Whew! October was a busy month. In six weeks (last week of September and through the first week of November) I participated in four conferences; specifically I presented at all four and helped plan two. Yeah. Crazy. And stupid. That being said, I love being busy and I love conference planning and have no problem with public speaking so as far as I’m concerned it was totally worthwhile.

My recap of the conferences and presentations is overdue. I did a brief post on the Social Media Strategies Summit in September, but here are my thoughts on the other three…

BarCampRDU

BarCampRDU was one of the events I helped plan and I was pleased with how it went. Despite some strong marketing the turnout was disappointing, but the space (which was a last-minute change due to problems with our usual location) worked beautifully and the sponsorships, shirts, and most of the presentations all worked out great.
I pitched two talks for BarCamp: Social Media Strategies and Women In BarCamp. Women in BarCamp is a hot-button issue for me. BarCamp is traditionally very technical and the nature of it (and possibly the way the conference is planned and marketed) doesn’t lend itself to strong female participation. But let’s be honest here: women weren’t really flocking to technology jobs in general anyway. In past years there have been only a handful of women who have attended BarCamp and even fewer actually speak at the event. This year was typical – less that 10% of the attendees were female and I was the only one to pitch a topic. It was frustrating: despite a great session with really wonderful feedback and support from the participants it was daunting that there was less female participation than ever. Even more discouraging was the planning session for next year’s BarCampRDU, which seemed to want to move back to a more limited-scope and in consequence a style that offers even less support for women participants.
On the bright side this did introduce me to some new organizations for females who are interested in technology in the Triangle area. Hopefully I’ll have follow-up on these groups in the future if I can find some time to investigate them further. On the downside I don’t think I’ll be helping out with BarCampRDU again, at least not for a couple years.

SpeedCon

My graduate degree is mere weeks away from official completion. This semester I’m president of the NC State student chapter of SIGDOC (Special Interest Group on the Design of Communication) and one of our goals was to put on a conference on communication. We had an offer from the Carolina STC (Society for Technical Communication) chapter to offer a joint conference, which they would help to finance if we would help to host. The offer was too good to pass up so on October 29th we had out first SpeedCon.
Like BarCampRDU, SpeedCon is an unconference, This means it’s very free-flowing with topics “pitched” in the morning and the schedule set based on the  participants and their expertise. Unlike BarCamp, SpeedCon is not well-known and the concept of an unconference was new to most of the participants. Despite the hurdle of having to find volunteers to talk and the need to educate the participants on the nature of the conference, things went very well. Participation was excellent and there were some really fantastic topics. I think everyone learned something and there was a lot of opportunity for networking between students, faculty, and professionals. I’m excited about the success and I’m hoping SpeedCon becomes an annual event!

UNC CAUSE

Every year those of us working in IT at the various 17 UNC System campuses make our way to some “big” North Carolina city (Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Boone) and spend three days sharing problems, discussing strategies and fighting for drink tickets at our annual conference. As it happens, last year UNC CAUSE was put on by NC State, and I and my colleagues put an exhausting amount of time and energy into making it a professional event. That memory, while faded, is far from gone so I was very happy to simply have to present this year.
I presented with my colleague Dr. (Leslie) Dare and our presentation, included below, was on social media strategy and policy for campuses. I feel like the presentation went well despite a really unfortunately horrendous hangover (Yes, I mixed beer and liquor. Yes, I should know better by now). I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to have more discussion on the topic as we sort of ran out of time. I was also disappointed that my boss’s boss’s boss who attended the presentation focused on some of the more short-sighted elements of the personal responsibility (I’m already a fan, thanks) and failed to charge us with taking more of a leadership role in our campus social media strategy.

So that’s it for me. November is positively boring after the chaos of October so one might even look forward to more posts on here! No promises, of course.

Last week I attended the Social Media Strategies Summit in Boston, MA. This was a conference for businesses and non-profits to discuss the use of social media in marketing, communication strategies, fundraising, community-building and much more. It was all about making use of the right tools at the right time and it was great.

