So...What's Next?!?

Atlanta Under Water

Week in Review

It has been a heads down week for me. I am finishing a project and been thinking about next steps in my life. There are so many areas in my life that seems to be hanging in limbo it seems all I can do is take things day by day.

So here is a recap of the past several days.

My Family

Parenting continues to be the most interesting role I have in my life. There have been points of frustration this week, only for me to realize that my boys are just exhibiting the same traits that I have, some of which can cause the same long-term problems that I am plagued with, and others that, although frustrating to others, will serve them well. What will serve them well is that they take nothing at face value, question everything and stubbornly stand for what they want. These honorable traits can be very frustrating to a parent!

Concept Hub

As I mentioned I am finishing a project. I have always suspected that pitching to what I would term as "institutional bloggers" which are blogs that look more journalist vs the everyday blogs were not as valuable. This week I saw the evidence of that suspicion. I believe building online communities through interpersonal relationships with real community members, but others have argued for a PR approach to raise awareness of a site & drive traffic to the site and let the community develop. This has been a long term debate that I have only been able argue my side based on a hunch. Through my research for my latest project I can see how the PR approach does drive traffic which spikes only temporarily and does not translate to stickiness or community building.

This week I was also invited to deliver my Mapping Corporate Goals to Social Media presentation for ISPI . This was the second time I have delivered this presentation and both times it has been very well received. In fact my favorite feedback of all time came from a senior manager that was in his late 50s. He said he finally is starting to understand social media, that it needs to be a corporate wide strategy not just a PR or Advertisement initiative. It was a very rainy night that night, but I believe the clouds parted and the stars shined down when he said that.

Here is the presentation.

Mapping Corporate Goals

View more presentations from Concept Hub, Inc.

Community

I am the social media director for Digitainment and my role is to create a Georgia community around entertainment initiatives. The community continues to be very active.

I am also the chair of the Enterprise 2.0 society and I have renewed my commitment to raise awareness of the difference between social media for PR/Marketing and Enterprise 2.0. That is one of the things I have been heads down on this week.

Finally, Concept Hub is a very proud sponsor of the Atlanta Children's Shelter Awards Banquet that will be happening this Thursday. 

The Weekend

Last night I hung out with some friends at Shout in Midtown. It was fun and I got to see a side of Atlanta I rarely get to experience. I left the restaurant around 1am. I was not able to last any longer. My friends stayed a little longer. I noticed that around 1am is when things start getting interesting. The dance floor was packed. After I made my way through all of the hormone hyped bodies I had to walk several blocks to where I parked my car. On my way I passed a very beautiful woman dressed to have a great time, being led away from a club as she gracefully and continuously spit up the contents of her stomach. Another man was led away by a friend on each arm, it seemed his legs no longer functioned. Yeah...good times.

The rain does not seem to want to go away, and something in the air has 3 out of 4 of us battling allergies, so most likely we will be playing games in the house this weekend. It might also be a good weekend to catch a movie, there are a few new releases.

Who knows what we will do...as with everything else in my life right now...it's all up in the air.

Week in Review

Happy Friday! Hope everyone had a great week and is looking forward to the weekend.

Here is a recap of my week.

My Family

My oldest son started High School on Monday. So far so good. Getting home has been his biggest challenge. The first day he forgot where his locker was and ended up carrying 30lbs + of books home. When he finally figured out which bus to take on day 3, he was surprised to find that the buses were overcrowded. For right now I am picking him up. He is taking acting as one of his electives, which I am very happy about. He used to act in different plays when he was young and has been called a natural by many people, but has not pursued it the past couple of years.  

My younger one started 3rd grade this year. Everything is right on track with him. He likes his teacher. He wants me to sign him up for an acting class, so we are on the hunt for a good program.

Concept Hub, Inc

We are in business development mode right now. We have a number of good proposals out and have met with some great organizations the past week. We are also working on developing our case studies from past projects. Here is one I am very proud of, Atlanta Children's Shelter, Tell a Friend Campaign,
They more than doubled the goals that were established!

We are also working with the Public Broadcasting Atlanta still as they are getting closer to the full launch of the Lens on Atlanta social network. Last night we held our first  community Mixer.

The excitement around this project is definitely building!!!

Community Outreach

The social media campaign for Digitainment continues. The focus right now is on building our wiki which is being built as the ultimate resource for talent in Georgia.

I have also agreed to work with the various arts foundations in Atlanta to promote the upcoming Arts & Humanities Month.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend of working on taxes (!?!),  catching up on some reading, hanging out with the family, and preparing for another action packed week next week.