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Mar 09 2010

Texas Social Media Awards from the AAS – Congratulations to the top 25 SM Stars!

Category: community building, social media, teaming & leadership, tech opinion, trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 1:50 pm

I obviously wasn't paying attention, because I was still soliciting props for one of my colleages, hoping they might win this baby. But… The 25 nominees for the Texas Social Media Awards had already been chosen. And congratulations to them all. Some real winners and some surprises. (I'm not sure how a business or two-people-as-one really fit the initial description of the award, but hey…)

So I would like to send my sincere rockin salute to the top 25 and put in my vote for the overall winner. (Not that anyone is asking me, cause they aren't. And not that I'm in any way associated with AAS or these here awards.)

The -*JMac*- Texas Social Media Award goes to Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves & Fishes. MLFNOW.ORG.

High 5 to Alan and his amazing efforts.

Using social media and social good will and social capital, Alan has built a foundation of health for the people who cannot afford health care. Meals, cold-night triage, out-reach. I am proud to call Alan a friend and look forward to watching him smile into the spotlight this Sunday night when the AAS staff makes their pick.

All of these people are winners. And all of them will be back next year, stronger, better, with more followers!

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/MLF-Alan

(I guess it's not really a people's choice award, but hey, a little social media support never hurts.)

Tags: AAS, Alan Graham, austin, austin american statesman, ehealth, finding homeless, helping the homeless, homeless health, homeless health care, homeless helper, mlfnow.org, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, social health, social media, social media awards, texas socal media, Texas Social Media Awards

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Mar 09 2010

What Is Your "Always On" Technology? How Should I Reach You Right NOW?"

Category: about me, community building, connections, executive learnings, how do i?, social media, teaming & leadership, tech opinion, tools, trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 10:24 am

Pop Quiz: I need to reach you in the next 15 minutes about an opportunity, what would you suggest I use?

Facebook? Twitter? IM? Phone call? TXT your phone?

I've got some friends who don't answer their phones but will respond to TXT messages within minutes. There are folks who love DM in Twitter, or Messaging in FB. And then there's IM (Yahoo, AIM, MSN, GTalk) and Skype and G-mail and now BUZZ. Oh and get this, I have some friends who love Skype, but for CHAT. So let's count them up.

Phonecall direct (leave no voicemail)
Phonecall indirect (VM left)
Email
IM – Yahoo
IM – MSN
IM – AIM
IM – iChat or Jabber
IM – Skype
IM – Facebook chat
Facebook Messaging
Twitter (@ message)
Twitter (DM message)
Skype Video
TXT to phone
Google Buzz (not in my tool kit at the moment)

Did I miss any? And one other problem is even using some of the universal IM clients like Adium or GAIM, sometimes the special features of Yahoo Messenger for example, don't work within the alternative clients. So I've got one friend who likes to chat using Yahoo Messenger. I can respond via Adium (my favorite IM client) initially, but I have to open YM directly to access the other 50% of the data this friend is sending.

So I can't predict what works for everyone. Well, in fact, WE can't predict what works for *anyone.*

So my approach is to listen. Respond in like-kind to those who use alterna-connections. I tweet, and I update my FB status daily. But I rarely open IM unless someone I need to talk to is an IMer. (it's open right now and I'm chatting to one of my IMer friends.)

So I will give you the answer for me, in order of preference. That's the only system I understand, or pretend to understand.

Text me
Email me
Call me
DM me on Twitter
Message me on Facebook.

If you need me to pay attention to something. Or you need to transmit more that a brief status update:

Call me, talk to me, tell me what you want.

Email me if it's not urgent but has a lot of information or action items you want my response on. Oh, and if it's business use my business email. If it's personal it's likely to get buried in my business email deluge. BUT (I know this is complicated, so bear with me…) if it's urgent and personal, do these three things. TXT me. Call me. Email me. If it's urgent, continue to escallate until you reach me.

Oh and finally, to be efficient, put the ASK right up front. Imagine that even in email you've only got 140 characters to tell me what you are asking me for. It helps. Even if there's paragraphs of data behind the ask, just get to the ask right away. And if you are looking for and ACTION or RESPONSE put that in the subject line. (Subject: ACTION REQUESTED: Please review this document and reply in 24 hours.) And if possible, give the person a deadline. If they miss the message, and miss the deadline for some reason, you can then proceed.

That way, when the tumble of emails continues to scroll past me in Outlook, I can see there's an Action request. (Hint: Using URGENT message statuses never works. On mobile email systems it may or may not even show up depending on the software and settings.) So use the Subject line of every email to state *exactly* what you want.

