Summer Speaker Series Begins TODAY!

I've been asked to be a speaker and moderator and participant in some interesting local conferences this summer and since my first engagement is today, it seemed like an appropriate time to talk about my Summer '09 Speaking Tour!

Women Business Owners Network
TODAY (May 15th) from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
I'll be speaking (after lunch) about "Small Business Online Marketing Success Stories". I've got one hour to tell the audience about some very interesting and diverse organizations that have one thing in common: they are all in Vermont. Who will I be talking about? Magic Hat Brewery, Flash Bags, Cynthea's Spa, Seven Days, The Inn at the Round Barn Farm and The Healthy Hippie. Why? Well as I'll be telling the audience today, they are all doing a mix of interesting things with interactive media -- from Twitter to Video and Facebook to Blogging -- they are all engaging with their customers, and they seem to be having fun doing it.

Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Conference
Thursday, May 21st from 2:00 p.m - 3:30 p.m.
I'll be moderating a panel discussion on Nonprofits & Media Reformers Turning to Web 2.0. This will be very interesting as we'll be hearing from The Snelling Center, Planned Parenthood and the Vermont Workers Center on how they are using social and interactive media to connect with their constituents. I've built in lots of time for Q&A so it should prove informative and engaging. By the way, the Twitter hashtag for the event is #acmne09.

Burlington Social Media Breakfast
Monday, June 1st from 8:00 a.m. - 12 noon
I'll be participating in the first Burlington Social Media Breakfast (Twitter hashtag #btvsmb) that is a co-production of Digalicious and Champlain's Communication and Creative Media Division, and sponsored by the Burlington Free Press. It will feature CC Chapman of The Advance Guard and Todd Defren of Shift Communication as well as Mike Hayes from Magic Hat Brewery. Special guest live tweeters will include some amazing marketing students who you can follow on twitter at: @impersnickety, @keldia, @barqhasbite87 and @schuylerhunton.

Leadership in a Connected Age
Tuesday, June 9th from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
I'll be presenting from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. on social media tools. Title of my presentation is "Behind the Curtain – Using Social Media Tools to Expand Your Community, Business, and Mind". Sounds pretty cool eh? I'll let you know closer to the date what I'll actually be covering!

Summer Institute for Educators
Monday, June 22nd through Friday, June 26th
I'll be presenting on social media and social networking in the classroom. Should prove great fun. The plans for this one keep evolving just like the social media world keeps evolving. More on this later.

Whew! That's what is on my whiteboard for now. Hope to see you at one of them.

Summer Presentation Series: The American Cancer Society

I'll be presenting at a panel discussion this morning for the America Cancer Society New England Divisions Marketing and Communication leaders. The topic? Why social media of course! And using it for volunteers, fundraising, and PR.

I used Google Docs to create my agenda and then "published to my blog" and have now added this intro. Sweet! Here's what we'll be talking about today:

1. Intro Me:
• Currently Assoc. Prof of Marketing and e-Business Management
• Formerly the Regional Communication Director for ACS (1998-1999)
  
2. Goals:
• how local nonprofit offices might begin to establish a presence on social sites
• how new/social media are being used successfully in fund-raising, volunteer recruitment, and public relations
• and how marcomm efforts in new media can effectively compliment work in traditional media
  
3. How might a local nonprofit office establish a presence on social sites?
• Start with your audience and your goal and the appropriate social site will reveal itself.
• If you are trying to recruite college students to participate in Relay for Life, you would want to create a group on facebook with an event calendar.
• If you are trying to recruite prostate cancer survivors you would probably do better with a blog.
• Looking to get people to purchase daffodils for Daffodil Days? You might not use social media at all!
• Working on advocacy? A Twitter alert system could work well.
• Be intentional and thoughtful just as you would be with the branded Relay for Life campaign.
  
4. How is new/social meda being used successfully in fund-raising, volunteer recruitment and PR?
• Note that people are really still trying to figure it out. What follows are some good examples
• DonorsChoose.org
• SixDegrees.org
• American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
• Helpareporter.com
  
5. How can Marcomm Efforts in new media effectively compliment work in traditional media
• It's an overall strategy and they are NOT seperate!
• If you create a news release about an event for example:
• create a facebook group
• set up a twitter account for event updates
• add the facebook group link and the twitter updates to the event website
• list all of the ways to connect in the news release.
• send out your news release
• post your news release on your website
• ...on your blog
• ...link to it in your twitter
• ...put it in your facebook
• create a video and put it in your YouTube group
• post it on your website -- linking to your YouTube group
• ...in your blog and write about it
• ...on your FB
• ...alert people on your Twitter
• Your event will get covered, people will come and the media might cover your use of different media to get people to the event
• You can monitor different discussions about your event using Google Alerts and Twitter Search in addition to your other things.
• Provide up to the minute alerts via Twitter that the press can get as well.
  
