I recently made an exciting announcement about taking my professional speaking career to an International level at the INET Asia Regional Conference in Hong Kong. My trip is from April 10th-18th. Foursquare Day on April 16th happens to be during my trip. While I’m sad to miss the San Diego event, I won’t let distance prevent me from celebrating my Mayorships and earning more badges!

I’m officially organizing Foursquare Day in Hong Kong! Although I literally know nothing about the businesses in Hong Kong or their tech scene, I’m using the power of Social Media to connect. I’ve been in contact with a few people already. I’d like this to be a Swarm Badge event at a venue with food and drinks. Perhaps 6-9pm? This will be very similar to a tweetup but rather than tweeting the entire time, we’ll be celebrating Foursquare!

I’m at the very beginning stages of planning Foursquare Day in Hong Kong but would love to make this happen! If you’re in the tech/ social media scene in Hong Kong or know anyone please spread the word and contact me if you would like to be involved. All the details can be found on the Foursquare Day Wiki and the Foursquare Day Facebook Page. I look forward to reporting my progress on Foursquare Day in Hong Kong and am excited to take my enthusiasm for Social Media to a whole new continent!

Professional speaking is truly a passion of mine.  I began my speaking career in high school by joining the Speech and Debate team. Since I was a student I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to educate others and express myself on topics that inspire me.  When I began my Marketing career, I incorporated professional speaking as a tool to enhance my credibility and market my own business. I highly recommend professionals in any field participate in speaking engagements related to their industry. I’ll share a few reasons why professional speaking is such valuable tool for growing your business.

Credibility- The nature of professional speaking itself provides credibility.  The audience admires your courage for first, getting on stage (as we all know the number one fear in America is public speaking) and second, your ability to capture their attention.  As a speaker you’re viewed as an expert and authority in your industry. Of course your credibility by being on stage must be accompanied by great content. To ensure your presentation strengthens your credibility, do research on who your audience is before you speak. This allows you to customize the speech and create content that matches up with your audience’s needs.

Marketing- Professional speaking is an incredible tool I use to market my own business. It’s an opportunity to present yourself as a thought leader and present cutting edge news and information in your industry. It’s also a great way to educate others on your area of expertise. When you’re speaking on topics relevant to your audience, by default, you’ll provide tidbits of information about your service offering. Rather than being viewed as a person giving a sales pitch, you’re seen as a resource and subject matter expert.

Inspiration- What inspires you to do what you do? Answer this question and share it with others. People love hearing personal and authentic stories. Customers want to do business with people rather than corporations. Hearing success stories from the heart is inspirational. Don’t be afraid to add personal elements to your presentations. Inspiration arouses creativity and is a strong positive motivator.

I’ve learned that the more I make myself available as a speaker, the more speaking engagements I attract into my career. Each time I speak, I fine tune and improve my skills. I learn more about how to connect with my audience and I continue to grow my network of prospects and partners.

I now offer Marketing Melodie Professional Speaking services.  Businesses and organizations can hire me as a speaker to educate their company, speak, moderate, emcee events and even serve as a spokesperson for topics related to Online Marketing and Social Media.  The benefits of hiring me as a speaker extend far beyond having me at the event. I include Social Media promotions, additional educational resources for continued professional development, one on one consultations related to my speaking topics and access to my presentations.

If you have tips on improving professional speaking skills or know of other benefits,  please share them in the comments below.  This is the first of a series of posts that relate to professional speaking. Stay tuned for more to come!

My company has been sending me to many conferences lately and I definitely can’t complain.  However it’s important to keep in mind that “working” a conference is different than just “attending”. I’ve already blogged about things to do DURING a conference to engage your Twitter followers. I’ve also blogged about post conference strategies AFTER you attend on how to turn a follow up email into a connection. But what about BEFORE the conference begins? As I prepare for PubCon I want to share  my top 10 personal conference preparation list .

