For the last two years I have had the honor of speaking at the #140 Character Conference held in Des Moines, Iowa. It’s a tremendous, national series of events that originated with Jeff Pulver ( @JeffPulver ) as a call-to-action for the Twitter and social media community as a whole. With great PR and some passionate participants, the event has turned into one of the most prolific social media events in the nation (maybe the world).
So, on April 23rd, a couple hundred of our close Des Moines social media friends as well as some connected through the wonders of technology, gathered to explore “The State Of Now” at the 2012 140 Character Conference Des Moines!
As a marketing and branding professional, I love to create passion with my words, but I was in for a treat on this day. We had speakers make connections professionally and personally throughout the whole day. As I watched the event roll via Ustream, I was thrilled and honored to be included in this event. For some, it was educational. For some it was entertaining. For most, it was a day of passionate sharing that they’ll never forget.
Some of my favorite speakers include (click to see their video on YouStream):
Ben Smith, Speaking on the Social connection and the tremendous experienced he’s had in his “New Home.” (MAKES ME PROUD TO LIVE HERE)( Find him on Twitter @BenASmith )
And for those that know me and know about TRUE Branding: Here, in a neat 10-minute nutshell is how TRUE Branding can change your life and your business for ever!
If you’d like to read more about TRUE Branding, click the link here –> TRUE BRANDING!
Thanks so much to Deb During ( @DebWorks ) for allowing me to experience the event. I look forward to future ones!
A lot of people tease me because I’m “Always On.” If I’m not in the office, I can usually be found through any number of social media channels. Whether it’s my Twitter page, my check-ins on Foursquare or my Facebook page; it’s not very hard to find me – for good or bad.
This last week, though, I decided I’d take a vacation. You know, the “relaxing, kick-back-n-nap by the pool kind of week” that many of us need to recharge the branding battery and focus. Well, this is what I did…
I cleaned. Boy did I clean. My house looks like we just moved in.
I gardened. It finally stopped raining in central Iowa, so I pulled about 100 lbs of weeds and found that my garden still survived underneath it all…
I played with the kids. I have three great kids that are on Summer vacation, so after I made them help me weed and clean, we had some quality family time. Movies. Fireworks. Carnivals. Dinners out…
It really was a great week!
But I couldn’t stay away from social media, work and talking about branding. I tweeted and used social media to coordinate projects for work. I scheduled meetings. I went to business and sales improvement seminars… (relaxing?) My coworkers tease me, but maybe this will show them that I should get MORE vacation days. I seem to be pretty darn productive when I’m not sitting at my desk.
One of the activities I’m VERY proud of accomplishing this week was going on-air for the first time in 20 years with Michael Libbie and his Insight On Business webcast that airs daily at http://www.webcastliveone.com We talked branding, business, social media, banking, cause marketing and general current events. I had a blast!
Below is the stream. You may need to jump forward a minute-or-so to get through the set up, but it’s well worth the watch. Maybe I’ll do more of these in the future! (click here for the video in FaceBook and Feed readers)