I met several experts in the business and non-profit arenas and got lots of good ideas. Because I work for a university I was not really the target audience for some of the content but it was still worthwhile and I picked up several social media policy ideas and samples which will certainly come in handy. I also presented at the conference – I did a session on community-building, which seemed to be well-received. You can view it on Slideshare if you’re interested.

Above all it was nice – and quite validating – to hear much of the stuff I knew mirrored back to me from the “experts”. Something that is so new and cutting edge, that changes every day, is hard to stay on top of and I had some concerns about offering legitimately helpful and insightful information. Happily I was able to share my knowledge with confidence that came from experience with campus projects, research for grad school and opportunities to work with groups outside of campus. And it was neat to be able to hang out with people as dorky about social media as I am!

In other social media news, I posted another article for Examiner, this one on Google+. Check it out:

Google is fabulous at providing us with the things we need, often before we need them. It’s possible we really need an alternative to Facebook, we just don’t know it yet. Facebook has done a good job of pushing its constituents away by limiting privacy options and occasionally publishing our phone numbers without warning; there’s every possibility that someday there will be a mass exodus when Facebook goes a step too far and starts choosing our friends for us. Until then, however, the only people who seem to be inhabiting Google+ are the lonely few who truly hate Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg, or who honestly love Google and its own intensive stalking tendencies.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Google+: Three Months Later – Raleigh Social Media | Examiner.com

I look forward to several annual Triangle events: IgniteRaleigh, BeerFest, the Sanderson Band Competition (yeah, what? I’m a band geek, ok!), and I’m very pleased to be able to help out with one of those events types of events this year– BarCamp RDU.

 BarCamp is an unconference. In case you’re not familiar with that term, it’s when lots of people show up with a variety of ideas for talks based around a topic – in this case that topic is “technology”. Vague, yes? But an unconference is uniquely perfect for a topic like technology which is so dynamic and fast-paced that a traditional conference format often can’t keep up. Rather than submitting a talk, getting it approved and then waiting two months (or more) to present, folks arrive with the tools and knowledge on the day of the event, ready to chat about what’s relevant, recently released and in the news.

BarCamp has one thing missing and that’s girls. Not surprisingly, tech conferences sometime fall a little short in female representation and part of my goal in helping out this years it to see what we can do about getting more of the fairer sex to show up and perhaps even <gasp /> present! So if you’re reading this blog and you’re a chick who’s interested in technology you should at least see about snagging a ticket and checking things out. Ladies, let’s represent, yo!

This years BarCamp will be October 15th – tickets are available tomorrow, 10AM on EventBrite. They go fast, so get them now! Hope to see you there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp

As some of you may know I have been working on a masters degree in Technical Communication for about eight thousand years now. Happily I’m on my last class – an independent study course – and finishing up the menial tasks required to receive approval in the form of a very expensive and official piece of paper. I might actually frame this diploma – I’m not even sure where my undergrad one is…

Despite the required work still to be done on my final class, I don’t actually have to be in a classroom this semester so it feels very much like… well, like I’m free! And so I’ve turned my attention to some things I’ve wanted to do for awhile but have put on hold: photography, dance, social media meetups, beer meetups, dating, cleaning my house, having a dog. And reading. I love to read but have put most fiction (and the enjoyable non-fiction) aside in exchange for journal articles and seemingly endless text books. I am SO pleased to be able to read for fun again and over the last couple months have made it through a stack of great books, many of which had been waiting for quite awhile.