1. Find out who’s going to attend- Many conferences don’t post attendee lists on their website so social media is the key here. The best resource I used to find attendees is Facebook Events. Although many profiles are private you have the first and last names of those who RSVPed. You can then look up on LinkedIn. LinkedIn events is second to Facebook events and then I will use Twitter Search.

2. Do research on sponsors and exhibitors- Find out what companies are going above and beyond to have a presence at the event and do research as to why.  Are they working on a new product launch? Is there a specific promotion they’re putting resources into? Knowing these facts allows you to position yourself as to why you will be a great resource or partner for that company. You will be prepared with knowledgeable conversation starters when meeting someone from the sponsoring organization or visiting an exhibitor’s booth. A list of sponsors and exhibitors can always be found on the event website . Go on the companies’ websites and carefully read the about, news and press release sections.

3. Socialize on the web with those you’d like to meet- When doing your research on attendees and sponsors, create a list of those you’d like to connect with and have a valuable reason for why they would want to meet with you. Connect and interact with these individuals on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, their blogs etc.  This helps build your credibility and shows that you’re engaged in their work, it will make the next tip a lot easier.

4. Set specific times for meetings- Invite your prospective business clients and partners to meet at lunch or for a coffee break. Conferences get hectic so make sure you have a confirmed date/time and place in advanced. Having an established is essential. Do research on nearby coffee shops or find out if the conference has private meeting rooms or quiet table areas. You may have to move the meeting time during the event but at least you have a commitment to meet which is much better than “let’s touch base during the day to see if we can meet up”  many times this doesn’t end up happening.

5. Set up a small intimate happy hour or dinner- One of the things I love doing is connecting various people who will all mutually benefit myself and each other. Set up your own small happy hour 5-8 people who work in different disciplines. Invite a few people you know, a few you may have met during the conference and a few people you have identified as wanting to meet. Use your best judgement when deciding if inviting a specific person will benefit the entire happy hour group.

6. Post reminders on Social Media in advanced- Use EasyTweets to post sessions you are speaking at, participating in or know you will be at in advanced. Post the exact date, time and location. You will need to be cognizant of event schedules that may change to update these tweets if necessary. This makes your tweeting more efficient as you won’t have to worry about tweeting your schedule during the event. Set up tweets to post anywhere from an hour to 30 minutes the session so people know where to find you. Use Selective Twitter Status to post reminder udpates on Facebook, especially if you’re speaking.

7. Have an agenda but be flexible- Review the agenda and highlight sessions, educational panels and forums and you’d like to attend. Do research on those presenting and their specific topics. Be prepared with specific questions or insights that may relate to the topic being presented. This prepares you to learn something valuable that matches up with your needs during Q & A time. This also allows you to prepare your introduction to the speaker after they leave the stage with relevant content and information.

8. Meet other business contacts in the area- Go through your contacts and LinkedIn to find out who else lives in that area and any companies you may want to work with that are headquartered in that city.  Even if they aren’t attending the conference set up a time to meet a day before or after. Depending on your schedule this may not be possible, but it’s always something to keep in mind. Since you’re flying all the way out there might as well optimize your presence.

9. Technology Packing list- This seems silly, but at every conference I go to I run into multiple people who left their phone charger or laptop charger at home. Make a list of all technology you need and ensure that it’s packed right before you leave for the airport. This includes your phone charger, laptop charger, extra batteries for equipment, mp3 player, camera, equipment to upload videos and photos (especially helpful for live bloggers) and anything else of that nature. Not having a piece of technology definitely puts a damper (more so than anything else that’s missing)  in your day so avoid this by being prepared.

10. Establish a follow up strategy- Don’t wait until you return from the event to establish a follow up strategy. Have this set before you leave. Identify key resources you can offer to attendees so you can excite those you meet and prompt them to expect a follow up with valuable information. Perhaps you have a new white paper, an upcoming webinar, a future speaking engagement or a new product launch. Let people know to look forward to an email from you that will provide something valuable such as those items I listed. Have an email draft that can be customized for each individual which includes your value offering. This reduces the chance a follow up email will be viewed as spam and increases the chances that your follow up will be success. Refer your follow up back to your conversation at the event. “Here is a link to the white paper I promised you during our conversation.”

