Greg Verdino Videos

  Tomorrow morning I hop a plane to Las Vegas where, on Saturday afternoon, I'll be speaking at Blog World yes to social media. No theory here -- the entire presentation is based on personal observations and real approaches that I've used to get potential clients over the hump and on the road to social media greatness. From Skeptic to Advocate is a Lightning Round presentation and the format is kinda unique: I'll present solo for 30 minutes in a room and then move to a table on the Exhibit Hall floor for an interactive Ask the Expert Q&A session with anyone who wants to pick my brain (presumably about my presentation topic, but I'll be happy to discuss pretty much anything related to social media, marketing or haberdashery.) The details, for those of you interested in attending:Lightning Round Presentation: Saturday, October 17, 2009 12:45 - 1:15 pm Room 222Ask the Expert Roundtable Q&A: Following the presentation 2:00 - 2:30 pm Look for the assigned table on the LVCC Exhibit Hall floor As I generally do before speaking at a conference, I thought I'd preview my slides right here. You'll note that they're pretty bare bones -- an intro, a few provocative statements, some iconic images, and that's about it. The real meat is in the voice over and -- more importantly -- I hope we'll spend most of the 30 minutes allotted for presentation having a discussion about the topic instead. From Skeptic To AdvocateView more documents from Greg Verdino. Although I'll be in Vegas for several days, I will only be at Blog World for my speaking slot -- I'm happy to catch up with anyone who is interested in meeting during that time, but don't expect to see me walking the trade show floor or raging at the parties.  So if you'd like to say hey you'll want to catch my session. This isn't a ploy to fill the room (although I've got nothing against full rooms) -- I'm just mixing business and pleasure and plan to use the rest of the trip for a li'l bit o' r&r.

The days, nights and weekends have been super-busy for those of us working at crayon -- just one of several reasons you've seen fewer scintillating blog posts than you've come to expect 'round these parts. So in this post, I'll kill two birds with one stone and tell you about a cool new program we just launched for Panasonic that we've dubbed LiHD Insider. But first a little background... I've written before about our work on Panasonic's Living in HD community and some of the ways we've involved social media influencers in the program. If there are common threads running through the work we've done with Panasonic they are as follows: Demonstration Beats Communication Every Time: Put products directly into the hands of real families as a means of demonstrating just how much impact new Panasonic HD technologies can have on how real people spend their time and make memories, but also to gain better insights into what consumers want and how they use consumer electronics in their everyday lives. A Brand Can Serve as a Catalyst to Bring Together Likeminded People: This is what the LiHD community is all about -- connecting people to people around a passion point and giving them access to information, inspiration and ideas to fuel that passion. A Program that is Inherently Social Should Engage Consumers Directly Through Social Marketing: Whether you're a member of the Living in HD community or not, you can also find LiHD, its people and its content throughout the social web in places like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Blogger outreach and influencer/enthusiast engagement have been standard operating procedure since we started working with Panasonic way back in early 2008. And so these three threads tie together in our latest promotion: a contest to find the next LiHD Insider. Who and what is an LiHD Insider, you ask? An LiHD Insider is a content creator and social media maven -- someone who blogs, vlogs or podcasts and loves to connect with interesting people online -- who'd like a chance to get a full suite of Panasonic HD gear and a peek at the newest coolest products before they're available to the general public. You'll also get a Lumix G1 (I love my G1) to give away to one member of your own audience so he or she can get a taste of the HD life too. Nice... If you fit the bill (and I'm sure some of you do), you can visit LiHD to get all the details and enter the contest -- but why not take a few moments to hear all about it straight from the horse's mouth.  Or at least straight from the mouth of a guy standing in front of a huge photo of a horse: one of our current LiHD Insiders, the popular video blogger Steve Garfield. [Click through for the video if you can't see it in your email or feed reader.] So LiHD Insider isn't just a great way to find out what it's like to live in HD; it's also your chance to take your content creation to the next level. Sound cool?  Then you should enter to win -- it's easy to do, but you'll need to get your application in before October 6th.

Last night I joined George Parker, Angela Natividad (of MarketingVOX and AdRants) and host Bob Knorpp to record Episode 63 of the BeanCast, Bob's marketing podcast that features commentary on some of each week's biggest industry stories. Even though I'm fairly certain sleep deprivation is getting the best of me as I try to balance my day job and my writing schedule, I think my part in the show passed my podcast golden rule:Try to sound reasonably intelligent at least 50% of the time my mouth is open. I'd give myself a 52% passing grade, but George, Angela and Bob hit it out of the park. Well worth listening.Learn more about the episode, listen to BeanCast 63 online (embedded QT player), or if you like what you hear subscribe to BeanCast through iTunes.The show runs about an hour and we hit on the following topics: Amazon's acquisition of Zappos Walmart demanding ad dollars from suppliers Twitter's buzz buzz buzz Target as taste-maker McDonald's coffee ads growing Starbucks revenue The Plaidnation tour (w00t!) Check it out and give a shout.

The story: a member of the Twitterverse suggests that @pepsi and @cocacola put age-old competitive rivalries aside and become Twitter friends.  The brands agree and shake virtual hands.Sure the person who made the suggestion isn't quite an everyday Joe -- he is the founder of the Aussie arm of Razorfish and has done work with PepsiCo -- and the gesture between the two soft drink giants is as silly as it is symbolic.  But still, it makes for a fun story.Can Twitter teach the world to sing in perfect harmony?  (via Darryl Ohrt; image reposted from my Posterous.)

Tomorrow morning, I'm heading to Boston, where I'm slated to moderate a panel at the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum.  This post isn't really about my speaking engagement per se, although I should mention that there's still time to register if you're interested in attending a great, no-nonsense event. What this post really is about though is no-nonsense.  My session asks the question, What will social media do for my business? and we'll offer answers not from the usual gaggle of consultants, agency social media gurus or platform vendors (you've been to that panel a few too many times, I'd suspect) but directly from three client-side marketers who are deploying social programs for their companies today. Even if you can't be at the event, I thought you might be interested in some of the tips and advice the panelists will share.  Take a gander at a hand-out we prepared, bringing together 15 practical points from three seasoned marketers -- Aneta Hall at Pitney Bowes, Donna Tocci at Ingersoll Rand and Monique Trulson at Hello Direct. View more presentations from Greg Verdino. [Feed and email readers may need to click through to see the embedded slide show.  Or you can view it directly on Slideshare.] Now, I suspect some of you have great tips to share as well.  So chime in (especially if you're a client-side marketer) -- what does social media do for your business?

Love 'em or hate 'em in the present, you've gotta admit that Microsoft does a pretty good job of envisioning the future.  At last week's Wharton Business Technology Conference, Microsoft Business Division president Stephen Elop presented a video demonstration of how we might be interacting with technology (and one another) ten years from now.  As you might guess, we can expect lots of cool touch-interactive surfaces, digital paper and plenty of seamless connectivity. amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href= http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5 amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;showPlaylist=true amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;from=shared target= _new title= Future Vision Montage amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: Future Vision Montage amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; [Click through to watch the video.] More coverage at PSFK and I Started Something.

At the PSFK Conference New York 2008, Robert Kalin (Etsy) and Andrew Hoppin (NASA) explain how they engage their customers, staff, partners and the community with co-working spaces (real and virtual). Moderated by Greg Verdino (Crayon).www.psfk.com

Robert Kalin (Etsy) and Andrew Hoppin (NASA) explain how they engage their customers, staff, partners and the community with co-working spaces (real and virtual). Moderated by Greg Verdino (Crayon).www.psfk.com