Entries Tagged 'Conference' ↓

     The year is over but the people of this year have left a mark on my life that goes beyond the turning of a calendar page. Support, encouragement, challenges, contests, and more were brought to me through and by these men and women.

     I’d love to be able to break them down into a Top 10 list, or into distinct categories, or give each one a label, such as Top Pesterer.  It won’t work.  Each of these individuals has contributed in multiple ways to the course of 2008.

     Simple messages across the void to in person meetings, these people shared and listened.  This post is just to share a little bit about them, both to help remind me and to show respect.  Join me please for this small bit of memory chasing.

     In no particular order…

• Susan Reynolds and Connie Reece - These ladies, whom I met on Twitter, were two of my earliest encouragers and knowledge instillers. Susan is a complex person being artist, blogger, and business woman. Her hands on sharing about Twitter, Second Life and business were just a few of the things she brought to the table.  She also introduced me to Connie Reece.  Connie is a busy woman herself, being a leader of BlogHer, running a business, and also providing leadership for Social Media Club.  Between them I was given a big head start in the social networking world and a spur to get serious about blogging.  They lead me to the next folks on my list.
• Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker - Liz and Terry uncovered me as a blogger and social networker.  This was in big part from Susan and Connie spurring me on.  Liz and Terry not only included me in their circles, but Liz nurtured my inner SOB potential.  It didn’t stop there, when next they invited me to attend SOBCon08.  This event was the most significant event of year of my blogging and social networking life.  I’ve written about SOBCon elsewhere on the blog but these two did more than provide a conference.  They challenged me to take my blogging game to the next level.  Thanks to their push, I won all expense scholarship to SOBCon08 via my blog.  SOBCon brings me to my next group of folks.
• Becky McCray, Chris Cree, Rick Mahn, and Sheila Scarborough - I could write all day about these folks, but let me tell you what they have in common.  All of them run their own business, all are bloggers, all are experienced in social networking.  Best of all, they are part of my SOB Advisory Team. Each has given up their time, resources, and more for me and each other. Introduced to me at SOBCon, the bunch shared a vision of doing more than just keeping fond remembrances of that weekend.  That vision has lead us to team up, sharing ideas, encouraging, and when needed, badgering each other. I can’t express enough how much I appreciate them.
• Trish Forant, Tracy Lee Carroll, Christine Taylor, Marti Lawrence, Glenda Watson Hyatt - These ladies may not realize it, but they’ve got a lot in common. All are business women, all are bloggers and social networkers, and something else.  They’ve all been like sisters to me.  Trish, Tracy and Glenda have been there with me pushing me on to get to SOBCon, take me to new heights in networking but it didn’t end there. Each of them has shared highs and lows with me this year. They have listened to me whine, laughed with me, cheered me, and told me when I’m being a smart-ass. Oh, they are so different in personality and tastes, each brings a unique style and wit to my life.  All of them have taken the relationship beyond 140 characters. I hope we are always friends.
• Duane Myers and Erin Kotecki Vest - These two are a pair. A pair of what I’m not saying.  One’s a Conservative, the other a Liberal. One likes scotch, the other a good wine.  Both are social networking, blogging, and offline networking gurus.  I’ve had a chance to learn at their feet so to speak.  Duane and Erin have shown me things that challenged my views, ticked me off, and yet spurred me on.  Duane and Erin don’t let you rest on your laurels, heck, they don’t rest on theirs, or for that matter, rest much at all. Both demonstrated to me the need to keep moving, keep working, and keep influencing.  They’ve schooled me on my attitude, as well as talked me up.  Neither probably realizes their influence this past year, Erin especially.  I couldn’t pass up acknowledging them though. You could do worse than to just listen to them.
• Vicky Hennegan, Michelle Vandepas, and Karen Putz - I met these three at SOBCon08. Thanks again to those that lead me there.  Vicky and Michelle saw more in me than just another blogger or social networker. These women, like those above, are business savvy, bloggers, and more.  All have another wonderful talent, that of encouragement. They have drawn together, though with my stumbles, to form another group to share support, advice, and just listen.  These ladies aren’t just sitting on the side lines online or off.  Vicky and Michelle, and Karen too are involved in projects for coaching and educating adults and children.  Because of them I’ve been moved to a spirit of generosity I’d never known. That’s taken the form of giving to and support numerous charities throughout the year but it went beyond that.  They told me to give time as well, in the form of guest blogging and directly supporting other bloggers and social networkers to success. If you like stuff I’ve done this year, you might want to thank these three personally.

     There are so many more of you that I’d like to mention.  One group though has a bunch of you in it, the St. Louis Bloggers Guild.  The Bloggers Guild is a change making group in St. Louis. I was asked to get in on the ground floor and couldn’t pass it up. (thanks to all of you above)  The guild gave me a chance to be a better blogger not just in the writing sense but in terms of responsibility to others. Responsibility for honesty, courage, and respect to those offline and on.  It also gave me a chance to lead, instruct, and share that wasn’t open to me before.  Cheers to all of you!

