Monday, August 17, 2009

The most wonderful time of the year

Staples is bringing back The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, perhaps the most well-known and loved back-to-school television commercial ever created. I can’t believe that the commercial series first ran 15 years ago! As a parent, it is kind of exciting to send the kids back to school. But that’s not what is making the summer doldrums fun in the social media world. Today was panelpicker day for the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. It’s the chance for the social media fishbowl to get its e-ticket to their version of Disney World, SXSWi in March. You’ve heard the stories about the panels, the parties, the technology and the fun! Well, this is a way for social media peeps to get their e-tickets. SXSW is a community driven event, where your voting accounts for about 30% of the decision-making process for any given programming slot. Personally, I find it exciting to read all (well, maybe not all) of the interesting and creative panel proposals from so many talented people.

I am especially intrigued by:

There are over 2000 proposals, so it is pretty competitive. With the opening of the voting, SXSW was a hot topic on Twitter with many people asking for votes and promoting their panels. And several people didn’t appreciate it.

Sonny Gill wrote a great post today about the process, SXSW – Panelpicking or panelpimping. It seems that the community was a little overzealous in the pursuit of votes. I appreciate Sonny’s point of view and hope that I can be less intrusive in my solicitation of your vote.

I have been invited to speak with Saul Colt, Zoocasa’s Head of Magic on a topic near and dear to my heart:

Tweet Your Way to Your Next Job

Obviously, we all know that Twitter is more than having a sandwich. Learn from two savvy marketers who used Twitter to further their careers. Saul Colt and Warren Sukernek have each used Twitter effectively to find new positions.

As faithful readers (my wife and kids) know, this is a subject that I have some experience in. Therefore, I’d certainly appreciate your vote. Please vote early and vote often!

Thanks for your help and support! I really appreciate it.