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Why this online charity event is very, very personal for me!

Why The Social Fresh Cruise?

Ah, there are a few reasons I chose to pay to go on the Social Fresh Cruise. It's coming right up - November 12-16. Why am I going?

The Hook
Well I got an email back in May from a close friend that's going. He suggested I go. He knows my husband and thought it would nice for us to get away from our kiddos. He knows us very well :).

He explained that my husband could take in some much deserved R&R while I connect with industry friends, listen lots, share some and learn more. Also, he knew that by November I'd most likely be finishing up my online brand marketing role at Embarq and could use a clean break vacation. He was so right on that point!

Anyway, the initial hook for me was his very personal "here's why you specifically should go" (aka what's in it for me?!) cruise invitation.

Sunny without A Deep Pocket Hit
The cruise takes off from Miami on November 12. It's freaking freezing in Kansas City in mid-November. I'm a Middle Eastern girl trapped in the Midwest with chattering teeth and purple lips for about 3-5 months out of the year. Sunny and 90 is very appealing to me period. Sunny, 90 and inexpensive - well, I'm all over that!

The Back Channel is Dead
When you live, eat, breathe integrated marketing that is mostly done through social tools, sometimes you starve for face-to-face conversations with no back channel. An entire weekend unplugged...actually 4 and then some days - count 'em: leaving Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, returning Monday - completely unplugged. My mind needs no back channel for 4+ days. Connecting with friends and letting go of the three screen update impulse - this is the most appealing aspect of the cruise for me.

Interested in seeing who else is going? A few of the cruisers are listed here. I think there's still a few cabins available. If you want to go and need a code, let me know.

Enough Already! Listen and Respond, Remember You are Here for Me

As a consumer, when I am working through a product/service issue online (yes, it's me the customer working through it on my own time, while someone from the company better be listening. Listening = table stakes) - so anyway, I'm working through my product issue online, I definitely want to "speak" to an individual from the company...preferrably knowledgeable, but doesn't necessarily need to be an individual with her own online brand.

I just need someone from the company (that is capable of helping me resolve my product issue) actually listening and helping me. I can search on the person and the product, I can see what others have to say about their assistance. I want customer service from a human that will listen and is empowered to resolve - I don't want to talk to the man.

I'm not so concerned about the person's online brand.

Now I say that, but really their reputation really does matter to me, because I want to hear if others trust them. I'll ask people in my communities. The crowd will tell and I'll be listening. I figure, if they have helped others in my communities, they probably will be able to help me and I'm not going to waste my time or effort reaching out to a company that isn't listening and responding (yep, table stakes.)

I don't want someone focused on promoting their personal brand or cramming a corporate marketing message down my throat, I need help with my product NOW.

But's it complicated...I want someone that is cognizant that their actions actually speak louder than their words and that they realize the community sourced digital depictation of their online interactions matter more to me than any blog post they have keyed and most importantly, through that quick "online gut check" scan I do by asking Twitter, Googling, checking Get Satifaction, etc. that I consistently see their focus is me. So, is this company spokesperson "one of us"? Is he a trusted member of our community?

I'm looking for the company's Trust Agent. Because, Trust Agents* know it's all about me - the customer.

Done with my rant...

I'm just finishing up Chris Brogan(@chrisbrogan) and Julien Smith's (@julien) book: Trust Agents and it was the stimulus for this piece. I'll write a few posts on my thoughts about their insightful, timely book in the next few weeks. I definitely recommend it.

*Use Promo Code: BHB9149B for 30% off now through September 14.

Upcoming Events

Over the next couple of months, I'm fortunate enough to be attending several amazing social media events (some local to Kansas City, some not.) I hope I'm lucky enough to see you at a few of these shindigs, please let me (@zenaweist) know if you are going so we can definitely meet up.

The Quick-n-Dirty
This is the only virtual event slated. Aaron Strout asked me to talk about my day job as interactive brand strategy and marketing manager at Embarq on his (@aaronstrout) and Jennifer Leggio's (@mediaphyter) social media Quick-N-Dirty podcast (@quickndirty).
These two online marketing mavens discuss new social networks, social media case studies, new execs that are twittering/blogging and the hot topic of the week. Bryan Person (@bryanperson), one of my favorite social media practitioners, will be co-hosting with Jennifer.