     Insert the other 2,000 names here.  Thats for the ton of you that came along side this year.  You listened, you shouted, you danced, you laughed, and you shared.  You brought your best, your worst, and tolerated the same from me.  I had the chance to meet some of you in person and feel incredibly blessed by that. A strong desire of mine is to meet as many of you as I can, even if it’s just to shake hands or give a hug.

     I promise not be be a stranger.  I ask that you keep me in your thoughts.

     Thanks for one of the best years of my life - 2008.  Cheers to you all.

Yours,

Todd aka tojosan

It doesn’t look like much. It’s a small white board with some slap dash writing on it. Heck, it’s almost like chicken scratch in places, and the lines aren’t straight.

The board contains the presentations held during BarCampStL, BarCamp St. Louis. Notice the list isn’t formal, neat, and LUNCH is the biggest entry, but that’s how things work at a BarCamp.

BarCamps are about an unconference style versus the traditional way folks get together for conferences.  Instead of elaborate planning and plotting up front, it’s about the dynamics of real people interacting spontaneously.

St. Louis’s first BarCamp went extremely well in part because of this informal style.  It was cooked up by Ryan Keeter, Michael Austin, and yours truly had a hand.  The planning consisted of finding a spot, getting a sponsor (thank you Network Solutions), and posting the date, time and place.  Okay, someone had to work the deal with the City Museum, but that’s part of finding the place.

Real magic happened between the people who showed up and the venue.  There were over a dozen of us that attended, not including the drop ins from the City Museum IT guy and our bartender, Tatyana.  Each person brought their unique point of view and their backgrounds, but they also brought their hopes and visions about the future.

These individuals showed up and presented, listened, took notes.  They learned, instructed, and discussed their plans.  Bonding occurred not just over that, but over the food as well. (pizza, wings, salad, sodas, waters and a round of beers)

Enough about all of that though.  I’d like to just mention one person I bonded with, Karen Goodman, aka @karenstl.  Karen had some great questions about social networking in general, and specifically on Twitter.  Luckily I was able to share some insight in those areas.  In exchange, Karen gave me the grand tour of the City Museum.  Here’s her collection of City Museum photos.

Everyone that attended was a rock star in their own right. I’ll be covering more of my experiences with those folks in upcoming posts, as well as some pictures of them and the City Museum. Look for more link love as well.

If you posted about BarCampStL, please link here and I’ll link back to you as well.

Please show our sponsor some love, Network Solutions.

     This weekend my wife and I are at the Tan Tar A Festivals of Marriage Conference. It’s all about getting closer to your spouse and encouraging better relationships. There are workshops, worship and even a concert thrown in.

     Marriage and Balance is the theme this year. Part of being in balance is learning to have balance between the needs of each spouse, and the rest of their lives, including fun, sex, and raising kids.

     In the spirit of that, Sharon and I took some fun time for ourselves today. Our fun took outlet of shopping. The picture above is part of how we made the most of Dogpatch, one of the out of the way places we stopped to peruse.

     We discovered this little shop had the biggest collection of cool hats. Please check out the hat slideshow and laugh with us.

Just a quick post to let you know about the social aggregation site for Inter:play at Playfest:STL 2008.

The site is hosted by ToastedRav and is found here - http://toastedrav.com/event/interplay2008.

You can also check out my Interplay pictures. I’m only adding about five at a time to begin.

Also, if you haven’t done so, please check out the St. Louis Bloggers Guild site for more about the festival.

PlayStl Speaker Badge

This weekend at the InterPLAY:stl Interactive festival, organized by the St. Louis Bloggers Guild, I’ll be speaking about Social Media and Ethics. Fellow panelists include Jaelithe Judy, of The State of Discontent,  and Matt Homann, of the [non]billable hour.

This will be a  roundtable discussion on the ethical questions surrounding the world of social media. Topics addressed may include: privacy of bloggers and those whom bloggers write about; truthfulness v. artistic license; email and comment etiquette; and more.  The Emerging Ethics of Social Media panel is at 1 PM on Saturday.

In addition to participating as a speaker, I’ll be hosting the Blogging and Social Media 101 panel at 11 AM.  Panelists include Ben Vierck, of StL Bloggers,  Tanner Hobin, and Mike Flynn, of ToastedRav.

A complete list of panels and venues can be found on the St. Louis Bloggers Guild site.  I’m in the coolest venue for both of these panels, Blueberry Hill’s Elvis Room.

Post idea totally stolen from Tanner Hobin.

Bloggers goes to lots of events. We do meet ups, conferences, breakfasts and bar crawls. I’ve traveled cross town, across the state, and across the border to hook up with my contacts, share ideas, and talk in person. If you blog, you’ve done it as well.

We come away from those events on natural highs. We promise ourselves we’ll do some things. Perhaps for you it was simply to stay in touch. Other folks will promise to change their blog, some will say they’ll change their life. Some people even offer business opportunities. It’s a very exciting time in our lives.

Now months have gone by. The emails have dropped off. The blog is stagnant. Your business plan isn’t even started. What happened?

