Blur

We have too much to do. We have too much to sort through. There are too many shiny objects, too many me-too experiences, too many situations where we’re doing something because we think that’s what we should be doing, and because that’s what other people seem to be doing.

In this context, I was talking about marketing, but of course, as with everything I do, I’m talking about life, about how we’re conducting ourselves, about what’s on the plate.

Essentially, I gave people permission to stop chasing after every recipe and instead just work on their restaurant. Do something. You don’t have to do everything. Just do something.

Eliminate blur. Stop multitasking. Stop allowing everything in, if that’s not helping.

Ultimately, no one needed me to say this. I just did it to remind them to look inside, to question everything, to consider the frame through which they were viewing the world, and to consider whether there was too much stuff blurring up their view.

I’m starting to think that we’ve got the opportunity to do some REALLY big things by just working on a few things, and by chalking up some little victories.

What say you?

One thing that’s different with my events than with other events: every sponsor and exhibitor and speaker is someone we think has something to offer you. We pick our sponsors with great intention. We endorse their products. We are users of most of their products. We appreciate their voice in our experiences. Thus, time spent with them is also time spent learning new marketing the way we see it.

So, it’s a 1 day event. There’s no fluff. It’s packed with info. We can hang out. AND I want to give you 50% off. If you use code = CHRIS50 when you REGISTER HERE.

I hope you’ll come for the day. I’m sure you’ll leave with something useful and actionable for your business.

We invite you to change the world, to be part of a group who is bringing their best, newest, most interesting ideas to an event created just for you. The goal of the event: to give you ideas that you can convert into action. You will make that successful.

It’s a small event, where only a few speakers will share some of their best-of advice. Part networking, part learning, part strategy conversation, here’s some of the speakers:

• Dr. Roderick P. Hart – Dean, College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin
• Sam Decker – Chief Marketing Officer, BazaarVoice
• Tim Hayden – Chief Strategy Officer, Blue Clover Studios
• Chris Brogan – President, New Marketing Labs
• ….and other special guests, to be announced.

It’s just a side dish offering to the big party that Tim and I thought would be of value.

Want more? Check out Get Ready To Live

Please, if you’re coming to Las Vegas for CES, make SURE you check out Social Media Jungle with Jeff Pulver and friends. It’s going to be a great event.

Photo credit Doug Haslam

If you can’t see the video, click this.

This was shot to promote Blog World Expo. I hope to see you there.

It’s pretty amazing to me. Social media ranking up there with venture, hardware, energy, etc. Wow. We have quite a game ahead, if we all work at it. For those of us working to deliver repeatable value in social media, this is our sign that we can keep making a business impact.

Look at these other categories and the winners’ names:

Telecom: Justin Aborn, Chief Scientist, General Compression
Education: Abigail A. Barrow, Director MA Technology Transfer Center, University of Massachusetts
Social Media: Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, CrossTech Media <-- me! : )
Legal: Karen F. Copenhaver, Partner, Choate Hall & Stewart
Hardware: Alexei Erchak, Founder and CTO, Luminus Devices
Community: Trish Fleming, Exec. Director, MIT Enterprise Forum
Internet: David Friend, Chairman CEO and Co-Founder, Carbonite Inc.
Electronics: Peter L. Gammel, CTO and Vice President Engineering, SiGe Semiconductor
Information Systems: Foster Hinshaw, President and CEO, Dataupia Corp.
Venture: Paul Maeder, General Partner, Highland Capital Partners LLC
Networking: G. Robert Malan, Founder and CTO, Arbor Networks Inc.
Software: Michael Stonebraker, CTO and Co-Founder, Vertica Systems Inc.
Energy: Mitchell G. Tyson, CEO and Director, Advanced Electron Beams Inc.
Life Sciences: Susan Windham-Bannister, President and CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

Distinguished Achievement Award: Robert M. Metcalfe, General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners

With that in mind, I really look forward to meeting people tonight who have done innovative things, and I hope I make a few new friends at the event. It’s an honor, but more so, it’s an opportunity to see what might come next in a space that’s pretty new, and very much on a lot of people’s minds as they contemplate marketing spend for 2009.

Though I don’t see social media tools as marketing tools only, if that’s where we get our start, fine. I’ll be happy with that, too.