Join the chat and listen in on Thursday, September 3 at 5pm CT. Every once in awhile, Jennifer will ask one of the listens to chime in, it would be great if it were you! If you miss it, you can listen to it shorty after it's live via Quick-n-Dirty's nifty On Demand Episodes.

Really "Way Too Early in The Morning" SMCKC Breakfast
On Friday, September 11 at 7:30am (I kid you not) if you dare, you will see mine and 60 of my closest cohorts yawning faces at our monthly Social Media Club of Kansas City's (@smckc) breakfast at the oh-so-yummy The Kansas City Cafe (@KansasCityCafe). Details on the "you will really want to wake up for this one" agenda will be posted on SMCKC's ning soon.

Kansas City Twestival 2009
In the evening of Friday, September 11, I'm definitely going to the KC Twestival (@kctwestival) at The Brooksider Bar & Grill. A plethora of my Kansas City friends are helping plan this incredible one night, one cause social web/IRL event for an amazing local, non-profit Wayside Waifs.

KC #Twestival 2009 from Judy-Anne Goldman on Vimeo.

Solis hashtag KC-style #solisinkc
woot! Thanks to The Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) (@kcprsa), Brian Solis (@briansolis) will be presenting The State of Social Media, an inside look at trends and ethics within the industry featuring current topics and statistics on Thursday, September 17 at AMC Mainstreet Theatre. Brian exhales the social web. If you haven't seen The Conversation Prism that he and Jesse Thomas (@jess3) developed, please take a look-see.

First Day of Autumn in NYC
Next up is OMMA Global New York on Tuesday, September 22. I just found out, I'm pinch hitting for my Embarq interactive brand partner in crime, Kevin Cobb (@kevinjcobb), on an online marketing panel with our strategic partners, Dax Hamman (@daxhamman), Vice President Display Media, iCrossing and Media6's CEO, Joe Doran (@doran_joe). When I can, I'll update this post with our OMMA topic details.

UPDATED OMMA Global NYC Panel details:
Our panel is on Tuesday, 9/22 at noon and the title is Leveraging the Power of Search Retargeting for Marketing Plans with Andrew Pancer, Founder and COO, Media6 Degrees; Dax Hamman, VP, Display Media, iCrossing;Ben Seslija, Senior Director, Acquisition and Analytics, Clickable; and Mitch Spolan, Yahoo! Inc.


IZEAFest 2009
Next stop is sunny Orlando at the beginning of October where I'll be experiencing my first IZEAFest (@izeafest). Here's my history on the how. I'll be speaking on the What Advertisers Want panel and I'm beyond excited about being part of this timely conversation. I can't wait to recap blog about the lively discussion around this topic.


And last but definitely not least, Kansas City's own IMS
On October 8, I will have the pleasure of walking through the Embarq social media case study with two of the company's key social web SMEs Kevin Cobb and Linda O'Neill (@lindaoneill) at The Kansas City Integrated Marketing Summit (@IMSummit. Unfortunately, Bryan Person is slated on an IMS panel at the same time as I'll be talking so we each are going to tape the other and we promise to share highlights. The great news is we both will be front and center live tweeting one of our favorite online savvy, witty Bostonians Doug Haslam's (@DougH) Effective PR in a Social World presentation later that afternoon. Do you have any fun ideas on a hashtag for Doug's preso?

H.O.R.S.E. Heart Story: Autism, Horse Therapy & Hope

I received the following must share, horse therapy story starring 9 year old, Sam via an e-mail from Susan O'Neal, an amazing volunteer for Helping Others Reach Success & Excellence (H.O.R.S.E.). We ran her email by Sam's mom to make sure all the facts are straight. Other than a few minor tweaks, the post below is the email I received from Susan. I found out that the H.O.R.S.E. foundation calls these personal testimonies H.O.R.S.E. Heart Stories. Thank you for letting me share Sam's H.O.R.S.E. Heart Story on my blog!

Grab a tissue and get ready for another inspiring horse therapy/autism miracle:

Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 2:41 PM

I came across your blog about The Horse Boy. I was at the book signing event too with some people from H.O.R.S.E. an non-profit that provides equine assisted therapy to kids on the autism spectrum.

