I’ll be in Orlando at Forrester’s Marketing Conference April 23 and 24th, live blogging (maybe some live streaming), meeting clients, and listening and learning from Marty St. George, SVP of Marketing for JetBlue, Greg Clayman, EVP of Digital Distribution for MTV, and Annis Lyles, VP of Media and Interactive for Coca-Cola North America. We’re offering discounts to those that are headed out, as well as a night off the hotel rooms.
Even if you’re not attending the conference, the Tweetup on the night before is wide open for anyone to attend, hope to see you there. The Tweetup is on Wed, followed by the conference on Thursday and Friday, leaving the weekend open for you and your family to head out to Disney World if you’re able.
Above: It took me a few days to post it, but here’s a very brief clip from the Tweetup, it was a bit packed.
Just got back from the Silicon Valley Tweetup (135 said they would come, 226 people saved it), last time this year, Tweetups were just about a dozen people or less, but the growth of the service has really demonstrated it’s popularity, I estimate 150-200 folks there. Unlike blogs, microblogs can have a greater rate of adoption as the barriers to entry than blogs as it’s easier to get started, and the ubiquitous mobile device makes it easy.
Some of my friends who came desired a more intimate setting split off to private dinners, and that’s fine too, the event is relatively organic, and we certainly want to keep it that way.
Tonight was a success, and I’m pretty sure we were able to connect people to network and find jobs in this tough economy. Thanks for coming out, the #svtweetup became a ‘trending topic’ on twitter search, suggesting it was a top used tag for the evening.I polled the audience and asked folks to raise their hands if they were hiring, and about a third of them were hiring. I encouraged those who were hiring to stand near the bar, there candidates could quickly get their business card, and perhaps buy them a drink. There were a lot of folks looking for jobs, and quite a few people who were consulting, and a few who just were recently laid off. Strangely, there were people that came that never even heard of Twitter, which demonstrates how viral the event was –people passed the invite around on email.
Had a few offers to get the event sponsored, something I’ll have to think about, but I’m generally steering away from that as this is testament that a community can self-organize without institutional influence. On a more social note, we did entertain each other by singing karaoke, seriously, what is more ‘social’ and ‘media’ than that? Joel Postman awarded his latest book SocialCorp to those who could really belt it out best.
Was asked several times when the next one is going to be held, and saw similar queries on Twitter. How often do you think we should hold such a community event? I’m sure folks will create smaller ones from time to time, but I’m thinking of other ways to help people that are seeking jobs connect with employers.
If you’re hiring in Silicon Valley, please leave a comment
Normally, I direct brands that are hiring to post on my job board, (A new job was posted for Vice President DialogueMedia MWW Group, NY) but given the state of the industry, I’m going to suggest that if you’re hiring (or seeking work) to leave a comment below with a brief description to your job post. Don’t post the whole job req (I’ll remove it) instead just give a summary and link to the job posting.
Thanks for being part of the community, I’m happy to serve the community that I cover, you can read my commitments to the industry.
This has been one busy year for me, I’ve traveled the country and world to meet and talk about social media. Just about every city I visit, I try to attend a social media meetup or host my own, to date, I’ve participated in tweetups in Alexandria, Barcelona, Tampa, Oahu, Tokyo, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Dallas, and Boston (twice).
What’s Tweetup? A few years ago, we called them blogger dinners, and it’s where folks got to come together, meet each other face to face (scary huh?) and actually talk in real life. Despite the affection many have for these social tools, there is nothing like seeing people in real life and meeting them.
A few guidelines for social events that I mentioned on twitter: Unlike Fight Club, talk about Tweetups, before, during, and after. Come to meet folks, be social. Don’t “poke” anyone unless you’ve brought protection. The act of “throwing sheep” at anyone other than your spouse is not encouraged. If you’re going to mention people “you’re following them” be sure to give them context whether that’s on Twitter or in real life –hopefully the former.
Kidding aside, just come to network with others, buy someone you’re connected to online a drink, exchange real world information, and most importantly, be merry.
Since I’ve neglected my own hometown, I’ve decided to organize a tweetup on Thur, Dec 11th (things hopefully have settled down for many of us during the holidays) in the Peninsula. I’ll find a bar suitable for a social gathering, and make sure it’s close to freeways or Caltrain.
