iBelin

Learned a lot at the high energy Bar Camp Nashville today. The venue Cadillac Ranch on Broadway is amazing, huge, odd, fun, dark… (I would love to have church services in there. In fact, they could really accommodate 5 moderate sized churches at one time!) I volunteered because I believe in the concept of folk sharing knowledge and experience for free!

@MarissaBenchea rocks! She is sharp, warm and engaging. The coordination of volunteers was good. Work with some really smart people today. I love Nashville.
@justwinston the video coordinator is really cool. I know he worked hard but seemed unflappable. Wore a nice chapeau too!
@joshtheoak was the official photographer for the day. He was everywhere but never in the way. Can’t wait to see his work.

My volunteer partner who works for @emmaemail was the best! While I was imprisoned to the video camera, she was going above the call of duty making sure attendees in our area were in good shape.

Presentations (I’ll provide links to their stuff when they put them up):
@bobhutchins offered a rock solid presentation: How to use social media viral marketing to reach your target audience. He works closely with faith communities and business seeking to market to people of faith.

@cotton1 was inspirational as he share how he teaches kids game programming. Gave me a lot to think about with my planning for my children @kairosame. He works with Young Scholars Institute in Franklin.
@scottschwertly of www.ethos3.com gets the best in show ribbon! This man can present his butt off. Kept a quick pace but never seemed rushed. I’m gonna study him and his stuff.

The takeaway of the day: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s all about relationships. Guess what? It’s (still) all about relationships. To create and nurture relationships you have to be yourself. These manufactured, overly-polished online personas are easy to see through. It’s like the guy whose hand you’re shaking while he’s looking at the next person he’s trying to get to. FAIL! Be present. Be engaged. Be yourself. You don’t have to be charming, just be sincere.

To create and nurture relationships you have to be in conversation. Listen and talk and listen and listen and listen and talk. Listen deeply and then share something of yourself. Admittedly, not every conversation is a good use of your time. You’ve got to determine that for yourself. And remember, silence communicates too.

Posted on: October 17th, 2009 in: Nashville, social media, technology