I’ve posted the audio, slides and handouts from the recent Lexington Ad Club Event.

It is a great primer for those at the starting level in Social Media - businesses that just want to hear that it’s real. There are case studies, exceptional Q&A, and a really strong fundamental explanation of Social Networks, Online Authority, and more. The panel discussion includes Nick Huhn, Jason Falls, and Scott Clark and is moderated by Bill Dotson and was sponsored by the Lexington Advertising Club.

Audio Playback (or, download the MP3 file here to import into iTunes or your MP3 player)

Full Length Video (audio is a bit quiet.  The audio on the MP3 file above is far clearer.)

Want to import it into iTunes? Download MP3 file here (right click and save)

Printer Friendly Version of Handouts also here (PDF file)

Digit@l Di@logue Social Media/Web 2.0 Panel
Thursday, November 6, 2008
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Signature Club in Lansdowne
Lexington, KY

I will be sitting with Jason Falls and Nick Huhn on a panel moderated by Bill Dotson and arranged by David Caldwell, president of the Lexington Ad Club.

The event is being held Thursday, November 6th in Lexington to “discuss emerging media trends and what’s next for the Internet - We’ll be discussing social media strategies, Web 2.0, and online marketing approaches.”

Topics may include:

• How does Web 2.0 it apply to my business?
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and how it can bring clients
• Getting started in online advertising
• Do I need a blog?
• Can I easily learn more about my customers, my company, and my competitors using these tools?

Event Flyer (PDF)

Register here.

Add this event to your

I will be heading out to SMX Social Media and SMX Advanced this year, and would love to catch up. I will not be liveblogging, rather will be hoping to gather ideas from those of you in the business.

I will not be waring my hat. But come shake my hand - meeting folks is the best part of the event.

If you’re going, fire over a Tweet [scottclark] or comment and be sure to say hi at the show.

Photo (me, Bruce and Cristine) from last year’s shows.

Well, it happened again.

I have a whole database of new friends from SMX Seattle and SMX Denver, yet have not done a good job of following up, reviewing their stuff and generally making friends. I’ve been utterly slammed with the disappearance (figuratively) of a programmer resource, I’ve needed to make up slack on several fronts.

So don’t take it the wrong way. To those of you who’ve followed up without a reply, I have every one of those messages here and will do my best to contact you… if not today, soon.

I’m replying to Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networking pings pretty much realtime, btw.

Oh yeah… does anyone know what happened to the SMX Local Mobile group photo?

Attention those heading to SMX Social Media Expo!

Internet Marketers of New York will hold a Charity Party sponsored by Best of The Web to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Simply donate $40 at the door to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fight cancer and enjoy three hours of open bar partying with fellow social internet marketers. At the end of the night they will be raffling off prizes.

About the Party: (Make sure and check the real site for any last minute changes)

$40 Donation to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (I’m sure they’d take more.)
Monday, October 15, 2007
7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Town Tavern Bar & Grill 134 W. 3rd Street and 6th Ave. (Google Map)
All Internet Marketers Are Welcome!

As this is a Meme per Marty at AimClear, I’m tagging some of my blogroll. Pass along this information to other bloggers if you can:

Seth Godin
Bill Slawski
Marketing Pilgrim
Barry Schwartz
David via WebproNews

Note: I won’t be at SMX NYC. If you’re not able to go to the party, be sure and check out the ultra-convenient on-line donation form for the society. It took me less than 5 minutes and it felt great.

Dear Retailer who sells very nice gift items in Lexington Green. When I snap a photo of something, I’m not here to scam you.

I’m not the front for a big Chinese manufacturer who is about to knock off your stuff and put you out of business. I’m not planning out an elaborate “Mission Impossible”-style robbery.

My wife and I are multi-tasking. I need to send her a picture of something I like and see if she wants to swing by and look at it. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in your store and you don’t need to break the delicate positive brand image I have of you with some petty “We don’t allow pictures in the store” rule. I explained what I was doing, nicely, but it didn’t matter.

It’s amazing that I’m even in the store - with as much as I buy online. Since it’s an artsy-store, I flip the tag over on the item I’m photographing. … yep, URL. I surf to the address, yep. photos. Get a clue. This small, unique retail shop is one example, but not a unique one, and it’s about to collide with new technologies for comparison shopping we discussed at SMX Local Mobile in Denver last week.

If this were a one-time situation, I’d blow it off. But it happens to others, who blog about it too. I’m pretty fast with my camera, just hold it up and snap a quick picture, so I’m not making a scene or asking people to move, etc. I guess I could get better at it. I’m also not there photographing every thing on the shelf. I’m the best type of interested customer.

Seth Godin was busted for photographing oreos, and had this to say:

The irony of the Stop & Shop approach is that the people who you don’t want taking pictures–snoopy journalists or competitors–can easily conceal their cameras and you’ll never know. But the raving fans, the bloggers, the folks twisted enough to want to take and flickrize their supermarket experiences are your friends.

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