Thank You For My Freedom

God Bless the fallen and our troops defending our freedom as I write this. Please take a moment to remember and honor all we have to be thankful for.

Source: Remember.gov

There’s always a contribution to be made. As you know, I am a passionate returned Peace Corps volunteer and AmeriCorps inaugural year volunteer. Find opportunities to help where you can at Serve.gov.

PAH Nation’s PAH-FEST Hollywood ’09: Democracy In Action

I had the honor of being asked by the gracious and giving Christopher Coppola – who just lost his father, August, this week - to be one of the judges for PAH-FEST Hollywood 2009. If you don’t know what PAH (Project Accessible Hollywood) is, take a moment to find out, because it’s a very important part of lending a hand to let all voices be heard.

It was amazing to judge… in the Circus Vision category I saw children being challenged to talk about more than whether or not they’d been to a circus, but to use that premise to get them thinking about how to represent rings, animals, flying, balance, colors, funny and opposites on the same school playground… brilliant!

Live Podcast: Featured Guest Dan Rosenheim, VP and News Director CBS 5 KPIX

Dan Rosenheim, Source: RTNDA.org

When it comes to Bay area TV news, Dan Rosenheim has been around the block and back and knows local news like the back of his hand.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Dan a couple of times, and he’s always impressed me as a seriously smart man. For the last several years, he’s been Vice President and News Director of CBS 5 KPIX-TV.

Bay area TV news is a hard game. The networks jump on our local stories – especially our dot-booms and busts – as stories of national importance. CBS recently acquired CNET and it’s family of sites, making San Francisco the new home of CBS Interactive.

Although the network owns CBS5 / KPIX, the station must continue to impress. But how?

We ask the man at the helm… listen to the archive here:

[Click here to listen if player above does not appear]

Though the Looking-Glass: What This Social Media Consultant Does

“What do you do,” asks an unknowing family, one-by-one. I oblige and explain, and yet am asked again, “what do you do?”

I guess the better question might be is, what does it mean to have a job on the cutting-edge, where business decisions are made around the increasingly credible idea that social media (formerly ‘new’ or ‘emerging’ media) might just save brands enough to make it through these tough economic times?

What I actually do is help business people – any people – how they can benefit from social media. Yes, that conversation – and my deliverables – usually involve money in some way, but it’s how our connections have shifted online that matters most.

How does one measure ROI (Return on Investment)? My answer: How do you measure word of mouth? It’s similar, except, in this case, many of the tactics can be tracked. Getting us closer to a real idea of what ROI is and in the meantime, worry about engagement, or participation, as concepts that are very real. There is a lot to be said for someone interacting with a ‘brand,’ as such.

But to family back home, I see a teeny bit of worry that I’m not capitalizing enough on my smarts or nouse… or whatever inexplexable adjective they might use to describe me.

Pressure To Make An ‘Under 40′ List

I don’t know if  it’s the Ivy League over-achiever in me or if I’m simply more competitive by nature than I realize, but I feel strangely panicky about having not made a 40 under 40 as yet.

It’s not as though I’ve achieved nothing; I earned the two Emmy noms under my belt… but recognition is important on a number of levels. As I get older, I find the need to be singled-out for achievement grows with one’s accomplishments.

I’ve Left Eastwick!

I have received so many lovely notes and ‘!’ ‘ ?’ symbols since posting to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn that I want to confirm that I have, indeed, left Eastwick Communications. I wish them well.

Now that I have moved on, I am more than excited by the response. Bless you for your kind words and well wishes I am floored by the amazing recommendations of my work on LinkedIn. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To answer the “big” question… Yes, I am opening shop as a consultant, perhaps more. I am working on defining my services now, as I am taking opportunities on… please be in touch if you are interested in engaging!

I am speaking tonight at a young leaders event for CoreNet Global this evening in San Francisco. I will continue with these engagements as opportunities permit – please let me know if I can help your organization understand a particular aspect of social media! I am committed as ever to helping people and organizations understand the power and promise of social media.

Live Podcast: Featured Guests Jennifer Pahlka and Brady Forrest, Web 2.0 Expo Co-Chairs

[Editor's note: This post and podcast originally produced for Eastwick Communications here...]

Jennifer Pahlka

This week’s podcast brings us ‘double the pleasure, double the fun’ (sorry, guys, I keep thinking Wrigley’s Doublemint gum commercials from back in the day…).

Brady Forrest

But, seriously, I could not be more pleased to welcome these two, distinguished professionals onto the program: Jennifer Pahlka and Brady Forrest, Co-Chairs of Web 2.0 Expo.

I have so many questions for them: From the genesis of Web 2.0 Expo, it’s influence in the social media and business communities around the world… along with the inevitable question, when does Web 2.0 become something else in the wake of Web 3.0 and the semantic Web.

They have experience and insights to spare and are a great pair. It’s an awesome show! Listen to the archive here:

[Click here to listen if player above does not appear]

Live Podcast: Featured Guest Josh Hilliker, Intel

[Editor's note: This post and podcast originally produced for Eastwick Communications here...]

Josh Hilliker

Intel, Intel, Intel… is it the unsung hero of effective B2B social media?

I’ll be asking that very question of Josh Hilliker, one of Intel’s key B2Bcommunity leaders and evangelists when he joins me on our podcast, Break through the Noise.

[Click here to listen if player above does not appear]

Until then, learn more about the man of the hour, in his own words:

Josh Hilliker is the Enterprise Evangelist / Community Manager for Intel® vPro™ Expert Center, in End-user Platform Integration (EPI), part of the Digital Enterprise Group (DEG) within Intel.

In this role, he engages the Intel® vPro™ community as a champion and community advocate for the products, technologies, and Intel.

Josh joined Intel in 1995 within Information Technology, created the Internet / intranet and external e-Commerce help desks, established customer support, and paved the support path for future e-Business applications.

Live Podcast: Featured Guest Avinash Kaushik, Author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day

[Editor's note: This post and podcast originally produced for Eastwick Communications here...]

Avinash Kaushik, Source: clickz.com

What do Web analytics have to do with communications companies anyway?

A lot.

That’s my not-so-humble opinion, and we’ll see if it’s shared by my favorite Web analytics expert and author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, Avinash Kaushik.

[Click here to listen if player above does not appear]

Recap: Social Media Club June Event at Eastwick

As you know, with our initiatives on influence and weekly podcast on the topic, we at Eastwick were thrilled to host Social Media Club’s June event, The Power of Influence. You can read a recap of the event on the SMC blog here.

Thanks again to our sponsors, Social Media Club and – above all – our employees who banned together to make the event a success!

[cross-posted here...]