	Fall of Giants Ken Follett His latest book, the first in what will apparently be a trilogy. Follett wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Pillars of the Earth. This book wasn’t as good as that one, but it had a similar feel to it and wasn’t nearly so crappy as his Pillars follow-up, World Without End. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the second in the trilogy.
	At Home Bill Bryson Another of my favorite authors, Bryson has the ability to write about nothing in a completely entertaining and absorbing way. This non-fiction book has the pretense of talking about The Home as the chapters are broken into discussion on the origins of various rooms of the house. However Bryson meanders far beyond those rooms with random stories from different time periods, countries and contexts and yet ties them all up in a beautiful bow.
	How We Decide Jonah Lehrer This book I stole from my brother and therefore had to read on a deadline so I could return it the next time I saw him. Another non-fiction book, this one is part economics, part scientific study on how we make our decisions. From the basic – what’s for lunch? – to the instinctual – which open receiver should the quarterback throw to? – this book looks at it all. Interestingly, I read Katie Couric’s The Best Advice I Ever Got at the same time, which unintentionally provided a fascinating counterpoint in consideration of our major life decisions – those we make in light of the advice of others and sometimes against our own better judgment.
	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein This one had been sitting on my bedside table for some time and initially I did have a hard time getting into it. A sci-fi novel, this book takes place on a futuristic moon colony, fighting for its independence and trying to establish its own government. The political development is very much libertarian, which if I were ever going to argue about politics (which I don’t want to) is the way I would argue. I really enjoyed it and found myself well wrapped up in the characters and success of their little culture.
	Fray Joss Whedon (and others) I may have had this book (a graphic novel specifically) waiting for a year. Seriously, it was ridiculous. But once I opened it I couldn’t put it down. Once again I am reminded that everything Joss Whedon does is brilliantly fun and entertaining and this story of a vampire slayer in a new generation was enthralling. I need to find more.
	The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde I headed to the family lake house in Canada this summer and, as usual, could not possibly pack enough books to last me the week. Happily the cottage has hundreds of books in shelves all over the house and I stumbled on the second book in this series, Lost in a Good Book. Once I discovered my error I bitterly regretted reading them out of order but was too busy being excited that I had found a new author I loved to get too angry. On a side note, I’ve never read Jane Eyre, so this book has also prompted me to read the classic which I downloaded for free to my iPhone. Copyright finally pays off!

Recently, my friends Sarah, Des and I decided that we would start our own club of sorts – a group that meets monthly and talks about books, music, current events, the meaning of life and other general stuff. We totally stole the idea from some other friends of ours who are far cooler than we are (if you can imagine that?!) but we’re super-excited to do our own thing. We’re now on our third meeting/book and it has gone better than I could have hoped. Since we take turns picking the book each month I’m already pondering what my next pick will be – there are so many great things to read!

Ok, my nerdiness has now overwhelmed even me. Only thing left to do is publish this post and go read in bed.

I’ve recently started writing for Examiner.com in the Raleigh area doing brunch reviews and now also Social Media content. First social media article posted this week… check it out!

Anyone who is using social media without investigating the local component is missing a huge piece of what this technology has to offer. Location-based tools like Foursquare have clearly shown that social media provides value in the way we get to know our communities and companies like Groupon and Living Social are getting us deals on our local adventures. Twitter is no different – there are many local groups who have routine “tweet-ups” to facilitate connections in the community. Whether you’re new to town or just want to learn a little more about the area, staying connected with these groups is a great way to make new friends and expand your networks.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Put the ‘social’ in social media – Raleigh Social Media | Examiner.com

I was raised on beer. Literally. My dad began making beer before I was born and has continued, off and on, through the years; he now has a brewery in the basement. I’m a child raised with hops in my back yard, who crushed malt in the kitchen and sampled beers before it was technically legal. I love beer.

So being both a beer lover and a girl I was intrigued to hear that several breweries have plans to release new beers targeted towards women. I probably should have been wary – my favorite beers tend to have lots of hops, yielding an often strong and slightly bitter flavor that turn off many women and some men. Sure enough the girl beer news was not, let’s say, impressive.

The two major releases of “beer for woman” are both “lighter-tasting” and “less gassy”. The Molson option, “Animee” comes in three flavors: clear filtered, crisp rose and zesty lemon. The second option is both better and worse: designed and brewed by a woman, “Chick” beer is “light” and also low-carb. While I admire more than words a woman making the effort to brew her own beer, why does it have to be light beer? And did she really have to use Curlz MT for the logo font?!

