World Autism Day - April 2

Bob and Suzanne Wright head up AutismSpeaks. Follow their whirlwind day of awareness here.

Also this is a great, quick video that explains autism to kids from NickJr's Wubbzy:

SXSW Recap - Friday and Saturday keynote

There's so many SXSW attendees that have written fantastic summaries of the keynotes, panels and parties. So, I'm going to share a few of my favorite moments from each day instead of trying to recap the entire whirlwind event.

At the end of my summary posts, I'll put a list of other's SXSW posts together that I've found insightful. Here goes Evening One (for me)- Friday and Day Two - Saturday's keynote:

I arrived in Austin just in time to get registered and meet up with a few friends in the @techset lounge.

I'm the one sitting with my back toward you at the front table, starting my first afternoon SXSW-style with beer next to my laptop as I was tracking down where my cohorts were within the Austin Convention Center.

The place is a freaking maze. And y'all know how directionally challenged I am. It was obviously by the late hour and well, because it's SXSW, the first day was going to be dedicated to hitting parties. I threw my party pacing plan out the window.

The TechSet Lounge was sponsored by Windows Mobile and hosted by amazing socmed dual Brian Solis (@briansolis) and Steph Gresta stephagresta.) They were truly amazing and appeared to be there 24/7 making sure each guest was taken care of. Even those of us that didn't blog a lick while we were there - well, I tweeted a lot though so technically I'm covered, right?! - were definitely made to feel right at home.



Friday Welcome Parties. Given this was my first year at SXSW, I had heard all the rumors about the Southby parties...but really nothing can prepare you for the mass amount of people, party vibe and all the 3D twitter avatars that you bump into - it was a bit overwhelming.

Our first stop was at the Social Media Group kick-off party at The Six Bar. Let me tell you, Maggie Fox knows how to throw a fantastic fling.
Here Maggie is with her husband, Ryan. They were welcoming the thousands of folks in one by one! I'm sure they were exhausted but you wouldn't have known it by their enthusiasm. Six is an amazing, multi-level bar in the heart of downtown with a rooftop view that is gorgeous. Even though Six's website needs a refresh, I'm glad our evening started at Six with Maggie.

We hit the tail end of the Blue Sky Factory's party hosted by Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) for a bit, it was nice to see Chris without the SXSW swarm in tow. Then we headed to the TechStar RatPat-themed shindig at The Belmont. While there I ran into my twitter buddy Aaron Strout (@aaronstrout), and let me tell you that dude can give a good bear hug. Then finally ended the evening by having a quiet dinner with a few friends.

A huge thank you to Lionel Manchaca(@LionelatDELL) for escorting fellow SXSW noob, Mark Logan (@mlogan)and I around that first evening.

And the Saturday conference highlight for me, was Tony Hseih's (@Zappos) Keynote. Because customer advocacy is in my blood and Tony oozes it, his talk really resonated with me as I'm sure it did most. We are all connected and Tony gets that.

Kudos to the SXSW crew for having a brand keynote. The conversation starts when brands listen...not agencies on behalf of brands, but actual brands.

When brands listen to the buzz, it's their first step toward the less shout, more rev model. If you listen, show you are listening through actionable steps - your customers will reward you with brand favorability which bottom line equals more rev.

Listen and learn from Tony.

Delivering Happiness - Part 1:


Delivering Happiness - Part 2:


And here's Tony's slides:

Zappos - SXSW - 3-14-09

View more presentations from zappos.

More to come on the rest of SXSW soon.

Photos taken by: alexdesigns, and allowscriptaccess.

Jon Stewart Shakes His Fist At Twitter

When Jon Stewart spends over 5 minutes spoofing twitter, you know it's gone mainstream.

Evan Williams, Twitter CEO, at TED

Twestival - Kansas City

Twestival is a worldwide fund raising effort that is occurring this Thursday, February 12 organized 100% by volunteers around the world via social media - mainly twitter. 100% of the money raised from these local events will go directly to support charity. Specifically - water projects.

Why water?
One in six people on earth don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.



Why Twestival?




The Kansas City Twestival volunteer team (@KCTwestival) has done an amazing job putting together and getting the word out about our local tweetup with a cause including this fantastic video from Ramsey Mohsen:

Twestival, Tweet. Meet. Give.



