As a society, we Americans let a lot of upsetting stuff slide. I'm really glad that so many who value the free exchange of ideas on the Internet came together to defeat these potentially damaging bills.
Here's a celebratory infographic from Frugal Dad, which also serves to show what we - corporations and citizens - can do when we come together to express our input on an issue.
Source: frugaldad.com
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I frequently give presentations on the significance of social media, and strategies for business adoption and use. Gary Vaynerchuk, author of "Crush It" and "The Thank You Economy" gives similar presentations, to larger audiences.
I met Gary at South by Southwest a few years ago; he's a serial entrepreneur, now a social media consultant to large brands; he mastered social media through running, among other things, a wine business. I find Gary's style a bit sleazy, but I appreciate his knowledge and delivery, and he's got social media dead-on right. In this presentation, he is more direct and clear than I've ever seen him.
Highlights (I'm liberally paraphrasing here):
I find myself evangelizing social media a good bit, and I was gratified to learn that Gary runs into the same misconceptions and arguments against social media that I do. I jammed on hearing Gary address many of the same objections and misconceptions.
I'm indebted to Jennifer Navarrete for making sure I didn't miss this.
Warnings:
Let me know what you think. Have you read his two books? Thanks to Jennifer Navarrete for pointing this out to me - I'm grateful!
If you need this kind of talk delivered to a business audience – minus the profanity – I'd love to hear from you.
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My dear friend Jennifer Navarrete of Brewing Media is the founder of NaPodPoMo, the National Podcast Posting Month, which is in turn based on NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. The idea is, for the month of November, create ONE podcast every day, to get yourself into a routine, convince yourself it isn't that hard, and make enough progress to prove you can do it!
I've always intended to podcast, but kept stopping myself. Here are some of the ways:
Cinchcast took away my barriers - a simple iPhone app, from which I press "Record", talk to it, and then press Post, with the option of posting to Facebook, Twitter, or straight to my blog. It really WAS a cinch.
And Jennifer took away my barriers with the simple suggestion of "Just try it." Thanks for being a great role model and coach for fearless adoption and "fail fast" methodology.
Because I'm geeked about our upcoming Design Thinking workshop for Firecat First Friday, that's the subject of my first-ever Podcast - your invitation to come out, try coworking, and attend a free, high-value seminar that will get your creativity flowing.
And here's the link to register.
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If you were one of the warm, welcoming folks at the Leon Valley Chamber of Commerce yesterday, or even if you weren't - here's a slideshare of my presentation. Thanks for inviting me.
Face-to-face networking groups like yours are invaluable. I know you think that's important, or I wouldn't have met you at a chamber of commerce event. If you're already doing social media - I hope it's working for you. If you're not yet - claim your free profiles in the "Big Three" - LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter - and at least create links back to your website.
For those of you who are interested in our Firecat First Friday Coworking & Brownbag sessions, we invite you to register for email notifications on the Firecat website. The next session is from noon - 1:30 pm on Friday, October 1, 2010, on Facebook - presented by Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster). Our address is 918 Nolan, #104, San Antonio, TX 78202.
Comments and discussion welcome, and I'll see you folks online!
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I'd like to thank one more time our excellent presenters Jennifer Ramirez-Jasiczek (@regalaffair) and Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster). February's Firecat First Friday Coworking & Brownbag session Event Planning & Promotions Using Social Media Tools was one of the most popular to date.
If you missed February's session, be sure to put First Friday noon on your calendar now. March's topic is "Going Mobile: Smart Phones, Texting, Mobile Browsing and the iPad."
Jennifer Ramirez-Jasiczek's images of the amazing events she puts on were very inspiring, and it was big news to me that brides are in favor of Tweeting their wedding goings-on. I think of a wedding as a more private, less public affair - but my own wedding predates Twitter, and even eMail, so what do I know? I do hope someday to attend one of the 4-5 event gigs she accepts each year. They look amazing!
And I think we've proven once again that Jennifer Navarrete delivers more juicy, useful info in less time than anyone we know. The suggestions and apps flowed thick and fast, but I've documented here just a few she mentioned:
If you want lots of word-of-mouth help driving attendance to a public event, put it in ALL the free listing places. Different people congregate in different social media spaces; her recommendation was to hit them ALL.
As promised, here is Jennifer's own Event Planning Checklist.
Do it all over again.
Don't forget to put First Fridays at noon on your calendars. Sign up for eMail updates on Firecat Studio's website if you want reminders delivered to your inbox.
See you next month! If I've forgotten anything, or if you have suggestions for future coworking and brownbags, let me know.
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Found this on YouTube today, and it captures my excitement about the fundamental shift that the social media revolution represents for us.
It's full of soundbites, nuggets from different reports, eye-catching statistics, all laid out and animated with engaging typography and screencasts. Like the comments on YouTube make clear - the intent here is to get people to look at this shift as a major one - not dismiss Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so forth as fads.
Enjoy! Kudos to Eric Qualman and Socialnomics, the makers of the video - please note it wasn't us :)
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Google's Gmail service is offering a time-delay Goggles gadget that may help users avoid sending emails they may later regret. I applaud the thought behind it, but this concept needs more work.
Goggles lets you set a time window, during which you must break through a gauntlet of relatively simple math problems before it'll send your eMails. The idea is, a brief cooling-off period during which you're using your brain and not your heart or hormones, will allow you to see reason and let good judgment prevail.
When you attempt to send an eMail during the preset window, you'll be challenged to prove your coolheadedness.
Here are some things to consider.
Emotional volatility happens any time of day. I can see Goggles working for preventing some drunk-sends. And my own defenses and self-control are down at the end of a long, hard day. Would we be up for a breathalyzer to open up the firewall? A heartbeat monitor or other physiological lock that scans me for appropriateness of my emotional state?
Multiple sources of regret. Inaccuracy and incompleteness are more often the reason I wish I could take back a Send. I created an Outlook macro that scans my outgoing messages for the word stem "attach" and produces an interstitial that makes me answer "Did you remember to attach?"
Appropriate communication is a skill we all need, anyway. Extrapolate a world where we solve these problems by building controls into software and devices, and relieve humans from imposing self-control and judgment. That isn't a world I want to live in.
It's not that I don't recognize the need. When I worked in a cube farm, members of our tight design team (the black berets) learned to read one another's faces and/or epithets and intervene when necessary.
I shout over to Tom: "That jerk! Can you believe this eMail?! Read what he said. Now read my response."
And he says: "That sucks! You know you can't send that eMail, though. Let's talk about what you can say, though. You'd better call, but wait until you calm down." Job saved. Disaster averted.
It helps to write stuff out, vent, and think through my position before responding. But when that much is riding on a single eMail, I'm better off going to see the person or calling.
A wise supervisor once taught me these quick guidelines.
I've learned to rely too much on the screen, the barrier, of asynchronous communications like voicemail and eMail. They're great for marshaling arguments, scoring points, and talking without being interrupted. But these one-way missiles aren't the best channels for building rapport, or gaining a full understanding that includes emotional components and subtext.
When it's important to be able to communicate very well, be able to correct assumptions, soothe hurt feelings, make yourself completely understood, and truly seek understanding and dialog, nothing beats a good synchronous communication like face time or phone calls.
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