Shawn and I met at Ben Thomas‘ Geek Dinner and we’ve been good friends since. Our immediate connection was technology (mostly web) and laughter (mostly at each other). However, during our trip down to PodCamp Nashville in February with Aaron Marshall we discovered we had much more in common. Here’s a few examples:

• Children – He has has 42 kids… I have a nephew.
• Hair – He shaves his head… I shave my face.
• Furniture – He blows lots of money buying it (IKEA)… I lost a lot of money in a furniture business.
• Macs – He hates them… I get frustrated with mine.
• Video – He uses his film degree to work in business… I use my business degree to make videos.
• Music – He secretly wishes he could play backup for Keith Sweat… I own every Keith Sweat album.
• Sports – He enjoys playing fantasy football… I enjoy winning at fantasy football (we’re in the same league this year).

Our college experiences were also very similar (despite him joining an inferior fraternity) and others accuse us both (possibly with some merit) for talking a lot. Either way, I know I’ll miss Smorty71, as will others. Hopefully Amy packed his lunch and he’ll make new friends at his new job. If not, we’ll throw a welcome back party for him! See the pictures here and the video below from the sendoff party.

Top 10 Reasons Shawn Morton is moving to Columbus

We know there are lots of fun meetups, so we asked our friends at several web companies to pitch in some swag (t-shirts, stickers, etc) and we’ll be streaming it live on UStream with the always-funny Joe Bennett as emcee for the event.

So show up Thursday, June 12, 2008, from 6:00 – 8:00PM at Fox and Hound Pub & Grille (Map & Directions). You can RSVP on Upcoming, Facebook or DM the twitter account @letstweetup. If you still aren’t convinced, I offer you these three reasons to show up at the Tweetup and read the full details at the web site, LetsTweetup.com.

Our Great Sponsors: Heaven Hill Distilleries, Lijit, Louisville Mojo, Metro Mapper, Mixx, Profilactic, Simple Media, TubeMogul and UStream.tv.

As a quick background, I’ve done consulting for the Louisville Chamber since 2003 and intimately know their needs and industry. The Chamber for most areas is still the hub of the business community and hopefully these slides shown below offered some resources for the modern/future Chamber’s needs.

I’ll be sure to give a postmortem on the presentation and the questions that come out of this session.

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After watching this video, check out a few other interviews with some great people I met at Blog World.

Stephanie Agresta and Sam Harrelson on Performance (affiliate) Marketing
Chris Brogan on The Importance of New Media

I can’t possibly tell you about everything I heard or everyone I met, but there were many good sound bytes in and outside of the sessions. Some were insightful and others just plain funny. I think we could do a whole Daily Idea episode with the witty quotes, but Nikki isn’t here. So, in no particular order, I offer you the top 10 quotes of Blog World‘s first day.

1- “Buying blog/wiki/forum software doesn’t mean you’re in social media.” – Marc Danziger

2- “Facebook, MySpace, etc are exposing the social graph.” – Chris Heuer, Social Media Club

3- “I have almost a religious guilt to ensure my clients actually use these tools and not just purchase them.” – Rich Brooks, Flyte Media

4- “You’re reaching whole new ecosystems with the long tail.” – Jory Des Jardins, BlogHer

5 – “Biggest mistake marketers make that are new to social media is to fake it.” Tom Gerace, Gather.com

6- “When you say ROI, do you mean return on investment or risk of inaction.” – Paul Gillin, Paul Gillin Communications

7- “Now, my CFO will really feel better about my expense report.” – Matt Heindl, Heavy.com

8- “I now live in the States. They (the British) have actually sent me here as a spy and more are coming.” – Andy Beal, Marketing Pilgrim

9- “They’re not on MySpace, because no one’s there anymore.” – Maggie Fox, Social Media Group

10- “For the marketers who are afraid of losing control of the online conversation… you were never in control! More people now just have louder voices.” – Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing

Bonus Quote: From Chris Brogan on Twitter: “Marshallk is plowing through information like an icebreaker deep in the arctic. He’s so fast, you HAVE to listen.”