11. Have fun! This is a bonus and just a friendly reminder that although you are traveling for work, there is no reason not to enjoy yourself. If you don’t meet someone or miss a session then there will be other opportunities so don’t let that bring you down.

What are some other things do you do to prepare for a conference? Share your own tips in the comments and see you all at PubCon!

I love attending conferences because they continue to provide me with inspiration and ideas to create relevant online content for me to share. This week I’ve received many follow up emails from DMA09. I want to praise those on a great job for being prompt and also remind everyone that if a follow up email is drafted a certain way it can sometimes be viewed as unwanted solicitation, aka spam!

Here are tips on increasing the chances you’ll get a reply and create a business connection. I’m using real examples from follow up emails I’ve recently received and will share my insight on how to enhance these follow ups as I share my tips. (All names removed)

1. Familiar subject line:

Emails to me: Subject: “Analytics and Marketing Science Services” and “1:1 Marketers have incomplete Online Marketing Capability”

Both  subject lines are descriptive but immediately resemble a sales pitch as opposed to a personalized email. I receive hundreds of emails and will skip over emails that I know are sales pitches and do not catch my attention with something personal. Subject lines that are more enticing can be as simple as “Nice to Meet You at DMA09” and “Thank You for Attending My Session at DMA09”. Notice these examples include a specific event that will be familiar to your recipient. The subject line should not be used as a sales pitch. Rather, a hook to get you to read more or a simple personal greeting.

2. Personalize the greeting:

Emails to me- Addressed as: “Dear Subscriber” and “Dear Colleague”

The greeting is the first thing your recipient sees when they open the email. Using the person’s name makes the email much more inviting. If your reader feels like their email address was entered into an automated system, you will lose them immediately. An automated service to send follow up emails may save time initially but taking the extra few minutes to personalize your greeting will yield more replies that turn into business connections in the long run.

3. Refresh their memory:

Email to me- “Melodie- what great memory and follow through. Impressive.”

After the greeting, it’s a great idea to bring up something specific that was discussed. I easily meet over 100 people at a large conference so it’s difficult to keep track of specific conversations. After meeting someone I immediately jot down a note about our specific discussion so I can refer to it in the email. The email I received for this tip was written to me after I addressed something very specific from a conversation. People appreciate if you refresh their memory about your discussion, especially since most people don’t do this. It shows you are truly engaged and interested in the conversation.

4. Call to action:

Email to me: I am trying to reach you to discuss the management of  your  meetings and events, which I understand may be an aspect of your job.

This sentence does not sound confident. It is very ambiguous as to what the company offers and why I will benefit from responding. Create specific calls to action. Another way to craft this sentence is “I’d like to speak with you to discuss a great opportunity I’m offering for the management of your meetings and events”. I’m currently offering a complimentary consultation to anyone who schedules an appointment before the end of this month”. This new sentence has a specific offer (free consultation) and is also time sensitive prompting  the reader to respond right away. Make sure your follow up email is accompanied by an additional item that keeps the connection alive and gives the reader a reason to reply.

5. Socialize your email:

I see very few follow up emails that incorporate social media. Include a link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and/or blog in your follow up emails. By socializing your email you allow your recipient to connect in a more interactive way. You are also showing your potential customer that you care about community building. By linking to your blog and other networks that have relevant content you will enhance your credibility as a resource and expert. I often send a LinkedIn invite that corresponds to my email.  I will reference my email “I have sent you an email in regarding our conversation.” If your recipient receives 20 follow up emails from attending a conference, a personal invite on LinkedIn  significantly increases your chances of creating a connection because you are showcasing your credentials and can show an established professional background.

6. Follow up your follow up Email:

To conclude your email I recommend stating your intention to follow up again after the initial email. This lets your recipient know you plan to follow up again so they your next communication. “I appreciate you taking the time to read this email. I will follow up by phone next week to set up a meeting”.