It isn’t just you, it’s a lot of folks. And it isn’t all on you to blame. You might be disagreeing about now, and maybe you’re right. I want to challenge that a bit though and tell you something that made SOBCon different than other gatherings you might have attended.

What I’m willing to wager is that most meet ups, conferences, and such you aren’t just running into a few like minded folks, you’re running into a whole slew of them. These are people you’ve corresponded with before. You and them share social networks and perhaps dozens if not hundreds of contacts. And those contacts will be there as well. Heck, you probably have dinners out with some of your fellow bloggers that you see at conferences and such.

Diversity is the first thing that made SOBCon stand out. This wasn’t a group of the top bloggerati coming together for the fourth time that year. You wouldn’t find a whole mess of successful online businesses. Not even everyone there could hear.

Old and common ground was shared by few, as business owners with no blogs worked side by side with professional bloggers. At the same table were folks like me, small time bloggers and working professionals looking to move into other areas.

Differences in goals wasn’t the only diversity. Australia, Great Britain, and Canada were represented, as well as men and women from all across the US. Layered on that were individuals with disabilities, most notably Stephen J. Hopson, and Karen Putz, both deaf.

This mix of personalities, desires, and backgrounds, rather than being a stumbling block, became a catalyst. We were each positively challenged from the boat ride on Friday evening until our departure on Sunday afternoon.

SOBCon had a lot more to offer than diversity. Keep your eyes open for the next part of how SOBCon Lives On.

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The MidWest Media Conference was a success. What was it you ask?

IF YOU TWITTER, POWNCE, BLOG, SEESMIC OR UTTERZ - THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR MEDIA RELATED ISSUES.
HOSTED BY WORKING PROFESSIONALS, IT’S DIRECTED TO EVERYONE INTERESTED IN IMPROVING ONLINE MEDIA PRODUCTION.

The conference was the brainchild of Duane Myers, aka PreppyDude. Seeing the strong interest in St. Louis and having connections, he went forward with his plan. He brought together a diverse set of panelists to help out.

Byron Sletten of Mindactive, headed up the technical side of the conference. His company provided the site, as well as the equipment to live broadcast the conference. Byron himself bookended the row of panelists. He provided valuable insight about site design and purpose for businesses and artists.

Steph Stockman, geologist and science educator, brought her expertise as a developer/implementer of education and outreach programs for NASA to the panel. Not content with mere drawings and a few pictures, Steph has strived to use online media in her education efforts. She’s now quite familiar with online networking and media, for both professional and personal use.

Dana Loesch, professional blogger and talk radio host, has been online and sharing writing and media for decades. An experienced hand at online media from blogs to broadcasting, she shared her experience in getting it right online.

Bill Streeter, a video blogger, blogger and more, is the man behind LO-FI Saint Louis. He brought a strong background in online media publishing as well as production to the table. A good portion of his work has been with local St. Louis musicians and artists.

Frank Ireton, Ph. D., a retired educator and public outreach professional, turned those years of experience to becoming a social media and virtual world expert. He’s created numerous things for clients and private projects in Second Life, including a representation of Belfast Ireland, including a pub that streams live music from Belfast.

Michelle Havens, professional photographer and stylist, worked on both the panel and as technical support for the evening. Her expertise in creating and publishing digital works was a welcome addition to the group.

David Myers, radio host and voice over talent, came with 14 years of radio industry experience. He’s now acting as Operations Coordinator for CBS Radio’s Kidstream Internet station. David played cohost and spurred on the panel.

These people came together to share their expertise and experiences in putting media online and making it work. They handled questions from privacy to investment to get something online.

One of those most interesting things to surface was the panels agreement that up and coming artists, especially musicians, should get their art online and put up an interactive site at the earliest opportunity. Also, the panel made clear that interactive doesn’t mean just a few news updates now and then, but a two way communication, between artists and fans.

Cost to get involved was a big topic. The answer? It’s cheap, just do it. They key is to focus on the quality of the content in general, and not on the gear. There’s no need to invest in $1000 plus camera or recording gear to get started. The panel talked about even using a cell phone to get initial things online.

Though the panel had limited time for questions but also managed to talk about privacy concerns, some pet projects, and what other first steps an artist should take.

The turn out was small for this initial conference but the attendees and panel enjoyed themselves. After the conference proper broke up, the entire group of folks retired to another section of the Roadhouse for dinner and drinks.

Lessons learned:
1. You can put a conference on with no in person meetings.
2. You can put a conference on without tens of people.
3. You can put a conference on in just about any place, even a noisy restaurant.
4. You can put a conference on and have a good time.

5. Noisy restaurants aren’t the best venue.
6. Get their early to set up.
7. Have questions prepared for the panel.
8. Advertise the hell out of it; you’ll get more attendees online and in person.

The biggest success about this conference was that it happened. It’s hopefully a gateway event for St. Louis and a sign of more to come. It’s also a great lead in for the upcoming St. Louis Interactive Festival.

I’m already excited about the next event. What’s great is that you don’t have to be an expert to get involved, just have the urge and energy. Do you have an idea for a one evening conference? One afternoon? Target audience 20 folks or less? Let’s make it happen!