On Friday, January 16, a group of wonderfully interesting and passionate social media folk gathered at Basis: New American Cuisine in Phoenix, AZ.

Ben Grossman (Chief Strategist at BiGMarK, Inc.) and Elizabeth Hannan (Website Marketing & Social Media Manager of Pragmatic Marketing) moderated a lively discussion with the 20+ attendees on a wide range of issues pursuant to the theme, Social Media in 2009 | Look Both Ways.  Topics that were discussed included a review of Social Media in 2008 (mainstream acceptance, most effective use, the shifting communication model in journalism and life) and forecasts of what is to come in 2009 (viability of content aggregation, where influence resides, political implications).

Christi Woods, from sponsor Herman, Goldstein, and Forsyth P.C., gave a very compelling overview of how social media is a game changer for the legal profession: from evidentiary issues to professional networking.

Photo By: Tyson Crosbie

Sponsor
Once again, thank you to our sponsor, Herman, Goldstein, and Forsyth P.C. and attorney, Christi A. Woods for sponsoring the breakfast and sharing their point of view with us.  Christi can be reached at 602-569-8200.

The Venue
We’d also like to thank Pete and Basis: New American Cuisine for being so accommodating and providing absolutely delicious food.  The have a wonderful standard menu as well: 

Basis specializes in innovative cuisine that remains approachable.  An all day menu ensures the guest will find just what they are craving whether it is one of the fresh daily soups, a lobster burger, a prime rib stuffed poblano or southwest chicken cordon bleu. Sunday’s ala carte brunch menu features creme brule french toast, eggs benedict over green chile scones and cinnamon donut holes in addition to several other items.  Basis also has over fifty wines by the glass, an extensive domestic and imported beer list and offers a coffee menu with french press options.

Overall, the breakfast was a huge success, a wonderful chance to connect with friends new and old, and to openly exchange information.  If you are interested in helping to host a future Social Media Breakfast Phoenix, please be in touch with Elizabeth Hannan.  

Thank you, Phoenix!

Social Media Breakfast Phoenix 2 (#SMBP2) will be held from 8:30am -10:30am, at Basis: New American Cuisine in Phoenix, AZ.  Boston-based marketer and Boston SMB regular, Ben Grossman will be organizing and hosting the event during a visit to his hometown.  Sponsor Herman, Goldstein, and Forsyth P.C., will be providing complimentary coffee and bagels.  Register on Eventbrite, as tickets are limited.

Social Media Breakfast Phoenix 2

• Date: Friday, January 16, 2009
• Time: 8:30-10:30am
• Place: Basis: New American Cuisine (602-843-3689)
• Address: 410 East Thunderbird Road Phoenix, Arizona 85022 [map]
• Registration: Register on Eventbrite, as tickets are limited

REGISTER HERE

SMBP2 Theme: Social Media in 2009 | Look Both Ways
SMBP2 will feature a series of two sets of discussions:

1) Backwards: Examining how social media technologies, practices, and proliferation changed over the course of 2008.  Did your business or clients change their views?  Did social media go mainstream?  Did social media find a place next to or immersed in traditional marketing, advertising, and public relations?

2) Forwards: Projecting, on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Show and a slew of predictive positing by thought leaders, what 2009 has in store for social media.  Will the mainstream populace finally ‘get it?’  Will businesses and clients be more willing to embrace social media?  What tools must or should we develop to steward the next generation of social media evolution?

Speakers
If you would be willing to moderate and/or lead one of these discussions (in either or both categories), please e-mail Ben Grossman at SMBP {at} ben-grossman {dot} com

Sponsor
Social Media Breakfast Phoenix 2 is sponsored by Herman, Goldstein, and Forsyth P.C., a local law firm that realizes that social media impacts the way all organizations conduct business on a daily basis.  As the sponsor, the law firm has graciously covered the cost of the facility and complimentary breakfast for attendees.  Christi A. Woods will be attending to represent the firm and can be reached at 602-569-8200.

Creating Content / Making Media?

• Please use the tag #SMBP2
• Pass along video, blog posts, and other durable content to Ben Grossman so that it can be included in the wrap-up post

Questions?
The Social Media Breakfast  was founded by Bryan Person in August 2007 as an event where social media experts and newbies alike come together to eat, meet, share, and learn. Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, new-media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend.  

This Social Media Breakfast Phoenix is being hosted by Ben Grossman.  You can contact him at SMBP {at} ben-grossman {dot} com with any questions.

