Friends: Join me for this happy hour! It’s for an outstanding cause and it should be a great t

Hey folks! I want you to join me and a bunch of my other best friends at Citizen Effect’s Crank Up the Cause event this Thursday, December 9, at 6pm at U Street Music Hall. In their own words:

Join Citizen Effect and Monument for an evening of great music, good people and giving back. All ticket sales will go to support Citizen Effect projects impacting lives at home and abroad.

Basically, it’s going to be an epically awesome event, and the fact that I’m getting my butt over there for it during finals week should be all the proof you need that this is an incredibly worthy cause.

A couple things: first, when you register, it asks “Were you invited by a friend?” You are! So put my name in that box so we can keep track of who’s coming from where. Secondly, when you tweet the event (which you will, right?) use the #CrankUp hashtag. Oh and finally, once you register, go “like” their Facebook page!

So get on over here and register NOW and I’ll see you Thursday, right?

That’s what the AMP Summit, being held today and tomorrow here in Washington, D.C., is all about–and so far, it’s a fantastic conference.

This morning I had the pleasure of volunteering with registration at the conference, which earned me a free ticket and the chance to bump into more than few cool people right from the get-go. Once off my shift, I attended a session on online advertising with representatives from Aol, Google, and Facebook–lots of good content, albeit mixed in with some heavy sales pitches and brand plugs.

Not a whole lot of time to discuss it much right now, but if you’d like to keep up with the conference be sure to follow the hashtag, #AMP10, and check their website to follow along with the schedule of events. And of course, follow me on Twitter for all of my own exciting updates and commentary.

Amanda let off the workshop with a quick overview of the power of Twitter and building a brand on the social network. I then concluded with a presentation of nine tips (and a bonus!) for being more efficient and effective when using Twitter and various Twitter tools. The presentation is embedded below, check below the cut for links to the tools I mention and an archive of the tweets from the workshop this morning (hashtag #dcpowertwitter). Thanks so much to Amanda for inviting me to present, @chinatowncoffee and @sprint for sponsoring coffee and Wi-Fi, and to everyone else who attended!

I mention several tools in the presentation:

• CoTweet.com — great Twitter client, Web-based, excellent tool for scheduling tweets in the future.
• TweetDeck.com — my favorite Twitter client, just fantastic all-around. Can also schedule tweets.
• reader.google.com — the best RSS reader out there, excellent for keeping up with small, unique, personal blogs.
• ManageFlitter.com — excellent Web-based tool for monitoring who you follow, whether they follow back, and for identifying the “quiet” people you follow.
• TweetStats.com — the best charts and statistics you can get for your Twitter account, with lots of great features.
• Klout.com — the only measure of influence I value, provides an in-depth analysis of your Twitter style, content, and engagement.

Thanks so much to @leslysimmons for also sharing with us a fantastic open list of Twitter chats–find it here.

Check out the hashtag archive from this morning’s workshop, and continue the conversation on Twitter!

For anyone interested, my presentation was created using Prezi, which I simply cannot recommend enough. You’ll never use PowerPoint again.

Once again, thanks so much to everyone who attended, and please share this post with your friends! Be sure to click the “like” and “tweet” buttons below, and of course, comment below or tweet at me with any comments or questions.

Oh my how times have changed.

Tonight is Mashable’s DC “Summermash” event. That means this is also the one-year anniversary of my becoming a networker. Networking has changed my life–I’ve realized opportunities I could’ve never before imagined, and I’ve made some of my best friends in the world through online social networks. In honor of the occasion, I figured I’d offer a few tips on how I’ve managed to get where I am and how you can be well on your way, too.

1. Get social. This should be just about the most obvious of all the tips on this list–especially coming from me–but I simply can’t stress it enough. If you aren’t active on social media, you’re behind. Get on Twitter, get on LinkedIn, and stay active on Facebook. Collect those business cards, look people up, research the people who will be at events before you go–all simple things you can do to connect with great people online and be one step ahead of the game. Need examples? Check me out on Twitter (@alexpriest), LinkedIn, and Facebook.
2. Get real. This is equally important, and far too often overlooked. Connecting online isn’t enough–meeting face-to-face is more important than ever in today’s networking world. I connect with thousands of people on Twitter, but the ones I remember, trust, and am likely to pass on opportunities to are the ones I’ve met and know IRL (in real life). Find those events (see my sidebar for some upcoming ones) and get out and meet your online connections in the flesh.
3. Be a brand. I hate the term “personal brand” but if it walks like a brand, talks like a brand, and acts like a brand… it’s a brand. You should be one. Sell yourself. Design some custom business cards (I recommend Moo.com), build yourself a website (I recommend WordPress), and be consistent with how you present yourself and communicate both online and off. It’s more important than you think.
4. Stay connected. Sure, nobody likes being tethered to your phone, but oftentimes speed and responsiveness counts. I do my best to respond to every Twitter DM within five minutes, every text message within one hour, and every personal e-mail and phone call within 24 hours. Simply being on top of your game when it comes to communicating with your personal network can make you stand out more than you realize.
5. Don’t be timid. Yea, it’s awkward walking into a room and not knowing anyone. Sure, it’s a little uncomfortable trying to break into a conversation with a group of people you don’t know. Do it anyway. You’ll never meet people if you don’t get over your fears and jump in. Chances are, that group conversation you just butted into only got started because someone did the same thing only moments before.
6. Provide value. Don’t be “just a connection.” Be a news source, and opportunity archive, and a content provider. Write often, pass on interesting links, and reach out to people you haven’t talked to in a while from time to time, just to let them know you’re thinking about them. Don’t be dead weight and blabber on someone’s Twitter feed about your relationship issues, unless you’re a relationship blogger. It’s fine to be casual, and I’d say as much as 10-15% of your social network communications can be pretty mindless, but you have to be providing some value there somewhere.
7. Be everywhere. Don’t settle for just going to one networking event a month. Don’t settle for just being on Twitter and LinkedIn. Don’t settle for just one organization or group of friends. Get out and go to new events weekly. Set a personal goal to find and experience a new organization’s events at least once a month (if you’re in a city, trust me, this isn’t hard to do). Meet new people every day. Is it tiring? Sure. Does it keep you busy? Of course. Is it better than sitting home on the couch and watching TV? Hell yes.
8. Don’t underestimate yourself. I have problems with this one sometimes. The thoughts run through my mind pretty regularly, actually: I’m just a student. They won’t take me seriously. I’m just “the intern.” Well snap out of it. I slap myself on basically a weekly basis to avoid this mindset, because it’s absolute nonsense. It doesn’t matter if you are 16 or 61, a student, an intern, or a corporate vice president. I don’t care if you’re in a different industry, a different city, or a different planet. I don’t care if you’re straight or gay, black or white, loud or quiet. You are who you are and you have every bit of potential to provide value to someone’s network as anyone else. Don’t forget that.

And literally, that’s just a few of the things that have popped in my head as I sat down to write this. Follow these tips. Get out there. Have fun. Be a networker.

]]> http://alexpriest.com/2010/08/05/becoming-a-networker/feed/ 14 http://alexpriest.com/2010/08/01/twamping-the-ultimate-camping-trip/ http://alexpriest.com/2010/08/01/twamping-the-ultimate-camping-trip/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:46:53 +0000 Alex Priest http://alexpriest.com/?p=1003 Continue reading →]]> At 10 a.m. on Friday, July 30, five prominent DMV Twitter users embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. Twamping.

You read that right. Twitter + Camping.

Now, “what stays in the woods stays in the woods” (inside joke) but I did want to give a quick overview of the trip and some of the lessons learned.

The explorers included myself (@alexpriest), @sisarina, @charswann, @swannrmonavie, @aishajcreative, and @baileycuddles. We boarded two tightly packed vehicles with enough food to feed an army, chairs for everyone including the pup, and tents to sleep 14 people (no kidding). The journey began.



After a super-fun, totally rockin’ car-ride, completely with the noxious scents of darling @baileycuddles (he was definitely feeling whatever he ate the night before–we all suffered), we arrived at our campsite, selected by @sisarina. It was perfect. We managed to be the only ones in our entire neck of the woods–literally–and it was, to say the least, a picturesque spot.



The trip was an absolute blast. We got to know each other quite well, and in my case, I know I learned a fair bit about myself too. I learned how to use my new DSLR a little better, for example (as seen in my photos in this post, and on my Flickr set page). But more than that, I learned a little about how I’m perceived by others, and began to look at my fellow travelers in a new light.

Before this trip, I’d seen my “Twitter friends,” as I affectionally call them, as great online friends and networking friends, but hadn’t always been able to look deeper and see who they really were. In some cases (not all!), I had let my age get in the way of a real friendship (despite some of my recent writing on similar issues). In recent months, particularly on this trip, I began to look deeper at these amazing, amazing friends I’ve found and realized that I have something truly special.

In a lot of ways, it feels like overcoming issues with body image. My friend @SpringMelanie has been tackling issues of body image recently on her blog and it’s gotten me thinking about the way I look at myself and my friends around me. I’ve begun looking beyond titles, jobs, ages, and locations, and looking at who exactly the person is that I’m tweeting, chatting, and spending time with at all these happy hours and networking events. People like @swannrmonavie (Rahiem Swann) and @charswann (Charlotte Swann, below), who are, without a doubt, some of the nicest, wisest, and most incredible friends I’ve ever had the privilege to know.



This post, and all my ranting and raving, can’t even begin to explain how much fun I had on this weekend trip. It was amazing to set aside the technology, the phones, and even the clocks (for an entire afternoon, we thought it was three hours later than it actually was, thanks to @sisarina misreading military time on her camera). And it was great connecting with four other people (and one adorable puppy) who I’d met entirely online in such a deep and meaningful way. Thank you all so much for a wonderful weekend, and I can’t wait for our next twamping trip. #SMCampers for the win!

Now, time to get some rest. Check out all the rest of my photos from the trip on my Flickr set page.


]]> http://alexpriest.com/2010/08/01/twamping-the-ultimate-camping-trip/feed/ 3 http://alexpriest.com/2010/07/26/blargh-coughcough/ http://alexpriest.com/2010/07/26/blargh-coughcough/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:57:57 +0000 Alex Priest http://alexpriest.com/?p=978 Continue reading →]]> Woke up feeling like crap today.

I’m doing my best to avoid whining on Twitter quite as much, so I figured I might try writing a quick post to complain about it instead–it’s my blog anyway, right?

My roommate (@ptklein) and I basically decided that the month of July just hates us. Not only has this entire month been unbearably hot (culminating with the record heat on Saturday and, ya know, that massive, random storm that killed people–along with everyone’s power and cable–yesterday), but we’ve discovered that we have yet to have one full week where we haven’t had at least one pretty crappy day.

There have been some redeeming days this month: I’ve had a lot of fun at most of the events I’ve been at, I’ve enjoyed the company of a lot of really great new friends lately, and I’ve managed to relax just a tad from time to time. That said, I wake up this morning and here I am coughing, wheezing, phlegmy, and my back hurts. God only knows what I did to deserve all this, but it started on Friday and doesn’t appear to be letting up soon.

Blargh. Ah well, consider this the entirety of my whining for the day–might as well make the best of everything else I can. Have a great day, folks.

]]> http://alexpriest.com/2010/07/26/blargh-coughcough/feed/ 0 http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/08/creating-a-culture-of-need-to-share-in-government/ http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/08/creating-a-culture-of-need-to-share-in-government/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:26:02 +0000 Alex Priest http://alexpriest.com/?p=566 Continue reading →]]> This past Thursday I had the privilege of attending Gibraltar Associates first annual “Social Media Resolutions” event, held here in Washington, D.C. Although I could only stay for the first half of the event, what I witnessed was probably one of the best panels I’ve seen. Not only did I learn far more than I realized I would, but I gained some incredible insight into how our government is (surprisingly) acting very progressively to get a hold on social media.

Panelists were:

• Brent Colburn, Director of External Affairs for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• Roxie Merritt, Director of New Media at the U.S. Department of Defense
• Richard Boly, Director of eDipomacy at the U.S. Department of State

It’s difficult to sum up over an hour of panel conversation. Throughout the course of the presentation, much of the discussion focused on challenges the government is facing to get into social media and take advantage of it in order to perform better in their respective functions as government agencies. So I’ll focus on that here, as well. Here’s, from what I heard, the three biggest challenges for government right now and how their working to overcome them.

1. Getting over the bureaucratic “hump”

One of the first and most memorable quotes of the morning came from Brent Colburn, at FEMA.

“Government needs to realize it’s not always the smartest person in the room,” he said. He said that sometimes the most innovative person in government is being the one to make a memo teaching everyone else how to understand things coming from the private sector–like social media.

Later on, he spoke about how, although it’s easier at a smaller agency like FEMA, the public needs to continue to push government for interaction. Roxie Merritt, at DoD, concurred, as did Richard Boly. Merritt said the first task is to convince the leadership, something that, surprisingly, has gone particularly well for DoD and State.

At DoD, Merritt said that Secretary Gates has made communications a priority. Looking at things like social media from a tactical standpoint, they’re being used by the enemy in the Middle East, and all over the world. If we don’t have a handle on it, we’re losing. Boly spoke about the priority Secretary Clinton has placed on new media with the Department of State. Failures in communication such as the Christmas Day underwear bomber obviously indicate they aren’t quite there yet, but they’re making progress.

2. Convincing the “middle”

The leadership is on board with social media. The new people coming into these agencies are already tech-savvy naturals with Facebook, Twitter, etc. So what’s the problem?

According to the panelists, it’s in the middle. Middle managers have been there the longest–even longer than the leadership, obviously. They’ve got the most at stake, and they’re typically the most reluctant and resistant to change. They see this technology, and they’re skeptics.

The trick is how to convince them of its value. As Richard Boly said, “[Social media] is not a passing fad, it’s crucial to the way we do business and we avoid it at our peril.”

State has already gone a long way towards convincing its employers. With the creation of an internal “e-suggestion box”, they’re already showing employees the power of crowdsourcing and social media. They’re made the suggestion system a true two-way conversation and used it effectively to enact some worthwhile changes at the department.

Take, for example, their bike-lending program, which came out of a suggestion from the e-suggestion box. After complaints that it took too long to travel the city via taxi, public transit, and personal vehicles, employees suggested bikes as a quick, easy and healthy means to get from place to place. The State Department took it to heart and started a program, even putting in showers for employees to use.

“What used to be water cooler discussion,” said Boly, “has become the crowdsourcing of solutions.” In one fell swoop, the e-suggestion box helped improve employees work atmosphere, empowered them as forces for change within the organization, and shown them the power of social media. Merritt suggested emphasizing communications tools in training courses for employees, to start them out with this mindset.

And for those afraid of social media? The Department of Defense has come up with a clever solution for that.

Many have feared the technology for national security concerns, and due to the fact that it’s often difficult to tell a legitimate source from an illegitimate one. At the Department of Defense they’ve created a registration system that registers all official DoD Web sites, accounts and social media presences. If it’s not on the list, it’s not cleared by DoD.

Colburn, at FEMA, made a good point about the issue, too. The old media isn’t dead, their role is just changing a little. He said it’s essential to maintain a good relationship and balance between old and new media, particularly for maintaining legitimacy. The “watchdog role” the old media play still applies, and like it or not they still serve as a credible source of information. By maintaining a good relationship with the old media, they can act as a legitimizing force.

Finally, Richard Boly at State had a great point to make, too. Part of credibility is about the relationships you already have. If you get followed, linked to, or re-tweeted by someone else influential, particularly in the technology and Web community, you gain credibility that way. It’s “credibility by association,” he said.

3. Creating a two-way conversation

The final challenge is, without a doubt, the largest. It’s a problem not just for government but for all users of social media–private corporations, individual people and government departments alike. How do you create that two-way flow of information? What if your reputation becomes tarnished by comments on your Facebook feed? How do you monitor it? How do you convince people you are real? Isn’t it easy to be overwhelmed?

All valid questions. But also, solvable ones.

Colburn said he didn’t have a lot of answers for those kinds of questions yet, but then he went on to prove that he actually has some pretty good ideas. He talked about social media presences having to pass the “smell test”–they have to prove they’re human. He said that expectation of ghost-twitterers and ghost-bloggers for important people has to be overcome. It’s all about the two-way interaction, he said, that will help build the trust.

Providing employees with the right tools is part of it. Colburn talked about how, on the ground in Haiti, the only form of communication FEMA employees had at first was texting via AT&T’s network. By having as many tools for communication as possible at their disposal–whether it’s texting, social media, or something else–they can do their job better. They can also be more actively present on social media and in the conversation.

Roxie Merritt at Defense said they’ve actually already had huge success reaching out to bloggers. Communications people at DoD have even started considering some bloggers part of the mainstream media! By reaching out to “chronic posters,” as she called them (people who reach out constantly and act as a force multiplier for spreading information), they’ve been successful at spreading word and creating a conversation.

The feedback to their social media presence is huge, said Merritt. She spoke of how there’s more tolerance for “less perfect” being built into the culture–I see it as a humanizing effect. It breaks down those traditional psychological barriers between “normal people” and important leaders.

As for concerns about comments, re-tweets, etc., Merritt was blunt: “You have to be pretty hard-skulled,” she admitted. They pretty much take it all. She said the screen on a limited extent, for sensitive information and possible national security threats, but for the most part they just try to respond to as much as possible. They take criticism and run with it, trying to improve as much as they can.

Moving from need-to-know to need-to-share

Overall, I obviously came away extremely impressed by the panelists. Not only did they know their stuff, but they had concrete accomplishments to show for their efforts. Many of these things I’d never even heard of, but they’re clearly having an effect.

One of the things that truly stuck with me from the panel discussion came from Richard Boly, at the State Department. He talked about how, during the Cold War, everything was on a need-to-know basis. Everyone was so paranoid and afraid of leaks and security issues that communication was absolutely kept to a minimum.

We’re living in very different times. No longer is it need-to-know, Boly said. We’re moving on to a “need-to-share” phase of government.

There are a lot of pros to this. Empowered employees, increased collaboration, greater openness and transparency, increased interaction with the public, bridging the divide between private industry innovation and government advances–the list could go on and on.

I’m excited to see what they come up with next.

Thanks so much to Gibraltar Associates and especially James Davis for inviting me to the event. Already looking forward to the next one!

]]> http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/08/creating-a-culture-of-need-to-share-in-government/feed/ 5 http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/02/this-week-vs-next-week/ http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/02/this-week-vs-next-week/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:33:03 +0000 Alex Priest http://alexpriest.com/?p=543 Continue reading →]]> This week seems busy, but I’ve really got to brace myself for next week. For a quick comparison, here’s this week’s calendar:



And here’s my calendar for next week (already!):



Should be interesting to see how much sleep I get between school, two exams, that massive purple mess of events out and about in D.C., and writing. I promise I won’t abandon you, blog.

]]> http://alexpriest.com/2010/02/02/this-week-vs-next-week/feed/ 0 http://alexpriest.com/2010/01/29/wanting-to-be-a-d-c-media-maker-and-overall-life-update/ http://alexpriest.com/2010/01/29/wanting-to-be-a-d-c-media-maker-and-overall-life-update/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:34:25 +0000 Alex Priest http://alexpriest.com/?p=528 Continue reading →]]> As evidenced by my conspicuous lack of updates this week, it’s been busy around here! I’ll do my best to catch up quickly and get back to writing a bit this weekend.

First, D.C. Media Makers! I attended my first event on Wednesday evening at NPR’s headquarters here in Washington, and it was fantastic! Got to see some very cool people I’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks, and got to hear the amazing Jen Consalvo (@noreaster on Twitter) speak about her photography work, how to get into photography, and some tips on how to get better shots–even on an iPhone (for what it’s worth, she recommended CameraBag as excellent filter app, pretty cool!).

As a side note on DCMM, this semester I’ve obviously been trying to get out in the city and meet people, go to events, hear speakers, get involved in unconferences, etc. It’s already paying off, and in a big, big way. I’ve met some absolutely amazing people and developed some good friendships already. I feel like I can go to any event now and usually see someone I know. This city is huge, but the community is smaller than it seems, and everyone has been so incredibly welcoming! I can’t encourage my fellow students, and professionals, enough: get out there and take advantage of this amazing city. Meet some of the incredible professionals out here and say hi, get to know them. I know I’ve learned so much just in the past few weeks from these people, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve taught me, even indirectly, and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

Now, in a more general life update, things have been pretty crazy for me lately. School is piling on the work and the reading, and unfortunately that still has to be pretty much priority number one. However, there’s a couple cool things happening in my life:

• Soon I will be contributing my first post (of many, hopefully) to shamable.com. Seeking to be the no-B.S. guide to social media, it’s a new Web site being developed by some of the best people in the business. I’m seriously honored to be a part of it and I’m hoping I can make some valuable contributions from my perspective as a student here in D.C. during this social media revolution.
• I’m hard at work on my communications honors capstone. The first of two (I’ll do my business honors capstone next year), I’m really excited about the project and overjoyed that I have an absolutely amazing professor advising me with it. The project will ultimately be a social media case study in digital form, and will be appended to this Web site. Expect plenty of updates on that throughout the semester, especially towards the latter end of it.
• Internships, scholarships, awards, oh my! Yes indeed, it’s already that time and applications are littering my desk. This weekend I hope to make a fair bit of headway into scholarship applications for my senior year (gasp, can’t believe it’s almost here already) and internship applications for the summer. Speaking of which–do you know of any opportunities (preferably paid) for a young communications professional to work over the summer? Location not a factor, let me know! All tips are sincerely appreciated!
• It looks like it’s going to be a busy Saturday for me, as I’ve already got several things on the docket. In the morning I’m hoping to get down to the Washington Auto Show, especially since it’s garnered so much buzz this year. At 1:00pm I’ll be heading over to Politics & Prose bookstore here in northwest Washington for an event with one of my former professors, Robert Lehrman. He just had his book on speechwriting published (it’s amazing, by the way) and I’m eager to say hi again! Finally, Saturday night at 5pm the AU PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) will be holding a networking event at American University. If you’re a communications professional in the area and would be interested and coming to network with some eager public communications students, please let me know! We’d love to have you (and there will be free food).

And alas, I think that’s all I have time for this morning. I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

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