Hillary drinking a Shiner at last year's SXSW

We love it when March rolls around – it means warmer weather is on the way and we get to make our annual pilgrimage to Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest Interactive festival!

Be sure to drop us a note if you’re attending, as we’d love to meet up. Below are a few SXSW events that we’ll be actively involved with – check them out if you get a chance.

The State of Music Blogs in 2010 – Tuesday, March 16, 5:00pm
Austin Convention Center
I’ll be moderating a panel of prominent music bloggers, PR and record label executives to discuss the impact of music blogs on the industry today. More info: http://my.sxsw.com/e/692

Silicon Prairie Party – Sunday, March 14, 9:00pm
Lanai Rooftop Lounge
Lava Row has signed on as a sponsor of the Silicon Prairie Party and we couldn’t be more excited! This event will be an excellent opportunity to connect with innovators and entrepreneurs from the Silicon Prairie. Stop by and say hello, and don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=356824300398

See you in Austin!

It’s that time of year again – South by Southwest Interactive is right around the corner! In our latest podcast I spoke with Bryan Person about the festival, what keeps the city of Austin weird, and the Social Media Breakfast SXSW event being organized there.

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. As always, thanks for listening! If you’re going to be attending SXSW, please leave a shout in the comments section – we’d love to meet you!

 

 Standard Podcast [17:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

On Friday I gave a presentation called Fostering Community with Social Media at the Midwest Newspaper Summit (put on by the fine folks at the Iowa Newspaper Association). The audience was a mix of journalists and editors from regional newspapers as well as college students excited to break into the media industry.

The journalism world (specifically newspapers) is currently in a state of flux, and many are wondering if anything will be left standing five years from now. Yes, media platforms and reading habits have evolved, but the point of my session was that community equals opportunity – advantages go to those who embrace technology shifts and understand how to operationalize social networks for their gain.

While most of the audience was there to learn, I did my fair share of learning from them, as well. The session allowed me to connect with smart people who are working on innovative things, right here in Iowa. Thomas Ritchie (Online Editor at the Sioux City Journal) has put a focus on harnessing the real-time web and live-blogging stories for his newspaper, and he’s achieved quite a bit of success from it. Steve Buttry, who blogs about the future of journalism and media, sat in the front row and asked all sorts of good questions. I was also impressed by many of the college students I met, who are eager to break into the industry and tear it up using their knowledge of self-publishing tools and networks.

I have lots of opinions on where this is all going, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. What are your thoughts on the future of newspapers and news media? Please chime in below.

February is shaping up to be a busy month, speaking-wise. Starting tonight, we’ve got 11 gigs in 28 days – now that’s a lot of talking!

Recently some of you have been asking about what events we’re participating in and where to find us, so we’ve posted a detailed list (ones that allow public registration) below. We’ll go ahead and throw March’s trip to Texas into the mix, as well. If you decide to venture out to any of these, please say hello and ask lots of questions. We’d love to meet you.

Midwest Newspaper Summit
Friday, February 5
Downtown Marriott Hotel, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Social Media – Fostering an Online Community Around Your Newspaper

Social Media and Health Care (Iowa Hospital Association)
Tuesday, February 9
Thompson Auditorium, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: An introduction to social media

A Journalist’s Guide to New Media (Drake University SJMC)
Saturday, February 13
Meredith Hall, Room 104, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Linking w/ potential employers, clients and professionals via social media tools

American Marketing Association, Iowa Chapter
Wednesday, February 17
Hilton Garden Inn, Johnston, Iowa
Topic: How LinkedIn are you?

EntreFest 2010
Friday, February 26
West Des Moines Marriott, West Des Moines, Iowa
Topic: Using Facebook to build your business

South by Southwest Interactive 2010
Tuesday, March 16
Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas
Topic: The State of Music Blogs in 2010

Photo credit: visual_dichotomy via Flickr

The Social Media Breakfast movement kicked off in Des Moines yesterday morning with great conversation and a packed house (standing room only at Mars Cafe)!

The topic of the day was the future of mobile technology, featuring panelists Daniel Shipton and Neil Roberts (Founders of Bitmethod) and Dennis Dohrmann, manager of data sales for Verizon Wireless in Iowa.

The conversation ranged from network capabilities and speeds (3G, 4G, etc.) and existing platforms such as the iPhone and Google’s Android, and what sorts of amazing social and e-commerce applications can be built on top of this technology.

If you aren’t familiar with the SMB concept, here’s a description from Bryan Person (founder):

Social Media Breakfasts bring together people who are interested in teaching, sharing, and learning about trends, case studies, and best practices in social media. This educational focus is critical for moving the social media industry forward.

More information can be found on the official website, as well as some great tips on how to start an SMB in your city.

Below is a video introduction that kicked off the event, complete with comments from Bryan Person and our friends up north in Minneapolis.

If you’d like to be involved with the planning of future Des Moines Social Media Breakfasts, please join the Ning community. This is also a great way to be notified of upcoming events. Be sure to keep your eye on the #SMBDM hashtag on Twitter, as well.

Thanks to everyone who attended, as well as our sponsor (Verizon Wireless). Did you attend the event? We’d love to hear your comments and reactions below. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

This evening we’re opening our doors from 5:00-7:00pm during the East Village Holiday Promenade. Please stop by and have a drink with us, and don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook. Happy Holidays!

Back in late September we announced Lava Row Camp (a recurring series of monthly educational social media seminars).

After our first event we decided to re-tool the format in order to make it more accessible to more people — we’re moving the event time from the noon hour to 5:00pm, shortening the overall content to allow for more Q&A and interaction, waiving ticket fees and (here’s the best news) incorporating cocktails!

For the next installment of Lava Row Camp, we’re ditching the 101 slides and focusing on what’s next for the future of social media marketing and business. Some of the topics we’ll cover are:

• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Location-based social networks like Foursquare and Gowalla, and the implications for marketing local businesses.
• Facebook’s recent changes to the News Feed (and Live Feed) and what this means for your business pages.
• Twitter Lists and how they will fundamentally change the Twittersphere (for the better).
• How Facebook Connect and Google SideWiki will forever change the corporate website.

So please join us at the Des Moines Social Club at 5:00pm on Wednesday, November 4th. Cocktails and networking start promptly at 5:00 and then we begin the discussion at 5:30. Be sure to bring your opinions and questions, as we want your insights to be a big part of the conversation. We’ll have a handful of drink tickets on hand for the first people to arrive — but they won’t last long!

The Technology Association of Iowa has graciously stepped in to help support these events, and we can’t thank them enough. Please RSVP for the event below, or you can just click here. We’re still in the process of assembling the presentation, so if there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, just contact us or leave a comment below. See you next Wednesday!

Photo credit: moriza via flickr