First Tuesday is Back

So said an email that came in overnight from 'Christer'. I checked the First Tuesday link. The genre had clearly changed.

I remember First Tuesday in London seven years ago. It was an exciting time. The new-look First Tuesday site does nothing for me. That genre is dead.

So to Microsoft which looms large this week. I am having dinner with Claire O'Halloran from Microsoft UK in Auckland on Thursday night. Sean McBreen and John Bessey from Microsoft NZ will also be there. On Friday, it's off to the Small Business Expo at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland. I am scheduled to meet up with Anne Taylor, Microsoft NZ Product Marketing Manager, Office Systems to discuss some joint PR on Smart Analytics.

So having looked up the new First Tuesday portal, I decided to revisit Microsoft's Start-Up Zone. It doesn't really do it for me either. Maybe it is just the presentation. The layout reminds me of 'corporate' meets 'start-up'. It is also geographically agnostic. I typed 'New Zealand' into the site's Search box and came up with one Search Query result. It contained an oblique reference to the Microsoft Innovation Centre. That was it.

Bridging the cultural gap between corporate and SME is always a challenge. Corporates can afford to invest time to work on their business. Most owner-managers spend all their time working in their business. To connect with SMEs, corporate communication strategies should recognise and address this gap.