What are your thoughts on the list and/or who did I leave off and why?

Posted on October 29, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

NC State launches mobile & Twitter website embracing the social web. NC Colleges Get It.

For those of you who know me, then you know that I love to talk about what North Carolina is doing in the technology / social media/ mobile industry. Also you know that I’m a UNC fan but that’s another blog post. Today, while looking at my local @WayneSuttonNC twitter stream where I only follow people form NC, I saw a tweet from @Jason_austin who’s a NC State Developer about NC State new Mobile site featured in the campus bulletin. The tweet caught my attention so I clicked on the link to find more information.

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The article talks about how Jason Austin, with little/zero budget along with other NC State staff members created NC State’s new mobile website along with the NC State on Twitter site and maps page. Here’s an excerpt form the article.

At a meeting last spring, staff members from the Office of Information Technology and Web Communications met with volunteer Web developers from units across campus, such as engineering and the libraries.

They all agreed that the future of the Web was tied to mobile applications and that NC State needed a mobile site. No budget, no time, no formal structure? No problem, they decided.

The price tag for Duke’s recently launched mobile site, created by an outside vendor, was clearly out of reach, says Jason Austin, senior solutions implementation engineer with OIT.

I must say that I’m very impressed with NCSU mobile site and the fact they decided to build the site internally instead of spending the money to have it built like Duke University did is smart. Those Blue Devils…., remember I’m a UNC Fan.

The NC State Twitter page is designed very simimlar to search.twitter.com and provides links to the schools official twitter accounts and hashtags. They also provide the source code so even if you’re a business or another college you can create your own branded Twitter page too.

Update:John Rees shares the link to the UNC mobile site.

A big congrats to the university on embracing technology and understanding that the future of the web is mobile and embracing the use of Twitter. It will be interesting to see if other university will provide the same service. If you know of other university that have created their own mobile or Twitter page let me know in the comments.

Posted on October 6, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How to become a social media conference speaker. Tips and a free conference pass.

Photo: by chrisheuer

If you listened to my podcast yesterday on the ROI in attending Social Media Conferences, then you know I just returned from IZEAFest a marketing / social media conference in Orlando, FL. organized by Ted Murphy. In my podcast I mentioned how the ROI for attending various social media conferences is relationships and from the relationships it could lead to more business deals and/or speaking opportunities. While it seems that everyone now is a social media guru or expert, or ninja or “fill in the blank”, the next social media must prove yourself thing to do is write a book or speak at various conferences. While my book is on the way, haha, I have been fortunate enough to take part in both local and national conferences / events such as SXSW, CLT WordCamp, SoFresh, Social Media Club meetings, Triangle Chapter of the American Marketing Association meetings, IZEAFest and more before the end of the year such as BlogWorld Expo, the Social Media Business Forum and Internet Summit 09.

Often I get asked how was I able to take part at various events or how can someone become a speaker at those events. While I’m no “keynote” speaker … yet  :), you can see a list of my past speaking events here on FriendWayne.com.  I still have a long ways to go, but here are a few tips on how to become a social media conference speaker that I have seen and done.

How to become a social media conference speaker:

• Start local – Be known in your own backyard before you try to go global
• Establish a personal brand / identity / voice – What will people say about you.
• Keep your social networking profiles updated (outdated info can cost you a gig)
• Attend other social media conferences – Network!
• Create valuable content to showcase your skills. No blog, no videos, no podcast = no gig. Unless you work for a major brand!
• Start your own conference / event and ask others to speak – if it works out they may return the favor… maybe.
• Have a travel budget
• Share your existing presentations on http://www.slideshare.net

Speaking Tips – As you start  becoming social media speaker, you need to do a few things such as:

• Be memorable and awesome
• Provide great content
• Provide new content (dont’ just talk about post you read on Mashable)
• Tell jokes and stories
• Rap – hat tip (Chris Brogan), I dare you! Wait, that’s Chris’s thing so …
• Don’t copy other speakers ( I know it’s hard to be creative)
• If you’re a quiet person, provide Really great content
• Practice, breath and have thick skin
• Don’t think about the tweets or “noise” that are being posted while you’re giving your talk.
• Have someone video your talks so you can post online for later.
• Ask yourself what separates you from the rest and why do you want to become a speaker.
• Be yourself.