Follow me on Twitter to hear more notable quotes as they happen.

I’ll be attending with Rob and Jason and we’re bringing the video camera! I’m very social as is Jason, so look for us don’t dodge us when the microphone is headed your way. After searching around the web, I’ve found several others to track down while in Vegas. I will post here at some point during the week, but to truly follow along, I’ll be on Twitter.

Others to track down while in Vegas…

Wade Rockett from The New Marketing
b5 Media
Lynne Johnson from Fast Company
Nate Westheimer from BricaBox
Aaron from TechnoSailor

During the abs class, I was one of 15 in attendance, the only male and only one of three under 40. I was less concerned about my age or gender and more troubled with looking foolish. The class only lasted 30 minutes, but I was relieved both mentally and physically when it was over.

On the other hand, I was on stage in front of hundreds and asked to solve some simple math problems. My temperature never rose and I left the stage feeling glad I volunteered. (Confession: I’ve learned if you volunteer for presenters, they remember you and are more apt to help your cause.)

A few of my friends laughed as I raised my hand so quickly to be on stage and most of all of my friends laughed when they heard I went to an abs class. After looking back, I quickly realized three main points on managing your comfort zones.

1. Be aware of YOUR comfort zone, not THEIRS – If you’re ok with it, go for it, but if it makes you uneasy re-think what would make for a better outcome. You’re smart enough to avoid peer pressure and while you can try new things, if you know the outcome will be bad… alter the situation.
2. Rely on others/Ask for help - Rather than ask my girlfriend for help, I stubbornly tried to figure it out on my own. If you’re going to a networking event and are scared, invite a friend! Don’t show up and stand in the corner like a junior high dance. Pick people who are comfortable in situations to help get you through your uncomfortable state.
3. Have an action plan – I’ve said this before, but when you enter a situation whether it’s a meeting, networking event or a game… have a plan. You need to know what your objectives are or you’re just spinning your wheels. I’m obviously not speaking to social events, but for business affairs… know what you need to achieve to call it a success. The plan not only makes good use of your time, but lets you gain mini-victories throughout a situation to help calm your nerves.

Flickr photo credit: my friend smorty71

Both conferences are in early October and happen to fall in five consecutive days. Since I now have some readers from the Valley, please hear my pitch for the five reason to attend five days of Facebook for under $1,000!

1- Facebook’s platform is so popular, you might be stuck at the stoner’s lunch table if you don’t attend.
2- Tom from MySpace is attending to learn how to add auto-play music to their upcoming FB app. Please attend
and stop them.
3- If you’re short on Facebook development resources, you can mingle with those that have doing it.
4- For less than $1,000 you hear some big names discuss the platform and learn what this API can do for you.
5- If you have REAL faith in your fb app, show up and pimp it out!

I knew I’d like Dave when he replied to my initial email saying, “sure, count me in… i grew up in WV, so I’m also a hillbilly entrepreneur.” Little did I know Dave was ridiculously connected in the Valley and he’s very astute at fostering other startups. Luckily, I found a video of Dave showcasing his startup experience and his humor from IgniteSeattle.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irjgfW0BIrw[/youtube]

I’ll be at most of the sessions and blogging over at Louisville’s city blog, More Than Derby. I’m specifically interested in the following sessions. If you’re attending look me up or follow me on twitter. If only they had Jacob’s Conferenceer, which is still the best conference app I’ve seen.

Thursday
9:00 am – The Big Jam
1:00 pm – Money circulation science
2:30 pm – Darfur and…
5:30 pm – Taste of Innnovation
Friday
9:00 am – Google World
10:15 am – Declaration of Independence (Tiffany Shlain!)
5:30 pm – Woz (TeN dinner)
9:00 pm – Film Screening with Tiffany Shlain
Saturday
9:30 am – Internet is not flat