On January 7th, I am looking forward to being in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show to speak at “Social Media Jungle.”  Jeff Pulver is the kind event organizer and I will be giving an updated presentation about Return on Social Media Investment (ROSMI).  

The following is the event description and schedule:

The Social Media Jungle at the 2009 International CES brings to light how the advent of social media is changing the way we work and live. Sessions include state-of-the-industry updates and a candid look at how social media disrupts the workplace by empowering companies to lower burn rates. Plus, learn how companies can motivate consumers through social media to drive product sales without increasing costs. 

8:30 - 9:00: Real-Time Social Networking
9:00 - 9:20: Welcome to the Jungle, Jeff Pulver
9:20 - 9:40: Navigating the Social Media Seas, Chris Brogan
9:40 - 10:00 - Industry Perspective & Update, Jeremiah Owyang (via Skype Video)
10:00 - 10:20 - What to Look for in Social Media Platforms in 2009, Robert Scoble
10:20 - 10:40 - Social Media Reciprocity, Warren Whitlock
10:40 - 11:00 - Return on Social Media Investment, Ben Grossman
11:00 - 11:20 - [ break ]
11:20 - 11:40 - Learn, Baby, Learn: Turn Your Social Media Addiction Into An Asset!, Jeffrey Sass
11:40 - 12:00 - Social Media Principles, Chris Heuer
12:00 - 12:20 - Naked PR: What Marketers Need to Know in the Age of Social Media, Susan Etlinger
12:30 - 2:00 [Lunch Break]
2:00 - 2:30 - How Reporters Have to Think of Themselves as an Entrepreneur and a Publisher Using their Company as a Platform, Daniel Honigman, Kevin Sablan and Etan Horowitz.
2:30 - 3:00 - New Media Strategy in Challenging Times: Conquering the 3 Screen World: Dean Landsmanand Howard Greenstein
3:00 - 3:20 - How Small Business can use Inbound Marketing/Social Media to Help Increase Their Business, Justin Levy
3:20 - 3:40 - The Convergence of CE and Social Media, Jeremy Toeman
3:40 - 4:00 - Managing Your Reputation While Being Genuine and Authentic Online, Dave Taylor
4:00 - 4:20 - How to Botch an Agency Briefing (No Matter How Cool You Think Your Product Is), David Berkowitz
4:20 - 4:40 [break]
4:40 - 5:00 - How Trust Drives Transactions During a Down Economy, Eric Weaver
5:00 - 5:20 - Transforming Unemployed BabyBoomers via Social Media, Carlos Hernandez
5:20 - 5:30 - Wrap up / Conclusions & Take Aways 

There are some great people scheduled to speak with some great topics to discuss. Hope to see you there!  To register, visit the CES Registration page: http://www.CESweb.org/register and follow the registration process and select Social Media Jungle as the registration option.

For one very jam-packed day spent in the Social Media Jungle, about 50 social media leaders gathered, conversed, learned, and (of course) tweeted.  Jeff Pulver, the event organizer and self-identified “Benevolent Dictator,” invited me to attend and speak on ways to measure Return on Investment (ROI) in the social media realm.  

Photo via Jeff Pulver on Facebook

During a half-hour, highly interactive presentation, I talked the discussants through the ideas behind Return on Brand Investment (ROBI), Return on Consumer Investment (ROCI) and much, much more.  The presentation/conversation can be viewed below:

Social Media Jungle on BlipTV

There was definitely some valuable information shelled out in a very short period of time, so I encourage you to view some of the other presentations, including that of my good friend, Leslie Poston, and new friends (including Howard Greenstein, Dean Landsman, Jeffrey Sass, and Jamie Thompson).

Thanks to all the fellow attendees and presenters for your kind words and feedback.  I’m currently developing a slide deck companion piece that will be premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January.

A group of about 500 professionals interested in what’s next in marketing gathered for the New Marketing Summit at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2008.  Chris Brogan was kind enough to ask me to put together and host a panel entitled ”Millennial Marketing Movers.”  I was happy to invite panelists Emily Belyea, Rebecca Corliss, and Matt Peters (of Pandemic Labs) to join me in giving attendees an overview of topics that Millennial Marketers are passionate about.  

Photo: bostonmike on Flickr

We covered topics ranging from branded entertainment to viral cause messaging to non-traditional research to the future of marketing.  I wrapped up with an overview of how to target Millennials in marketing efforts before we all took a number of questions from the audience.  Thank you to everyone for all the positive feedback and those who were nice enough to write about us (as featured below)!

