Insights&Inspiration

Tag Cloud from my event notes, created using Wordle.net

I had the honor of attending the first ever AppNation conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco this past Monday and Tuesday, September 13th and 14th, and wow!  This is the first industry conference that I went into not having a great deal of specialized knowledge on the topic and boy did I learn a lot!

My only disappointment was the large percentage of attendees that were developers and investors versus agency folk, but I suppose in hindsight, when an industry is still so fledgling it makes sense for an event like this to also serve as a matchmaking opportunity for investors and developers to find one another to help spark further innovation.  Just would have been nice for there to be a little more of an agency perspective represented.  But overall a great conference, and I expect that it will be one that grows significantly more each year.

After reviewing my 30 pages of notes in an attempt to extract the most poignant information, here is the quick summary I came up with.

Where are the Real Opportunities in the App World? (more…)

My Tweets Over Time (via TweetStats)

Now that I have been using Twitter for some time – from jumping on the bandwagon, to experiencing the learning curve, to really beginning to understand the value – I thought I would share my experience in hopes that I can educate some of those who are still misinformed about usefulness of Twitter and as such have not yet given it a shot.  Though Twitter may not be for everyone, not giving it a shot due to being misinformed is just a shame.

So heres a summary of my experience with Twitter, in all honesty, in hopes that it will enlighten those who are still struggling to understand the platform and its usefulness.

• Stage 1: Twitter, Shmitter!
  Why would I want to listen to people Tweet that they are “on the porch”??  Come on..

(more…)

I owe the inspiration of this post to the following quotes:

“To leverage Twitter to its strengths for maintaining more personal dialogs, well-educated personnel need not just monitor the Twitter presence, but actively engage. Getting value out of the free Twitter service is an investment in itself.” from Bryce Marshall at imediaconnection.com:

And “How many participants you have on your social media properties is far less important than how you interact with them.” from Larry Weintraub at imediaconnection.com. (more…)

This is just a great little story I want to keep spreading the word on.

The ESPN E:60 story itself, along with the two teasers, are just really well done pieces highlighting a great story with a great message.

The focus of the story – Chelsea Baker – is just playing a sport she loves and giving it her all. But by doing so, she is also really helping to break down some huge barriers in women’s sports in general.

You go Chelsea!

Chelsea Baker E:60 Teaser

Chelsea Baker E:60 Teaser 2

Or if you have a few minutes, watch the complete ESPN E:60 story

We were having a wonderful visit with my grandparents just recently.  They are really our favorite people – happy, vibrant, smart – both in life choices and overall intellect.  Though they could retire and live off of grandpa’s fireman pension and their social security, they choose to continue to both work so that they can live comfortably, affording the extra luxuries that they only now are able to spoil themselves with.

I found myself looking at them and hoping that Ryan and I are as happy and comfortable as they are when we are their age – a discussion Ryan and I have had numerous times.  We see a lot of similarities in their relationship dynamics and hope that we are able to be in a similar position as they are in 50 years from now.  I started reflecting on what it would take to make sure we follow a similar path, and why it is that so many families seem to miss the mark on this one.

Smart life choices is huge – but consciously maintaining the relationship is really the key, I would venture to guess. (more…)