Keep all of these tips in mind when drafting follow up email and motice your connections accelerate. What other tips do you have to enhance follow up emails? Please share your tips I am always open to learning more from other industry leaders!

I’ll be attending the DMA conference for the 2nd year in a row Oct. 17th-22nd. Last year I was introduced to the event in Las Vegas. I didn’t have a chance  for much pre planning to create a marketing strategy around my attendance last year but I got a good idea on what to expect and how to create opportunities this year. I’m happy to be living in DMA09’s host city aka: America’s Finest City, San Diego!  The San Diego Convention Center located on the beautiful San Diego bayfront is a prime location for large conferences, especially during this time of year. While we’re still enjoying the beautiful sunshine many places are already snowing!?

I’m so excited that everyone at DMA09 will get a glimpse of our gorgeous city! I’m participating in myriad of activities and want to invite you to join me in one way or another. Here’s the inside scoop on some awesome events, sessions and labs I’ll be participating in during the DMA!

1. BusinessOnLine’s Usability Sessions & Labs – Monday October 19th: The Usability sessions will help define user-experience and demonstrate how the user’s perspective should be taken into account when developing all the components of your site – from navigation, to image placement and calls-to-action. All DMA09 Attendees have an opportunity to sit down with a Usability expert for a personalized lab. The lab will give you time to discuss your website usability challenges where we’ll give you a better understanding on items which have the biggest impact on your ROI and tips on how to improve your efforts. Labs run in 15 minute increments from 9:30am to 5:30pm. You’ll get a sense of the caliber BusinessOnLine is able to deliver if you’d like to engage in further services.  Labs will full up quickly so please reach out to me if you’d like to schedule a time.

2. BusinessOnLine’s Social Media Labs- Tuesday October 20th: Social Media Labs run in 15 minute increments from 9:30am to 5:30pm. These labs allow you to discuss your social media situation and ask questions about strategy and measurement. We’ll review your on-site activity: sharing features, blogs, digital assets, and participation, off-site activity: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTub, Integration between platforms and activities. We’ll go over the importance of monitoring and measurement. This entire session is customized to your current social media participation and again will give you a sense of BusinessOnLine’s capabilities in Social Media Optimization. These labs will also fill up quickly, so please contact me if you’d like to participate.

3. Live Tweeting- For the latest event updates, education, inspiration, TweetPhotos and reminders, BusinessOnLine has launched a new Twitter account that will update throughout the event and beyond.

4. Video Blogging (vlogging) – I’ll be collecting a varity of video footage at the event as I continue my success as a vlogger from the ERA’s D2C Convention. I will  interview people who participate in our Usability and Social Media labs, attend the Usability Session, people who are excited to share their experience, those with an interest in Online Marketing and anyone who just loves a few minutes of fame! Please come find me if you’d like to participate in my vlogging ventures. Footage will be showcased on BusinessOnLine’s Facebook, YouTube and more!

5.  BuzzParty- The BuzzParty at the Hard Rock on Sunday night will be sure to kick off a great week! Join the fun by RSVPing to the BuzzParty . For those who aren’t familiar with the Hard Rock, it’s a great venue with friendly staff and a positive vibe. Out of all the locations to go clubbing in San Diego the Hard Rock is one of my favorites. This venue succeeds without egos or pretentiousness which is a rarity in the nightclub scene (I haven’t been there in a while so things may have changed, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt). Unlike Vegas, you won’t leave smelling like smoke and you’ll actually get back to your hotel at a decent hour giving you a chance to rest and be refreshed for Monday!

6. Private Parties- Monday night I’ll be taking part in hosting a private cocktail reception. I won’t share too much about this event, but it will be a great group! After the cocktail reception I hope to my way to Altitude, my favorite rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of Petco Park. This is yet another semi-private party that’s sure to be filled with great minds. I’m not one to gloat about private events as I strive to share and collaborate as much as possible but if you catch my drift and read my next paragraph, I’m encouraging you to connect with me. There’s a reason for it!

