The Nokia OpenLab event has just wrapped up in Helsinki, Finland. This is the event I was invited to, and previously referred to as the WOM World Nokia Workshop. For the last couple of days, about 35 people from all over the world gathered at the Klauk K Hotel in the Finnish capital, all guests of the mobile phone giant. This was the first time Nokia has brought together such a group of people, and they have indicated they plan on similar events in the future.

Most everybody in attendance is involved in social media to some extent, as this was how they were found and invited by Nokia. Where that was the case, there was no common profile of any attendee, except for everyone was eager to participate and had a great respect for one another.

It was an amazing couple of days with some thoughtful and exciting people with great conversations all around. I will write more on this upon my return, and will probably start on the flight home.

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I got an email recently from Gary Sharma that his Web event guide, garysguide.org, now has a Chicago edition. You can view events and post your own, as well as subscribe to an RSS feed of the events. Companies can submit a profile, and I did so for Dunkirk Systems, LLC. The RSS feed continues to drive me back to the site, where I browse other events and information. There are also editions for other major cities.

Where some may say, “oh no, not another events site,” I welcome it. Many similar sites have come and gone, and worse, others have come and stagnated. Good luck to the Guy With The Red Tie!

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It’s Helsinki or bust, as I have been invited to participated in a workshop for mobile phone giant Nokia, who is based in the Finnish capital. I received the invitation a few weeks back from WOM World, who describes themselves as “a Nokia-sponsored blog covering what’s being said in the social media about Nokia devices and services.”

As a self-described New England Yankee, I of course received this with some skepticism. Why me, and are they really going to fly me out there? The answer to the latter question is yes, and I am booked to fly out the week after next.

As for the former question, I believe it is because of what I have written previously on The Hot Iron with regards to mobile phones, especially unlocked phones vs. locked phones. Though the phone attached to my belt as I write this is a Palm Treo 680, I have owned Nokia phones in the past, and currently own one I bought when traveling in Denmark a few years back, namely because Verizon Wireless wanted to charge me literally hundreds of dollars to get a phone I could use overseas for a week. Needless to say that was one of the reasons I switched to T-Mobile.

So what will this workshop consist of? From their description, it will include: “...a number of workshops that’ll see discussion with participants, and with Nokia guys, about the future of different online arenas and mobile technology. Workshops that we hope you’d like to join in with and make yourself heard.” The fact that I will be part of a conversation with people from around the world on mobile technology, not to forget Nokia staff, is an amazing opportunity. Motorola’s headquarters is only a short drive from where I live, and I have never received such an invitation.

My head is already full of ideas and questions I want to add to the conversation for this workshop. If anyone else has anything they would like me to bring up please feel free to post them as comments. I have also received links to other bloggers who will be at the workshop and I hope to connect with them before the trip.

Also, if anyone has any recommendations on what to do when in Helsinki, please let me know!

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Earlier this year iRibbit won all kinds of eBay developer awards for their extremely user-friendly auction interface for the iPhone. Now there is iRibbit Plus, which is a full-blown iPhone app, which is available for free via the Apple iTunes App Store.

Congratulations goes out to Chuck Hudson of Aduci, who along with his team developed the app. Chuck is a good friend and a great developer. But don’t just take my word on it, read the ZDNet review of iRibbit Plus.

The accompanying photo was borrowed from ZDNet, as I don’t have an iPhone to get my own screenshot because, well, it is not an unlocked phone.

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It helps to know who your competitors are. Why? Here are a couple of first-hand examples.

A few years back I was talking with a prospective client. Shortly into the conversation I realized they were looking for more services than I had capacity for, and more than I was in a position to handle. In short, they were looking for a larger firm. At the conclusion of the conversation, I told them this. The prospect then asked me if there was anyone else I could refer them to, and I gave them a name. Shortly after, they signed on with the firm I recommended, and I got a nice steak dinner out of it.

After I moved to Chicago from Boston, I continued receiving the monthly newsletters for Marty’s Liquors, a great food, spirits and cigar store in Newton and Allston, MA. I emailed them and told them I had moved and they could take me off their mailing list. The response I got from them was not what I suspected. They told me they were going to keep me on their newsletter mailing list, and if I wanted to buy anything in it, to go to Sam’s in Chicago and buy it there.

Both of these are examples of selfless, customer-focused networking. Recently I got a call from the firm in the first example, so I guess what goes around sure does come around.

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