Sunday, March 29, 2009

PodCamp Western Mass 2009

Yesterday I attended my first PodCamp at Open Square in Holyoke, Ma, which also happened to be the first PodCamp in Western Mass. A Podcamp is somewhat of an UnConference. PodCamps are held worldwide and center around diverse and contemporary subjects and websites covering topics such as blogging, geocaching, podcasting, youtubing, social networking, video blogging, and new media.

Everyone was there for their own personal or business reasons. My reason for attending went well beyond just getting together with some fantastic friends, and getting to know some of those I would like to get to know better. My goal was to get some ideas and insight of how I could capitalize on some of this new media to help me to grow my circle of contacts, and come up with some innovative ideas to grow my client base n my current sales position(s). I must say, after a day of learning and a night of socializing and processing the photo's I took, my brain was swirling with the barrage of opportunity's, and new media approaches I hadn't yet considered.


The two classes that I was able to attend before going back to work for the second half of the day were "Introduction to Social Media" that was spearheaded by Morriss Partee and "How to use Social Media to Market yourself & for your clients" which was put on by Ira Yellen. Both were fantastic, informal and educational. It was interesting to see most everyone with either their laptop open, video cameras running, cell phones typing and cameras clicking. A good portion of those that attended were tweeting on twitter minute by minute thoughts, commentary and notes. This was great, as I was able to somewhat follow the second half of the PodCamp from my Android G1 phone while at work.

In an effort to retain most of what was covered at PodCamp Western Mass 2009, the following is a compilation of websites that were mentioned as great tools to explore, as well as the websites of some that attended. As you look through the sites and the list of attendees websites, you may notice as I did, the diverse backgrounds, socmed styles, and businesses that are benefiting from today's new media.


DandyID - DandyID is a single access point for managing and sharing your online social identifiers.
TwitterFone - Send Messages to Twitter with Voice
Pandora Radio - Pandora radio is the personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites.
Last.fm - The world’s largest online music catalogue, with free music streaming, videos, photos, lyrics, charts, artist biographies, concerts and internet radio.
Twitter - Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.
YouTube - Share your videos with friends, family, and the world.
LinkedIn - LinkedIn strengthens and extends your existing network of trusted contacts.
FriendFeed - Allows you to build a customised feed of made up of content your friends on other collaborative sites have shared.
PeopleBrowsr - PeopleBrowsr is a simple visual dashboard that adds more power to Twitter, your other online identities and those of your friends.
TweetDeck - An application that aims to evolve existing functionality of Twitter by breaking down Twitter feeds into more manageable bite sized pieces.
CrowdVine - CrowdVine builds simple and powerful social software that helps people connect and achieve their goals. Use us for your conference, event, or organization.
PitchEngine - Social Media Template Tool.
MySpace - A Place for Friends. See what’s happening on MySpace! Find friends & classmates, meet new people, listen to free music & build playlists, share photos, watch videos and more.
Brightkite - Discover the hidden communities behind the places that you visit. Brightkite lets you make the connection and start a conversation.
Firebug - Tools for web development, allow inspect, edit and monitor CSS, HTML and JavaScript live in any web page.
YSlow - YSlow analyzes web pages and tells you why they're slow based on the rules for high performance web sites.
Google Analytics - Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and more.
Sit or Squat - A place to find and record bathrooms anywhere in the world.
OpenID - OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the internet.

whew! and now for some of the websites of those that attended.



STEVE'S 2 CENTS - Revealing the good experience from the harmonious digital bits of daily life.
Grow My Company - Miracle Growth for your Company.
Elizabeth Washer - Experienced Professional Copywriter, PR and Marketing Communications Specialist.
The Jump - A WriterJax Experiment since 2004.
Lesley Lambert at Park Square Realty - The Real Estate Natural.
IntuAction - IntuAction is about putting your ideas into action.
AuctionWally - Antiques, Appraisals, Marketing Events, Consultations.
Paul Monaco - Living, Learning, Sharing, Teaching.
VooDooRadio - VooDooRadio is a podcast (internet radio show that you listen to on your computer or mobile MP3 player) that just kicks ass! A variety of music, humor and mayhem.
Orient Lodge - An Eclectic Blog at the Intersection of Technology and our Social Lives.
Fantastic Dimensions - A video weblog about science fiction fandom.
EverythingCU - World 2.0 Adventure.
Turcotte Data and Design - Western Mass Computer Support, Website and Graphic Design.
Look Me In The Eye - An Aspergian book author writes about books, asperger's, autism and life.
Kate M. Gilbert - Web Services Specialist. Offering Complete Web Services.
Tweetworks - With groups and discussions, TweetWorks helps you get the most out of Twitter.
WebFlowology - Val Nelson - Web Optimization & Writing for the Web
the Constant Observer - Strange things happen at that intersection of journalism, marketing and technology. Pull up a chair and let's kibitz for awhile...
Go Nomad - Inspiration and links to plan your trip.
The Communications Department - Life just got easier.
BERKSHIRE CREATIVE - Creativity Lives Here.
ClaudiaGere&Co. - Helping smart people become outstanding authors™.
Meemo Design - Tradeshow Design, Branding, Trademarks, Mascot Creation, Advertising Design, Virtual Tours, Interactive Design, packaging and Point of Sale.

PodCamp Western MA 2009 Video by Leslie Lambert




The way we communicate and conduct our affairs is changing at breakneck speeds, and will continue to change. This PodCamp really helped to define where we are headed, not just as a society, but almost everything life on earth represents.

If you were at PodCamp Western Mass 2009 and I did not add your site or a site that was discussed as a tool, give me a shout and I will add it.





Saturday, March 28, 2009

Top 10 Tips for Talking Your Way into a Better Deal

Some people were born to haggle, negotiate, cajole, whatever you call it. The rest of us need some guidance. Here are 10 great negotiating tactics to use next time you want to get more for less.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Project Torque on the laptop

Project Torque

Monday, March 16, 2009