Scones, Sparkle and Sharing at DC’s First Social Media Breakfast

January 26th, 2010 | Shonali Burke | 10 Comments

I attended my first Social Media Club (DC) event yesterday – a “social media breakfast,” which was founded by Bryan Person (read more here) – and the inaugural event of its kind in DC.

Wow – what a great time. First of all, it was sold out (well, it was free, but if you wanted to share in the extremely tasty, hot breakfast, you had to shell out $10, which I think is a deal). Teaism‘s cup was running over, if you’ll pardon the expression, of social media maniacs. And we’re a hungry bunch, in more ways than one, so we were eager listeners when Andi Narvaez, who was running the show, kicked things off.

Speakers Geoff Livingston, Shashi Bellamkonda and Alex Howard were fabulous, as was the organization by Andi and her cohort, Rachel Rule. I had a terrific time being a “head of table,” along with Mike Schaffer – and we were even at the same table, which was great. Among others, I got to meet James Walker, Lorna Webster (all the way from Fredericksburg, Va.), Ashley Settle and catch up with Kim Oser (we were all at the same table).

Though I’d meant to post this much earlier, in a way I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to do so, because I’ve found some terrific recaps of the event, such as in Shashi’s Examiner column and Alex Priest’s excellent writeup.

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Smile

January 22nd, 2010 | Shonali Burke | 0 Comments

‘Cos that’s the kind of week it’s been.

Have a great weekend.

Image: 1Happysnapper(photography), Creative Commons

Chicago Helps Haiti

January 21st, 2010 | Shonali Burke | 3 Comments

There’s some pretty hectic social media-with-a-cause activity going on in Chicago today.

In case you hadn’t heard, the Chicago Red Cross has had a telethon going since 5 a.m., which will continue until 11 p.m., to raise funds for Haiti. They’ve been promoting it pretty aggressively via both MSM as well as social media, integrating various outposts, such as Twitter and YouTube very well. You can donate here, or check out their live blog here.

I love when non-profit organizations are smart about their use of media to further their mission.

But I love it even more when a single person does it.

If you’re plugged into the PR/SM bubble on Twitter (and I say that affectionately, because it’s a bubble I enjoy bouncing around in), you’ll know Kate Zimmer, whose zest for life and PR smarts shine through those 140 characters, regardless of which pickle she says she’s in at any given time.

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