Internet Geek Girl

Tomorrow evening I’m joining Marian Salzman, Peter Shankman and 100 of PepsiCo’s top communicators for a Twitter conversation about global trends. I hope you can login and join us for part of the time. It’s from 7.30 – 9 pm EST tomorrow, Wednesday April 1st. Sign up now. The hashtag is #peptrends.

How cool to have so many smart people talking together on Twitter about important issues that face marketers (and consumers) today. BTW – Marian is a internationally recognized “trend spotter.” Here’s a little taste of what’s to come. We’re excited to hear your thoughts and feedback tomorrow night.

From Marian:

Right now, consumers are being shaken awake to confront a pretty gross reality: We (and our natural resources) are overextended, overweight and overwhelmed. We are spent in more ways than one. Our reaction has been to pull back and say less, less, less. We crave a simpler existence. The push away from megaconsumption is the megatrend of the moment. Thrift is high prestige. Credit feels faulty and uncertain while cash is solid and sensible.

At the same time, technology is booming, and short is what’s happening. Social media is the communicator in a time of less is more. It brings far-flung people together cheaply and instantly around a shared interest. It gives us all the power to make news and break news, share thoughts and share links. Short and simple can say so much. That’s why I’ve chosen Twitter as a tool for our talk Wednesday. Short is smart and powerful. It sparks conversations, connects thinkers, shrinks distances and engenders change.

Some trends I’ll be talking and tweeting about:

•Total Convergence: Old familiar boundaries and categories are dissolving, blurring black and white into shades of gray. Private with public; fact with fiction; news with entertainment; young with old; life with work; home with office; offline with online.

•Tapping Social Media: The potential of social media as a business asset is hardly yet determined. Smart companies are now leveraging switched-on (younger) employees to help understand and shape it.

•Local Is Now Global: Today, home is the safest yet most exotic destination of all. You’re always just a click away from anywhere in the world. And just down the road you can find people and cuisine from every continent.

•A Return to Value and Values: What’s it really worth and how is it really important to me? These are the questions that rein in our impulse purchases in times of recessionary living. Followed by thoughts of, which stores or brands will supply what I need?

Check out the neat twtvite widget!

By now, most of my fellow SXSW Interactive attendees have made it home and unpacked. Hopefully you have caught up on your lack of sleep and have warded off the SXSWsars (unfortunately I didn’t – can you hear my sniffles and scratchy voice?). If you’re like me, you’ve been digging through your email and reviewing the huge stack of business cards you collected in Austin. Processing all the information and inspiration takes time, especially for a show which overflows with both.

Unquestionably, SXSWi was a qualitative and quantitative success. There was a reported 25% increase in attendance year over year and the blog posts, tweets, and Facebook updates show nothing but love for this ritual “geek spring break.”

For me, the highlight of the trip was obviously the honor of co-hosting the TechSet Blogger Lounge with my co-founder @BrianSolis (and our event partners at Tokita Bethune, Inc.) The lounge and party were sponsored by Windows Mobile. The Windows Mobile team provided a great service to the community of bloggers, developers, marketers and influencers that set up shop in The Austin Suite. With great bandwidth and great company, the Windows Mobile lounge was THE PLACE to be every day (especially during our tweet ups from 4 – 6 pm – thank you AMD and Zappos). Plus, check out the videos that a bunch of well known geeks made in the lounge – Can you say Fantasy App? We were even lucky enough to have live entertainment one day from Paula Nelson (Austin native and Willie’s daughter). Big thanks to 1938media and John Rosenfelder (@earbender) for putting that together.

On the social front – I enjoyed going to Stubbs for the Diggnation event, The Salt Lick, Gueros, and of course, attending the many parties. “Best in show” include, Alltop, Facebook, Mashable and of course, The TechSet. The best pictures from the entire week come from Laughing Squid, Brian Solis and Wm. Marc Salsberry. Huge shout out to Joie de Vie salon and all the ladies from there that helped make me pretty every day (thanks Amanda, thanks Erin and the other Jerseygirl Steph).

For the last few years the Geeks have taken over the town before the music festival swings into full force. If you stay for part of the transition time, it’s funny to see the difference. My cab driver summed it up best – “the geeks are way more quiet and they are always playing on their phones.” He just doesn’t realize we’re making a ton of noise online and talking to our friends (who are sitting next to us in RL) on Twitter!

