Well, I made it. As my birthday rolled around I was somewhere over the midwest. Not exactly the ideal version of how to spend my 31st, but what the heck. The flight was delayed 45 minutes (on the runway) so I managed to squeeze in a few beers ;)

I’m waiting for Duane to come down and snatch me up but the agenda is full and expectations are high. It’s really nice when you hear excitement in others’ voices. What else would you want to go to work in the morning for?

As I headed to the hotel last night, I saw the mountains covered in snow. My previous 2 or 3 trips here last year were during the summer so there was none of the white stuff present. I won’t be skiing on this trip (considering it’s been 15 years since I was on skis last, that could be dangerous).

I’ll try to post continuous updates on our progress. Stay tuned.

update: Victor sent a nice note that sums it up for me today:

My heart goes out to you because you are not close to your loved ones.
However, each moment you invest in your future guarantees success and happiness in your life and many more enjoying birthdays to come.

Well, we had some rough patches this week. It happens and there’s often not much you can do about it. It just happens that we finished so many of the pieces we had planned that we ran into the rough a little and had to spend more time than we anticipated planning the next steps.

That’s a good thing. One thing Duane pointed out, which I hadn’t realized was such a problem (but I should have), is that there is too much in my head which I work against and haven’t done a good enough job articulating. We ran into this problem head on this week during a demo.. we realized we didn’t have all the glue we needed.

Which brings me to Utah, literally. Duane and I had a call this morning to wrap things up for the week and get our heads screwed on right. It’s been trying working remotely for so long and I had been planning on going out in January but the month escaped me. Duane raised the notion of one of us coming out to work in person again. So we are.

I was supposed to be in DC on Monday - Thursday, first for the BrainJam and then for the ASAE Conference on Technology. Unfortunately, splurging 1K on the conference is too hard to justify without our products more baked so I decided it would be best to funnel that into meeting and working with Duane.

So, two phone calls and several IMs later, I am now on a flight to Salt Lake on Sunday night (yes I am spending my first birthday in Utah). Duane’s picking me up and I will be working with him daily until Friday evening when I snag the red eye home. I’m very excited to be able to finalize the shape of things. Duane’s excited as well. I’ll be learning some Ruby on Rails while out there so I can be more useful with my HTML prototyping.

Fun fun. Much regret to everyone I was planning on seeing this coming week. Duty calls.

There’s quite a bit of buzzing going on about a possible acquisition of Digg by Yahoo! Personally, I don’t even want to think about it - not worth the time. One gem that did come out of the discussion, however, is a comment from Mike of Newsvine in reaction to an overzealous developer questioning the merits (and value) of Digg:

Ah, here we go with the “I could built it myself” motif. Yes, you could built it. I don’t even know you, Derek, and I know you could build it. Just like any one of us could build Del.icio.us as well. But the difference here is that Josh and Kevin *did* build it. “Can” and “did” are two different beasts, not even sharing a single bloodline, really. “Can” is common and descriptive. “Did” is opportunistic and often times, revolutionary.

I don’t have a shred of inside information to tell me whether this deal is legit or not, but I do know that Digg will eventually be purchased because they are *great at what they do*. Anybody in the tech world who has a large audience and is great at what they do will either a) cash out, or b) go about it on their own and see how profitable they can become. If you’re *really* good, you can probably do both.

TechCrunch » Digg Acquisition Rumors

Indeed we should all be striving to be a company that Gets Things Done. We’re committed, are you?

Yesterday was an exciting day for strange reasons. We didn’t necessarily write lots of new and interesting code (we did) but more so because we finally saw the clearing in the field and we know we’re on our way home now.

