I am a huge fan of Smashing Magazine, especially their monthly calendar desktop wallpapers. I like to pick through my favorites as they’re released each month and I routinely swap out backgrounds on my work and desktop machines, depending on the time of year, my projects, and my mood. Years ago I realized that they had an open policy for submissions – anyone can enter a desktop calendar so long as they meet a minimum of requirements. I was terribly intimidated but I always wanted to try to submit something, to see if I could have any success and to return the favor for all my years of inspiration. In late…
-
-
Time for SpeedCon
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…
-
I’m a Certified Beer Server!
(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…
-
My Day with Jim
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…
-
BarSpeedCAUSE: A Conference(s) Recap
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…
-
Social Media Strategies Summit
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…
-
BarCamp
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…
-
Social Media and Technical Communication
I’m very happy to report that I’ve completed and submitted my capstone project for my Masters degree. Huzzah! The project, to create a university, graduate-level course on social media and technical communication, was a big task and represents a lot of hours of work over the course of this semester. I’m very pleased to have it in the bag. I’m not quite done, however. Next Tuesday, April 26th I’ll be doing my defense presentation for my department faculty, my peers and other interested parties. As you might imagine I’m pretty nervous but also confident in my knowledge of the subject matter. And I’m looking forward to really being done. I’m…
-
TED Comes to Campus
I don’t get a lot (== understatement) of opportunities for training or development in my current job but every now and then the NC State campus will host an interesting speaker or worthwhile seminar. The prize of working in an intellectual environment is that sometimes we get the opportunity to expand our horizons. Today I went to TEDxNCSU. TED Talks are “ideas worth spreading” – think “viral” in the good sense. Celebrities, comedians, professors, scientists and everyday people come to these TED events and share inspiring ideas. TEDx events are meant to be TED Talks on a smaller local scale and today’s event had students, professors and professionals from NC…
-
All-Star City
I am very proud of my city. Raleigh, NC hosted the NHL All-Star game (and associated a activities) this weekend and it was fantastic. I don’t know how the experience was for an outsider visiting or watching at home but from my perspective Raleigh was a wonderful host, threw some great parties, offered up some beautiful weather and just generally impressed. A few high points:
