a donation on C&B's behalf to a Donors Choose project of their choosing were 16% more likely to make more purchases from Crate And Barrel.

From Brian Solis:

Participating in in the social web and communicating with the people we hope to engage is a privilege. It's an opportunity to learn, grow, and also cultivate the relationships we deserve, nothing less, nothing more. The Newcomm Forum rallied some of the most prolific and visionary speakers who were grounded in their resolve to help people embrace new opportunities and the specific nuances associated with relevant participation and/or strategic abstinence.

Society of New Communications Research is the forum where educators and pundits learn, collaborate, and realign what they know and what they should know.