Idolizing Celebrities

iStock_000004580895XSmall.jpgI’ve never been one to idolize celebrities. TV & movie stars, recording artists and other famous people are just people like everyone else. But I think it’s healthy to idolize, or at least admire, some people. It all comes down to the reasons.

As I was reading Darren Rowse’s post about a loving fan that virtually attacked him at Blogworld, I realized there’s nothing wrong with having heroes.

I’ll tell you right now that I practically stalk Chris Brogan (he even said so in my signed copy of Trust Agents). I’d drive half a day or fly halfway across the country to hear him speak. Is it because he’s a web celebrity? Because he has 100,000 followers? Because he’s a “social media expert”? No, it’s because he went out of his way to be a friend to me, for no other reason than he is a good person who truly wants to help people. [Read more...]

I’m at IzeaFest at SeaWorld in Orlando

I’m at the IzeaFest interactive marketing conference hosted at SeaWorld in Orlando. The one-track two-day conference covers social media, sponsored conversations, personal brand and more. I know a lot of the speakers such as Aaron Brazell of Technosailor.com, Wendy Piersall of Sparkplugging, and Wayne Sutton of SocialWayne. Other speakers include Ted Murphy, Chris Brogan and more. I also have a lot of friends and colleagues who are attending such as Patrick O’Keefe, Jeremy Wright, Jayson Flint, and more.

I’m also looking forward to Sunday, where we all get a free pass to SeaWorld for the day. I can’t wait, because I’m surprising my son… Sunday happens to also be his 4th birthday and I’m taking him (and the rest of the family) to SeaWorld.

Trust Agents Will Change the Way You Look at Social Media (Hopefully)

Trust AgentsI am a long-time fan of Chris Brogan, so when I heard he was writing a book I was pretty excited. See, Chris is what you might call a revolutionary in the social media space. He’s been doing it since before it was called social media. He’s been blogging before the term was even coined… back then it was just called an online diary. So when Chris talks about this stuff, people listen… at least, I do.

The idea behind Trust Agents started with Trust Economies, a free ebook published by Chris and Julien Smith back in March of 2008. If you have not read Trust Economies yet, I highly recommend it as a precursor to Trust Agents. In it, they lay what would eventually become the foundation for Trust Agents… the philosophy that social media marketing is less about “marketing” and more about building real relationships (and the trust that comes with them). [Read more...]

SxSW 2009 Recap

Brant Kelsey Bull Rider

I should probably have written a SxSW recap when it was still fresh in my mind, but after being out of the office for more than a week I was swamped. I also came back to a few small changes for the book, which didn’t take long but still added to the overall workflow.

Four of us from Kelsey Advertising & Design trekked down to Austin this year, up from just two last year. It was myself, Brant Kelsey (Principal and owner of Kelsey), Brian Handley (illustrator and web developer), and Roman Alvarado (graphic and web designer). Overall, I would consider South by Southwest to be a big success. I really didn’t feel the conference itself was as energized or had the impact it had on me last year, but the people and parties definitely made up for it. I spent a lot of time just hanging out and meeting people, one on one in small personal settings.

I met a ton of people, and saw a ton of friends and acquaintances from other conferences. Some of the highlites are below… I’m sure I’m forgetting someone (it has been over a month). If we met at SxSW, drop me an email! I probably just didn’t have your card and my memory is aweful. [Read more...]