I'm happy to respond. I want to talk to you. I do, it's my nature.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/right-now

Tags: action requested, always on, business email deluge, Call me, contact me, deadline, direct ask, g-mail, G-talk, get to the ask, get to the ask quickly, give the person a deadline, how should i reach you?, how should you reach me?, IM, in outlook, in the next 15 minutes, Messaging, outlook, outlook hell, phonecall direct, phonecall VM, response requested, review requested, Skype, talk to me, tell me what you want, Yahoo Messenger

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Feb 24 2010

7 Connective Practices – What If We Stayed Real Close? #TEDxAustin #TEDxATX #TEDx #TED

Category: community building, connections, lifestreaming, social media, teaming & leadership — jmacofearth @ 7:07 am

The #TEDxATX hash-tag or alternatively #TEDxAustin is beginning to trend down… But what if we didn't let the magic stop? What if we decided to dooooo something to stay connected?

Here's my plan: Don't Just TEDx, TEDeveryday!

As I wrote in an earlier post, the buzz of a great conference begins to wear off and those who were not part of the event begin to show irritation at how we keep bringing up the "event they weren't at." I want you to know you don't have to let go of the feeling of TEDxAustin. Nor do you have to let go of the people and connections you made. You & I *can* stay close!

In a week or so the hash-tag will be a ghost town and the pages that are currently lit up with busy connectors will be attracting fewer and fewer eyeballs. (That's how we used to refer to visitors from an advertising perspective–back in the day.) And your vivid emotions will either be rekindled by a deliberate practice or not.

So what is it that we can do to build our web of connectivity so that we don't have to disconnect?

Well, that, my friends and fellow travelers is the 5 billion dollar social media question. A conundrum really. And let me sum it up with an idea:

7 Connective Practices as inspired by TEDxAustin, 2010

1. We gathered, we shared, we exchanged glances, tears and contact information. (event)

2. In the afterglow of the event we came to realize that a power greater than ourselves could bring us to sanity. (affirmation)

3. As we began to reach out to our fellow TEDxAustin-ers we began to understand them better, we began to build connections beyond TEDx. (effort)

4. HERE'S THE TRICK: Through sustained effort and commitment, we colluded with others to make changes, we not only agreed to "stay close" we committed to concrete actions and re-gatherings. (commitment)

5. We continued to re-connect and re-commit on a regular basis. And we acted on the ideas and connective good we discovered. (fearlessly forward)

6. We ALL AGREED THAT cynicism = death. And that sarcasm, and sometimes well-meant humor, is a close cousin to the negativity and anti-light that is cynicism. (be a positive force)

7. FINALLY: We all move forward with plans and actions that bring us *closer* to each other and *a lot closer* to our calling. (self-examination and self-actualization)

I know for me Steven Tomlinson's performance at TEDxAustin was a peak. And the reason was he called me from where I stood at that very moment. And reading the posts and inspirations that came out of TEDx, I know that many of my fellow TEDers had the same feeling. And then what happened? We went out into the RED Reception area and we DID BIG, we CONNECTED BIG, we FELT BIG.

So as you move more deeply into the next phases of your life, post-event-high, ask yourself if your action is towards or away from your connective purpose, or as Steven put it, "your calling." And from that perspective make a decision about your actions. Do that repeatedly, continuously. And listen to the answers. You MAY in many cases choose the action that is not in alignment with your "soul work" but your longing for the soul work will deepen. And the next time you are faced with that choice it might be an opportunity to grow.

One core principal of Steven's talk was the relationship between calling and career. Even with all the best intentions, and hard work, we might not get where we want/need, or *think* we need to be, financially. And that is the gate that keeps many of us making the choices away from our passions. But the challenge is to BE BIGGER!

Grow, stretch and find a way to lean into the pain of NOT doing what you want to do.

Then do what you have to do: a: to provide for yourself and your family; and b: to step towards your dream.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/TEDx-BE

IAMACONNECTOR.COM has a growing TEDxAustin page: TEDxAustin Connect (please join and ask for admin rights, and you can add your connections from this masterful event!)

The official Flickr stream of Kirk Tuck images from TEDxAustin is UP!

