Ladies and Gentlemen, the Social Media Train is moving!

REALLY NEW UPDATE: The good people at Talk Fusion and Network Delaware have loaded some great videos - click here for Congressman Castle's talk and click here to see the first human bar graph video

NEW UPDATE: Check out this cool 70 second video from the event by clicking here

UPDATE: There's 7 videos from this event available by clicking here

Friday, February 19, 2010 - More than 200 people gathered at Bella Vita at Cavaliers Country Club to learn, share, and discuss Social Media for more than three hours - if you were there, you know how incredible the event was - if you couldn't make it, you were missed and we hope to see you in the near future at some more events.

So, here's a quick recap:

First, I need to clarify something - many people are giving me credit for doing a lot of this stuff - the fact is I just run around talking about what other people are actually doing. In this case, the people doing all of the heavy lifting are Rodney Jordan and Laurie Bick. They laid the tracks for this train, set up the station, purchased the tickets (along with some much appreciated sponsors!), and invited all of us to jump on board - I'm grateful to be a passenger. If anyone walks away with tools and insights that help them grow their business, non-profit, arts organization, or even personal life, know that Rodney Jordan and Laurie Bick are the people you should be thanking!

Opening Speaker: Ken Anderson, Director, Entrepreneurial & Small Business Support with the Delaware Economic Development Office. Ken did a phenomenal job in helping us better understand Delaware's place in the national economy, our challenges, and our opportunities. Ken blew the crowd away!

Next, we heard some great success stories from Chris Marchak who is organizing the Red Robin Rocks event for the Ronald McDonald House, Kim Kostes from the Food Bank of Delaware, Wes Garnett, Jr., and Steve Roettger of COin Loft and Verge - then I got to create my first human bar graph to demonstrate how social media helped my company grow!

That's when we got a surprise visit from U.S. Congressman Mike Castle who was reading about the event on Twitter and decided to stop in and share his experiences with this new media.

Oh, did I mention that a whole bunch of people were twittering about the event - posting photos (some you see here) - and engaging in conversations with Governor Markell, State Representative Tom Kovach, and several others the whole time - this really was a cool event.

So, after Congressman Castle spoke, we heard from Whitney Hoffman about legal issues surrounding social media. Then we heard from Maya Paveza with TQI Consulting, Phil Woods with 2 Fish Group, and Carl Immediato about Talk Fusion.

By the way, the food was delicious!

Again, huge thanks to Rodney, Laurie, all of the sponsors, speakers, participants, and all who followed on twitter.

OK, people - let's welcome our new friends!

If you are reading this, you are most likely:

1) engaged in social media
2) in some way connected with the state of Delaware (live, work, play in or around the state)

If you don't fit in either category, that's OK - you're welcome to keep reading.

If you do fit in the above categories, then I have a special request that will benefit you, me, and the whole state.

Wednesday evening and Friday afternoon there will be two social media training events (check them out here and here).

Here's the thing - at these events we will have people helping attendees "kick start" their social media presence by signing them up with a Twitter Account and immediately following everyone in the Delaware Twibe (note, if you have not yet signed up to be a part of the Delaware Twibe and you fit into the two categories above, click here and join now - it's quick and free - you'll thank me later).

So, if you are part of the Delaware Twibe (and you should be by now - see paragraph above) - then you should notice that a lot of new people are following you in the next few days - please follow them back, welcome them to the world of social media, encourage them, suggest others for them to follow.

Yes, I am inviting all of you to be a part of this big welcome wagon - it's all part of this Delaware Social Media Initiative - and it's only working because of YOU!

Thank you for your time and attention - and for all you are doing to help grow this vibrant community!

DelTweet 3.0 - the debrief

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - Kildare's in Newark - easily one of the greatest nights in the history of Social Media in the First State!

Approximately 175 people came out for DelTweet 3.0 - raising more than $700 and 243 pounds of food for the Food Bank of Delaware.

And, Gov. Jack Markell started Twittering!



Here's the great thing - this gathering was a true representation of Delaware - there were people from all over the state, representing every part of the political and social spectrum. We had business leaders, politicians, artists, community activists, entrepreneurs, young people (I think my 17-year-old son was the youngest) and seniors (not going to guess on the oldest person there).

Oh, and here's a video from the News Journal:

But the feel wasn't of a business mixer, or political rally, or self-help seminar - this felt like a family reunion! The connections made were more than just superficial business card exchanges - people really connected here! The only real complaint I've heard since the event is that people didn't get to meet everyone they hoped to meet because there just wasn't enough time (we'll take that into consideration for next time).

Besides the video above (thanks Rodney jordan!) there was some great media coverage and a ton of photos, here's some samples:

From the University of Delaware Review - great article and photos!
From the Delaware Business Ledger - more photos and another great article
WDEL's Hi-Tech Watch - click here to go directly to the audio
The_BORG interviewed on the Rick Jensen Show
Check out Maya's blog post here