6. Q&A

I'll be recommending some books as well:

1. Mobilizing Generation 2.0 by Ben Rigby
2. Groundswell by Charlene Li
3. The New Influencers by Paul Gillin
4. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
5. The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
6. Robin Hood Marketing by Katya Andresen

BBA presentation recap

Based on general feedback the presentation for the BBA went well today and I already have several social media mentions:

1. Executive Editor of the Burlington Free Press, Mike Townsend was there, along with a gaggle or would it be plethora of BFP representation -- seriously, they practically took up half the room! Mike posted a good recap of the meeting in his blog entry and even directed people to my Twitter and my Plurk accounts! Thanks Mike for sending me the link! By the way, if you haven't subscribed to the BFP Twitter updates, you should, it's a great way to stay on top of news items locally.
   
2. Jackie Kazil, the Digital Developer at the BFP Twittered during the presentation. (found that through Summize).

Very cool. Hope to see more of these types of posts -- not for my own personal gratification (seriously!), but more to see the businesses who were there begin to participate and use social media.

Much thanks go out to Dave Gibson from Propeller for mentioning "Google Alerts" as a way to monitor. Great catch Dave!

Next presentation will be on July 22 and 23 to middle and high school educators from CVU and surrounding areas on social media use for the classroom -- the good, the bad and the ugly. Lot's to talk about there.

Summer Presentation Series Part 3: Web 2.0 for the Burlington Business Association

I'll be presenting on "Web 2.0: What is it and Why you need to know" tomorrow (Thursday, July 10) to the members of the Burlington Business Association.

Even though I'll be using PowerPoint...I'm posting the outline and links here.

1. What is Web 2.0? Peter Rivera, SVP of Interactive Design & Development at AOL has this nifty little graph that provides a great visual. You might actually remember this from an old posting of mine from the iDMAa conference in Nov. 2007. Basically the old model is the one website with everything focused on that site. The intermediate model is still having that one website, but also including a blog or social networking sites but it all still points back to the main site (pretty much what we are seeing right now with the 2008 political campaign). The new model is more about creating a "brand web" that encompasses the informational site, all the social media including blogs and social networking and recommenders plus many micro-sites that fulfill needs of specific customer segments. Whew! Yep. That's Web 2.0!
   
   While I won't have time in the presentation tomorrow to show a video, I certainly can embed it here. This is a social anthropologists view of Web 2.0 and frankly I love it. It really gets at the behind the scenes and shows a great deal of the functionality of what these tools are bringing us all.
   
   
   
   
2. Some Interesting Examples (mostly localized):
   
   Social Networking -- MySpace, Facebook. Think applications (you control, consumers pass on). My link is to my Facebook page where I'll show the new Coldwell Banker "Housestrology" application that was sent to me by our local CBHB Reality folks.
   
   Online Video: YouTube, Google Video: Think video for the masses (consumers control, consumers pass on). At this link is a list of the top YouTube Videos about Burlington, VT. Notice that the visit of "Where the Hell is Matt?" is in the top 6 viewed videos!
   
   Blogging: Journalist, citizen, CEO and individual: Think new news and PR paradigm. Check out the links to our own 7Days Blurt, iBrattleboro, Jeff Hollander's blog at Seventh Generation and of course, my blog!
   
   Community Recommendations: Amazon, Trip Advisor, FindandGoSeek: Think user generated advice/recommendations (you and consumers control different pieces). The links are to Trip Advisor for Burlington -- I wonder how many of the BBA members are on that site? And the second one is to local startup Find and Go Seek. Great and powerful local recommender for family stuff to do.
   
   
3. What does all of this mean for your business?
   
   The tried and true still works!
   –Know your customer
   –Stay true to your brand
   –Don’t lose site of your goals
   
   BUT! Be ready to GIVE UP CONTROL!
   –User Generated Content is here to stay
   –Turn your customers into your message boards
   –Take the risk, but monitor, monitor, monitor
   
   
4. Pitfalls to avoid
   
   1. Ignoring the inevitable.
   2. Just jumping on the bandwagon without thinking it through.
   3. Assuming the “younger generation” has all the answers! (They don’t)
   4. Not putting resources into “Social Media”.
   5. Only focusing on one marketing channel.
   
   
5. Getting Started
   
   1. Educate yourself. What are the tools? What do they do? Play with them.
   2. Know your audience. Which tools make the best sense for your business?
   3. Talk about it. What are other small businesses doing? Locally, regionally, nationally?
   4. Take action. Select a tool and commit to using it for a period of time.
   5. Track your ROI. Did it convert based on your goals?
   
   
6. Resources to Help
   
   Education: CommonCraft: http://www.commoncraft.com/ and WEB 2.0 for Business Advantage (pdf): http://tinyurl.com/553r5l
   
   Talking: Seminars like this one!, Local mixers and special sub-committees to share ideas and resources.
   