If you have Never spoken at a conference in the past and would like to Attend the Social Media Business Forum on Friday, October 23 in Durham, NC, the first Two people who leave a comment on this post saying “I want to attend the Social Media Business Forum” will receive a free pass to the 1 day event. *Tweets or ReTweets of this post do not count.

If you’re a speaker I would love to hear any thoughts you have in the comments or if you have any speaking tips.

Posted on September 14, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

We're having a Deep Fried Tweetup at the @NCStateFair

Triangle Twitter users will not be confined to 140-character conversations as they experience the Fair’s offerings at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair on Thursday, Oct. 22.

The event, co-hosted by the organizers of Triangle Tweetup, will be held in the Folk Festival Tent from 7 to 9 p.m. on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day.

“We’ve built great relationships over the past year with our social media followers, and we wanted to organize an event that would help them enjoy the Fair in a new social way,” said Wesley Wyatt, fair manager.

During the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, attendees will be able to sample deep-fried Fair food, interact with Fair entertainers, participate in a Twitter-themed scavenger hunt and enter to win prizes throughout the night. The event is part of a growing trend of events where participants have face-to-face gatherings with people they follow on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. It is also one of the first Tweetups hosted by a state fair.

The co-host, OurHashtag, has held 10 Triangle Tweetups during the past two years. The company’s partners Wayne Sutton, Jeff Cohen, Ryan Boyles and Kipp Bodnar are active members in the local social media community, and have planned several social media events including Ignite Raleigh and monthly Triangle Social Media Club meetings. Past Triangle Tweetups have included a charitable component to the main event.

“By holding the Tweetup on Hunger Relief Day, we are able to gather at the Fair without charging a registration fee, and can continue to help our community through charitable contributions,” Sutton said. Anyone who brings four cans of food to the Fair on Thursday, Oct. 22 will get in to the Fair for free.

The N.C. State Fair was the first fair to use Twitter, and currently connects with fairgoers on a variety of social media sites, including:

• Deep Fried @ the N.C. State Fair Blog: www.ncstatefair.org/blog
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncstatefair
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ncstatefair
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/ncstatefair

The Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup is one of several new activities added this year to appeal to the state’s tech-savvy community. Other events include the TXT-O-LYMPIX texting competition and nightly video game contests.

Promotional video

More information about the Fair can be found at www.ncstatefair.org. Space is limited to the first 500 registrants.

Posted on August 3, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Announcing Triangle Tech week #TriTech

For those of you reside outside of NC we call the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas the Triangle and this week we having Triangle Tech week. Every day starting Monday August 3 thru August 8 there will be a different Technology/ social media/ geek event to attend. Also we’re going to have a few special prizes for some of the attendees who make it all six events such as an iTunes gift card and more. To verify you attended all six pick up a card starting tonight at the Triangle Tweetup at Edge Office. The card will have all events dates listed. Next find one of the OurHashtag partners which includes, Kipp Bodnar, Jeffrey L. Cohen, Ryan Boyles or myself and we’ll mark your card. On Saturday at BarCampRDU if you attended all six events we’ll have the prize for you.

If you’re tweeting about the events be sure to use the tag #TriTech short for Triangle Tech Week. Here’s the run down of the events along with the organizers and more information url for Triangle Tech Week.

Monday, August 3 – Triangle Tweetup, 7:00 P.M. at Edge Office – http://triangletweetup.org via OurHashtag

Saturday, August 8 – BarCampRDU at Red Hat via Dave Johnson aka @snoopdave on Twitter and team.

Ok, it’s going to be one long but fun, exciting week in the Triangle and remember the tag is #TriTech but some of the events have their own tag too such as #IgniteRaleigh & #barcamprdu. Be sure to check out the Social Carolina calendar as there are other events in the Triangle this week too. http://socialcarolina.org. Also be sure to look at each events website or Twitter account to see if there are any changes. Have a great week!