7. Strengthening my Social Networking in Real Life- I’ve already connected with a number of people on Twitter who will be attending the event. (Tweets can be tracked #DMA09). Many of you are fellow marketers and social media enthusiasts like myself. There are also many business professionals and those eager to learn more about my specialty, online marketing! Whatever your reason is for attending, I encourage you to come find me and connect in real life. Let me know how I can help. Aside from discussing marketing you can be sure I will recommend my favorite places to dine, drink and site see in San Diego! San Diego is my hometown and I want to share it with all of you! So please ask me anything about San Diego and treat me like your host!

If you haven’t heard of Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back? I want to share the inspiration I’ve gained through his work and the enthusiasm I have for spreading his teachings to my network. Here’s my personal description of Keith Ferrazzi, he’s an inspirational marketer in the business of helping other businesses build strong communities and strengthen their relationships to attract strategic partners and loyal customers. He transformed professional networking by shifting the focus on making the event all about you to how you can help and provide value to others.

Keith Ferrazzi on Larry King

I’m so happy to see Keith utilizing the power of social media to connect with his fans, clients and readers. He truly understands and embraces evolving technology to strengthen his own relationships. Little did he know that social media would open up a great opportunity for me to nudge him through Facebook and Twitter to make an appearance in San Diego. He’s near the end of his 16 city Who’s Got Your Back Road Show to promote his latest book, Who’s Got Your Back? but missed a stop in San Diego!

Why am I such a Keith Ferrazzi Enthusiast? Not only is he a Marketing Maven, he inspires people authentically and has it in his nature to build strong, long lasting relationships. I strive to achieve everything he’s already accomplished and see him as a prime example for someone who’s taken my ambitions to the next level. There are several inspirational leaders I look up to but none of them are in a field that I’m so passionate about, Marketing. Keith couldn’t have said it any better on his very own media reel:

“…at 25 years old (this would be me, age close enough but not exactly accurate!) You’re going up to them (this would be you, Keith) and saying I WANT TO BE YOU SOMEDAY. You’re being immensely generous to them by saying that to them”. When I describe Keith to those who many not know him, I say I want to be him!

I’m confident Keith will find a lot of value in connecting with San Diego’s tight knit community of entrepreneurs, marketers and tech savvy crowd. Here are my top 3 reasons why I want to meet Keith and attract him to San Diego at an event I will host.

1. Inspiration : As a marketing professional and aspiring inspirational leader, I can’t think of anyone else who fits the description of success in my career path better than Keith Ferrazzi. I see marketing as a means to inspire others to do great things with their business and believe in mutual success with my clients. Our greatest leaders can still be inspired so I believe San Diego will inspire Keith in such a positive way he’ll make sure to include us in all future tours!

2. Networking Extraordinaire: I attend many networking functions because I believe connecting in real life strengthens relationships. (with the popularity of social networking, networking in real life is sometimes taken for granted). Keith has taken networking a step further by identifying key ways to network that allow you to connect more intimately and authentically. He ensures you never have to attend another useless networking event. I am assuring Keith that his time in San Diego and participating in an event I host will be well worth it!

3. Collaboration: Keith talks about working together to reach goals. There truly is strength in numbers. Collaboration is the ultimate key to success. Working with others allows you to combine strengths, maximize each others’ talents and create mutual success for all involved that extends far beyond what an individual can achieve. Keith will really gain a lot of value and insight in collaborating with some of the brilliant leaders we have right here in San Diego

San Diego, now I need your help! Please repost and retweet this blog post on all of your social networks! Every time you tweet about attracting Keith Ferrazzi to San Diego, use the hashtag #WGYBSD (Who’s Got Your Back San Diego). Lets get the momentum going and show Keith Ferrazzi that San Diego has his back!

To conclude this post, I must admit I don’t yet have a copy of Who’s Got Your Back?. I do however have it on hold at the library so look forward to it being ready for pick up soon. Why haven’t I bought my own copy? I look forward to receiving my own autographed copy when I meet Keith in real life in San Diego!

Last week I had the honor of attending Twiistup, a premier event in Los Angeles that connects people from technology, media and entertainment. I met a plethora of amazing people from all walks of life who share a passion for staying at the cutting edge of technology.

Attending events and networking in person goes hand in hand with social networking. While we have a myriad of ways to communicate virtually, the power of a handshake still adds a personal touch that can’t be achieved through online communication. Having both is essential for me to build credibility and authenticity to strengthen my relationships.

If you follow me on Twitter you may know I generally follow people I have met in real life (IRL)  or people I will probably meet IRL. I have met about 90% of the people I follow IRL. Those I haven’t met may be business accounts or high profile people.  I choose to follow with this strategy because knowing someone IRL significantly strengthens the value of their tweets for me. I am able to place a face and personality to the short 140 character blurb which really makes a difference in how I process the information that’s presented to me.

I had the pleasure of meeting several of my online friends IRL. Upon the initial handshake, I immediately felt connected and comfortable as we dived right into conversations as if we were catching up from when we last saw each other which in this case was online.  I’d like to give a shout out to a few of my online friends who I met IRL at Twiistup.

Adena DeMonte- @AdenaDeMonte is  from Diddit. Her company was featured as a Showoff at Twiistup. I have used Diddit before and found her through the service so it was great to meet the face behind a social network. I always find it exciting to meet people who work for social networks or big online companies that don’t have a brick and mortar location because it really humanizes the brand and allows me to identify with the service I’m using.

Marvin Tabangay-@Sketch678 is well involved in the Los Angeles tech scene. I always love connecting with other like minded people in different cities. He also happens to be one of the people on Twitter who motivate me to run! There are a few marathoners I follow and it’s always inspirational to read about their training, progress and then race day! I’ve been following him as he was training and fundraising for Rock and Roll Marathon and also know he is a designer so I immediately had a many questions to ask him about how things have been progressing in the tech world and fitness.

Chris Brogan- I told a friend who didn’t know who @ChrisBrogan was about how excited I was for the opportunity to meet him (friend is not as involved in the online space). I described Chris Brogan to my friend as someone who is “famous on Twitter”. He is one of the few people I follow not from California who I hadn’t met in real life nor did I expect to meet soon.  But really, Chris Brogan is more than just someone who has a lot of Twitter followers. He is a true leader in the social media space because he is authentic, caring and truly passionate about his work.  He projected these qualities in person just as his online persona does in the digital space. Meeting him in person really gave me a chance to confirm why people including myself respect him as a leader in social media.

There are many other people I’ve met online then IRL but I wanted to feature a few to give you guys an idea of how I strengthen my relationships by combining social networking with real live meetings.  Please feel free to share a story of how combining online and offline networking has strengthened some of your relationships. I look forward to connecting with more of you in person soon!

For some more Twiistup fun join me on Facebook and check out the photos. Please feel free to tag the photos as I don’t know everyone in all of them.

The Online Marketing Summit @OMSummit took place at the San Diego Westin on February 4th-7th, 2009. According to feedback, the event was a sweeping success. Capturing reactions was immediate, authentic and personal with the latest mircoblogging technology, Twitter! This was my first experience at a major conference with Twitter as a dominate engagement tool used by speakers, attendees and organizers. Twitter strengthened the connections among everyone at the event and painted a picture to the public of all the amazing content that was being revealed.

Twitter users tagged their posts with the hashtag #OMS09 as an easy way for everyone to follow along.

Steve Woods @SteveWoods , CTO of Eloqua and Technology Strategist took the lead with the first interactive twitter presentation in OMS history. He encouraged everyone to tweet their questions and even hosted a contest where best question would receive his book. When I asked Steve about his experience using twitter he shared that “It was interesting to combine [my] presentation and Twitter – gave some interesting insights into background conversations”.

