Back in a post last August, I asked you, my blog readers and twitter followers, to vote for my SxSW proposal: “Forging your Ideal Career”. And you listened! Today I’m very happy to announce that I will be speaking at the 2010 South By Southwest Interactive Festival.

As I mentioned back in the blog post, I’ve called on a former co-worker, Michael Krotscheck, as a co-presenter. Michael and I were senior developers at Resource Interactive, and sought out different ways to advance our managerial and entrepreneurial skills to allow us to advance beyond coding (not that there is anything wrong with that!)

Our proposal was such:

Forging your Ideal Career

You’ve proven you’re a great developer / designer. How do you rise above the production floor to share your ideas and insights, and drive the solution rather than simply implementing it? Presenters will share their strategies for cultivating your career and attaining personal satisfaction while still keeping a steady paycheck!

1. What if you feel your company’s career path is not for you?
2. How do you position yourself as what you want to be doing, versus what you’re currently doing?
3. How can networking help?
4. What opportunities exist outside work?
5. Forget work-life balance: how do you maintain paid work-unpaid work balance?
6. How do you get support from your organization for your outside activities?
7. What ideas do you share with your employer, versus keeping them to yourself?
8. Wherein lies the problem: Your career, your job, or your company?
9. When is it time to leave?
10. How do you move on without burning bridges?

Although we didn’t pitch it as such, our topic was selected as one of the “Core Conversations” sessions. I’m really pleased with this, as I noted last year that some of my favorite SXSW sessions were Core Conversations. In general when I have speaking or training engagements, I really enjoy the interaction moreso than the “talking to”, so the format will be comfortable. As well, although Michael and I have our own experiences to draw from, we are not by any means “experts” in career development. I look forward to networking and engaging with others, hearing their challenges and hopefully collectively finding solutions in helping others find satisfaction and self-fulfillment in their work.

If you are planning to attend SxSW, I hope our paths will cross! Even if not, I’d appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you may have on this topic. I want it to be a rewarding, helpful experience for all involved!

Related posts:

1. Forging your Ideal Career at SXSW
2. Core Conversations at SxSW
3. 5 Accessibility Panels I Hope Make it to SXSW 2010

Earlier this week I attended at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco, CA. As a technologist, I attend several conferences a year (in the past 6 months, I’ve attended the Thin Air Summit, Web Directions North, WordCamp Denver, South By Southwest, and now NTC.)

The use of social media and technology at these conferences (as well as others), is becoming as much a part of the event as the formal program itself. South By Southwest is commonly seen as the preeminent “tech-conference”, so it makes sense that it offers a mobile scheduling program and ways to ask presenters questions via twitter.

Yet for all the hype about SxSW, I have to say that the technology at NTC blew me out of the water.

This was my first exposure to Google Moderator, where session attendees could post questions related to the session online, and others could vote on the questions. Then the most popular questions were asked of the speaker. This helps to overcome several problems at conferences: the lines of people standing in line to ask questions at a microphone, and the relative value of those questions themselves. This way the audience can decide on which questions they really want to see answers, and also gain some insight into what others are thinking. It also opens it up to people who are not on twitter.

Each session also allowed attendees to text their evaluations in, thanks to a service by Mobile Commons. Each session had a particular code (ntc189) that was texted to a shortcode. The attendee then answered three questions using a numerical ranking system, and then was invited to type in comments. The evaluation was simple to complete and eliminated the logistics of gathering and entering the feedback into an electronic system.

The hashtags associated with different sessions were promoted aggressively, and the use of multiple shortags per session (“use #09ntc AND #cool) helped to make the information streams manageable.

At one point we worried that technology would replace face-to-face communication and eliminate such in-person events. Yet it is increasingly apparent that the use of technology is actually augmenting the value of such events, for those in attendance as well as those who are not.

Related posts:

1. Core Conversations at SxSW
2. PodCamp Ohio Networking
3. Conference free-throw wrap-up – sponsored by local ales

Back in February, Seth wrote a post entitled “Sprint!” in his blog:

The best way to overcome your fear of creativity, brainstorming, intelligent risk taking or navigating a tricky situation might be to sprint.

When we sprint, all the internal dialogue falls away and we just go as fast as we possibly can. When you’re sprinting you don’t feel that sore knee and you don’t worry that the ground isn’t perfectly level. You just run.

You can’t sprint forever. That’s what makes it sprinting. The brevity of the event is a key part of why it works.

A beautiful metaphor is one that just *works*. And this one does: I am not a sprinter, I’m a marathoner. Slow, focused, resistant to deviating off course. I don’t like the pain or discomfort of testing my limits.

What? No, I’m not talking about running, either.

Certainly when it’s necessary I can buckle down and hammer out what needs to be done. But I dread every moment, and no heart or gut-wrenching effort leaves me with the satisfaction of something that I’ve carefully planned for.

You can’t sprint every day but it’s probably a good idea to sprint regularly.

Sadly, this is what it takes to be great. Moving out of the comfort zone. The one big difference? With running, sprinting regularly makes it easier over time, you are actually training. I think that may be where the metaphor breaks down. I’m not so sure it ever gets ‘easy’ off the track.

No related posts.

Sessions at the South By SouthWest conference are classified as keynotes, solo presentations, panels, core conversations, book reading, or trade show events. In my initial planning of sessions to attend, I shied away from the Core Conversations, as I worried that the non-structured format would not offer the insights as more planned sessions. As it turns out, these are some of the most interesting of the event.

The Core Conversation sessions take place in an intimate setting: there is often a table or a circle of chairs, and the moderator makes sure the conversation is inclusive and non-combative. I attended sessions on “Social Networking and Health: e-Patients, Data and Privacy” and “Privacy and Personalization.” Unlike a more formal panel or presentation, there was no great take-away message from the session: it was truly a conversation, with many diverging opinions and concerns.

Does this format work for other conferences? I’m not sure: at SxSW you have a level of passionate, intelligent, insightful individuals who are interested in engaging and working out some of these challenging subjects. This is not a conference where people attend to have knowledge imparted on them: with some hope that they will learn through being ‘taught to’. In each of the conversations we had individuals from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, interested in sharing and learning from others. Were we able to solve any of these challenges? No, but I expect we were each able to leave the room with a better perspective of how others see the challenges. These were some of the topics I most enjoyed chatting with others about later, because there was no single logical flow or outcome.

In the social networking session on health care, many participants talked about a movement towards transparency, whereas my own view is that the key benefit of social media in this realm is to allow individuals a more anonymous outlet for support. In Privacy and Personalization we had quite a spirited debate about individual responsibility and contextual relevance of information. I am completely satisfied with leaving these sessions with MORE to think about, than being presented with the opinion of an “expert” on the subject.

This was my first time at SxSW so I was not entirely sure what to expect from the event. I could not have anticipated that so much of the value would have been not from the big name presenters in the packed auditorium, but in the small spaces with other delegates.

Related posts:

1. Career Advancement Core Conversation at SxSW
2. 5 Accessibility Panels I Hope Make it to SXSW 2010
3. PhotoFinder – What are your Facebook photos telling about you?

I used to run with the Nationwide Running Club. Anyone who worked at Nationwide was welcome to join, but our core group of weekend warriors were primarily technical: a Database Administrator, an IT Officer, a Systems Architect, an Engineer, a GIS Specialist, and a few Actuaries. We were rounded out with a Resource Librarian and an Admin as well, but they were not there as consistently as some of the rest of the gang.

Apart from my immediate friends, I’ve come across many other folks on twitter or blogs who run and work in the IT field. I think there are several reasons for these parallel paths.

Initially I saw running as a potential outlet: the IT field may be challenging and stressful, and running may be a way to relieve some of that stress. Yet it’s got to be more than that: there are many stressful jobs, and equally many stress-relievers. I believe that aspects of these activities attract a certain type of person.

Many people say to me “how can you run? It’s so boring…”. Some people may need variation or input to keep them engaged. Others of us may be more introverted, and comfortable without that input. Yes, I’m referring to both the notion of ‘loneliness of the long-distance runner’ and the stereotype of the socially-inept computer geek, but stereotypes all start somewhere..

Recently at work we were talking about an upcoming project, and I felt the computer scientist in me tense up at the idea of “constant reprioritization” or what I perceived as a lack of clear dependencies regarding deliverables. Because I’m a control freak? Well, maybe. But the linear thinker in me looks at projects as comprising of a series of steps, akin to a training plan. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to run a marathon (unless you’re the hero of Run Fatboy Run). It takes planning and preparation.