Event Details
What: Silicon Valley Tweetup (RSVP on Upcoming) Tag: #svtweetup Date: Thursday, Dec 11th, 2008 Time: 6pm What to expect: This is a no-host event, so you should buy a drink for someone you don’t know, groups can walk to local restaurants after tweetup. Location: TBD (I’m working on a venue, will make it near public transportation)
Above Video: Come join me on my “walk through” videos (see others) to meet Boulder’s tech community.
I took the day off from work yesterday, and did some sight seeing of the Rockies (thanks to long term friend Kit who was one of the organizers of the Thin Air Summit) and had an opportunity to meet the large tech community at the “Tea House” in Boulder. I quickly learned that the tech scene is active, there’s many startups, events, and a VC community (including this incubator program called TechStars) that helps spur this eco system forward. What makes it attractive? The opportunity to be exposed to the great outdoors, the clean (yet expensive) Boulder area, great food, and healthy lifestyle.
Being in Silicon Valley, we’re so centrist in our thinking and don’t get enough exposure to the other tech communities around the country and globe (although I’m trying hard to meet each community) as a result we haven’t heard that much about Colorado’s tech corridor.
I observed that the entrepreneurial spirit runs high in Colorado, many folks want to strike it out on their own (I wonder if this is tied back to the silver rush and early settlers) vs many in Silicon Valley may prefer to join startups and exit rather than building their own sole-propertiership. The environment was warm and people shared –even with risk of sharing competitive information.
Despite the warmth of this community that’s nestled between the Rocky mountains and the great plains, they’re very insular and don’t share their story to the rest of the world. I’ve visited countries where they actually have government sponsored outreach programs just to tell their story in order to attract buyers, partners, and employees –Colorado could really benefit by not only focusing inward, but being a bit more extroverted and sharing their story with others.
Well, if anyone in Colorado was hoping to keep their ecosystem a secret –too late now, I just told my community.
Above, I interviewed Kit Seeborg and was joined by Jason and James both of Room 214, a local pure play social media agency.
Every wanted to know who was behind those 140 characters? Now you can. this 2 minute video you can hear 50 people shout out their twitter handles at last night’s Dallas tweetup.
What’s a Tweetup? A group of social media enthusiasts who want to connect and networks. Despite all the tools that are available to us to communicate digitally, there’s nothing like meeting in real life.
I help the worlds largest brands develop community strategies, yet, sometimes it’s the simply things that really tell more of a story then anything else, BBQ, Shiner Boch, and a $200 camera. That’s what community is really about: people.
Above photo: I had a great time discussing the impact of social media on culture and business in Japan with Tokyo’s top bloggers. Image taken by Andrew Shuttleworth –used with permission
The following portion is updated the day after the blogger dinner.
Last night’s blogger dinner with Tokyo’s finest was interesting, aside from meeting the movers and shakers in this space, discussed the social web and it’s impact on culture, we had a fun time enjoying food and drinks.
I encouraged the attendees not to socialize but to also think about how social technologies impact culture, business, and Japan, we had some very interesting discussions, and the viewpoints from many of the ex-pats were often similar to the Japanese. I met some of the social media evangelists at large Japanese companies, as well as entrepreneurs, professional bloggers, and local VCs.
As I tried to circulate to many of the different tables, I started to hear patterns in the discussions. I asked folks to think about the adoption of these tools (this graph aboves shows a high degree of consumption by ‘spectators’) yet I quickly learned that many corporations are not participating with these tools, there’s just a handful of companies using these tools in public (Nissan, Sanyo, and several are conducting buzz marketing efforts). I’m still formulating my thoughts on why this is the case and what can be done –but I want to loop back with Jonathan Browne, Forrester’s expert on Japanese Customer Experience to bounce of him as a sounding board –more to come on this topic soon.
Original post below.
I’m excited to meet Tokyo’s top bloggers at a community blogger dinner, I’m cruising through many of the attendees blogs before the event, sadly, about half of them I’m unable to read –gotta learn Japanese. Here’s the lineup for tonight, quite a few ex-pats.
I’ll add my notes and pictures to this post later.
See you tonight!
While we’re all connected by bits and bytes, there’s nothing like meeting people in real life, I’ve met bloggers all over the world, you can see the archives, I’ll be adding to this over the years, it’s a great journey.
The following pics were taken by Midori Allen of Forrester and used with permission
My colleague Johnathan Browne has posted on his blog (and in Japanese) that we’re organizing a blogger dinner in Tokyo when I came out in a few weeks, if you’re in the area, please spread the word. I’ll be in Tokyo speaking at some events (including Zdnet) and advising clients, and getting some time to spend in this amazing city.
Forrester Blogger’s Dinner in Tokyo
Date & Time : Wednesday, October 22nd, 19:00-21:00
Location: FUJIMAMAS
6-3-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03.5485.2283
Cost: 4,000JPY for Asian Tapas dishes and nomihodai.
The tag blog posts, images, and tweets for the event will be #ForrTokyo
If you are interested in attending, please contact Ritsuko Tague at rtague@forrester.com / 03.5532.7684 with your name, company’s name, email address and your blog’s URL by October 3rd.
I’m on a quest to meet and greet bloggers all over the world! When you finally meet someone face to face, the relationship bonds stronger than any trackback, comment, or picture can do. Nothing beats face to face meetups, where you hear their voice, listen to inflections, and get a feel from body language of someone’s real persona.
Last night was no exception, it was great to meet the several Tampa bloggers last night, nearly half of them were professional (mainly full time) bloggers that benefiting from working in a fantastic city, not slaving away in Silicon Valley! I’m starting to meet more and more professional bloggers, that either work for blog networks, or have found their own niche and have been making money from adsense, banner ad sales, or sponsored marketing.
As I visit more and more cities for business, time permitting, I kick off blogger dinners, more often than not, the bloggers in any local city rarely meet up, (despite them interacting online) and often comment; “why does it take someone from out of town, to kick start us to meet”. I’m not sure of the answer, but it’s a great feeling knowing that folks connect, communicate and bond way after the dinner –tis a community thang.
It was interesting to talk to the real estate bloggers, some were realtors and others were helping realtors with marketing, they found their efforts to be profitable, giving a leg up from other realtors in a very competitive market.
On my last night of official ‘work’ before going offline, I was able to meetup with Hawaii’s top bloggers, access this post directly (if you’re seeing this in a feedreader) to watch video.
Whenever I travel to a new city for business, I try to meet the local bloggers at a community dinner, I’ve now friends all over the world, and we connect on twitter, blogs, and social networks to keep track of each other. Ryan Ozawa (who has the only Hawaii licence plate “Blog”, see pic below), the community leader and early technology adopter helped organize this dinner of Oahu’s top bloggers. About 15 of us assembled at a local joint (I was the only tourist) and we had authentic food –minus the luau, dancing, or fire spinning. Believe me, this was a real treat for me. I’m not even going to link to the restaurant website as I don’t want to spoil it for the locals, but if you’re a smart web hunter, you’ll figure it out.
I spent some time with Welton, who lives in Waikiki, he took me to some local bars after dinner, (Ryan’s) and gave me the low down of life in Honolulu from a local’s perspective. Some of the guys were live streaming the dinner from their phone, a bit grainy, but you can follow in from this player. Check out the coverage from Ryan Ozawa.
Truly one of the most friendliest groups I have ever met, the Aloha spirit was really there, including receiving a gorgeous flower lei from Xapa.
The one thing I noticed is that when I’ve visited HK, Singapore, Portland, and now Hawaii for blogger dinners, the local tech community doesn’t get together as much in real life, they often need someone to trigger it forward. I certainly hope that this Oahu group can start meeting more frequently, and to grow their community. (Ryan Ozawa left a comment with more color around this, please read that below)
From Nov 14-17th I’ll be in Barcelona speaking at Forrester’s Consumer Forum event being held at Hotel Rey Juan Carlos. I’ll be presenting on Social Media Strategies, and I’ll be discussing how integration is key (a theme you hear from me frequently) to Europe’s top marketing community.
According to Google Analytics, Spain is the third most visited country to my blog, nearly 10,000 visitors in the last month.
If someone knows of any existing tech events on Thur or Friday nights maybe we could schedule a meetup, or even a blogger lunch in Barcelona on Sat. I’d LOVE to meet you.
If someone can suggest a venue that’s easily accessible, it would be great to meetup. I’ll drag along colleague Peter Kim for the festivities.
I’ve had meetups in Boston, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seattle, Portland, and would be excited to have one in Europe.
Barcelona holds a special place in our heart, as that’s where we had our honeymoon, here’s some pictures:
