Burying the Lead Under February Events

I made it out to a few DC social media events this month, and there are a couple more on the horizon before gears shift in March. Let's hear it for nonprofit 2.o.

Recent events

• Pimp My Nonprofit - Net Squared DC's February Meet Up - we met last week at Google's DC offices to offer tips and advice to Oneworld.net as they implement Drupal's open source web platform into their website. Jared Goralnick has the details over at Technotheory, along with photos of the two of us on a Google Safari - stalking Google logos and playing on Google furniture. Good to have buds like this.
  
  
• Social Media Club DC - Aaron Brazell spoke about major league blogging and how it can be achieved. Aaron is the Director of Technology for b5media, and more significantly, the voice behind the popular blog Technosailor. (And even more significantly, someone I count as a friend.) Two great quotes from Aaron worth writing down:
  
  "The value of your brand is who consumes it. If no one is using it, or thinks it's crap, then your brand has no value."
  
  "Bloggers are products of our environment. The impact you have is based on the impact others have on you."
  
  The February gathering was held at Viget Labs, which as an aside, is the proud new employer of my honey - Ryan - who starts next Monday doing what I do: social media strategy and marketing. Congrats, boo.
  
  
  Brian Williams, head of Viget labs (center) with his
  newest employee Ryan Moede (right) and Aaron Brazell.
  
  
  
• Social Sites for Social Good - About 150 (?) nonprofit professionals turned out at Tuesday's seminar at the National Press Club. I spoke on the first panel about the Department of Health and Human Services' Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog, alongside Stephanie Marshall, Director of Pandemic Communications at HHS (part of our road show).
  
  Our main points were
  
  
  1. If you want to reach your target audience online, you don't have to build your own online community or social network.
     
     
  2. Yes, your target audience is probably on MySpace or Facebook, but it's also likely that they are congregating in smaller, niche communities. Like the online pandemic flu community known as "flublogia," dad blogger circles, and boomer blogger networks.
     
     
  3. Working with bloggers and these communities is not adversarial - it's smart. Word of Mouth is the most trusted and effective form of communication, and it will go much further if you pass the mic to people who are already invested in and advocating for your cause.
  
  Other panelists included Janice Nall, director of eHealth Marketing at CDC, who spoke about the agency's plans for mobile, Second Life, and other digital engagements. Heather Mansfield of DIOSA Communications - the Director of Online Communications for Change.org - spoke about her role creating and maintaining MySpace Nonprofit Organizations. After hearing what Heather had to stay, I rescind anything I've ever said about MySpace falling off the map - they're not going anywhere. Especially after they open their platform and MySpace Apps emerge. Ivan Boothe spoke about Genocide Intervention Network's Facebook efforts; Jonathan Coleman spoke about the Nature Conservancy's strategic use of Digg to promote social news.
  
  Smart presentations all around, and they will be available on SlideShare soon (photos here). The event was hosted by Forum One Communications - they offer regular Web Executive Seminars that are more than worth the nominal fee.
  
  
  Left to Right: Chris Wolz, head of Forum One, Janice Nall,
  Ivan Booth, Jonathon Coleman, Qui Diaz, Stephanie Marshall.
  
  
  

Upcoming Events

• February 28th (today) - I'm joining The Jovid Foundation's monthly roundtable discussion with it's grantees; Executive Directors of DC-based nonprofits that help local residents get out of long-term poverty and become more self-sufficient. Right now, these nonprofit leaders don't understand web 2.0 - but want to. In less than 6 hours, they'll hopefully have the information and motivation they need to dive in.
  
  
• March 5th - Mashable.com will host its second DC networking bash. The MashMeet DC REMIX will be hosted at home-sweet-home Ogilvy PR, and I've been coordinating the event with Mashable's Adam Hirsch. You can register here. The $20 ticket covers food and beverage, but the networking is priceless. Mashable is, after all, one of the most popular blogs out there (ranked #8 overall by Technorati).
  
  We should have a great turn out, especially from the local bloggerati: Shana Glickfield a.k.a. The DC Concierge; Peter Corbett, iStrategyLabs; Andre Blackman, Antibio.tech; a few folks from the Viget Labs team (Josh Chambers, Spec.ta.cles; Samantha Warren, Bad Ass Ideas; Ryan Moede, Social Media); Steve Field, The D-Ring; Geoff Livingston, The Buzz Bin; and possibly Jim Long of Verge New Media.
  
  The American Red Cross's blog - Red Cross Chat - will be represented by Wendy Harman and Jennifer Lubrani. Rad.
  

That's a wrap for February.

What does March hold? A new job. I'll be joining Geoff Livingston's PR Firm (Livingston Communications). Geoff has been a mentor to me since I met him last year, and I am thrilled to grow with his team. It's been an incredible run with Ogilvy PR's 360 Digital Influence Group. I'm coming away with the utmost respect for John Bell's vision and the team's work - not to mention wonderful friendships. My last day is this Friday, but my DI tatoo will last forever.