   Planning and Action: Expert Resources and Interns for specific projects to help with planning and strategy, local Vendors such as Epik, Propeller, and KSV to help with implementation, hire new positions responsible for this type of marketing.
   

And there you have it. That's the nuts and bolts of my presentation -- all to be given in 35 minutes tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. They promise the breakfast will be good!

Wrap-up from St. Mike's class on Society and Community

What do you do when you plan your presentation on your blog and you get to where you are going and their network and internet connection is down? Um....you panic? You pray? You cry?

Well, I didn't really do any of that this morning when I found out that the St. Mikes network was fried ... I tried some alternative options and basically decided that since they had a white board and markers, and I had my notes on my crackberry...I was ready for anything.

And then...

The internet and network gods smiled upon me and like magic the interweb allowed us to connect!

After that it was a whirlwind of video, conversation, white board markers, Q&A and sandbox talk. Great fun.

I certainly do not envy the K-12 educators and administrators in their challenges to integrate technology and social media into their classrooms -- not only do they have to educate our children, they have to battle near-sighted policies that block technologies from a place of fear rather than a place of learning and providing information. They have to educate paranoid parents and deal with school boards who are even more paranoid AND if they do the wrong thing, funding gets pulled, voters don't vote for budgets and they could even get fired.

No wonder our children are getting left behind. Too bad we are too afraid to give our teachers the tools they need and the room they need to provide the guidance our children need in order to learn and grow.

Um...how do I feel about it? Betcha can't tell!

The other side note for this one was the great surprise I had when I saw my daughter's principal and my former parish priest, Fr. Bernie, who is now the principal and Rice High School, in the group. I was honored to be able to be in a room with these two individuals and the rest of the individuals in the room who do so much for our children every day. Have you hugged a teacher today? You should!

Summer Presentation Series Part 2: School and Community at St. Mikes

I'll be presenting a session on social networking at the St. Mike's School and Community Course (GED 684) on Tuesday, June 24th.

My objective is to provide a brief overview of some of the social networking tools that are available, provide context on what it really takes to create community, and then show some working community-based sites that I think are well done and have great potential, and finally show two tools that might help these educational leaders to begin creating their online communities.

Here was my charge for the day from Val Gardner, the professor for the course:

My hope for your time with us is to have them begin to understand and think differently about “communities of the future” and how social networking will or could assist them in their work in building community – both within the school and with the broader geographic and global world. As leaders, they need to be looking at their schools in relation to the world in which their students will be living. In addition they need to believe that they can help shape that future.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Our burning question today is how social networking can help academic leaders build connection within their schools, their local neighborhoods and create active and engaged communities.

1. It’s about value creation: Can your online space answer the “What’s In It for Me?” question for each of your constituents? What is the compelling reason for someone to join the site and keep coming back?
2. It’s about responding to a need: What is the need that you have that you think your online space will help with?
3. It’s about building trust: What will you do to help your constituents build trust in the site so not only do they come back, but they feel comfortable enough to post and engage?
4. It’s about getting people to go there: Remember the old adage, if you build it they will come? Well, that’s not really true! See #’s 1-3 above!

Creating “community” is the holy grail of the online experience and with today’s social media tools, we are closer than ever!

The basic foundation has been MySpace and Facebook. These are certainly not the only ones out there, but they are the most well known. Let’s take a look at my Myspace and Facebook and talk about how or if I’m creating community using these two sites.

What about my blog? Does that create community?

What about something as simple as “Twitter” an online social presence application?

During the May 2008 e-State Conference when groups of people got together to talk about how to build an e-state – community kept coming up. We also had two “live-bloggers” and one “micro-blogger” there.

• Cathy Resmer from 7day's Blurt: http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2008/05/live-blogging-t.html and
• Bill Simmon from Candleblog: http://candleboy.com/candleblog/article.php/20080529082000963 and
• yours truly via my blog AND twitter: http://champlainprofessor.blogspot.com/2008/05/conference-posting-vermonts-e-state.html and my Twitter (before I figured out the whole TWEME thing!)

So did all of our blogging and writing help to create community?

Here are some current live examples of ways in which communities are forming using tools that are easy and simple for the user.

Examples of social networking websites that build/are helping to build community:

• Local Vermont Community Website: http://www.frontporchforum.com/
• Here’s a video intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwL5YevWDFE
• Website for teachers thinking about Web2.0 in their classrooms: http://www.classroom20.com/
• Another for educators and administrators: http://www.schoolnet.com/default.aspx

Examples of tools you could use to create a site that builds community:

• http://www.i-neighbors.org/
• http://www.ning.com/

So now…take some time to figure out how you would link your “community” together using these tools. What value will you provide? What need will you fulfill? How will you build trust? How will you get them there…and keep them?