See you at the event?

Want to organize a PodCamp? Though it’s not exactly “easy,” it’s also not especially rocket science. If it was, I wouldn’t have been able to pull off the first one with Christopher Penn. He could’ve, but boy, we learned SO MUCH just in the middle of the action. You could do the same, but if you want to cheat a bit, take advantage of all the cool blogs written about it out there. Want a place to start? Here are 10 of the most important points to getting started.

Quick PodCamp Starter Kit

1. Are there more than 10 podcasters or videobloggers or bloggers in your area? If yes, then you can probably do a PodCamp.
2. Make a wiki. We use http://pbwiki.com . Easy cheesy to edit.
3. List your PodCamp with a tentative time frame up on PodCamp.org
   • Remember that there are six rules listed on the page to make it an official podcamp.
4. Blog that you’re going to do it.
5. Ask for co-organizers. Assign them very specific tasks.
6. Find a venue. This is way harder than you think.
   • Room for ___ people (it’s your event. How many do you want?)

   • Wifi
   • A/V gear (unless you can get a sponsor to give you some)
   • Food costs – Some places charge 3x the venue costs for meals
   • If you can get a corporate venue, that often works the best
7. Seek sponsors to cover costs.
   • Be very clear on what they get back for their money.

   • Make sure this includes link love on the web. If you can, ask others to also blog about the sponsors.
   • Be very open about who will come, what type of people, and how the sponsors will interact.
8. Decide whether to charge for attendance (something nominal).
9. Delegate to the volunteers such that everyone knows what they own.
10. Hold a great event and write about it for years.

I’m sure that Christopher S. Penn and Whitney Hoffman have some other advice, but that’s a super tiny starter pack list for you to think about, should you want to start your own PodCamp, and hey, there have been 50 or so of them. Why not?

Glenda’s a published author, an acclaimed advocate for accessibility rights and reform, QUITE the blogger, a joker (see the bottom of this post).

If you’re a business looking to understand the power of the online world — plus the sheer frustration — for bloggers and web citizens with accessibility concerns, and you don’t meet Glenda, you’ve done your company a disservice.

Finally, bring an extra $20 and buy a copy of her book, I’ll Do It Myself. I’ve read parts of it at least a dozen times. When I feel sad or lazy or down in the dumps, I read about Glenda’s personal strength, her conviction, and her family’s love and support, and I find myself giving my efforts an extra push. If you don’t leave Blog World Expo with your own copy (she even signed MINE), then why’d you come?

You can meet me any old time. Make SURE you meet Glenda at Blog World Expo.

Photo credit, Glenda Watson-Hyatt, used with absolutely NO permission.

We’ve got room for a few more folks to attend, and I’ve got a VIP code ( CHRISVIP) that will take $100 off the ticket. If you’re interested and able to make it, come visit. I promise it’ll be lots of information and loads of fun.

More information at the New Marketing Bootcamp website.

Photo credit, soldiersmediacenter

You need to go to Gnomedex next year.

I’ll tell you that the quality of most of the presentations on the stage felt like the stuff I’d expect at TED. From Scott Maxwell who taught us what it’s like to drive the Mars Rover by remote programming to Amanda Koster who runs a unique garage, to the amazing Beth Kanter raising yet another year of college tuition for a woman in Cambodia, the stage was nearly always the scene of the most amazing ideas and speakers I’d seen anywhere.

The mix of topics, the quality of the presentations, the somehow “next generation” feeling of the audience all made me feel stellar and engaged the entire time. I got to meet lots of new faces, and finally connected with people I had yet to meet. I felt the sponsors were engaged and part of the community, especially Ann Finney from HP, who is now racking up quite a habit of being where the community events happen.

I have another post to write, but this one was just to say that I found Gnomedex to be the single-most valuable conference for me and my own personal and professional development that I’ve attended in the last 12 months. (In saying this, I realize that I’m rating it over my very own PodCamp Boston and several other events where I know and love the organizers. To you, I say, “I loved your events as well. They were also useful to me.”)

It will be interesting to see what comes next year, and I will certainly plan to attend. You should, too.

The next event I’m running myself is the New Marketing Bootcamp in Boston in a few weeks. I’m sure I’ll find ways to apply some of what I learned to that event.

(Another post coming later tonight).