All the details on the February 12th Kansas City evening event are at KansasCity.Twestival.com. I'm looking forward to taking part in this worldwide charity event with my KC friends. Hope to see you there!

Thrilled for @radian6, @warrenss, @ambercadabra

I love when amazing things happen via twitter including a social media monitoring tool company, Radian6, snagging two of the finest social media professionals I know. First, Warren Sukernek:

Many of you have not only been following the news of my job search on Twitter, but have also been extremely helpful in providing  job leads and support. And I am very grateful for that. I’ve shared the blog posts that several friends have written about my situation before, I’ve got great friends and Thank you for your support. Well, the fruits of everyone’s labors has paid off! In record time, too!Warren, Twittermaven, Jan 2009

 

and even more fantastic news from Amber Nashlund:

Today, I officially accepted the opportunity to join my long-time client, Radian6, full time as their Director of Community. You’ve heard me say that I’m all about figuring out in nitty-gritty terms how all this social media stuff applies in a business context, and now I’m going to experience that that first hand. I was honored that the team at Radian6 thought enough of me that they wanted me as a more permanent part of their team.Big News for the New Year, Jan 2009

Congratulations, @warrenss and @ambercadabra! Looking forward to your expertise being shared with even more people with your new roles at Radian6.

Chicks Who Click #cwc09

Chicks Who Click, a social media conference hosted in Boulder, CO, was masterminded by the brillant and delightful events coordinator, Denise Smith (@deetells), and the equally amazing social media maven, Gwen Bell (@gwenbell).

Hats off to you, ladies! The weekend was packed with fun community-based learning, interactive panel discussions, relevant tech-women focused presentations and networking activities that nailed the A+ formula for a social media conference. The energy and enthusiasm that continues to be heard in the echo chamber from the attendees demonstrates the creative power of community you have sparked.

As I gathered my thoughts to write this post, I googled #cwc09 for reference and really the best narrative of the event to absorb is just watching it unfold on Twitter's search. The story begins with this @gwenbell tweet:

and continues to read as little vignettes of inspired information and sharing throughout the course of the weekend, with afterthoughts continuing. The entire Chicks Who Click weekend of events (and the network that has developed because of it) is another great example of the big share that occurs with community sourcing.

I have so many favorite moments from Chicks Who Click, it's hard to narrow down the highlights, but here's a few that stand out:
1) Getting to meet IRL and really connect with all the smart, fun and online saavy people I began following on Twitter because of the hashtag #cwc09.


2) The shock and awe feeling that enveloped the entire room when Carole Billingham,the Wisdom Coach speaker, asked us to turn off our phones and close our laptops for the next hour, yep...an entire hour!

We actually got through the session without issue and the "listen to your inner self" exercise re-charged us for the rest of the day as we hacked away on our keyboards :).

3) Meeting crafty, intelligent and fun-loving Jen Grant. Then watching her work her magic behind the camera and how she dove into learning livecasting tips on the fly with the vlogging master, Wayne Sutton . This is just one example of the "we're all connected, let's raise each other up" vibe that radiated through the entire event. (Hey Jen, it took all weekend but now I think "C" for craft vs "K" for Kraft when someone says "craft." Yep, you've converted me :).)
4) Being part of Barbara Jones' interactive session where we put our social media prowlness into action and to the test. These women know their social media strategies and tactics! There were some amazing ideas pressented! And to top it off, Barbara handed out the most creative "kick ass" medals I've ever seen for all participants, including judges (thank you, B!) and karate high kick trophies for the winners.



5) Being on the afternoon panel with two of the brightest women in social media - Barbara Jones (@barbarajones) and Kit Seeborg (@zsazsa) was such an honor for me. As we were discussing the pros and cons of listening to the long tail conversation, our wise moderator Doyle Albee (@doylealbee) piped in, "Realize that a blog with a readership of only 1: that 1 is Google" which very clearly and succinctly brought the importance of socmed conversation home.

I'll close this post out with a big heart-felt thank you to social media expert and dear friend, Lucretia Pruitt, (@geekmommy)!!! If it weren't for your nudge, hon, I wouldn't have been part of this geeky girl fest.

Photos courtesy Emily Lewin and Kit Seeborg.