If you missed the show or like me, were too busy to attend most of the panels, here’s a short list of some recommended recaps:

• BlogWorld Expo Radio Podcast with yours truly and Jim Turner!
• The very awesome Nicole Jordan on her blog, Kicking Sand. She captures the style and substance.
• Nothin’ but SocNet’s Zena Weist has a great list of other recaps in addition to her insightful musings. She doesn’t just chat about social media – she lives it.
• Omar Gallaga from the Austin Statesman has a bunch of good stuff (with a local spin) on Austin360, with individual panel/party/videos here. Omar also did an NPR segment last Monday which was very cool.
• Pamela Lund on Massively Networked reviewed some very cool panels, which included tidbits of advice from: Thor Muller (Get Satisfaction, Inc.), Patrick Moorhead (Razorfish), and Ben Rigby (Mobile Voter), Barrett Fox (COCO Studios) and Jeroen Lapre (distant-galaxy.com).
• Jeff Beckham’s SXSW Scorecard looks back at the 19 panels/talks he attended, and he ranked them.  Very good stuff.
• RJ Owen of O’Reilly’s InsideRIA had at a great take on parties and panels!
• The ever-good-spirited @technosailor shares his journey and musings. Love the shout out to the Blogger Lounge!

BTW – David Carr wrote a nice piece in the NYT today that tells the story of the founding of the entire festival and it’s impact on the town. Plus his insights about the THRIVING Austin Chronicle, which has fueled this multimedia event since its inception, are especially intriguing given a market where many newspapers are failing.

All I can say is….keep Austin Weird and Geeky!

I’ll leave you with a video from my friend Guy Kawasaki that he did from his Kirsty-Alltop Party. Ya gotta love Texas (especially once / year in Austin)!

I really love Austin, Texas. And it’s not just because I’m obsessed with Allen’s Boots and love to eat at Guero’s and drink margaritas and beer.  It is a town full of smart, driven, cool people and a tech community that has been growing steadily for years.  The music scene is of course one of the best in the nation. Hugh MacLeod visits regularly. And of course, LANCE lives there! P.S. – Lance is on Twitter so follow him! LiveStrong baby!

Next week, Brian Solis (my TechSet partner-in-crime) and I will head down to Austin to celebrate the launch of BizSpark with Microsoft and with our local partners, the Startup District. Please be sure to also follow us on Twitter for more details:

@techset

@bizspark

@startupdistrict

You are cordially invited to join us at The Speakeasy at 7 pm on Thursday, November 20th. The event is *free* but please RSVP here. There will be free drinks and appetizers, so come early.

(Please note these are the boots I bought in March at SXSW and I will be wearing these for sure!)

That’s right. My second trip to Vegas this year.  I’m super excited for the second annual Blog World Expo that starts this Friday. It’s not too late to make your plans (there are actually some really good hotel deals on Hotels.com). The speaker line up and the party list look fantastic. Don’t forget to use the code: GEEKGIRL!

Follow @blogworld on Twitter for all the latest updates!

The TechSet has earned a reputation for hosting some of the most glamorous and connected events around the country. We’d like to invite you to what just may be our most incredible event yet as we celebrate you and the other entrepreneurs defining the new Web landscape. At BlogWorld, we will gather poolside at the new Bare lounge at the Mirage Hotel.

(mt) Media Temple, our title sponsor, will be hosting blog super stars and super startups alike!  Check out the *cabana* sponsors, including: Canvas On Demand, Empressr, MindTouch, ShareThis and Tagga.

In addition to Sarah Lacy, Hugh MacLeod, and Loren Feldman, we’ll be welcoming — all of you – the people that are the TECHSET!

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(mt) Media Temple Inc., (Twitter = @mediatemple) Inc. is an industry-leading, privately held web hosting and software services provider with headquarters in California. Since 1998, the company has provided businesses worldwide with reliable, high-capacity networks to host websites, email, business applications, video and other modern, rich-media content.

We are a friendly, accessible group of technology-agnostic managers, engineers and support professionals dedicated to making our customers happy. We are a true 24/7 company. Contact us anytime 24 hours a day at 877-578-4000. English is our primary language. We also speak Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Armenian and a few other languages.

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ShareThis (Twitter = @sharethis) lets people easily share the things they find online, in the most convenient way possible. ShareThis consolidates address books and friend lists, so that anything can be shared immediately, without ever leaving a webpage.

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Tagga (Twitter = @tagga) allows anyone to create text message campaigns instantly so that you can interact, sell to, or simply communicate with mobile users.  Promote your product or service to a targeted audience on their mobile.

You can target the audience you want, deliver the content you want and pay only on success.  Monetize your web or print content like blogs, websites, signage or print publications and expand your distribution channel.  Integrating with Tagga is fast and simple. In just a few minutes you can be on your way to extending your website’s functionality and earning additional revenue. www.tagga.com.

