Ran an event with WhoseView.ie yesterday evening (more on that later) in the Casting Couch facilities in Fitzwilliam Square. Bord Gais Energy did their blogger thingymajig event there earlier this year. The staff there were beyond helpful and I’ll definitely be doing more events there and that’s not even taking the good value for money it was for renting the place out.
The event involved food and they have no issues bringing your own grub and booze in, handy kitchenette in there and two rooms with wireless, laptop and the likes there. From running other events, hotels can get snooty when you bring in outside food. The Casting Couch is used for event launches, TV/Movie castings (duh) and other bits and bobs. It’s a nice alternative to a hotel situation. Check it out if you’re doing some events.
Goollery is an online gallery dedicated to collect, archive and showcase some of the most creative, fun and innovative Google-related projects from people around the world.
Last week at the Nokia World Conference the most talked about and most referenced thing was Twitter. Every talk, every conversation mentioned Twitter. Taxi drivers in between giving out about the Taxi Regulator ask me “what is this Twittering thing?”. The Britney Spears of tech and now general business is what Twitter is now. Beaver shots in a way too.
As a result of Twittermania everyone is creating neologisms some of which are entering everyday language like Tweets and Twitterings and others that are plain (not even barbeque flavoured) stupid like Tweople and Twips. One word that is becoming commonly used though is Twestival. The definition of it is:
A Twestival or Twitter-Festival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world under short timescales via Twitter, which brings people offline for a great cause.
Twestivals in the past year have raised something like a million quid for charities. Two now are coming up in Ireland. Galway and Dublin. Tickets for Galway and Dublin are just a tenner. You don’t need to be on twitter to attend.
Galway Twestival is in The House Hotel on 10 September 2009 and is in aid of the Galway Society for the Protection of Animals so they can build a cattery. Galway Twestival needs a good bit of help with sponsors for the event and to help spread word about it.
Dublin Twestival is on September 10th in Krystle Nightclub on Harcourt Street, Dublin at 7pm and is in aid of Barnardos, Ireland’s leading children’s charity. Dublin too would like more sponsors and to spread the word.
Support them if you can and go along as it’ll be a fun night I should think.
Yet another fantastic post from Fred Wilson, this one about characteristics of great companies. I think it equally applies to business people, artists and those who make something big out of life. This I like:
7) Great companies have a global mindset. They treat every person in the world as a potential customer/user.
I’ve written a lot on doing your own press/PR on this blog and more recently on the Mulley Comms blog on building relationships with journalists. If you are confident with your press release then as important is a good press list. I’ve built one up over the years and have shared it with a few people but it always needs updating and fixing. There’s always bounces and when the Irish Times recently changed email address it became a right pain to sort (not really as simple as find and replace when the old addy worked for some still). They also build new lists based on requests from customers.
Media Contact (Disclaimer: They hire me to give talks) are famous for their red book that has the contact details for every media publication in the country, a book I’ve been using for years, well before I started working with Jack in there. They also have a digital version of said book with the MediaContact.ie website. It’s also a full blown press release building and management system, allowing you access to thousands of press contacts in Ireland. The gold of the system is that the details are constantly maintained so you can be sure they’re correct but also the lists they have are segmented. You can send a release to just business journalists, to certain feature writers, to sports only, to TV sports only etc. etc. If you send a good few press releases out per year either on behalf of your company/yourself or for clients then this is worth investing in.
However for smaller companies or those that might just send one press release now and then, they’ve created a “Lite” version of the MediaContact.ie service called Media Express. It’s €150 to send out a press release to 1-5 of their lists (costs more for more lists) though if you use the discount code Twitter you’ll get 50% at the moment. The pricing is good value in my view as consider the time it would take you to compile a proper press list? In these days when companies should be upping their sales, marketing and PR to get more custom, a service like this should be one tool in their Pat Mustard toolbox.
At Nokia World in Stuttgart (Nokia flew me over and are putting me up, and putting up with me) today and tomorrow. Some really good stuff from their research labs as well as the announcements that are all over the web today too. I like the X6 and the X3 all you can eat music phones. Still trying to get a play off the N900.
Nokia glasses from their research lab
Anyways, two videos I’ve uploaded and below are of the glasses for navigating a virtual world and the real world. What I like about them is they’re not just displays, you’ll note in the video they track the eyes so if you look left or right or look up and down with your eyes only and not using your head, the landscape and data displayed will change. The screen part of these glasses are pretty thin too meaning they’re not too far off having them in normal sized glasses.
Via Johnnie Moore, an amazing event (in my view): Communication as a Performing Art – In this remarkable workshop, Danish conductor Peter Hanke offers you the chance to explore the art of communication via the experience of conducting a choir
Chris Eubank is getting his teeth fixed in a private clinic in Clane listens in to i105107’s daily talk show – enjoys it so much he decides to give i105107 a call to say that he hasn’t laughed as much in ages…
Faith No More/Boo-Ya Tribe – Another Body Murdered
