Posts Tagged ‘Events’

Posted on July 30, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Check-in with @TriOut at the @Triangledotcom tent during Raleigh Wide Open for a chance to win $50 #RWO5

This Saturday downtown Raleigh will be packed with thousands of people participating in a full day of events for Raleigh Wide Open 5. The day kicks off with a parade starting at 11:00 am and ends with fireworks at 10:45 pm. There’s literally something for everyone throughout the day and you can see a full list of event here: Raleigh Wide Open 5 schedule. Also during the day expect to see tons of vendor tents from local businesses. One tent everyone should visit is the Triangle.com tent. Not only will the one and only Mike Williams (@imikewilliams) be there but Triangle.com is giving away tons of cash and prizes throughout the day. You can see a full list of prizes from the Triangle.com tent here: Triangle.com Raleigh Wide Open prizes.

TriOut is pleased to announce that one of the prizes during Raleigh Wide Open will be a $50.00 Gift Card for checking into the Triangle.com tent. The tent will be located at the corner of Martin and Fayetteville Street right in front of Port City Java. Everyone who checks into the Triangle.com Tent will be rewarded with a special Triangle.com Raleigh Wide Open badge along with 10 points to their TriOut account. One lucky TriOut user will win a $50.00 gift card. The winner of the gift card will see a special “congratulations” badge. From there, find Mile Williams at the tent to collect.

We hope you enjoy Raleigh Wide Open 5 and feel free to check-in at various businesses and events downtown Raleigh, you never know what else you might win.

Good luck and thanks for using TriOut. We’re working with other businesses to offer more check-in promotions in the future. If you’re interested I can be reached at wayne at TriOutNC dot com or call 919-200-0933.

Posted on July 13, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

11 challenges for social media / technology conference speakers

So…. you want to be a social media conference speaker? Last year when @OurHashtag planned the social media business forum we started receiving tons of submissions via our speaker request form from people all over the USA wanting to speak at our conference. Also as someone who’s been lucky enough to speak at various national and local conferences I often get asked about finding speakers for other conferences. Over the past two years, I’ve seen/experienced both the good and bad sides of speakers at conferences. I’ve seen people get upset and bash others just because they where not chosen or asked to speak.

The question I have for some is why do you want to speak at social media or tech conferences? To show everyone how smart you are? To help build your speaking resume? To get paid for sharing your knowledge? Regardless of what reason you may want to speak at a social media or technology conference, it’s not as easy as some may think. Here’s a list of 12 challenges for social media / technology conference speakers

1. New unique content
The last thing someone wants to hear after paying to hear you speak is a bunch of case studies that you have read from your favorite social media guide that the rest of the world is reading. When speaking at conference be prepared to come with new unique content or at least be entertaining enough so attendees can say they enjoyed your presentation.

2. Peer pressure / expectations
Don’t let the conference organizers over hype you or your presentation. When your times to give your talk the expectations may be to high and the audience is expecting you to wow them with social media case studies and shiny tools that most have heard before.

3. Adding value
This should be goal for every speaker or panelist who would like to speak at a social media conference or any event. Ask yourself how are you adding value to the conference.

4. Real-time critics and feedback
When speaking at social media conferences 9 out 10 times you can guarantee there’s a hashtag or twitter steam flowing somewhere in the background. If you’re sucking or crashing, expect a few angry/mean tweets to show-up in real-time. If you have the opportunity to see the stream during your talk, my advice is get through your presentation as fast as you can, jump to Q&A and write a blog post about what happen afterwards. Also you can try to either send a direct message or public reply to your critics. Most are fine with just a one way bashing but if you approach them some will go as far as deleting tweets or just apologizing.

5. Being always on
It doesn’t matter if you’re sick or had a recent death in the family. iIf you’re speaker at conferences and built a brand for yourself people will approach you and expect you to be same bubble of social media joy you are online. For example, I’m still upset about how I treated a Sony exec who approached me at SXSW 2010 while I was tired as heck. Not from drinking because I don’t drink but just tired. I was headed to the bloggers lounge and she walked over to me and said hello. I wasn’t mean or anything but was a little down. I don’t think she was too happy with my reactions and since then I have yet to hear from here even after reaching out a few times. If you’re reading this… I’m sorry.