A computer scientist may spend an inordinate amount of time in crafting elegant code, deriving an optimized algorithm. It is this same discipline that helps many of us step out the door day after day. It is about incremental modifications or adjustments for an envisioned future. We must have vision, and dedication, and be willing to make a commitment. Emil Zapotek once said “We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” The marathon is no place for someone seeking immediate gratification.

Are you a runner? Do you work in the IT field?

Related posts:

1. The Business of Running
2. The end of an era
3. overcoming poor browser support for CSS3 input[type]

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Originally uploaded by Resource Interactive

I just came across this old photo from the iCitizen conference held by Resource Interactive last May. I’m working the social media cafe, speaking with David Griner and another conference attendee about lifestreaming.

We discussed wordpress, tumblr, flickr, twitter and digsby.

Related posts:

1. Lifestreaming at iCitizen
2. Resource Interactive Representation at Spring
   2008
3. Custom M&Ms!

As I mentioned, I’d been speaking with some of my colleagues at Resource Interactive about a pitch for SxSW. Lara Lebeiko had the idea of speaking about women in the IT field. I have my notes from one of our phone conversations, where she said she did not want it to be a feminazi panel We talked a bit about women who go into tech and eventually leave, in some cases to start a family, and then do not return. I thought it was interesting, but as I am still IN the field, I didn’t have much insight on that. What I’ve found interesting, however, is how the male-dominated IT field is starting to see a significant number of women enter in the social media or accessibility space. I’ve seen others discuss the social media aspect of it, and the prevalence of women in the accessibility space is simply something I’ve noticed personally. (Sharron Rush, Glenda Sims and Marla Erwin are a few of the ladies that I had the pleasure of meeting at Access U).

A Pew Internet research paper on “How Women and Men Use the Internet” recognized these differences back in 2005, which is arguably before all this crazy “social media” hype really took hold. It was noted:

How Women and Men Use the Internet: Summary at a Glance

There is often a perception that boys like technology, and girls like dolls. However, I recently read something (in “made to stick”, I believe) that stated that girls are bigger consumers of personal electronics than boys (in every category except video game consoles). Think about teenage girls and their phones.. Boys and girls both buy iPods, but may use them differently. Boys will tend use the music to isolate themselves, whereas girls are more often to share their player, their music and therefore their experience with a friend. (I doubted this phenomenon, but a friend who teaches high school track ensured me that girls do in fact each share one earbud of a set to listen together).

I have always maintained that I enjoy technology not for technology’s sake, but as an facilitator. I like what we can achieve with it. When I built my first webpage in the late 90s, it was to share information with my friends. I was a geocities community leader, I worked on an online community targeted at at-risk youth. It was about community: about the relationships that could be forged via technology: it was not about the technology itself.

Using technology to connect with others evolves naturally into discussions of accessibility. When you’re looking at using technology to engage with others, you obviously need for those “others” to also be able to use the tools as well. I love to share the quote by James Edwards (co-author of “The Javascript Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks and Hacks) –

One person’s preference is another person’s real need. It may be that a group of users finds it easier with Ajax, but if another group of users finds it completely impossible then you’re cutting people out, and you’re doing it for basically nothing.

I think of it as a hierarchy, basically, where accessibility is the most important thing, and usability comes next, and preference and design and aesthetics comes next. All of those things are important, but if one affects the other then you have to think which is the most important.

And to my mind, accessibility is always the most important, because accessibility impacts on what people really need. Everything else is just preference.

You need to have community members to foster community, which means you can’t lock the doors and bar people from entry. How does the local Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group get translated to the online world? How do the different communication means and motivations of women and men relate to their approach to IT, and why does it matter?

Related posts:

1. Chicks Digg IT — SxSW Panel
2. MySpace Needs to Rediscover its Place
3. PodCamp Ohio Networking

Resource Interactive is throwing an idea into the SxSW panel pool for 2009. I’d been weighing in on the topic, and am now actually listed as the presenter! So go vote!

Chicks Digg IT: How Women are Influencing the Future of Social Media
Men and women run on different OS. Just as Apple has surged into a new market position in 2.0, women are pioneering the direction of the web and social media in an online world that was more male-populated just 10 years ago. What has changed? Meet these women who are on the front lines of the Internet — they work on big brands, and are leading change in accessibility and architecture — and hear their thoughts on the tech brother-sisterhood that is the social web.

