Hey Internet! I did a presentation on infographics at this year’s SpeedCon. I created the central infographic and did my research to find the other examples. I opted to present it with Prezi since that tool is so dynamic – it’s the best thing for working with large graphics like this. Anyway, it got some good feedback so I thought I’d share.
Want to know more about it? Drop me a note. Enjoy!
On of the many things I love about fall is all the activities that seem to blow up this time of year. Sure, it gets a little overwhelming, but these are some of my favorite activities of the year: football games and tailgating, hockey (ok, maybe not this year), band competitions (NERD!), and conferences. Yes, I said conferences. For me, fall holds a really staggering number of conferences, which generally include BarCamp, WordCamp, IgniteRaleigh, UNC CAUSE and our very own SpeedCon.
I am a big fan of conferences. I think they’re a great way to get people together, to network, to share ideas, to break out of the box. This is a chance to get into a new environment with new people and I almost always find myself really excited and full of inspiration after a conference. These days the best conferences (in my opinion) aren’t the ones you go to for work, they’re the ones you go to for yourself. In fact, of the 5 conferences I mentioned above, only one is a true work conference.
So with my love of conference you can’t be surprised that I helped create and plan an annual conference. SpeedCon is an unconference on communication. Folks show up and share ideas, present presentations, and pose questions of a communications community that includes undergrad and grad students as well as communications professionals. This is our second year and we have more space, better door prizes, plus an increase in registered attendees and I can’t wait to see what kind of topics and conversations come out of it. I’m totally stoked. And maybe need to look for 2012 version of the word “stoked.”
Learn more at speedcon.wordpress.com and it’s not too late to come out at participate! We’ll be on NC State’s campus and the doors open at 9:30am.
Happy conference season!
Every four years we find ourselves back here, don’t we? Our TV’s spew angry ads and our radio’s hurl insults. Internet bloggers chortle with delight at the latest nominee faux pas or bristle at perceived slights. It’s a free-for-all of who can convince the most people that their lot in life is terrible – and it’s the OTHER guy’s fault.
Most of the population ducks and takes cover for the 4-6 months preceding the November general election and I admit that’s my basic strategy, too. It’s not that I don’t care about the country — on the contrary, I really, really do. But I had a whole class on rhetoric in grad school and nowhere is it better demonstrated that the US airwaves the week of a national convention. I did pop up to get righteously indignant at the stupid, superflous, and insulting Amendment One, which passed in NC earlier this year despite my vote. I should’ve known better since almost always the person I vote for loses. Hmmm… new voting strategy?
This post is not to endorse a candidate. On the contrary, it’s to ask for a candidate who’s not there. I have listened to and read the opinions of people – on blogs, on Facebook, on the radio, friends, etc. and it seems to be that many of us want a candidate who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. So think someone who wants to spend less money and control the debt, while allowing rights for gays and supporting equal pay for women (although why that’s considered “socially liberal” in 2012 is so beyond me!). When most of us bemoan needing to vote for the “lesser of two evils” it’s because we can’t believe we have to decide what’s more important: supporting stem cell research, or supporting the free market. I know plenty of people who agree very strongly with both of the candidates, and yet at the same time dislike both for various opinions or endorsements. I like Romney’s plans for the economy, but I can’t believe the Republican Platform is still determined to outlaw abortion. I have huge respect for Obama’s support of gay rights, but I have really appalling doubts about his health plan.
My question is, where’s the third guy? I generally feel like I match up to the Libertarian candidate more often than not, but the truth is, I don’t give a damn what your party is! In fact, lose the party – they’re the ones making everyone conform to one platform or another! Can we please get a truly independent candidate, who unapologetically straddles party lines and endorses responsible government and civil liberties for all? And I’m not ignorant of the party system – I know this person would have serious fundraising problems and no super-pricy super PAC to support them with reels of negative ads. But I’d be happy to give that person my money, and I think a lot of other people I know would, too. Until that third candidate can get into the race, and get fair time and attention, I’m going to keep ducking every four years.
My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year (well, last year) and without having to think too much I jumped at the idea of an e-reader. I have friends who have them and love them and now that I was officially graduated and had time to read again I gazed on them with longing in shop windows. In particular the highly publicized release of the new Kindle’s were making my mouth water. In a technology kind of way.
Now when my mother asked which Kindle I wanted I naturally set about the process of rigorously examining all the options, weighing the cost-benefits, and examining which device would be best for me. In the end I basically told my mom, “Surprise me! But I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get the Kindle Fire.” (I know, it’s like I have a passive aggressive wish list). I was nervous about this decision, however, since my presents are on a budget and a Kindle Fire was pretty much the whole budget. I was afraid I blew my wad (so to speak) on a present that I’d end up not using, or being frustrated by, Mac fangirl that I am.
Turns out I chose wisely. Here we are, four months later and I am using the hell outta my Kindle Fire, and not just for books. The pro/con breakdown is as follows…
PROS
CONS
I think the biggest pro is just the way it’s made books available to me all the time. I’m now excited to go places where I can sit and read. Time to get the car inspected? Hell, yeah! I can read in the lobby! Doctor’s appointment? Woot! I’ll go early and get some reading time in the waiting room. Yes, yes I am aware how lame that sounds.
To address the most common question, the issue that diehard Nook and Kindle Touch fans harp on: yes, I am occasionally bothered by glare on the screen. But thus far it’s happened in only one setting, on a car trip. I don’t spend a lot of time at the beach or sitting around a pool so the glare issue doesn’t come up much. And, for me, it is outweighed by the ability to read at night, or in a darker setting.
So there you have it. I give my Kindle Fire two thumbs up. My only concern is how to get the millions of dollars of books I’ll no doubt purchase for this device onto to my next one. So go forth, give Amazon your money and get lost in a good ebook.