6. Your quotes last forever
Be careful what you tweet is a motto of mine but when speaking at conferences be careful what you say. Audience attendees are trigger happy with their laptops and smart-phones ready to tweet a quote from your session. If you say the wrong thing it could be game over and stored in Google and quoted in recap blog post for life.

7. Getting paid for your knowledge
With so many people talking about social media today you’ll think everyone is an expert. The truth is there are no real experts, some just have more experience than others. Regardless you’ll find tons of people who are willing to speak for free at social media conference therefore set your price but be willing to negotiate.

8. Budgeting
You’re now getting paid to speak at a social media conference, your travel and hotel stay is covered. But don’t forget about food, taxi, parties and other miscellaneous charges. Especially if you travel to Las Vegas where everything cost almost as twice as much than any other location.

9. Preparation for the target audience
Make sure you ask the right questions to the conference organizer such as, who is the target audience for the event / session. Most will tell you marketers and agencies but that’s like saying everyone who’s trying to make money using twitter and facebook. If you have the opportunity, reach out to the local community for more information about the attendees if your speaking at an conference in a new city or ask the organizers for a list of companies represented from the registration list so you can be prepare your presentation for the right audience.

10. Winging it
Winging it is a term used by speakers when they wait to the last minute to prep for a talk or they’re speaking off the top of their heads. It’s something I think a few are proud to say afterwards, especially if they did nailed their talk. I’ve seen both professional speakers and newbies attempt to “wing it” but it’s not recommended. You audience deserves better if they come to hear you speak.

11. Dress code
You can almost guarantee that if you’re speaking at a social media conference someone is going to take your picture. With that being said the last thing you want is a ton of flickr photos tagged of you at various events with the same outfit on. Pull out the credit card and start shopping for your social media conference wardrobe.

So, do you still want to be a social media conference speaker?

If you’re currently a speaker what are some of the challenges that you have faced over the years?

Posted on July 12, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Thank You!

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of teenagers at SAS on social media and personal branding online. The kids were either in high school or college and taking part in the SAS summer internship program. I was invited by SAS’s social media manager and friend David B. Thomas (@DavidBThomas). David also spoke about how SAS uses social media and their social media policy.

Prior to the event David and I used @GoogleWave to collaborate on the agenda to make sure we provide value to the session. We really wanted to give the kids action items, along with showing examples of how they can use social media tools for career development / advancement.

As I prepared my presentation I didn’t want to give the general this is how to use social media media examples or case studies being the audience were kids and knowing how the session could go a few ways. It could be interactive and fun or boring or just blah. Therefore I decided to go with the somewhat fun / interesting approach and show a few opportunities I have been lucky enough to participate in that past few years due to what some would call my brand, social media/ online footprint which includes my blog here, @twitter accounts, @facebook and @linkedin profiles. Many you can see on the right sidebar.

While giving the presentation I looked at the eyes of some of the kids. Some where impressed, others were like just finish already and I think a few found it very interesting some of the places I’ve been and opportunities I’ve had because of my online presence. It also was a time of self reflection and a time of gratitude knowing that without any of my blog readers, @twitter followers, @facebook fans/likes or people who have shared any content I’ve published a lot of those opportunities may never happened. With that being said I want to say Thank you! Also a big thanks to SAS and David for for opportunity to speak.

To read a review about the SAS session see: My Summer at SAS: Social media essentials for students and new grads by @stacemiiister

Also read: The Two Most Important Words in Social Media by @JayDolan

Flickr Thank You photo by: bandita I’m not sure who is Marisa is but I thought it was a nice photo.

Have a great day!

Posted on July 8, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Upcoming speaking events: It’s all about location-based services: TriOut, Foursquare and Social Media

It seems almost everyone is trying to learn more about location-based marketing or location-based services/applications. Along with how can they use mobile check-in applications with their existing marketing efforts, implement with their social media strategies and see is it worth the hype and attention to where everyone is blogging and talking about location. Just last month the entire @TriOut team spent the afternoon at the @NCTech4Good conference discussing how non-profits can use TriOut and other location-based services. Also the last two previous speaking occasions were on location. One was why measuring check-ins are important at the search exchange conference in Charlotte, NC and the other was what is location-based marketing in 2010 at a recent social media boot camp in Raleigh, NC [Slides].

Here’s a list of a few upcoming events that I’ll will be speaking on location-based services/marketing and social media.