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MindTouch, (Twitter = @mindtouch) recognized the world over for innovation beyond open source wiki collaboration and content management, is delivering a leading edge application integration and development platform. MindTouch Deki, built with a Web Oriented Architecture (WOA), enables users to connect teams, enterprise systems, Web services and Web 2.0 applications with IT governance. Users easily access and organize data and systems efficiently to achieve their business objectives.

MindTouch Deki is deployed by Fortune 500 companies, major media, research/education institutions, government agencies, and online businesses worldwide. Customers include Microsoft, Fujitsu, Siemens, Gannett, FedEx, U.S. Army, DoD, and others. MindTouch is committed to delivering next generation solutions to people, businesses and governments.

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Empressr (Twitter = @empressr) is the first of its kind rich Internet application that provides users with the tools to create and share Multi-media visual stories online. Armed with only a Web browser, users can combine photographs, artwork, text, music, videos, audio recordings and charts to produce anything from a simple slide show to a state-of-the-art business presentation.

Empressr embraces the best of what the Internet has to offer with features such as asset tagging, Web mashups, embedded data and a comprehensive selection of rich media features. Once created, an empressr can be distributed in many ways. It can be published to the community site or your social networking page, sent in an email and even embedded in a blog or wiki.

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Canvas on Demand is the Raleigh, North Carolina that transforms your sentimental photos into canvas artwork. Co-owners Tom Lotrecchiano and Joe Schmidt were named Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year finalists and  ranked number 283 in the 2008 Inc. 500.  You can visit www.CanvasOnDemand.com for more information or to see samples.

O’Reilly is in town and New Yorkers are a flutter!  Today kicks off the first ever Web2Expo in NYC at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (655 West 34th Street). Co-produced by TechWeb and O’Reilly Conferences, @w2e_ny08 will wow NYC with it’s content and connection.  Be sure to follow them on Twitter, btw! You can find the detailed schedule here!

Web2expo in San Fran these last 2 years stand out for me as one of the best shows of the year (and that is saying a lot coming from someone who goes to as many conferences as I do).

I believe you can still register on-site! You can get a $100 off registration or a free expo pass if you use the code: webny08bd23.

By the way, we’re going to party like it’s Internet Week again! Assuming you’ve recovered from the June 2008 festivities, you should be sure to check out the list of events! I definitely want to highlight our TechSet event this evening at the Eden Rooftop . PLEASE RSVP ON FACEBOOK!!

I also want to make sure you know about web2Open, organized by Nate Westheimer.

Web2Open is the free “un-conference” side of the Web 2.0 Expo and takes place on September 17th and 18th, during the Expo. Inspired by the BarCamp movement, Web2Open is where the attendees lead create the conference content. It’s volunteer organized, and offers a fresh, community-oriented take on tech conferences.

One of the best parts of the Web2Open is that it’s free! To register, sign up for Expo pass using the code webny08opn (attendees with conference pass may also participate).

Brian Solis and I, founders of The TechSet would like to personally thank our sponsors for their support of the event tonight. Come out and meet them and be interviewed for Aaron Strout’s podcast, Citizen Marketer.

About our Sponsors (and please follow them on Twitter):

Mzinga (Twitter = @mzinga) is the leading provider of enterprise social media solutions that drive growth, innovation, and learning. The company combines a broad suite of social media and networking technologies with expert strategic consulting and moderation services to help businesses to harness the collective intelligence of employees, customers, and partners. Marketing, customer service, and human resources professionals deploy Mzinga’s “pervasive community” solutions to achieve higher revenues, lower costs, greater workplace satisfaction, and improved customer support.

Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mzinga supports more than 14,000 communities and over 1 billion monthly page requests from 27 million users in 160 countries worldwide. Mzinga’s marquee list of customers includes such global brands as ABC, AOL, ESPN, CBS.com, iVillage, Chevron Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, and Prudential Financial.

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Empressr (Twitter = @empressr) is the first of its kind rich Internet application that provides users with the tools to create and share Multi-media visual stories online. Armed with only a Web browser, users can combine photographs, artwork, text, music, videos, audio recordings and charts to produce anything from a simple slide show to a state-of-the-art business presentation. Empressr embraces the best of what the Internet has to offer with features such as asset tagging, Web mashups, embedded data and a comprehensive selection of rich media features. Once created, an empressr can be distributed in many ways. It can be published to the community site or your social networking page, sent in an email and even embedded in a blog or wiki.

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