(Reposted from blogs.girlspintout.com)
I’m sure I’m not the first person on from GirlsPintOut to take the Cicerone Certified Beer Server test – not by a long-shot. But since I have successfully completed my certification I want to share the details of what the test is and why I’ve chosen to out some time into it. So let me give you some background in case you’re curious…
First, let’s back up. A “Cicerone” beer test? What is a cicerone? A cicerone, by classical definitions, is a guide. As it pertains to beer, a cicerone is a beer guide – knowledgeable in all aspects of beer including the making and serving of beer and the 120+ (current) styles of beer. A cicerone must past a series of tests, starting with the Certified Beer Server test, to affirm that they know what they’re talking about and will not lead their poor followers astray. The tests are administered through http://www.cicerone.org, though the second and third-level certifications require that the test be administered in person in order to complete the tasting portions.
Currently I’m in the middle of fairly intensive beer classes with Erik Lars Myers of the newly-opened Mystery Brewing. Once the class is over we hope to have a group take the next level of the exam to become Certified Cicerones. This level is, of course, much more difficult, with detailed beer style questions, tastings for off-flavors and specific styles, beer and food pairing concepts, and knowledge of the entire brewing process. Why yes, yes I am nervous.
If you want to know if you’ve got what it takes, you can start by taking the cicerone.org sample exam. Now keep in mind that this has sample questions from all levels of certification, so it’s harder than the Certified Beer Server test will be. That being said it’s a good way to gauge your comfort-level with what’s included in the program. » Sample Exam (registration required).
You can also start by reading the Certified Beer Server syllabus here » CBS syllabus.
And lest you think the “Master Cicerone” level is just way too out there I’m pleased to report that as of January 5th, 2012 Nicole Erny of California became the first female Master Cicerone – and the youngest so far! There are only three previous Master Cicerones (Erny makes four) so it is certainly an accomplishment.
If you’re interested in the program or have more questions not covered here, check out the cicerone.org website. Now go start that beer studying!
Got a shot at tickets to this year’s Extreme Beer Fest in Boston and who could pass that up!? Headed to good ‘ole Mass last Thursday and started my weekend with a throughly enjoyable away-team victory as the Canes finished their season sweep of the Boston Bruins (defending Stanley Cup champs!) with a shutout. Go Cam! I also got to hang out with my brother Bab from Bahston (that’s phonetic spelling, for your enjoyment) before he headed out to a bachelor party in Chicago.
But let’s face it, the real draw was the beer (sorry, Bab). And did we ever enjoy some beer! Started out the tastings with a trip to Sam Adams (I’ll come back to this) then hit up Harpoon Brewery before going to EBF’s “Night of the Barrels” tasting. Saturday we rented a car and headed to beautiful, frozen New Hampshire. Once there we got a brew tour from Smuttynose, enjoyed lunch at the Portsmith Brewery and discovered a very young brewery, opened a mere 6 months ago (and owned and operated by two ladies – represent!) called Throwback. Then we headed back to Boston for EBF take two, and another 100+ beers to sample. Yes, if you’re wondering, my liver was pissed off with me.
The photo shoot out front
I don’t want to undermine the sheer joy that was the sampling of dozens of beers and a variety of breweries but I do have to recount the coolest event of the trip. I overslept on Friday morning (long story) and we wandered out to Jamaica Plains a bit late for our planned Boston Beer Company tour. As we came around the corner of the brewery we stumbled on a photo shoot with none other than Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams, and a number of his cohorts and brewers (you may have seen these folks on various Sam Adams commercials). I, being a total fangirl, was gushing at the mere sight of all these famous beer-y people and immediately started snapping photos. And just when I thought it could get any better, it turned out Jim was going to be leading our tour of the brewery!
Now, this isn’t a production locations for Sam Adams beer- they’ve moved on to much larger locations but they keep the site of their original brewery available for tour and for brewing small batches of their Utopia (limited-edition, high alcohol content) beers. So the tour is normally relatively short as I understand it – about 30 to 45 minutes. Jim talked to us for almost two hours. He talked about how Sam Adams got started, his family history, how beer is made, how they made some of their brewing and bottling decisions, what he thinks about beer in general (and some larger breweries specifically!) and he told some truly crazy and hilarious stories from his 25+ years in the beer industry. He’s met some weird people and made some strange brews! Best line of the day by far — when asked why he’d never sold Sam Adams he said, “I think there’s enough rich ass holes in the world. There’s not enough brewers.”
Can't remember what he was talking about here but he was a really happy, animated guy. Hard to get him to hold still in a shot!
Whether it was because it was on-location and super fresh, or having Jim Koch serve me, my Sam Adams never tasted better than it did that day. Really a wonderful beer. And I was so excited and inspired at the end of the event that I volunteered for an interview for the cameras (the who tour Jim did was filmed). Had to sign a waiver and they seemed happy with me so I guess I should keep an eye out for my face on some Sam Adams promotional materials!
So that’s my visit with Sam Adams and Jim Koch. I really did enjoy the beer festival – I know I mostly skipped all mention of it here but check out my post on the GirlsPintOut blog to learn more about the best of the extreme beers. Oh! And I have to throw a huge helping of gratitude to Jason and Mike for being awesome beer fest buddies (I’ll go to a beer fest with you guys anytime!), wonderful New Hampshire tour guides (FANS DRINK DRIVE) and all-around nice guys.
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!
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.
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Fall of Giants Ken FollettHis 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. |
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At Home Bill BrysonAnother 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. |
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How We Decide Jonah LehrerThis 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. |
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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert HeinleinThis 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. |
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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. |
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The Eyre Affair Jasper FfordeI 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.
