I attended and presented at this weekend’s Social Media Bootcamp held in Rockford, Ill. It turned to be an excellent mix of presenters and attendees form the Northern Illinois and Chicagoland areas. The sessions covered many areas of interest. See for yourself on the website at http://www.social-media-bootcamp.com/. You can also view a lot of the online discussion during the event on Twitter by going to http://search.twitter.com and searching for the hash tag #socialmediabc as the search term. You can follow my comments at @JeffreyAStewart.

This event was organized by @GriffSays of DD Griffith Consulting and @infinite_ray and @Infinite_Design of Infinite Horizons Design. Some excellent videography and editing was provided by @dougconnell and @EngineStudio of Engine Studios.

I also met a series of talented presenters whose passion for social media is contagious. These include @BradleyWill, @mjcarter, @JenChicago, @thelocaltourist, @PhilipNowak, @willenglishiv, @prsarahevans, @AveryCohen, and @williger. Forgive me if I missed anyone!

I gave two presentations on Saturday afternoon. I hope they were well received. For those that were there, please let me know what you thought. If you weren't there, use the links below to take a look at my presentation slides.

A Social Media Evolution - What's Next? 

"In less than 20 years the Internet has evolved from an academic exercise of interconnected computers, to communication systems that redefine corporate communication. From a few thousand static web pages, to always-on on-demand multimedia news and entertainment channels. From providing simple discussion forums and chat rooms to a hugely popular web of experiences for real-time social interaction. So what comes next? Social media will infiltrate and enhance all of our personal and commercial, private and public endeavors faster than you think."

RSS - Syndicating Your Thoughts to Create Influence 

"The new art and science of how to win friends and influence people. What tools can be used to share your micro blogs, articles of interest and web content that you find compelling. How does creating bookmarks help generate viral activity, influence others into action and ultimately establish you or your brands reputation in the online world."

The RSS presentation was in the last slot, so attendance was pretty light. But the questions from those present were very good!

I met a number of great people, learned some new things and hopefully educated some attendees. I hope this type of event will be more common in our region in the near future. I thank and applaud the organizers for bringing this to our backyard. Good job everyone!

Posted by JA Stewart at 07/26/2009 06:33:19 PM |