Delaware Small Business Social Media Train 2/19/10

We had an incredible response to our first event, "The Delaware Small Business Social Media Train" held in partnership with Bella Vita at Cavaliers Country Club, Armor Graphics, Inc. and The World Trade Center of Delaware. The Train left the station at 12:00 on Friday February 19th, 2010, with the sounds of a steam engine over the sound system. Laurie Bick, Volunteer Director of the Community Matters Networking Group and MC of the Social Media Train announced that all passengers should be seated and the, "All aboard" was sounded.  (On top of helping to organize CMNG and NETDE, Laurie Bick is a dynamic woman and an experienced marketing and business communication profesional in career transition.)  The close to 200 attendees ripped themselves away from the tasty buffet that Bella Vita had laid out to find their seats and gave their attention to Laurie. Our 1st speaker, Ken Anderson of  DEDO, shared with the audience the importance of and resources for small business in Delaware. While Mr. Anderson was presenting, a Twitter stream was rolling behind him on a projector screen, stating how good of a public speaker he was! The entire event could be followed on Twitter by following the hash tag (searchable thread feature) #NetDE from anywhere. Even Governor Jack Markell joined in the Twitter stream, remotely, in support of what was happening in his state that day.  After Ken Anderson left to applause from the crowd, Rodney Jordan of Armor Graphics, Inc and Chris Marchak of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce opened the Red Robin Rocks the House Twitter account and sent the first Tweet about the event on August 4th 2010 to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of DE. Immediately following that, some success stories were shared with the audience from local business people using social media. First was Kim Kostes of the Food Bank of DE, who shared how she uses social media to inform and educate Delawareans about what happens at the Food Bank of DE and less of a solicitation. In fact the event itself was to benefit the Food Bank of DE, based upon the online relationship that we had developed with her. Second up were the local duo of Steve Roettger and Wes Garnett from coIN Loft of Delaware. Steve and Wes explained to the crowd, how they got a company from idea to a building in about 2 months with 0 marketing dollars. Much of their success is due to their impressive use of Twitter and once again, Twitter is how Network Delaware found them to speak about their story. The 3rd success story was the story of Ken Grant of Analtech and the Adventures of Ana L'Tech (a YouTube sensation that went viral) Ken's story is no secret to many Delawareans, but he told it in a different way. Mr. Grant used a human bar graph, by taking attendees of various heights to show how their international business double due to the release of Ana L'Tech and the implementation of social media to compliment Analtech's 50 year old reputation. Half way through Ken's presentation, we were honored by the arrival of Congressman Mike Castle, who had been following the event on Twitter and wanted to speak about the importance of it in transparency and communication with and in the government. The congressman did not run out after his words to the audience. He stayed for well over an hour and posed graciously for pictures with many attendees during the following break in the presentaiton. During the break attendees had some more food and networked with many of the tabletop sponsors of the event including, Twitter Queens, Inc. (TQI), Talk Fusion, 2FishGroup, Armor Graphics, Inc. World Trade Center of Delaware, YoUNameitPromotions, SkilTech Web Design, Community Matters Networking Group, Virtual Resources and Recycling Angels. Once the final break was complete, the now familiar sounds of a steam engine came over the sound system to indicate that it was time to board the train again. Whitney Hoffman, Esq. opened the final segment with legal concerns about using social media to promote your business and stuck around later to answer questions on this popular topic. Follow Whitney Hoffman was Carl Immediato of Talk Fusion, who shared how using video email to compliment you social media campaign can be an effective way to stay in touch with your current and potential clients. Carl pulled the crowd into his presentation by sending a video taped "Happy Birthday, Hugo" message from the crowd, instantly while he was presenting. Everyone loved it and yelled with enthusiasm, I am sure Hugo was happy! Following Carl was Maya Paveza of Twitter Queens, Inc. (TQI). Maya is a national speaker both in Real Estate as well as Social Media. You do not have to be on Twitter long to recognize her as a mover and shaker of this platform. Her business cards were flying off the table after she was done. Maya was also featured along side some of the other attendees and speakers in the Sunday News Journal article about the event that hit the front page of the business section that week WTG, Maya and everyone involved! Last but certainly not least was Phil from the 2FishGroup, who proved that you can measure your success on social media by going over a well put together presentation showing how his company tracks results from various social media platforms and blends them all together in reports. At the end of the day, I could not be prouder of the event and all those that participated as well as  attended. A great organization benefited from the canned food that was donated at the door and an important message was put out, that the water is fine and you should indeed get into the social media pool. There are plenty of social media hobbyists and professionals that can help you to learn, all you need to do is make an account and start networking. Thank you again to all the attendees, partners, sponsors, speakers, our great host Bella Vita, Ken Anderson, Congressman Castle and all of our leaders who are show us daily that they get social media and believe that it is important to Delaware and Delawareans.  I hope you have enjoyed my first blog and will stick around to hear about more events, news, interesting people and businesses that I come across in Delaware.  As alwasys use #NetDE in your Tweets and we will do our best to get your message about Delaware out to our followers.  Best wishes!