It was during one of those jovial little chats Duane and I have all day that this gem floated up:

(16:59:04) canadaduane: Yeah, it's getting Real Close Now
(16:59:05) canadaduane: hehe
(16:59:13) MadMonkNYC: Real Close Now(tm)
(16:59:36) canadaduane: Sorry, you can't use that
(16:59:39) canadaduane: I had prior art
(16:59:44) MadMonkNYC: it's company property
(16:59:45) MadMonkNYC: haha
(16:59:47) canadaduane: hehe
(17:00:00) MadMonkNYC: i'm contributing my contribution to sync
(17:00:04) MadMonkNYC: open source
(17:00:10) MadMonkNYC: GPL
(17:00:15) canadaduane: lol
(17:00:24) MadMonkNYC: copy left, creative commons

Despite the real humor in this (well, it’s funny to us anyway), I really think this is a large part of this new fangled Web 2.0 Mantra. Here’s just a few ways we’re Getting Real Close Now^TM.

Getting Real Close Now^TM To Launch

I’ll start with this one since it’s what inspired the phrase. There’s probably thousands of lonely developers (sometimes loosley coupled together) that are stealthily toiling away building their new mashup, bangup project or application. Some days, we move forward barely at all and it frustrates the heck out of us. Other days, someone beats us to the punch and forces us to evaluate our current position. But some days, just some, we really plow ahead and make great strides.

It’s those days that we remember the most. Those are the days we see what we’re doing can really happen. Those are the days that we’re Getting Real Close Now. Every Web 2.0 Sign-Up page has it in invisible text - it’s the promise we’re all making: “Hold Tight. We’re Getting Real Close Now^TM.”

Getting Real Close Now^TM To Users

The apps we’re working on, like so many others, are really personalizing the experience for the user. We’re no longer constantly in the bug-squashing war, we’re in the Collaborative Design Olympics. Products are borne from an itch but it’s largely our users that are providing the ointment.

We’re acknowledging openly that we don’t have all the answers but also that we are willing to seek them out together. Some call this the Democratization of this or that, others call it the truth, and a small, but powerful minority still calls it hogwash. You’re reading this most likely because you accept one of the former explanations.

Getting Real Close Now^TM To The UnDesktop

No look at what’s happening out there in Web 2.0 land would be completed without mention of its hot cousin, AJAX. For years those who did DHTML were working on solutions to make the web more Desktop-like. Lots of us were very successful (since we only wrote for IE). But it never got the buzz it needed.

Now, we’re in a plane where “If it don’t shake and fade, it don’t stick”. Interestingly enough, we’ve not necessarily fully embraced that we HAVE TO be like the desktop finally appreciating that we have our own medium(s) to work with and that they have their own peculiarities and use patterns that should be embraced and not form-fitted to old molds.

More importantly though, AJAX seems to be raising the awareness of usability and accessibility issues in general and there’s nothing wrong with that!

So that’s my first 3. What else are we Getting Real Close To Now?

P.S. We hope you’re moving forward on your own. Spread the Word!

Chris Heuer is one of those “painfully unhireable” types (though he’s employed, haha) - I know because I am too. Filled with a bundle of ideas and the willingness to pursue them, often we find ourselves looking for new outlets and methods to get in touch with the world. Very much like me, Chris is quite seduced by the nature of face-to-face interactions while valuing the power of online communities.

It should come as no surprise that he’s the driving force behind the BrainJams series of events. What is a BrainJam?:

Think of BrainJams as the “unconference” for everyone who is passionate about ideas and making a difference; it is a space for collaboration and new ideas; where smart people don’t talk at you, they talk with you. BrainJams is truly of, by, and for the people–the organizers provide the space, some basic structure for the day and an environment that enables participants to create the conference, with the conversations that matter most.

BrainJams bring together people from different backgrounds to share knowledge, experience, and ideas across traditional boundaries. According to Jack Welch, this sort of “boundaryless behavior” was the key to his success at General Electric. By bringing together technologists, media people, non-profits, business leaders, civil servants, and artists, amazing things can happen.

Source: BrainJams D.C. Event

There’s one coming up this Monday in DC. I’ll be attending for sure and hope to see as many of you there as possible. We need to give those Left Coast folks a run for their money!

An interesting side note to this is the catalyst notion. I’ve found that often, looking back at where we’ve come from is critical to getting where we need to. This is especially true with idea generation where leveraging every morsel you’ve spawned previously helps fuel the machine. Chris recounts my involvement in getting BrainJams going (it’s loose and I had no idea, but it’s nice to see the threads):

I just got off the phone with Greg Narain who is working on his new startup called SyncPeople. You may have heard of him from his Beercasting days. We can directly trace the lineage of BrainJams back to him - because if it was not for his random phone call one day last spring from my registration for a beercasting event in Florida, I never would have went to Gnomedex, which means I never would have met Will Pate, which means I probably never would have gone to BarCamp - where I met the people who inspired me to take action myself. Which in the end, is what I am really trying to get across to people - that anyone can take action using the amazing and free, easy to use Web tools that are available to bring people together and make a difference.

Source: Chris’ Insytes, ” BrainJams DC: A slow but steady start”

Go figure ;)

Yesterday’s conference had some interesting discussion about podcasting. It seems like such a long time ago since I did my last Beercast, but it’s been just a couple of months since the last conference we provided podcasting for.

It was during those discussions that I realized I hadn’t really captured the experiences in any form and thought it was a good time to start. We’ll be releasing a short white paper or two on Podcasting for Events soon. In the meantime, I’ll do a few different posts on the matter.

First and foremost, we should take a look at just what it is that we’re trying to accomplish with the use of podcasting. As it pertains to events, there are two primary opportunities that exist for podcasting:

• Conference Content Archives - this is the process of recording and distributing the various speeches and presentations that occur during the conference, from keynotes to panels.
• Attendee Experience Archives - this is the process of capturing the opinions of the attendees of the event on everything from the people they met to the sessions they attended.

Conference Content Archiving

Conference Content Archiving is really a modernization of the traditional audio recordngs that are done at events. This has provided a source of revenue for events for quite some time, but it’s definitely not the top line item. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan of this format for a couple of main reasons:

• Length - these recordings are often quite lengthy and are difficult to carve out the time for. It’s no surprise that most podcasts call in the 30-50 minute range with many shorter ones.
• Format - these presentations are largely supported by visual aids and intended for a live audience that has view of the supporting materials. Listening to a presentation that constantly refers to the slides on screen is hard to follow at best and confusing at worst.

Attendee Experience Archives

Attendee Experience Archives are an extension of the attendee surveys that are captured during throughout and after the event. They can be thought of as exit interviews in many ways, but they provide much more than just that.

Attendee Experiences are a critical component of every event. Positive experiences lead to repeat attendance and great buzz, negative experiences lead to negative press, poor impressions, and resistance to attendance. We call this form of archiving Social Podcasting.

With Social Podcasting, we engage the participants in dialog. This dialog is designed to surface the comments, questions and concerns that were raised throughout the event, from the seats in the presentations to the tables during the reception.

Naturally, this approach has many new, distinctive benefits:

• Concise - with a minimal amount of coaxing, the audience sessions can cover large swaths of the material covered during the presentations - while also extracting the most interesting points
• Conversational - unlike a standard presentation which features extended periods of speech from individuals, attendee sessions are often filled with the natural interruptions common to our everyday conversations
• Colorful - the unique mixture of different voices drilling down on a discrete topic brings in a variety of opinions and objectives that entertains both the ears and mind
• Viral - involving attendees in these sessions naturally leads to a desire to spread the word (or more precisely, their own involvement)

Conclusions

Regardless of the method chosen (though it’s not an either-or situation) it’s clear that the incorporation of podcasting into your event will clearly yield new opportunities for your organization.

Both mediums excel at creating lasting marketing pieces for your event. We’ve said it before and we’ll repeat it again - conferences are conversations. To date, we’ve done a poor job really capturing those conversations but the times and technologies are quickly making it possible for us to not turn our backs on the undeniable.

Conference Content podcasts bring the message to audiences that would previously have never had the opportunity to participate. Attendee Experience podcasts serve to extend and enhance this message and enable a new and exciting community development platform.

Today I attended the Technology Solutions Conference held by IAEM. The day was broken down into 3 different tracks that covered a variety of technologies and issues that surround the increasing use and opportunity afforded by those tools.

I naturally was drawn to the session on Communicatons led by Jeff De Cagna. This is the first time I’ve met Jeff but I’ve been readng his Daily Innovator blog for some time. Developing an audience, well it’s hard work.

One of main themes that developed in that session was the challenges associated with acquiring and creating content. Though most who have blogged can quickly identify that there is quite a bit of effort that goes into creating
content. I’ve addressed this before when looking at the Blog Entry Archetypes. I even shared a bit of how we’re deaing with this problem - but it will be a few weeks before we tell more.

One interesting thing I noticed, though, was just how constrained some views of blogging, and other social media, were. I don’t attribute the opinions to anyone involved, actually, but more so to the way the traditional media has presented just what’s going on. In many ways, just the tip of the iceberg has been addressed in the widest circle and its truly amazing to see the eyes go wide when they realize just how much lies beneath the surface.

Stowe’s got an interesting pointer to a new hire at openBC. Apparently, they’ve named a new Chief Networking Officer:

His official job description as the new CNO and Head of Community Development at openBC involves the building of communities based around affinity and encouraging existing communities to take advantage of openBC’s services. Hamm will promote openBC to targeted communities around the globe, communicating the indispensable benefits, such as access to the existing global membership base and contact with a large number of decision-makers and opinion leaders. Hamm’s first mission will be to oversee the launch of the “Networking Universities”: openBC will soon be providing networking seminars together with local training companies on a worldwide scale.

Source: /Message, “Now That’s A Title: Chief Networking Officer”

The ironic thing is that this really should be considered a fundamental role for everyone in business, especially small companies also known as startups and bootstrappers. One of the more interesting ways of evaluating investors is in fact based on the connections they bring to the table. Every entrepreneur should spend a good amount of time making sure they are meeting more and more people (not in some haphazard manner, necessarily, but in some form).

I’m often asked why I go to conferences when I could stay home and write code and find other ways to not sleep. The truth is that I value face-to-face meetings quite a bit - call me old fashioned. I’ve found that whereas many people might know you by name or reputation, if they’ve got a tangible moment that they can look back on and point to that’s something that doesn’t fade nearly as easily. Bloggings presented an interesting twist on this since it gets us all involved in an ongoing dialog which almost fakes that interaction on many levels.

Is it any wonder our technologies are focused on how to bridge the gap and convert offline connections into online ones, and vice versa.

P.S. Did he say communities and events? Hmm.. Interesting :)

My good friend Stowe has ventured out on his own and started up a solo blog of his own, /Message. As many readers of this site know, Stowe also writes on GetReal. As he puts it:

The frank reality is that I was getting that cobwebby feeling, the one I seem to get every 18 months or so, when what once was fresh and exciting starts to seem old and stale. Meanwhile, I was interested in the increasing stream of new startups coming my way, and alternate writing opportunities. My head was elsewhere, so stepping aside seemed like the right thing to do all around.

I also I wanted to experiment with other approaches to blogging — not manifested yet, here at /Message, but changes will be coming in that regard.

At any rate, that is why /Message is here, and what I am up to. Stay tuned!

/Message, “”

We’re getting ready to wind down on our first week in Agile-mode. Hmm. It was really interesting working this way and I am definitely tired as all heck (averaging 5 hours sleep a night - generally succumbing with my laptop on my chest).

Duane and I are both positive about the work we got done, but we’ve definitely highlighted some refinements we need to make in the process. We’ve certainly moved the system forward from the outside, however, being the perfectionists we are, we also want to move the backend at the same time.

One interesting observation from our call this morning - refactoring happens in later passes not the first. It’s a hard thing to get used to when we’ve taken a pathway that has stayed the course of fortitude when we’ve shifted to building snowmen on a sunny day.

We skipped our day for documentation and refinement this week. Why? We have a new little project we plan to release very soon (like within two weeks) and we needed to put some time into it. As a small (aka 2-person) shop, it’s hard often to have the time to do things right all the time. This little project is definitely but so we’ll be sharing the excitement very soon - we promise.