Related posts:

1. Career Advancement Core Conversation at SxSW
2. Core Conversations at SxSW
3. PodCamp Ohio Networking

As always, some of the best outcomes from an event are a result of the interaction with other delegates. There is something special about a group of actively engaged, newly informed individuals. Going into PodCamp Ohio, I hadn’t been sure about the people I would meet. I wasn’t a podcaster, would I have things to share with my fellow attendees?

As it turned out, I was incredibly engaged and impressed with the folks I met. There were folks from a wide background, all united by their passion for social media. The entire conference was very engaging and social, including the automated podOhioCheckIn twitter feed. As I mentioned, the first session I attended was incredibly interactive, with the attendees offering their own best practices and advice. I enjoyed putting faces to screen names, and realized that there is an entire community of like-minded individuals here in town I should get to know!

As someone who has worked on fostering online community for a long time, I have weathered all the comments about how technology throws up walls between people. Rather than interacting directly, we’re sitting in rooms on our laptops or mobile phones. However, how we do we explain the coming together of this group of technophiles? One fellow had driven from Nashville, another is based in Berlin and D.C. The Internet is the communication medium that allowed these individuals to find this information, and brought us together to share and network.

While the day passed quickly and I know I didn’t meet as many people as I could have, I have confidence that we will all leverage these online tools to continue to communicate and share our thoughts and insights from PodCamp Ohio moving forward.

Related posts:

1. Igniting Viral Campaigns (PodCamp Ohio)
2. Managing Multiple Online Identities (Podcamp Ohio)
3. Podcamp Ohio

The final session of the day that I attended was on strategies for blogging and social networking marketing. Some of the content was similar to the viral campaign session I’d attended earlier, I liked the use of the one specific case study to frame their work.

Right away speaker Bill Balderaz of Webbed Marketing laid out the three things you need for success:

1. a compelling hook
2. the right channels
3. identify client goals

In the case study he shared with us (Shizuka New York), the compelling hook was “bird poop facials”.

A good litmus test to whether or not your idea is compelling- would you talk about it at dinner? a new CEO hired from a competitor? Nah. But bird poop facials? Sure!

Bill mentioned four specific channels to consider:

1. SEO Press release
2. Blogger outreach
3. video
4. Social networks

I wasn’t really familiar with the terms “SEO Press release”, but it was quite interesting. Bill mentioned that they will search for specific phrases on search engines to ensure the uniqueness of their phrasing. That way they can be sure that when monitoring buzz or search queries, all the results are directly tied to their efforts. He did acknowledge that the most newsworthy your story, the more likely a journalist will snap up the idea and write about it in their own words. In this case, your carefully chosen phrasing is lost.

Through the presentation, Bill was very diligent at showing us the “before and after”, highlighting the importance of analytics and establishing your measures for success. We looked at google news, which had 2 links to the company in May, and roughly 50 post-campaign.

Blogger outreach is refers yet again to really figuring out the type of influentials to tap.

As for social networking, Bill said that they did not try to build for or leverage all the social networks. He said they actually received the most traffic from StumbleUpon, which was a surprise to me. I didn’t realize it was such a bg player. He also acknowledged that like it or not, you can’t ignore mySpace.

Supposedly CNN ran this story on the front page one day, but still 46% of the traffic came from social networks. While CNN gave a one-day spike in traffic, the networks were overall more significant.

Someone asked about the time this campaign took, and he said the video shoot was the biggest task, coming in at about 10 hours. The rest of the campaign and marketing was about 40 hours. In the end, the company saw traffic increases from all sources, not just referring sites. People weren’t just clicking on links they had presented to them; bird poop facials at Shizuka had reached a point where people were talking or thinking about them, and motivated to seek them out.

He talked some more about some compelling ideas and hooks, including the work they did for Hatteras networks (the cash cow), or the scantily clad etymologist at HotForWords.com

While I don’t know that this session really offered me many “strategies” for blogging and social media marketing, I did find the session interesting. I appreciated the focus on the results achieved, and how they were managed. I still feel in many ways that analytics is still in its infancy, and I appreciated the approach that was taken to demonstrate the campaign’s success.

Related posts:

1. Igniting Viral Campaigns (PodCamp Ohio)
2. Podcamp Ohio
3. Managing Multiple Online Identities (Podcamp Ohio)