Had a great time speaking at HVDMA (Hudson Valley Direct Marketing Association) yesterday. They had a President’s panel where Joe Feigenbaum from TDO, Fern Galperin, independent web consultant, and Matt Staudt from interactive marketing group and myself sat on a podium and answered questions about the web…everything from social media (big topic) to print, email marketing, direct marketing and more.

Interesting format. We met prior to the meeting and chatted and then were thrown lots of questions which for sure kept us on our toes…I was in very good company because Joe, Fern and Matt were confident and knowledgeable about their experiences on the web and how they have been innovators for their clients!

To sum up, we all agreed that the web/internet marketing is one of many powerful channels to use when reaching out to your customers.

Get a good rundown here from Tim Parry of multichannel merchant.

Well, we have just completed our 2nd annual Business Smart Tools conference which took place May 15th in Stamford.  Based on my own personal opinion and the opinion of countless attendees, speakers and demo companies, it was a huge success on many levels.  I believe we hit every nerve so to speak.  First there was lunch, then demo companies who showed off very powerful products and/or services, then there were the speakers who talked about everything from the new media business basics to Second Life, and then cocktails that lead to lots of networking.

This conference is geared specifically for the business person.  We cover what works and what doesn’t for business.  We had many big companies: Xerox, GM, GE….some attendees wanted to see more from small and medium sized companies.  I agree with that but the only problem is those companies either don’t have a budget to get out and speak or they just aren’t in the space yet.  The big companies have the budget which allows them to jump into social media endeavors and create success stories and to make mistakes…we heard all about both sides.  This is a shout out to all midsize and small companies who want to share their social media/internet marketing stories next year!

We will post a few video clips on the site along with any powerpoint presentations that the speakers shared with us.

Keep your eye on the site, www.BusinessSmartTools.com, for news about this year and updates about next.

Well, Sabine and I are getting excited about attending and speaking at Podcamp NYC.  They are now up to 1100 people attending which is amazing…quite a gathering in NYC for the Saturday before a major holiday (Easter)!!  Michelle, our sales maven, is heading to the networking party tonight, Friday, at Slate…Sabine, our emerging technology maven, and I are heading in tomorrow to hear what we can hear and to speak.

Now what is interesting about our workshop is that in a sea of passionate podcasters (and I hope to learn a lot from them), we are talking about “Blogging for Business!”  We were convinced to do so by John Havens one of the organziers (and great guy by the way!)  We will either have a near empty room or a room overflowing…this is the joy of doing an unconference…no one knows these things and there is no overplanning and everyone attending and planning the event contribute together…it is very cool!

If you are a second life fan, this link will lead you to some workshops that are taking place in real life at The New Yorker Hotel.

I haven’t checked the latest list of workshops but I do know that Greg Verdino will be working a panel on Saturday morning and Reena Jana from BusinessWeek will be speaking as well!  I do believe that Mike Dunn, podcaster extraordinaire, is thrown into the mix too (as long as there is no snow on a mountain somewhere :))

Ok then, see you all there…this is going to be a good time!

Well, today was interesting…ummm, not quite the right word!  I headed into NYC to check out the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference.  This conference was $450 and for that I didn’t get a seat in the main area, didn’t get a program or extra handouts and didn’t even get water on the table (yes there were glasses but no water).

Yes the Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference succumbed to the let’s pack them in, let’s not plan, and let’s not work the event to take advantage of the speakers and guests!  Ok we heard about the Dove campaign (who hasn’t right), the panel was barely motivated to speak with Jonah Bloom moderating, and Abbey Klaassen seemed to have her favorite speakers (Manning Field from Chase) but was quite edgy with the audience (when no one had a question for one of the case study speakers, she asked if anyone understood what was going on)…lovely! 

Here is news for you Abbey, not only did we understand but we have heard it all before…don’t you have anything worthwhile to present to a group of people who paid $450…oh yes, you got your money and ran and didn’t look back. 

One redeeming note for Miss Abbey, after I went begging the staff for water and a program, Abbey gave me her program but couldn’t care about the others who didn’t have anything cause she needed to be “miked.”

On a positive note, I met Steve Rubel of Edelman and the Micro Persuasion blog.  What a nice guy.  After speaking with him, I didn’t realize what a fan I was! 

It is always good for me to attend various events and conferences to understand all facets of pleasing (and not pleasing) your audience.  I stil haven’t been to a conference like Buisness Smart Tools where the goal is truly to learn and share information…the speakers are the decision makers, the information is focused on how to make this digital/interactive/online stuff work in a business environment, the demos help expand the attendees experience and learn what is going on out there, and the networking is huge during the cocktail party where everyone gets up and walks around…a very big difference from hearing from some agencies who are winging it and having your lunch at your seat where you have sat since 9:00am.

Come to the conference in May and feel the difference…I promise enough water for everyone!

Liz Strauss, blogger extraordinaire of Successful Blog, has put together a conference, SOBCon ‘07, in Chicago.  Topic: taking your blog to the next level through strategy, art, technology and the science of relationship blogging.  250-300 bloggers expected.  Blog talk radio will cover it.

May 11 and May 12 at the Chicago Ohare Business Hotel

I have read the latest news about BED NY and Granville Adams.  Granville, a manager at BED, has been accused of criminally negligant homicide.  The story, at least the version in the New York Daily News and Reuters, is that Granville made a comment to a girl in the coat check line…her “man,” Orlando Valle, who was there with her having come off celebrating his 35th birthday (at 4 am), got outraged and a fight ensued.  Supposedly Granville pushed Orlando against the elevator and the doors opened and Orlando fell down the shaft and died.