I have been volunteering for them for years but this summer I actually got to do some real hands on work. I volunteered at the week long Camp Round Up. It was an amazing experience.

I contacted Rupert Isaacson to follow up about the movie opening and to tell him about our camp. We are going to try to do some kind of a benefit if we can get the movie shown here in KC.

I took lots of pictures and really got to know the kids and the amazing volunteers. We had 10 kids but one boy, Sam, really stole my heart.

Sam’s mom called us about Camp Round Up. Sam is 9 years old and is on the autism spectrum. He is a very active kid but he is developmentally delayed. Sam communicates with single words that are forced out with great effort. He isn’t toilet trained, he has never asked to use a public bathroom.

She didn’t think we would take him but she was hoping. She didn’t have high expectations, she just wanted him to get to be in the fresh air and do a little riding. Sam did therapeutic riding weekly at another location. Brenda said we would give it a try. Zena's note: Brenda Wright is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of H.O.R.S.E.

I was checking in campers on Monday morning when Sam and his mom arrived. Sam spilled out of the car and took off running. I told two high school volunteers to chase after him while his assigned volunteer Mike, (the father of an autistic boy) and the staff talked with his mom. She looked apprehensive but mostly, she looked exhausted. She said Sam would be happy if he just ran around outside and chase bugs all day. She seemed a bit nervous about leaving but she saw we had lots of volunteers and we had her cell phone number. She planned on staying close by.

I have to admit, I was worried. So was Mike. Sam just ran and ran. It was scary to me. We were at a ranch with horses that belonged to other boarders, equipment around that could be dangerous if he fell on it and cornfields to get lost in. If we let him out of our sight for a moment, who knew what could happen.

It took all three volunteers assigned to him that first day. The girls got him figured out. They would play a kind of freeze tag if he got near a dangerous situation. They also played human wall. Luckily, Misty and Alexa are premiere soccer players and had the energy and stamina to keep up with him. We just couldn’t spend the week running after him though. I began to wonder… if he would chase bugs, would he chase bubbles? I went to my bag of tricks and gave Misty and Alexa some bubbles. Sam was captivated.

Once he calmed down and began to focus we were getting somewhere. Athena, the horse professional came over and started mirroring his behavior to get his attention. Eventually she made eye contact and invited him to ride. Once on the horse, everything changed.



The next day, we had a horse ready for Sam when he arrived. After a few minutes of trotting, Athena would lead him to the camp circle to participate in the morning song ritual.

Sam participated in the activities and even joined other kids in water play. He was giving us high fives and seemed to be enjoying the group. He would run through the sprinkler, then run to us for approval. And then it happened, he came up and said something to us. At first we weren’t sure what he was trying to tell us. Then we realized he needed to go to the bathroom. Any mom who has ever potty trained a child knows how exciting that is!

Sam’s mom was shocked when we told her that Sam used the bathroom. Although he has used a public toilet before, he has never asked to use the toilet, public or not. This was a huge breakthrough!

We were all having fun with Sam and Sam really seemed to be enjoying himself. He has a special connection with the horses though and that is where he was most at ease. The horses seemed to like Sam too, you can see it in the pictures.

Sam started weekly therapy after camp. His mom said that his communication is improving, he uses verbs now. I can’t help but think we have a little bit of a miracle unfolding here.

I bet you will be able to pick Sam out in the video showing our week:

Susan O’Neal

The Brand Advocate Social Web Style

If you are needing a quick explanation of why word of mouth brand advocacy thrives on the social web, this video nails the concept simply.

Jeff Bezos on Amazon Acquisition of Zappos

There's been a lot of chatter about Amazon's acquisition of Zappos. This video is brilliant conversational marketing by Bezos. He brings us back to Amazon's grassroots start and their focus to obsess over customers versus obsessing over competition. He gives a quick short list of the things he knows including "It's Always Day 1." And most importantly, Bezos discusses the strength of the Zappos culture.

It's short and, I think, it is an excellent execution of YouTube's strengths. Bezos should listen in on the conversation happening on the video page and engage there as well. We'll see.