Dog and Pony Shows -- it's all about Social Media

It's a beautiful thing. Students are mostly gone (smile), there's no more grading homework and the faculty collaborative has ended. In other words...it's SUMMER and I am FREE!! Well..sort of.

I'm still a program director (until the end of June) and there's still a bunch of administrative things to wrap up and classes to staff for the fall. But it is manageable and I have free time.

So, of course...I'll be busy doing other things!

This past week, I presented a session to real estate agents at Coldwell Banker Hickock and Boardman Realty in Burlington, VT on best practices in social media -- specifically we talked about how to utilize blogging and social networking ... or when not to. I handed out a tip sheet which focused on what I think are the MOST IMPORTANT things to consider when thinking about which online tools to use to help you market your business/service online. I'll post those tips soon.

Next week I'll be presenting at the Sen. Leahy e-Business Seminar with Dave Winslow of EpikOne, Ted Adler of Union Street Media and Dan Cyprus, a Real Estate Agent with ReMax at the 2008 Business EXPO. Our topic: Creating A Buzz About You and Your Business: Should You Be Marketing Yourself and Your Company Using Social Networking Sites?

On June 23rd, I'll be a presenting at the Summer Institute for Educators. The theme is integrating technology into the classroom, and my topic? Betcha can't guess...."Technology students use in everyday life". I'll be giving a quick intro on IM, Texting, Social Networking and how students are using them...and not using them!

Later on in July I'll be conducting a two day session for K-12 Educators on Social Media. The details are still being worked out, but it promises to be great fun -- we'll be looking at specific tools and talking about the challenges for the K-12 educator in incorporating these tools into their teaching.

Gee...maybe I should start charging!

On another note, adjunct professor Daniel Schutzsmith has launched a new site called DSGN+DVLP. A recent post on his blog was about the term ONLINE VISIBILITY and references the class I developed and he is now teaching. He's come up with a definition. You should check it out. There's a good discussion going on there about his definition ... and I just think I might post!