The Sparkers List from TEDxAustin (yes I misspelled that on purpose!)
Jon L's reflections and notes on TEDxAustin
John McElhenney's uber.la: TEDx Austin: Aftermath of a HUGE EVENT: Playing Big Forever After!
Eugene Sepulveda's TEDx reflections
A Flickr photo collection from TEDxAustin
NetImpact: Big Ideas at Inaugural TEDxAustin
Kirk Tuck: Things I learned photographing a TEDx conference
Mark Ralston's Future of Computing Presentation on SlideShare
John McElhenney's uber.la: Notes from TEDxAustin: Scribblings and Sparks in the Dark
A sticky notes take on TEDxAustin
TEDxAustin: an Event Planner's perspective….pause…process…CONNECT!
Kala Philo's Mindmap of the TEDxAustin event
Cesar Torres's drawing of TEDxAustin on Flickr
Thom Singers' TEDxAustin 2010
Carla Thompson: Next year, I vote for a drum circle
Conjunctured's TEDxATX rejects post
Ashley Brown's: TEDxATX: Play Big 2010
AAS day after coverage: Big local names ponder big ideas at TEDxAustin event
Digital Savant: TEDxATX wrapup: good vibes, say attendees
John McElhenney's uber.la: What's Next for TED? How Do We Get Even *More* Open?
Adrian Taylor: Small is the New Big, What I Learned at TEDxAustin
Susan McElhenney: TEDxAustin Artist's Rendering – Susan McElhenney Draws BIG
Sunni Brown's: Producing TEDx Austin at KLRU Austin City Limits
Honoria Starbuck paintings from the day: tedx-austin-2010
John McElhenney's uber.la: #TEDxAustin and 7 Connective Practices

Tags: Austin TED, iamaconnector, inspiration, steven tomlinson, TED, TEDx, TEDx connect, TEDxAustin

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Feb 21 2010

TEDx Austin: Aftermath of a HUGE EVENT: Playing Big Forever After!

Category: code is poetry, community building, connections, lifestreaming, social media, teaming & leadership, trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 3:14 pm

I have talked to about 15 people who were at TEDx Austin yesterday and the reactions are mostly the same: Blissful Awe!

What happens from here on out is a bit harder.

See, in a number of previous, "peak" experiences, I have traveled to the mountain top, to share and grow with a group of people, and then made the long journey back, to attempt a return to my "pre-mountain" life. And I can tell you, my dear TEDx friend, we will not ever be the same. So that's the good and the bad part.

The Butler Brothers' video on the creation of the TEDx program:

TEDxAustin from The Butler Bros on Vimeo.

On the UP side of the coin, many were touched by the performances, the connections, the sheer magnitude of the day. I said it yesterday on my blog, and repeated it several times today — when asked, "What was your favorite part?" — that after the first three speakers, I could've gone home fulfilled.

Done! Cooked! Full! Of course I would've missed many of the other moments… But I'll share in a future post how the alignment of those three speakers struck me, if not mute, then deaf and dumb. (grin)

On the DOWN side of the coin — and this is a challenge not a reality, it does not have to be this way — there were fewer than 400 of us who got to experience TEDx LIVE. And the streaming audience trended between 150 – 400 for the entire show, so lets be generous and round UP and say that 800 people were blessed to have been a part of TEDxAustin Numero Uno. (That's a fairly small tribe/village.)

Well, that leaves a whole boat load of folks, even here in Austin, that will have some skepticism, ambivalence and perhaps even irritation at our gushing about TEDx. Even our friends won't really be able to grok our enthusiasms. And that's okay. But it's hard.

In my experience there are also two ways to deal with the flatlands, as I refer to the un-enhanced, un-enlightened, un-BIG places we often inhabit in our daily lives. Tomorrow we go back to work. The next day we exchange only a few TEDx emails, tweets or FB updates. And in a week, well… I stop. It does not have to go this way, but usually does.

In a few weeks many of us TEDx alumni will be hitting SXSW and SXSWi trying to glean the same high. But those are rough waters, and made up of very different agendas. And so many others won't have the "next thing" to go to.

And so what do we do with ourselves until TEDxAustin 2.0?

Here's what I think we do:

Never admit that we might have been a bit touched by the moment, and that the experience of TEDx was remarkable, but it was only kinda remarkable. It WAS huge, it WAS BIG. And while there was coffee and tea and wine and beer, the rush you felt was REAL. Don't deny or belittle PLAY BIG day ONE.
Hold fast to the ideas you gravitated towards at TEDx. These touchstones may very well be your connection to a deeper life. (I refer you to Care of the Soul and Artist's Way for further explorations of this topic.)
Hold loosely to the new friends, colleagues and visionaries you connected with. (Because the #4 is the key!)
Strengthen the CORE relationships of your life.

I am certain that there will be another TEDxAustin. I am hopeful that I am worthy of a seat in the audience. I am certain that I will kindle and open up new opportunities with many of the people I met and many whom I reconnected with.

But what each of us as individuals must do is focus on what is important and what has the most impact in our lives. To change and better the lives of others we first have to get right in our own lives. And much of that starts with the relationships that are right here in front of us.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/TEDx-reflect

IAMACONNECTOR.COM has a growing TEDxAustin page: TEDxAustin Connect (please join and ask for admin rights, and you can add your connections from this masterful event!)

The official Flickr stream of Kirk Tuck images from TEDxAustin is UP!