Twitter was a useful tool in may aspects. Here’s a glimpse of the conversations that were happening:

1. Announcements




Twitter Annoucements from OMS

2. Networking




OMS Networking Tweet

3. Broadcasting Live so those who couldn’t make it were still able to follow along




OMS Liveblog Tweet





OMS Follower

4. Communication




Twitter Communication at OMS

Tim Mclain @tmclain, an enthused OMS Twitterer couldn’t have said it better. In 140 characters he let the world know he was at OMS, recognized a speaker, gave props to another attendee and give his insight on the future of OMS.

Tweet from Steve Woods Presentation

My overall impression of this year’s Online Marketing Summit is very positive. I connected with industry leaders, learned new information to enhance my own marketing strategies and experienced firsthand an on-site event enhanced with online technology.

Last Saturday I did something completely out of the ordinary: I attended BarCampSD4! When I first heard about Bar Camp a few months ago I honestly had no idea what it was! In a nutshell, it’s an a (un)conference made up of the collaboration of it’s participants. Anyone can attend and anyone can contribute so it’s really what you make of it. To be honest I was a bit nervous before attending as I envisioned everything being completely tech related. To my pleasant surprise I was engaged and entertained with so many different presentations (each presenter gets an hour). I was going to create an SEO presentation but realized everyone at the event either knows about SEO or thinks they know so I decided to be more creative and teach an origami class! I appreciate everyone who attended and thank you for all the positive feedback! Here’s everything I learned:

1. Art School Programs

2. Improving Memory

3. FMRI (Neuroscience Stuff)

4. How to Play Telephone Pictionary!

5. Turning vegetable Oil into fuel

6. How wine is made

7. Making Gin drinks

Alright enough writing. Let’s see some interactive media from BarCampSD4!

Teaching Origami at BarCampSD4

@DanLarsen learning origami at BarCampSD4

Finished Origami Products at BarCampSD4

@MyMelodie's Twitter Stream During BarCampSD4

Hello from BarCampSD! on 12seconds.tv

Thank you #BarCampSD4! Had a great time! on 12seconds.tv

I founded San Diego Speed Networking Dennis-Michael Broussard of Silk Road Productions over a year ago to create a professional networking event that overcame these obstacles:

a) Networking at loud bar with music where people are yelling over each other because they can’t hear
b) People aimlessly wandering around in an attempt to meet everyone with no formal introductions
c) The awkwardness of interrupting a conversation or leaving a conversation

Here’s how it works.
-Each company attends with TWO representatives If you only have one person at your company then attend with a friend/ referral partner/ someone you collaborate with.

-Each company receives a table top to set up marketing materials, promo items, visuals, etc. Rep 1 from the company remains at the table while Rep 2 from the company is assigned to move around to each table

-When the Speed Networking sessions begin Rep 2 moves to the table next to table and 3 minutes are alloted for each session. When time is up Rep 2 continues to move to the next table until every company has had a chance to meet every other company.

Each person will connect with everyone in the room. The speed networking session is long enough to establish a connection and short enough to move on if no connection is made. At the end there is a mixer. That’s the event in nutshell.

I’m having many challenges with my marketing campaign for the event. It’s extremely frustrating. As a Marketer I know exactly what needs to be done but don’t have the means to do it.

I don’t have access to my domain name so I can’t redirect the website currently hosted under the Silk Road Productions Website. The domain was purchased by former partner who has the password and has not disclosed it. I tried calling GoDaddy they were no help. Any SEO work I attempt will not be credited to: www.sandiegospeednetworking.com since it’s not hosted as its own entity.

I’ve also been unsuccessful in hosting a wordpress blog within the site. I’d like it embedded into my site as a page but it only links to the blog on the wordpress site. Dennis-Michael has done a great job with the site given that neither of us are developers or designers. I’ve become so discouraged with the marketing that I’m compelled to cancel the event, but we’ve already invested a lot and thus the show must go on!

If you read this entire Blog you get a $10 discount to the event. Regular price is $50 per company. My blog readers get in for $40. That’s $40 for two people. Includes hosted appetizers! Twitter followers @SDSpeedNet also get the discount! If you have any feedback for my website, marketing strategy or event in general please comment! I hope to see everyone there. Reserve your spot today space is limited!