David Pogue Keynote

David Pogue from the New York Times is giving gave a GREAT keynote at the Ragan conference. Here’s a photo of David with Mark Ragan. I will be updating this post when I get back to my laptop and can more easily add links.

Updated: Here is video of David’s musical parodies that I shot using a Flip camera and uploaded to YouTube.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdogGBWlxDQ]

Here are some of the newer sites David mentioned in his talk:

I’ve admired David’s work for a long time; it was great to have a front-row seat for his presentation today.

My Ragan/SAS Presentation

Here’s the presentation I’m scheduled to give this afternoon at the Ragan Communications conference, Corporate Communications in a Web 2.0 World.


Updated: Shel Holtz is liveblogging the conference on his blog.

Here’s the information about how you can enroll in SMUG. I would appreciate any comments or questions from those participating in the session. Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below. You also can leave a recommendation on LinkedIn, or “friend” me on Facebook (be sure to mention that you attended the Ragan conference.)

Here are links to our:

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Mayo Clinic YouTube Channel

Mayo Clinic Podcast Blog

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Last Regular Season Volleyball Match

I’m at my daughter’s last regular season volleyball game. I’m blogging and taking photos with my iPhone, shooting video with my Flip and will be Tweeting with iPhone via Twitterific.

Here’s a photo of Bekah during warm-ups.

This is why I’m heading to North Carolina tomorrow instead of going today. Don’t want to miss Bekah’s last game.

Putting You to Shame

If you are a SMUGgle and haven’t started your own blog yet, that’s the purpose of this post.

If my Dad, who is 77 years old, and my son, who is 9, can start their own blogs using WordPress.com, what exactly is your excuse?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQBHVaDHgIc]

I also wanted use this video to introduce you to one of SMUG’s major benefactors, for whom our SMUG North Annex — the Lewis J. and LaVonne A. Aase Motor Fleet and Retreat Center — is named. Here’s a photo of Dad and Mom in front of the facility that bears their name:

Lewis and LaVonne Aase (a.k.a. Dad and Mom)
Lewis and LaVonne Aase

And here’s the “retreat center” portion of the facility:

SMUG Retreat Center
SMUG Retreat Center

If you’d like to see more campus photos, check out the SMUG Facebook group.

Dad and his cohort will be taking blogging classes in the Retreat Center next Saturday. As I help them get started, I’ll also use that process as a teaching/learning opportunity for SMUGgles, showing their step-by-step progress.

Meanwhile, you can click here to get started on your own blogging journey.

Paying it Forward with a Small Good

Earlier this year I got a chance to meet Chuck Hester when we presented together at the Bulldog Reporter Media Relations 2008 Summit in San Francisco. Chuck’s story is about using LinkedIn for power networking, and he’s organized what he calls LinkedIn Live events to turn his local virtual network into a face-to-face networking opportunity.

I hope to see Chuck again this week at the Ragan Corporate Communications in a Web 2.0 World conference at the SAS headquarters in Cary, NC. I’m unfortunately going to be traveling during his presentation, but will plan to connect with him later in the conference.

Chuck is turning his experience with LinkedIn into a new book that will be released later this year. It’s called Linking In to Pay it Forward: Changing the Value Proposition in Social Media. You can read about it on Chuck’s Pay it Forward blog. So when Chuck asked me for the “Small Good” of giving his book a shout out, I was glad to help.

One of the things I appreciate about the social media world is the “pay it forward” philosophy. Much of what I’m doing with SMUG is experimenting publicly with different tools and techniques. Then, after I’ve worked out the kinks and gotten hands-on experience with the tools, I can confidently recommend the best ways to use them in my work environment. And I figure if I can help others by letting them learn from my experimentation, that’s a worthwhile service.

But I can’t experiment with everything; I personally haven’t used LinkedIn nearly as much as Facebook. So if Chuck would like to write a guest post with some highlights from his new book, I’d be happy to confer Associate Professor status and make him a SMUG faculty member.