keeping up

Wanna Keep up with me at SxSW? The best way is to follow me on Twitter @ismyl. Not familiar with twitter-it's easy, it's fun, you should do it right this second!

Day 2 "Whose Who"

I'm siting here at the SxSW Day stage with some of the female Goddesses of the Internet. Wendy Harmon, the Social Media Guru of Red Cross who helped bring back the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina through connecting with people via Social Media. Wendy Piersall is munching on crappy pizza, she's emom online and has 14,500+ followers on Twitter and countless on her blog sites and other online presences. Aliza (Ah-lee-zah) Sherman AKA Cybergrrrl who is a legendary blogger and cyber geek (she even has her own playing card here!). And finally the incomparable Beth Kanter Social Media Evangelist and non-profit consultant extraordinaire.

I have already learned a ton about the social media world, brushed shoulders with giants of the web and had 4 cups of coffee.

And of course I'm getting everyone excited about SxSW Smiles on Monday and trying to draw support for our mini-campaign here!

More later, I'm off to a session about associations and the web.

Day 1 - Part 2

I arrived in Austin and was greeted by an old friend. After catching her up on our personal triumphs, pitfalls and miscellanea I told her about what I do. I told her that what I first did at Operation Smile was connect people with children who needed them. In Donor Relations at Operation Smile I did more than a customer service task, I helped inspire people to spread the word about the children they had seen on our television show or in a mail piece. I empowered them to become Smile advocates to be the voices of these children born with facial deformities that could not speak. I enlisted them in service to not only raise awareness but to be bold an raise funds and I was able to support them in doing so by making cool materials and guiding them through the way so they had very little to fear and very little investment yet were able to make such a huge impact.

I told my friend about the 8 year old boy Bonnie, on of our Donor Relations Specialists spoke to who was so inspired by our television show that he wrote a poem about Operation Smile for a school contest and then put on a school wide yard sale. That little 8 year old boy raised almost 10 thousand dollars! I am awed and amazed at the power of people hearts, the children we serves smiles and the dedication of our awesome Donor Relations Team-GO TEAM! (incidentally you can find out how good they are Monday-Friday 8:30 am - 5:30 pm EST at 888-677-6453)

O.K. so what does this have to do with SxSW SMILES? Well, after catching Jeanne (my friend) up on all of this over amazing lunch at the legendary Threadgill's -they actually asked if I wanted seconds on my chicken and dumplins-I told her about my new role and how now I am trying to do the same thing we do in Donor Relations online and in person at events. I explained that while in the past social networking tools like chat rooms were thought to divide people and keep them at home in a dark corner having "virtual relationships'. Now with Facebook and Twitter, these interactions are actually driving in-person meet-ups and beyond that they are inspiring ACTION.

So I guess you could say I'm in Austin for a little Smile Action! Our first order of business was to go see an old favorite singer songwriter named Catie Curtis. You may not know who she is but you have likely heard her voice in television, movies or commercials. She has the voice of an angel and the wit of fox. She sang a song inspired by her own kids called "Sing" about how when life gets hard you should just sing~through danger~thunder~dark times~sing. I thought, WOW switch "sing" to "smile" and it would be the perfect song to illustrate what Operation Smile does for children. Giving them safety where they felt fear and danger, giving them purpose and power where they felt helpless and unworthy. So I asked her to check out one of my favorite videos (www.youtube.com/createsmiles) and see if she gets inspired. She was excited and said she looked forward to it and would love to put something together. I can't wait to hear what she comes up with, I know it will pull at the heart strings, bring a tear to your eye but leave you with a smile!

After the show and a pitstop for my first Whataburger, we head back to my home away from home, check e-mails, Tweet an update, thank the awesome people taking the SMILE MONTH $240 Challenge (www.operationsmile.org/smile-month) including Lydia Hearst (yes that Lydia Hearst) and rest up for what promises to be an amazing day of spreading the word and gaining new knowledge and friends in the Interactive world!


SxSW HERE I COME!

SXSW SMILES Blog DAY 1

It’s a chilly Thursday morning (which is a disappointment after 70 degree weather) and I’m sitting in the airport en route to Austin Texas and the infamous SxSW (South by Southwest) Conference & Festival. SxSW hosts three industries for 10 days of cutting age workshops, networking and one of a kind learning opportunities. The first half of the Festival is the Film & Interactive conferencing.

But it is the music that is making SxSW famous. SxSW has a huge underground following that is creeping towards the mainstream with fervor. It’s a must among music types as one of the best music showcases for up and coming, established and legendary musicians. It’s where many of my personal fav’s first showcased for the U.S. music industry (wolfmother, white stripes, mars volta) and also provides a forum for legendary acts re-kindling their rock star status (Devo, B-52’s, DeLaSoul).

But music is not the mission of this trip. This is a mission of SMILES. Smiles bigger than those that even the greatest Rock & Roll can provide. Smiles that the organization I work for has spent almost 26 years giving to children who otherwise would have no chance to laugh, speak, and yes sing.

This year as part of SxSW’s Interactive conferences Operation Smile will host SxSW SMILES, an Interactive, fund raising and awareness builder. On Monday 3/16 we’ll be featured in The Beacon Lounge sponsored by Beaconfire consultants which is a non-profit design firm. Beaconfire does really cool web applications and campaigns for some of the top non-profits (Heifer) and we are hoping to work together on some fun things like Blog Fundraising widgets and Facebook apps.

How did SxSW SMILES come about? In my 2 years at Operation Smile as Donor Relations roles I have longed for off-line, real life in person promotions. Ironically in my new role as Social Media Strategist; which is seemingly all “Virtual Donor Relations”, I realized a great opportunity to have Social Media drive old school promotions like you have for radio stations, products and bands. I researched opportunities that would provide a great test and have additional value. Enter SxSW!

While we will not be working with the music element of the festival, the attendees for Interactive and Film will be great to test the interactive “Makes Me Smile” concept as well as our SMS TEXT process. Plus, the workshops, networking and learning opportunities will be invaluable to help inform my position and bring new life to Operation Smile as we move into the “web 2.0” world.
Their boarding my plane now—more this afternoon when I arrive in the Lonestar state! (oh yeah-check out the SxSW SMILES Page www.operationsmile.org/sxsw)