CNN’s Black in America / Silicon Valley: Aftermath #sxsw #sxswi
Taken at ACC- Room 6
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Geek The Cause at SXSW Interactive 2012
SXSW Interactive brings together some of the world’s most creative and forward thinking professionals, from a wide rage of disciplines.
We- at Campaign Consultation, Inc, and Eye Byte Solutions, LLC – are hosting “Geek The Cause”… a special event at SXSW designed to leverage our collective grey matter to forge new ideas and innovative strategies to address some of our most pressing social concerns.
If you’ll be at SXSW on Sunday, March 11, 2012 please register for a ticket and join us!
Strategies for Your Business from What’s Next DC
You know how you go to a conference, rush from panel to panel, wish you could talk to the presenter one-on-one, and then have wave at someone across the room you really want to talk to but can’t approach because the room is too crowded? Well, What’s Next DC is not one of those conferences.
What’s Next DC, a one-day marketing and communications conference that focusses on the latest and greatest innovations and trends we should focus our efforts on, is more about networking and strategizing than stale lectures. We were treated to a series of presentations, small group breakout sessions, niche talks and one-on-one time with the presenters.
I got a chance to chat with four What’s Next presenters who shared advice on what companies would keep in mind when thinking about “social”.
- B. Bonin Bough, Senior Global Director of Digital and Social Media, Pepsico
- Tim Mahlman, Chief Revenue Officer, Klout
- Katharine Zaleski, Executive Producer and Head of Digital News Products, Washington Post
- Sabrina Caluori, Vice President of Social Media and Performance Marketing, HBO
Special thanks to Vanessa French, President, Pivot Point Communications, for inviting me to cover the conference. Also, thanks to What’s Next DC host, Tod Plotkin, who spoke to me about his impression of this year’s What’s Next DC.
The Creative Process: From Discovering to Delivery
Taken at Campaign Consultation
The difference a comma makes
Taken at Campaign Consultation
My Favorite Fitness Apps
Thirty days ago I embarked on my Get Fit mission. I committed myself to getting in better shape and eating healthy. Being a Geek Diva, I’ve had a few of my favorite apps helping me along the way. Here are my two top fitness apps that are helping me get it in!
The first one I can’t do without is Lose it!
We all know you will succeed at weight loss if you write down what you eat. With Lose It!, you set goals and establish a daily calorie budget that enables you to meet them. The key here for me is also recording your exercise. To get started I determined how much weight I wanted to lose. For me it’s two pounds per week. After plugging in my measurements, Lose It! told me how many calories I can have each day in order to reach my goal. But, and here’s the kicker, the more I workout, the more calories I can consume. So, if want those French fries, I can have them… I just know I have to work out an extra hour to stay within my daily meal plan.
Then there’s the Nike Training Club app.
This app has become my very own personal trainer. You can use it anytime and take it anywhere. I pull it up on my iPad or iPhone and I can plan a 15, 30 or 60-minute workout and let me tell you… it is a WORKOUT! You decide if your goal for the day is to get lean, get toned and get strong. Not familiar with one of the moves, not to worry, there’s a video from one of the Nike Professional Trainers to show you how to get it done.
Ok now, no excuses… get out there and JUST DO IT!
Five Apps I’m In Love With
If you are anything like me you have lots, and lots, and lots of apps on your smartphone. Some of them you use all the time and there are others you’ve totally forgotten about. I have the ones I use daily, Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, but there are some apps that have been revolutionary for me. Yes, I said “revolutionary” as in “bringing about a major fundamental change”. Here are five of my favorite apps that I didn’t know until recently I couldn’t live without.
- KeyRing has allowed me to get rid of all those annoying loyalty cards that were dangling on my key chain or were never available in my wallet when I needed them. Using KeyRing, I scan and store my existing loyalty cards. Then, when I go to use the card, the barcode gets scanned from my phone. The other cool thing, once you’ve entered a card, you’ll also have access to exclusive coupons and discounts.
- iMapMy is a fitness tracking application that enables you to use the built-in GPS on your mobile device to track all of your fitness activities. That’s all fine and dandy but what I like is this is the first app I’ve found that let’s me track my biking activity. Sure, the Nike Plus + iPod tracks my running but I’m not really a runner. I bike… a lot. So, now I can keep a log of my workouts or normal rides around the city. I can also share my activities with my social network with friends who will surely be impressed by my skills. But that’s just an added advantage.
- Like so many people, I’ve found that it’s difficult to find time to workout. With the 200 Situps app I can use my smartphone to easily work up to 200 sit-ups with timed rest periods that adjust to my level of fitness. In less than three weeks and in under 15 minutes I’m up to 182 sit-ups. Go ahead, be impressed, I am. The added advantage of this app, you can share your progress with your social networks and they can cheer you on… and keep you accountable! I got this in my Facebook inbox this morning, “so, Danielle, haven’t seen you check in with your sit-ups. Did you give up”? Needless to say I’ll be back at it this evening.
- The Whole Food app is another great one. I’m not the world’s best cook but I do OK in the kitchen. However, I do much better with the Whole Food App. I can find great organic meals or design some of my own and the app will tell me what to purchase and now to prepare the meal. I can also get simple, practical advice on nutrition and green living. Look, grocery shopping and eating healthy is hard enough. I’ll take all the help I can get!
- Finally, I’m kinda obsessed with Frenzapp. This app allows you to share your apps with friends. You can pick which apps you actually share and it’s very slow to identify all your apps loaded on your mobile devise, but it’s a cool way to share the ones you like and find new ones that your friends are using. If you’re on Frenzapp, friend me and let’s start sharing apps. If not, check back next month for more apps I’m in love with and in the mealtime, share some of you’re own!
SXSWi 2011 with Foursquare, Mashable & Women in Tech
I recently returned from my second year at the Interactive track of South by Southwest, often affectionately referred to as the “Spring Break for Geeks.” SXSWi 2011 brought us exciting panels and events by thought leaders, innovators and presentations who represent the brightest minds in emerging technology. It is here where new digital works, mobile apps, video games and innovative ideas get rolled out to those of us who are always looking for the next “big thing”. As we converged on Austin Texas March 11 – 20, my first impression of SXSWi 2011 was how much it has grown from last year. With more venues and attendees than ever, this was a Geek Diva, Gadget Girl dream. One of the hottest trends, by far, what the incorporation of Group Texting and I’m excited to see where this technology is going. Another highlight for me was getting a chance to interview some of the power brokers and power users that I only see or communicate with online.
I got a chance to talk to Dennis Crowley, CEO and Founder of Foursquare at the Pepsi Max Foursquare Playground.
I also caught up with Pete Cashmore, CEO Mashable, which by the way was named the most buzzed about brand during SXSWi in a study by Ad Age and I also got a chance to talk to Romany Malco who hosted Geek Games at the Mashable House.
But the real highlight for me, as always, is geeking out with the Geek Divas. I got a chance to speak with a couple of of the veteran SXSWi attendees, Lynne d Johnson, Senior Social Media Strategist at R/GA and SXSWi panelist Shireen Mitchell, founder of the no-profit Digital Sisters/Sistas. I also spoke with first timer Beverly Jackson, Director of Marketing and Social Media for The Recording Academy/The GRAMMY Awards along with returning attendee and marketing professional, Shannon Mouton about the diversity, or lack thereof at SXSWi 2011.
Here is what they had to say about Blacks in Tech and Women in Tech at SXSWi 2011.
SXSWi 2010 Geek Diva Recap
It’s that time of year again when thought leaders, power users, creatives and the best in technology and innovation get together at South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas to exchange ideas. As we once again prepare to converge on SXSW for the Interactive track let’s look back at the Geek Divas who shared their takeaways from SXSWi 2010. Some of the roles and titles have changed; many of our takeaways from last year are even more relevant today. However, one thing remains exactly the same, we will all come together to meet up IRL, we will share ideas, we will network and we will have a great time geeking out together.
Take a look at where we were last year and if you’ll be there this year… look for us… because SXSW… here we come!
Ed4Good: Using Social Media 4 Social Good
I recently signed on as an ambassador for the Dell Education for Good (Ed4Good) social media initiative in Washington, DC at Thurgood Marshall Academy in S.E. The initiative is part of Dell’s SXSW Interactive (SXSWi) outreach effort in Austin, TX later this week. If you don’t already know, SXSWi is a five-day event that brings together the best and brightest minds in technology, social media and innovation. The goal for Ed4Good is to have those of us attending SXSW “bring a little of our hometown with us, doing something great with social media and a local school, while also supporting our community.” In preparation for Ed4Good coaches like myself are teaching social media classes to students across the country to not just show them how to use their web interactions to entertain and engage with friends, but to also “connect, collaborate and build support for important causes.”
