Serendipity and Social Media Superhero Chris Brogan in Action!

No, I didn’t just happen to bump into my favorite superhero, Chris Brogan, at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.  Our chance meeting occurred via the modern, social media serendipity engine, Twitter.

Chris Brogan was in Paris speaking at Le Web and I was home in The Hague, still feeling sorry for myself for missing Le Web.  Late Saturday night after a completely offline day, I quickly jumped online and noticed on twitter that @chrisbrogan had just arrived in Amsterdam.  I replied to ask if he would be speaking at any events the next day or if there were any opportunities to meet him.  Chris Brogan is mentioned in hundreds, thousands of tweets every day, so I didn’t expect a reply.  It was nearly midnight.

He immediately sent a Direct Message to say he was just passing through the Netherlands, but would be happy to meet me for tea at Schiphol Airport in the morning.  I won’t pretend that I kept my cool, I was shocked and shaking! Continue reading »

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Missed Le Web 2009? C’est la vie!

More than 2,000 tech geeks from 46 countries descended on Paris for the #1 Internet event in Europe.  I longed to be among them!  So close, yet so far away.  My “sure thing” tickets from one of LeWeb’s Gold Sponsors did not materialize and the last minute ticket price shot up to an absurd 2.000 euro per person (on the official site, not even ticket scalpers).

Instead of a trip to Paris, my Le Web experience was live streamed on the wall of our office in The Hague.  Ustream is an amazing free service that broadcasts events in real time to the world, but Le Web by beamer light was no substitute for spending a few days in the City of Light.

Honestly, my colleague Lisa and I probably followed the speakers on the main stage  more closely from the office than we would have Live at the event.  But the opportunity to meet our online heroes and mingle with the participants was sorely missed!

The good news is that you can catch many of the Le Web video highlights (and lowlights) on Ustream.tv.  Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, officially opened the LeWeb with his launch of much hyped new payment service, Square.

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan delivered the keynote and created a buzz.  She is the reigning most web savvy monarch.  She effectively uses social media to connect with people and promote her causes, such as One Day One Goal.  (Video below)

If you have a daughter, sit down together to watch the video of Ms. Google, Marissa Mayer, in action.  She really knows her stuff and is an amazing role model, true talent and incidentally worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

If you consider yourself more corporate than start-up and even if you aren’t interested in tech or social media,  Zappos Chief, Tony Hseich is required viewing for everyone!  Tony talks corporate culture and happiness!

If you are still asking why social media, buy Trust Agents for yourself for Christmas and watch Chris Brogan on Trust.

Danah Boyd, Sociologist of the Internet and Microsoft Researcher presented an interesting perspective on visibility.  Society is quick to blame the internet for creating problems like bullying, but research shows that the internet only makes the problem more visible, and the problem has actually decreased.

Tim Ferris delivered actionable tips to implement and test on your website and the message, never stop tweaking

Gary Vaynerchuck @leweb - The highlight was Gary pushing Loic to walk the walk and make LeWeb more interactive than one way presentations!  Good point, it was bizarre to listen to 2 days of speakers without any Q&A from the crowd, (Loic doesn’t count).

Chris Brogan moderated a panel of experts on how brands and companies have to shift to “real time” marketing.

Lowlight alert. Late in the afternoon on day 2, there were two panel discussions on the main stage, both featured only angry white men.  First, the Europe gang moaned about how much greener the grass is in The Valley than in Europe!  Personally the whining was annoying, and I waited in vain  for the panel to mention the lack of entrepreneurial spirit in Europe as a critical success factor.

The next panel, the Gillmor Gang,  was even more painful to watch.  If you insist, I recommend mute.  Their arrogance and grumpiness are clearly conveyed with their sourpuss faces alone, no sound required!

Queen Rania’s Keynote:

Photo Credit:  Bewilder2009

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Geek for a Day @ #WordCampNL

Twenty year old guys (my students) have been calling me a Tech Geek quite often lately!  After getting over the initial shock, I realized that I actually find this more flattering than insulting,  so maybe I do secretly wish I were a tech geek?  Seriously I am not one, but why not embrace it and try it out?  So, off I went to GeekCamp WordCamp NL in Utrecht on Saturday.

Social media, internet applications and gadgets all interest me, but I could not write a piece of code to save my life.  My biggest “programming” achievement is something around the technical difficulty of figuring out how to get rid of an unwanted page break in the HTML of my WordPress blog.  Unimpressive by any measure.

Luckily, I was introduced to WordPress by a friend, much more savvy than myself, Lisa Rouissi of Orange Buzz, and by introduced I mean; she downloaded WordPress, pimped my theme and operated a 24/7 help desk via Google Chat, for me almost exclusively.  (Occasionally I make the mistake of referring clients her way and losing her undivided attention, but I have become evangelical about WordPress, so I can’t help spreading the word.)

Lisa was on the organizing team for WordCampNL and my first impression was that WordCamp would be too technical for me.  That turned out to be nonsense!  I didn’t dare enter the speed installation of WordPress contest or sit in on the session about developing plug ins for multiple languages, but the keynote speakers offered nuggets of wisdom for “Campers” of all levels. I met amazing people and picked up some really practical tips that I can immediately implement myself.

Lorelle van Fossen, WordPress Evangelist from the U.S., dazzled us all with a speed blogging demo, completing a post in two minutes flat.  I know I’m not the only one spending hours per post, so this gave us all something to aspire to.  @Lorelleonwp’s energy, eagerness to connect and her passion for blogging were an inspiration.

It is fun to meet people in person that you know online through blogs, or twitter.  The diversity of attendees was indicative…WordPress is for EVERYONE! I walked away with a better understanding of how WordPress can help me realize my dream for this blog, because it is more than a tool, WordPress is a community.

This week in Business Planning class, I proudly showed off the photo of me with famous Internet Strategist, Joost de Valk.   The students were predictably unimpressed as I dropped names of techies they had never heard of, but they smiled and seemed genuinely amused that I was embracing my inner geek!

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Blog Action Day 2009 Climate Change

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.  Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web.

One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.

As a parent, the future for my two small children is my primary concern.  The damage has been done and the alarming effects of climate change continue to reveal themselves, like the recent Swiss warning on the dangerous levels of (now banned, like dioxin and DDT) toxic chemicals from the 70s being released as the Alpine Glaciers melt.

Let’s focus on the good news about climate change.  Is there any good news, other than the Dutch beaches on the North Sea will be sizzling like St. Topez?  Yes, awareness is a bright spot.

Climate Change is an issue with skyrocketing momentum!   Thanks to Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth, the connection between our actions and the detrimental impact we have on our environment was seared into our global consciousness.  Fan or not, the controversy of the film took the conversation mainstream. The level of awareness achieved in the past 3 years, relative to the previous 30 years is astounding!

The current generation of children growing up in the “Post Inconvenient Truth Era”, are well informed and the environmental issues are in the forefront, not an afterthought!  For example, my students at New Business School Amsterdam aim to incorporate CSR into every project and business plan as a core component.  Unlike some of the conservation messages of my youth, where pollution just caused things to be “less beautiful”, today the consequences are clear!

I thought it would be fun to share with you the most prolific voice from my childhood on the topic of conservation. Woodsy the Owl and his slogan “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” playfully promoted the role each of us plays in safeguarding the environment.  The video below is a classic and demonstrates that Woodsy the Owl was ahead of his time advocating everyone’s favorite way to offset carbon emissions- tree planting!

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