While I personally wasn’t at BED during this occassion, Creative Concepts was a sponsor and actively involved in the event planning of the TechCrunch NYC party last November which took place at this hot nightclub/restaurant. 

While trying to get all of the details in line for this particular event, we were dealing with the typical shady NYC nightclub characters.  The event manager who didn’t have a lot of experience but came with a fair amount of attitude and the very elusive upper management/owners who were never referred to by name.  When I finally met Granville on the night of the party, I felt great relief.  He was the floor manager and my go to man and appeared to be the only one truly in charge (ever). 

As the night wore on, my gut about Granville was right.  He helped us through every detail of the event.  He was polished, calm and very much on top of the “floor” and very effective at solving any issue that came our way!  Did I say he was calm?  That is what made him so effective…plus he did a lot of hustling to get things done for us.  You could not have asked for better!

That is all I can say about Granville.  There is more to say about the elevator.  While coming to BED to check out the space (this was midday with no club traffic), the elevator was broken down.  Also on the night of the event, the elevator had been worked on most of the day and got up and running just in the nick of time for the party.  The staff said this was a regular occurence.  The air conditioning was also broken that night (this was November…I am sure the system wasn’t overused because of the weather!)…you see a theme of broken down equipment here?  It was easier for BED management to make a quick fix than invest their dollars in making the nightclub safe and comfortable for their patrons.

I wish Granville luck.  For the short time I knew him, I considered him a true professional in a sea of murky waters called BED NY!

 

 

Well this week and last have been bustling and fun!  Here are some of the projects and visits with present and potential clients:

First we did a major hustle and got the Cruise Resort & World Travel blog up and running.  We announced an award and posted a press release while Nancy, the blog owner was traveling in Viet Nam, Bangkok and Singapore and posted her observations.  We have information about Nancy, contact information for booking a luxury travel vacation and a press page with links.  We have a blog roll that supports the visitors’ need for travel information from flight stats to where to work out in the US when traveling.  Look for more to come with this exciting blog from an luxury travel agency owner who knows and experiences the world!

For a site that I thought was maintaining status quo, one of the principals called with vim and vigor and wanted to rev things up…letters out to customers, expand the topics of the blog posts, reach out to peers….it has been easy to support The Orthodontic Center, a site that supports 2 blogs where both blogs have a different agenda and different readers.

Next I was on to visit Ruth Ridgeway whose site is about to go live next week so check back on this link.  Ruth is a hard working feisty event designer who knows how to please her clients and make something out of nothing when it comes to a party.  Her site is awesome…we are about to add some video so bookmark her site for future visits.

I then worked through the details of two more sites that are going to be awesome…both have blogs, both communicate well with potential site visitors…stay tuned…you know I will tell you something when there is something to show.

And to add to all of this, I went this week to visit a potential client.  The principal is bright, energetic and creative but still afraid of what a blog is and can do (search engine optimization, crisis management, networking to name a few!).  Many in the corporate arena think a blog is dangerous and out of control.  Dangerous, no, out of control, yes, in a great way. 

Take a look at the Bigelow Blog.  This is a prime example of a corporate blog hard at work and working well for the company (500% increase in visitors from last month).  The President (Cindi), the VP Sales (Bob) and the VP of manufacturing (Dean) all contribute to the blog plus we back them up with studies and web finds on the benefits and facts of tea.  They have a strong community outreach plus they were a featured weightloss team on ABC Primetime live…all fodder for the blog.  The fact that Joe Torre, Phil and Chris Simms drink Green Tea doesn’t hurt either…Bob blogs about them especially when they came to headquarters recently for a visit.  A corporate blog requires the CEO or head of the organization to be open with a sense of adventure and dedication and that is Cindi Bigelow to a TEA!  She is ready to head out the door to bring on new customers…stay tuned for more exciting developments from Bigelow Tea.

All of this coupled with the excitement of the Business Smart Tools conference which is coming in May.  Amazing and knowledgeable speakers plus demo companies (tech startups that are geared toward business) and the BST angel award where judges award the one start up that shows the most promise with consulting time from management and tech gurus…it is truly a show to behold and one that has solid content where you walk away satisifed and well fed with information that can change how you work today.  Check out the Business Smart Tools Blog for updates.

We at Creative Concepts have been busy with the best yet to come…look for more adventures in the not so far future.

Check out Greg Verdino’s post on the party….he gives a great summary of who was there and what was going on!

A day after the Techrunch Meetup at BED in NYC, I wanted to post some of my photos…they aren’t great but take a look at these photos from Partystrands who were one of the sponsors of the party.

Just returned from the Techcrunch Meetup. Jeanne, the event organizer, and Jennifer, the Techcrunch business manager, were awesome to work with! The event was a hit, the sponsors happy (especially HitTail), and the party smooth. Mike Arrington wasn’t used to a loud New York crowd and didn’t want to take the elevator but he made his way just fine anyway.

In case people don’t know who Creative Concepts is, we are an East Coast based PR and Marketing firm working with the  social media tools (check out the Bigelow Tea blog in its infancy), so if you are a tech startup anywhere and you want to reach out to our coast, we can help you. If you want to reach out to the corporate sector, we can help you do it with the Business Smart Tools Conference.

Sorry Mike Dunn that you missed it, but Greg Verdino, John Boehmer and Elizabeth Tarbell, it was great to see you and thanks Erin and Michelle for a job well done!

Pictures tomorrow.