I taught my class to an eager group of students taking an elective course on Digital Media Literacy. It seems fitting to use Thurgood Marshall Academy for this particular Ed4Good program. The schools mission is to prepare students to succceed in college and to actively engage in our democratic society. They serve 390 students in grades 9-12K and you may have seen the school featured on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in a piece that highlighted their 100% acceptance rate for graduates from school.
<br/>Watch CBS News Videos Online
As the DC coach for Ed4Good, it was my job to not only teach a social media class but to also help the students develop a strategy to raise awareness for a cause of their choosing. After much deliberation, the students decided we would put our social media efforts behind a campaign against animal cruelty called “UnFURgivable” as in “it’s unFURgivable to be cruel to animals”. Our goal is to have the students and their supporters do enough Tweets, blog posts and Facebook comments to trend across the social web on March 10, 2011. We’ll be working hard to make a difference over the next 48 hours. Then, on Thursday, March 10, just one day before the start of SXSW, Dell will use their new Social Media Listening Command Center to aggregate and monitor all of our community Internet efforts across the country. Dell will use its social media monitoring and measurement tools to identify the best local effort by the nationwide teams and reward the school with the most traction on the web up to $10,000 dollars in prizes.
Here’s where you come in:
Please help our cause by following @unFURgvble on Twitter. Then, on Thursday, March 10, 2011 please RT @unFURgvble as often as possible using the hashtags #WDC and #ed4good to identify our Washington, DC Education for Good efforts.
Spread the word:
Please tell as many people as you can about the unFurgivable efforts within your social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.).
Participation is about:
- Students using social media to do good in their community.
- A fun social experiment allowing social media folks to play, teach, learn, do good and give back to our community.
- Supporting social efforts that interested you.
- Knowing you helped students gain bragging rights that they create a trend across the social web.
The students have already started their Twitter social media initiative… here’s an example of what’s being Tweeted…
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU is a MUST See Movie!
What is the guiding force behind our lives? Are our decisions made from free will or are our happenstance a matter of fate? These are the burning questions one is left with after watching the movie, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. I recently got a chance to check out this brand new flick when Liquid Soul Media produced a 20-market HBCU advance screening tour for the film.
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, starring Matt Damon and Anthony Mackie is a must see. It’s one of those movies that entertains you, keeps you on the edge of your seat, sprinkles in a good love story, and makes you think… really… really… think. Howard University hosted the screening in Washington, DC. We were treated to a question and answer session after the movie with one of the movies stars, Anthony Mackie, and the film’s Director, George Nolfi. Mackie is best known for his feature films, television series and Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, and Talk.
Nolfi, who is also the screenwriter for the film, is responsible for such blockbusters as The Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean’s Twelve and The Sentinel. In THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, Nolfie brought to life the affair between a politician and a ballerina affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart through twists and turns that will leave you wondering about your own life by the time the film is over.
Make sure you add this movie to your things to do list when THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU opens up nationwide on March 4th, 2011. I’m giving it two thumbs up!
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU Do we control our destiny or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller The Adjustment Bureau as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he’s ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York.www.theadjustmentbureau.com
Image Makers: A Video Production Teaching Moment
Recently I spoke to a group of local area students on how to prepare for a video production shoot. My presentation was part of Women in Film and Video’s (WIFV) Image Makers Program. The program is WIFV’s community outreach initiative for metro area high school students. It was created in 1997 to teach local youth about film and video production while also helping deserving nonprofit organizations. During their time in the program, the Image Makers participants learn how to interface with clients, brainstorm, write, produce and direct a 30-second public service announcement (PSA) for broadcast distribution. These PSAs are made for up to three deserving nonprofit organizations each year.
My colleague and friend, Yolanda Arrington, a board member for WIFV asked me to come back for a return visit to speak to the students. In preparation for their upcoming field shoot, I shared with the students some tips for preparing for a field production shoot.
The Image Makers Program is operated through the tireless volunteer efforts of WIFV members. These professionals lend their time and ability each Saturday morning for up to 10 weeks. Yolanda spoke to me about her role in the program and the process for selecting students for the 2011 program.
See the WIFV You Tube Channel for previously produced PSAs and check back later for the 2011 upcoming PSA productions.
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