July: Cary, NC – SAS – The core values of Social Media and personal branding for kids (not open to the public)

July, 14: Durham, NC – @TIMC_NC – Panel: Doing Business the hyper-local Social Media Way [RSVP]

Join TIMA for the July Lunch & Learn program on Wednesday, July 14th at Hotel Indigo (just off Miami & I-40 near Ruddino’s). The panel discussion will review some of the new web and mobile based applications designed for local merchants and local consumers to come together. Some programs are game based, some are “Deal of the Day” and others rely on community content building. What is all the excitement about and do the programs live up to the hype? Are they viable new sources for local advertising?

Join the expert panelists moderated by nationally recognized social media consultant Wayne Sutton. Our guests include Lawrence Ingram, creator and developer of Tri-Out, a social GPS program and Christina Gates, Community/Marketing Manager at Yelp!

July 15: Charlotte, NC – @SoFresh – Panel: The Evolution of Foursquare Marketing 7/15 [RSVP]

Foursquare and several other location based services are the new pretty girl at the party.
Join this timely panel to get the break down of how your business can begin to leverage Foursquare and other LBS platforms for your business, discover the emerging Foursquare marketing best practices, and how these technologies can improve your other marketing efforts.

Location based services, from Foursquare to Yelp to Twitter are receiving much attention as the newest channel of social media marketing. Join our panel of leading analysts and representatives of the services themselves as we discuss the value and possibilities of location based services.

July 22: Boston, MA – Panel – To Check-In or Not To Check-In? The Opportunities of Location Based Social Networking [RSVP]

Become a mayor, collect a coveted item, create a picture storyboard of where you’ve been – location based social networking (a.k.a. “LBS”) is fun, but is it more than just fun and games? Like the early stages of Twitter, LBS has its challenges (stability, adoption rates, etc.). But – whether it be lead generation, loyalty or business intelligence / data visualization and segmentation – the potential for businesses and marketers to leverage the power of location based knowledge is significant.

August 19: Raleigh, NC – Panel – @Triangleama – Location Based Marketing [more information coming soon]

Some of you may be wondering why am I talking about location so much now vs social media. We’ll I’m a partner of TriOut a location-bases service based out of Raleigh, NC were we not only provide consulting services but a service for the community and businesses. I still provide social media marketing services and more but if you or your business would like to learn how to leverage location bases services with your existing marketing efforts use the contact form on the contact page here. You can all see a list of previous speaking events here.

If you’re in the Raleigh, Charlotte or Boston area I hope you have the opportunity to attend one of the upcoming events.

Posted on May 27, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Presentation: Using WordPress to build your brand & telling your start-up story from @WordCampRaleigh #wcraleigh

This past weekend I had the chance to attend and speak at WordCamp Raleigh @WordCampRaleigh. I think this was my fourth or fifth time attending a WordCamp event and my third time speaking at one. I must say by far that WordCamp Raleigh was the best one yet. The event was organized by Steve Mortiboy @wpsmort, Michael Torbet @michaeltorbert and Craig Tuller @craigtuller, along with a great team of volunteers. During the 2 day camp I met some awesome WordPress developers and speakers such as Syed @wpbeginner, Lisa Sabin-Wilson @LisaSabinWIlson, Dave Moyer @DaveMoyer and more. Also I had a chance to catch up with a few friends who I normally don’t see unless we’re at SXSW or BlogWorld such as Patrick O’Keefe @ifroggy, Brandon Eley @Eley, Stephan Segraves @ssegraves and Aaron Brazell @technosailor. It was great seeing everyone!

One of the highlights of WordCamp Raleigh was watching and participating in the SitePoint Podcast hosted by @iFroggy and team. The podcast was live video streamed and you can watch it here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7124319

My topic for WordCamp Raleigh was “Using WordPress to build your brand and telling your start-up story” in which Lawrence Ingraham @LawPower, TriOut founder joined me discussing how we used WordPress and blogged the launch of TriOut. Below is the presentation and you can see the notes on SlideShare.

Here are a few more blog post about WordCamp Raleigh:
WordCamp Raleigh 2010 Pictures – Part 1
WordCamp Raleigh 2010 (Overview)
WordCamp Raleigh 2010

Thanks to WordCamp Raleigh @WordCampRaleigh for having me and planning a great event. See you next year!