Coverage of The New Marketing Summit “Millennial Marketing Mover” panel:

• BUZZLogic’s BUZZBlog Event Summary
• AriWriter’s Key Quotes Recap
• Get Ready For the Millennials (and Meet Rebecca Corliss)
  
• Beth Kanter’s Panel Take-aways

It was a completely packed house at the Hooley House at Faneuil Hall for Ignite Boston 4, hosted by O’Reilly and Microsoft, where I was privileged enough to premiere my presentation and project entitled “The Aggregation Conversation.” The presentation considers what aggregation has meant to brands in the past and what it means to the future of social media in the context of aggregation.

In the slide deck below and the accompanying website, I’ve attempted to delineate what social media aggregators are already out there, what’s on the horizon, and how to start the conversation that has the potential to allow the robust world of social media to go mainstream.

Aggregation Conversation

Comment on The Aggregation Conversation on SlideShare

What do you get when you stick together a jumble of generations and ask them to talk tensions and technologies?  Episode 3 of the TalkShoe Webshow Topics on Fire, hosted by Leslie Poston (@geechee_girl):

Leslie was nice enough to invite me to join the webshow to represent Generation Y (also known as Digital Natives, Millenials, etc.) and I was joined by a panel of representatives from Generation X (Jim Keenan and Gradon Tripp) and the Baby Boomers (Jack Herman and Jonathan Yarmis).  It was a rousing discussion with a bunch of very smart people and a great host!

I had the distinct pleasure of co-presenting with great friend, Marta Kagan, creator of the “What the F**K is Social Media” presentation on July 20th at PodCamp Boston 3 (#PCB3).  Our presentation focused on how to make the case for social media before clients, colleagues, and executives alike.  We talked about some of the major sticking points, how to talk to those who don’t “get it” (or don’t want to), and answered some great questions from the audience about how we both work with social media everyday.

Here’s the presentation our session was based on:

What The F**K is Social Media?

On June 23, 2008, Social Media Breakfast 8 was a huge success.  The lineup for the panel discussion part of the breakfast gathering was:

• Emily Belyea and Ben Grossman, principal at The Plenary Group
• Jeff Glasson, director of social media & technology at PerkettPR
• Larry Lawfer, YourStorys founder and president
• Rob Lane, CEO/co-founder of Overlay.TV

Photo: Bob_Collins on Flickr

I had the pleasure of speaking before 90+ industry leaders in social media about the role of video in social media and its use as means to engage Millennials.  

Ben Grossman & Emily Belyea Presenting at SMB8 from Bob Collins on Vimeo.

As you may have noticed, I offered a case study from a campaign I had just finished for AOL’s AIM Social Media.  One of the central components to that campaign was www.TalkToRunningMan.com — a video based target feedback microsite.  Here’s the ‘best of’ reel I showed during the presentation:

When Bob Collins and Bryan Person asked me to speak on the role of video in social media, I was in Atlanta, Georgia pitching AOL Executives as part of the American Advertising Federation NSAC.  It was a true thrill and I was happy to get to share the deep insights that led to the creation of such a groundbreaking campaign, which AOL has now partially enacted.

Media Coverage of Social Media Breakfast 8:

• Official Event Recap with Video Coverage »

Podcast:

• Len Edgerly’s Podcast with Post-Event Interview »
• Larry Lawfer’s Video Podcast of Q&A with the Panel »

Blog Posts:

• “Ad Your Comments Here” »
• “360 Days in a PR Life” »
• “Media Bullseye: The Customscoop Magazine” »

The Boston American Marketing Association hosted the Marketing on a Shoestring Awards, which welcomed community members to enter their very best marketing initiatives with low cost and high impact.  It was a diverse field of entrants, including IBM, HubSpot, and Boston University.

Over an evening of networking and explaining our concepts, the entrants were judged based on various criterion by judges, guests, and Steve Halling, President of the AMA Boston.  I entered the work I did with www.TalkToRunningMan.com as part of the AIM: Connect. Engage. campaign for AOL.

At the conclusion of the night, I was more than excited to be awarded the top three honors of the night:

People’s Choice Award: Most Creative Concept
Chapter Award: Most Creative Concept
President’s Award: Best Creative Presentation

Thank you to all the wonderful people who were so interested in this initiative and to the people who stopped me on the streets of Boston to ask about the 4-foot Running Man I was carrying around.