The thing is, I know lots of cool women who like lots of cool beers and none of them have pink labels or rose flavoring. Furthermore, I don’t think the pink labels or rose flavoring are things that are going to intrigue my female friends – beer drinkers or not. Before they got to the point of pandering to the lowest common denomenator of what they thought a woman would want in a beer, maybe they should have tried marketing beer to women.

Think about it: when was the last time you saw a beer ad targeted to women? Other than the occasional Corona Light ad (and having a women in a bikini drinking a beer on the beach is hardly appealing to the feminine masses, by the way) can you name a beer who’s made the effort to intrigue the female population? Even Miller, the lite beer “MGD 64″ ads target men making toasts and men at parties. Perhaps before we started redesigning beer to fit women the marketing guys could take a stab at things? Try a little education on what tastes good with your brand of beer. Take a humorous looks at how women might deal with their hangovers. Redefine the “bros over beers” with the female camaraderie from a shared six-pack.

I’m heading out tomorrow night for an evening of drinking beers with women. I was recently pointed to a new local group, NC Girls Pint Out (@ncgirlspintout) that focuses on women in the Triangle who love beer. The Triangle chapter is part of a larger Girls Pint Out group spread all over the country. I’m really looking forward to chatting with chicks who appreciate and enjoy the finer aspects of beer – all kinds of beer – without losing sleep over their calorie intake. You go, girls.

I’m very happy to report that I’ve completed and submitted my capstone project for my Masters degree. Huzzah! The project, to create a university, graduate-level course on social media and technical communication, was a big task and represents a lot of hours of work over the course of this semester. I’m very pleased to have it in the bag.

I’m not quite done, however. Next Tuesday, April 26th I’ll be doing my defense presentation for my department faculty, my peers and other interested parties. As you might imagine I’m pretty nervous but also confident in my knowledge of the subject matter. And I’m looking forward to really being done.

I’m including a copy of the defense presentation below. The project work can be seen on my website: http://www.jenreally.com/675project.
Please feel free to look it over and add comments or provide feedback if you have some. I really want this to be a conversation piece and jumping off point for future improvements and the doubtless revisions that will need to be made to a project on something as dynamic as social media. Any interest is appreciated!

My mother is a wonderful, near-perfect human being but there is one aspect of her personality that makes me wake up in a cold sweat: she has the tendency to send chain letters. Well, chain emails but it’s the same thing. Actually, chain emails are worse – I like getting mail that isn’t a bill but a chain email is one step above SPAM. One teeny, tiny, oft-abused step.

So when my cousin, Jellybean Mama (a.k.a. Cate) tagged me in what is essentially a blog chain letter I sighed dramatically and resigned myself to my fate. But I was secretly a little happy 1. for the excuse to blog and 2. ’cause I’m a terrible narcissist who loves to talk about herself (but I try not to let myself do it too often). So here goes nuthin’…

Rule #1: The tagged person must write their answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Rule #2: Tag 4 people to do this quiz; they cannot refuse (OK, so nothing bad will happen if you don’t participate but I would love to see your answers). The tagee must state who tagged them.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals or are they members of your family?
Hellz yeah! Ok, I may have been a little resistant to the idea that Dip (my cat) and I were a family initially, but then I realized she whines more than I do so she actually makes me look like a kind and peaceful soul! The truth is, while Dip would never show this in front of any other creature, she clearly adores me and I love her right back.

2. If you could have a dream come true, what would it be?
Find a partner. Like in everything. Someone who’s got my back whether it’s in Laser Tag or the civil war after the alien colonization. Fall in love, get married, travel. Figure out the rest as we go.

3. What would you do with a billion dollars?
I recently went to TEDxNCSU and saw a very convincing speaker who explained that while we know money doesn’t buy happiness we continually make decisions as if it does.

So what would I do if I really could make decisions without money being a consideration? I would quit my job. I’d travel around and try to check out all the latest and greatest technology and gadgets. I’d write about it and maybe guest lecture on stuff I learn here or there. I’d do a kewl podcast. I’d sponsor and plan my own conference for girls who like technology and sci-fi and other general geekiness. I’d definitely spend some time traveling and volunteering. Yeah, ok, I’d pay bills and flash some dough at my family and friends (everyone I know and like on a cruise!) And then I’d throw a bunch of money at Joss Whedon and Fox until they reboot ‘Firefly’ and let me marry Nathan Filion. I’d probably buy some shoes, too.

4. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
My family and friends. Getting out of the house. Retail therapy (damn it).

5. What is your bedtime routine?
Depending on what time it is I either watch an episode of Futurama (“Good news, everyone!”) or at least part of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson (“It’s a great day for America!”). Lately I’ve been trying to read just a bit before I turn off the light since that’s supposed to help me sleep more than the professor or Craig, but it’s hit or miss. Oh yeah, and I floss every night, I swear.

6. Name something that has surprised you this week about motherhood. Umm, motherhood would surprise me! Ok, new question…
6. If you could go back and do it again would you, and if so, when would you go back to?
Yes. I think I’d go back to high school – maybe junior year? A lot of big things happened that year and a lot of choices I made from that point on are ones I regret. No one ever told me I’d be more unhappy about the stuff I didn’t do more than the stuff I did.

7. What kind of books do you read?
In grad school so up until recently I only read books about rhetoric and communication theory. Lately though I’ve finished up most of my required reading and I’ve been able to get back to my old standards: mostly non-fiction, though I like the occasional science fiction novel or mystery.

8. How do you see yourself in 10 years?
I have absolutely no idea. Ten years older. I am not anything like what I thought I’d be at 31 so I don’t think I’m qualified to make guesses about 41. I hope I’m wiser and richer and happier. That’s all I got.

9. What’s your fear?
Dying alone. Losing my job or, possibly worse, getting stuck in a job I hate. Losing friends. Losing family. Losing my health. Clowns.

10. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to see outer space?
Can we define “junk food” first? And also what “see outer space” means, since I can “see” outer space right now. But if you’re asking would I give up Junior Mints and McDonald’s for a trip to Pluto (still a planet, yo) then yes, in a second.

11. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Hit the snooze button. x4. Then I turn off my alarm, read all the new Twitter posts since I went to sleep (what?! My alarm clock app shows me these things!), check the weather, my calendar and email and then get up.

12. If you could change one thing about your significant other, what would it be? Or, if you’re single – if you could choose a significant other who looked like anyone in the world, who would it be?
A cross between Nathan Fillion, Chad LaRose, Pierce Brosnan and Hugh Jackman. Or just any one of those. I’m not picky.

13. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
I like Jen ok, although I do feel like it’s overused. My middle name is nice too and I kinda think I could be a “Meg”. Yes? No? “Maggie” maybe?

14. If you had to choose between six months of sun or six months of rain, what would you choose?
Sun. I can do the occasional emo rainy day thing, especially with a nice thunderstorm thrown in. But after a couple days I would go batshit crazy with nothing but rain.

15. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?
Mexican. Is that cheating? That’s cheating, isn’t it. Sushi. Still cheating? Ok… one thing. I guess it would probably be noodles, although the inevitable scurvy sure would suck.

16. What is the thing you enjoy about blogging the most?
It’s very cathartic. And you get to take your time and say what you really feel, although at the end of the day the only person who really cares about the minutia of your thoughts is you. I both love and hate going back through old posts. It’s embarrassing to see where you were, horrifying to see how slowly you’ve progressed and heart-warming to reread your experiences.

17. Do you prefer salty or sweet foods?
Salt and sweet together. That is a completely legitimate answer! FINE. If you still think I’m cheating… If I had a gun to my head I’d choose sweet. I think.

18. What items are in your purse right now?
Four pens, a permanent marker (orange, if you must know), my keys, my office id, my wallet, sunglasses, iPhone, and a mini-bottle of Advil.

19. If you had to choose between vacationing at the beach or in the mountains where would you go?
Mountains and beach together: a lake! But not a North Carolina lake, I prefer a northern lake with less alge and kid pee.

20. What do you watch on television that you know you shouldn’t?
Um, none. I would proudly own any show I watch. I think the closest thing I have to a guilty pleasure is ‘Bones’ and uh, hello? Have you seen David Boreanez? In fact, you can add him to number 12.

But now I get to tag so would love to hear from:

Sarah McKone – who will absolutely do this
John Martin – who will absolutely do this
Twanda Baker – who will probably do this but will talk about UNC in her post just to make me crazy and…
Jason Horne – who will almost certainly NOT do this, but whose answers would be entertaining and insightful

Don’t break the chain blog!

I don’t get a lot (== understatement) of opportunities for training or development in my current job but every now and then the NC State campus will host an interesting speaker or worthwhile seminar. The prize of working in an intellectual environment is that sometimes we get the opportunity to expand our horizons. Today I went to TEDxNCSU.

TED Talks are “ideas worth spreading” – think “viral” in the good sense. Celebrities, comedians, professors, scientists and everyday people come to these TED events and share inspiring ideas. TEDx events are meant to be TED Talks on a smaller local scale and today’s event had students, professors and professionals from NC State and the surrounding area.

The complete program can be found online and video of all the presenters is available on YouTube. In the meantime, here are a few thoughts I had about several of today’s sessions, and links to a couple from TED that I found particularly inspiring.

Self Control: The Problem and How to Get Over It
Dr. Dan Ariely

This was one of the best talks of the day and a great opening. Dr. Ariely was a great presenter with facinating stories. He’s an Economics professor from Duke and has written a couple book on irrational behavior that I’ve got to get on my Amazon Wishlist. His talk discussed delayed gratification and how we can mitigate poor decision-making by removing the tempting options. Could be applied to everyday life in so many ways…

Journalism and Discourse Without Newspapers
Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll

These guys came out and talked about a problem that is well-known, but often avoided: the forthcoming demise of the newspaper. More specifically, the movement of the written news word to the internet and what it means for journalism. There are no journalists like there were ten or fifteen years ago – newspapers can’t afford them. Investigative research has all but disappeared and there are a lot fewer folks out there seeking the truth and aiming to keep our politicians honest. They also pointed out the somewhat difficult truth, that our online news is what we choose: often a partisan source, for whatever side we prefer, that gives us news in short bursts. Make no mistake, the way we consume news has changed and it’s certainly not all for the better.

Buying Happiness
Dr. Stacy Wood

This was the second of two talks on happiness and while the presenter is an expert in marketing, this presentation spoke very much to economics, similar to Dr. Ariely’s presentation. This talk had to do with the connection between happiness and money. We know money can’t buy happiness but we continually make decisions that refute that: we are inspired to do the things which make us more money, even to the detriment of things we know make us happy. Our free time, vacation, family priorities often get put on the backburner for our work, satisfying or not. It was a sobering look at consumerism, especially the discussion on retail therapy which, as my overstuffed shoe closet will attest, is as a very real thing. We’re hunters and gathers: we feel better, more in control, when we can go forth and get the things we want, no matter how unnecessary or irrational. Mmmmm, shoes.

While the in-house presenters were largely very good it’s probably not surprising that many of the most inspirational talks were the ones done by The Professionals. “Real” TED Talks were shared over the course of the day and I’m including two here that I particularly enjoyed.

The first is a very brief discussion on “How to Start a Movement”. The second, a much longer presentation, talks about the value of music and how it moves us all and brings us together. Both are very much worth your time and I hope you enjoy them.

I am very proud of my city.

Raleigh, NC hosted the NHL All-Star game (and associated a activities) this weekend and it was fantastic. I don’t know how the experience was for an outsider visiting or watching at home but from my perspective Raleigh was a wonderful host, threw some great parties, offered up some beautiful weather and just generally impressed.

A few high points:

The downtown convention center immediately following the Fantasy Draft

My pretty stadium

Inside at the Skillz Competition (fastest skater).

My nephew wants to go meet the Sedin brothers and two other All-Stars enjoying some Starbucks. Saw them Sunday morning at North Hills.