Category Archives: Conferences

TechCocktail: Jared Goralnick on Hacking Your Life for Productivity

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I forgot to mention here that I’ve been in Chicago for the last couple days at the Tech Cocktail Conference, put on by Frank Gruber and Eric Olson.

Probably one of my favorite presentations was done by my friend Jared Goralnick.  He’s a productivity evangelist in Washington DC and rightfully so is starting to become known for some of his recent efforts like his blog or his Web app Away Find.

Yesterday he did a talk, “How to win hours back every day.“  I’d highly recommend that you check it out.  It’s a great series of practical tips or ways that you can “hack your life” to be more productive and get things done.

Hopefully next time they’ll audio record the sessions so that folks can listen to them after wards.  This would be one I’d want.

Productivity and getting things done is a HUGE topic and something that I’ve only scratched the surface of for my life.  I need to learn more.  Jared’s talk was a great starting point.

O’Reilly’s Graphing Social Patterns Conference in Washington DC on June 9-11, 2008

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Here in the DC area, we have a really sweet upcoming opportunity.  The O’Reilly Graphing Social Patterns Conference will be in Washington DC from June 9-11th.

It’s organized by the Web 2.0 guru Dave McClure.  There will be social networking luminaries there such as Facebook’s Dave Morin,  Citizen Agency’s Chris Messina, Forrester Research’s Jeremiah Owyang, my friend and Social Times founder Nick O’Neill,  Clearspring’s very own CEO Hooman Radfar, and many more.

I’ll be there and you should be too.

If you’re coming (especially if from out of town) and wanna meetup, drop me a line.  Would love to hang and grab drinks with folks.  E-mail me – justin@clearspring.com

On My Way to BarCampPortland

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So… yeah! I forgot to tell you all.  This weekend I’m on my way to BarCampPortland in Portland, Oregon.  I’m currently sitting in airport in Philly.  I have a small lay over.

I’m excited.  For one, I heart BarCamps.  They’re always just a wild ride.  You never know completely who you’re going to meet and get to know but you know they’ll be crazy smart and crazy passionate about tech/web-related things, which is AWESOME!

Plus I’m really excited to make this initial foray into the Northwest.  It’s not a place i’ve been yet.  I hear there is a lot of really cool tech going on up there.

It will also be an opportunity to tell a new audience about all the awesome things that we’ve been doing at Clearspring Central Command.  Can’t wait for this!

So… Portland look out!  I’m coming your way.

Start Thinking About Your Personal Brand Early… Even in College

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This weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with some awesome RIT students and alumni at BarCampRochester3.  I led a discussion on widgets and the social aggregator.  Clearspring was also one of the sponsors.

I had a fantastic time.  Kudos to the organizers.  Word is they’re going to try and do 2 BarCamps next year.  That’s awesome!!!!!!!!

Not to sound like the all knowing college graduate but if I could impart just one piece of wisdom to folks who are currently in college it’d be to start thinking earlier about your personal brand.

There is a “global neighborhood” out there that is discussing the same ideas that you’re into.  Get out there and join the conversation.

When you’re in college, it’s super easy to think that it is your world.  College can feel very insular.  Before too long you have to get out in the world and your voice competes with the rest of the world.

So… some practical tips:

Go to Vista Print or if you’re a hipster MooCards and get some business cards. Everytime you meet someone, it’s the opportunity to start a new relationship and having sometype of way to connect with eachother at a later date is SUPER important.

Start a blog.  I think it’s the best way to join in the on going conversation that’s happening.  Personal Web sites are becoming part of your personal identity.  They represent you just as much as how you dress for an interview.

Seek out people outside of your university who’re in your industry. Go to something like a Meetup.com or go find a business leader that you respect and talk to them.  The more you make the connections and the relationships outside of your university early the better off you’ll be after you graduate.

How to market your company at SXSW

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I had the pleasure of getting to know some of the awesome guys from Freshbooks at Future of Web Apps (FOWA) Miami.   We chatted over drinks and they told me about how they planned on taking South By Southwest (SXSW) by storm and they sure did.

Saul Colt, one of the guys on their marketing team, wrote up a great post on what Freshbooks did to get their name out at SXSW.   It’s fantastic and will serve as a guide for me for next year.

Headed to Miami on Wednesday

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I’m totally pumped.  I’m headed to Miami on Wednesday.  It’s so frickin’ cold in Washington DC.  It’s 82 degrees F in Miami right now. :-D

I’ll be at BarCampMiami and Future of Web Apps (FOWA).  At FOWA, they have a killer speaker lineup like Kathy Sierra, Kevin Rose, Gary Vaynerchuk, and others.

If you’re going to either of those events or live in the Miami area, drop me a line.  I’d love to meetup.

The Library of Congress Blog is a Finalist in the SXSW Web Awards

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So this will be my first year attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas and it’s already promising to be a really special event.

The Library of Congress blog, which I helped get going, is a finalist for the blog category of the SXSW Web Awards.  AWESOME!!!!!

The fun doesn’t stop there.  My friend and renowned designer Samantha Warren is also a finalist in the blog category of the SXSW Web Awards for her blog Bad Ass Ideas.

But wait, there’s more. Ficlets, the collaborative story telling Web app written by my friends Kevin, Jason and Cindy, is a finalist for SXSW Web awards in the CSS and Community categories.

The winners will be announced the evening of Sunday March 9th.  Whomever wins, the first celebratory pitcher of beer will be on me.