Egypt, social media, and the human spirit unleashed

It was as far back as May 4, 2010, when a room full of people at the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall got an inkling that there may be a major change coming to Egypt.

That was the evening that the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication held a discussion about Political Communication and Social Networking featuring:

• David Plouffe - Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager
• Steven Schmidt - John McCain's 2008 chief campaign strategist
• Jacqueline Ann Surin - writer from Southeast Asia
• Mona Eltahawy - writer from Egypt

Fortunately, the good people of C-SPAN were also in the room and captured the evening for all of us to see how prophetic Mona Eltahawy was nearly a year ago - Click Here to watch Mona Eltahawy's comments about social media in Egypt.

What Every Power Structure Needs to Learn From Egypt:

Here's what we need to understand - Every organization must understand the new world in which we live, let me be explicit on this - if you work for, work with, or are the embodiment of a:

• Business
• Corporation
• Religious Organization
• Charity
• Government (local and national)

- then this applies to you.


You see, the same tools that enabled the people of Egypt to stand up to a 30-year-old power structure and succeed are available and being used by your customers, contributors, collaborators, and constituents.

The political revolutions we're seeing in various part of the world are only the beginning - we are seeing a real societal revolution taking place - a revolution where authenticity is rewarded and an old-school, authoritarian "because we are the power and we say so" mentality gets ignored at best, and utterly destroyed if it doesn't take the hint.

The choice has never been more obvious - if you desire to have your business, government, or organization to be relevant in the coming years, you must engage with those you wish to be relevant to. This means listening, sharing ideas, admitting mis-steps, and celebrating community.

PLEASE NOTE: What is written here is neither new nor original - and for more comprehensive and insightful material, I highly recommend the following:

1. Lee Mikles and Patrick Callahan discussing Egypt and Social Media in their What's now, What's Next Podcast (episode 52) 

2. Dave Burris' always relevant post about how in social media, You Can't Fake the Funk

3. Erin Guttenplan's Edge of Seven post about the Women of Egypt

4. This great video from Clay Shirky:

Groundhog Day Event Re-Cap

Wow!

I will never look at Groundhog Day the same way again!

I won a drawing for a free happy hour at the new Catherine Rooney's in Newark - throughout the evening, about 70 people came and joined in the fun - this was truly an awesome night of community!

These videos should give you an idea of what the evening was like - I am truly grateful for all who made this evening possible - and please, continue to be the awesome, incredible, inspiring people you all are!

Rodney Jordan - Sir Galahad incarnate

Last Friday evening many, many people from all walks came together to celebrate Rodney Jordan's birthday - and raise more than $500 for the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition.

During the celebration, I asked one of my typical birthday questions, "What's the most significant event for you this past year?"

Rodney's response: "This night, having all of these people here, this community."

Wow.

I believe that tells you exactly what kind of person Rodney is - he is all about the community - at our roundtable, Rodney jordan is Sir Galahad - pure of heart and ever galant (fyi, I'm labeling myself as the town crier in this little analogy).

Here's the thing, I don't know if many people really know just how much Rodney does - from organizing events to putting people and organizations together to supporting hundreds of people in the area - Rodney was the first person to step up to lead the Community Matters Networking Group, Rodney put together (and primarily funded) the first Social Media Train in Delaware - oh yea, and for anyone who has benefitted from using the hashtag #netde, yea, Rodney started that.

It is safe to say that most people in our community owe a debt of gratitude to Rodney - I know I do.

And when I look at how much he has done in just the last couple of years I've known him, I can't wait to see how much will be accomplished in the coming years!

DelCastle Technical H.S. - giving students an incredible advantage

Gary Phillips at DelCastle Technical High School is training students to have an incredible advantage in the "Real world"

First, check out what Lee Mikles had to say about his visit - I agree with every word he writes.

In addition to truly impressive equipment and hardware, these students are working with industry standard software and are learning valuable lessons from instructors like Gary and from guest speakers.

Most impressive is the way the students are being taught to use their skills in a variety of ways and apply their understanding of video technology, software, editing, and writing to create truly original work.

I am confident that in the coming years we are going to see amazing things out of these students, know that it is thanks to the vision and work done by Gary and his colleagues at DelCastle.

Social Media 2.0 - video recap

Tuesday, January 18, 2010: The New Castle County Chamber of Commerce held a breakfast seminar on Foursquare and QR Codes at the University of Delaware's Courtyard Hotel in Newark.

Ken Grant and Rob Szczerba led the discussion, and Rodney Jordan shot the video.

Below is a combination of the videos shown that morning and the videos shot by Rodney:





Here's a link to a couple of CNN videos: Checkin in to Foursquare

Is Foursquare the next Twitter?

Exploring some newer Social Media Tools!

I've said this from the beginning - and am more convinced than ever - this whole social media thing is a great big wild frontier that we get to explore and shape together.

So, next Tuesday, January 18 - let's do some exploring!

The New Castle County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a morning event for us to look at tools like FourSquare, QR Codes, and more!

Rob Szczerba from Associates International, Mark Thompson from ION-E, and I will share what we know (I'm counting on Rob and Mark to be much more informative than me - oops, did I say that out loud... anyway...) and you can help us discover cool new ways to use these tools for business, non-profit organizations, arts, government, community building, neighborhood development, and much more - this is going to be incredible!

Here's the official pitch from the chamber with a link to sign up - hope to see you there!

Social Media 2.0 Using Foursquare, QR Codes, and other technologies to grow your business Do you know what a QR Code is? Have you ever checked in on FourSquare? Join us at the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware for a full hot breakfast and a tutorial from the experts on how to network, connect and market your business in 2011.  We'll discuss the latest social media innovations, including Foursquare, QR codes, and other interactive applications that may put customers at the forefront of marketing strategy.  You will not want to miss this event! Speakers: Ken Grant, Analtech Rob Szczerba, Associates International Mark Thompson, ION-E Tuesday, January 18 (next week!) 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. at Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware

WHAT: Social Media 2.0
WHEN: Tuesday, January 18 - 8:30 - 11:30 AM
WHERE: Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware - 400 David Hollowell Drive
WHO FOR: EVERYONE interested in communicating effectively with customers, clients, contributors, and/or collaborators
COST: $25 for NCCoChamber Members / $35 otherwise
Click Here to REGISTER

How about a little fun on New Year's Day?

Yes, that's a photo of me in a skirt, blouse, and wig in the 2005 Hummers Parade.

So, this Saturday will be the 40th annual Hummers Parade in Middletown! - http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201012280339

Even better, the weather is supposed to be great - mostly sunny, highs around 45 - which means the turnout for this parade should be pretty big (they claim there's been up to 10,000 at some past parades).

I cannot tell you how much fun these parades are - this is where people get to be creative and fun - you will not find professional floats in this parade - you will find men in diapers and roller skates, kids in costumes, people having fun with celebrities, politics, you name it.

I'm thinking we could have some real fun representing the Delaware Twitterati/Social Media Scene in the parade - a bunch of us can walk in the parade, take photos, and generally have a good time.

Obviously, I'm open to more creative ideas (we could bring along a screen, laptop, and projector - and show the whole twitter stream along the parade route... just an idea).

The parade is scheduled to start at 1:00 in the afternoon.

If you don't want to be IN the parade, would you want to just get together and all enjoy it from one spot?

What say you all?