WIRe Conference 2010

The World Intelligence Review (WIRe) will host its annual conference entitled, “Beyond Tools: Transforming Online Intelligence” on February 24-25, 2010 at the Gaylord National Hotel at the National Harbor, MD.

The goal of the 2010 WIRe conference is to propel the Intelligence Community (IC) beyond the static use of tools toward a more dynamic point of cultural transformation and repurposing of the ways that we utilize online intelligence. As we investigate the differences between how the IC and the rest of the world use social media, we will pinpoint best practices across the social networking spectrum and examine how constantly evolving Web and social media tools impact the intelligence mission.

Who Should Attend:
The 2010 WIRe conference will foster networking opportunities for members of the IC, Department of Defence (DoD), military, and academic communities, as well as Government contracting and industry representatives.

This event is completely unclassified.

Just announced: WIReCamp — a networking & open brainstorming session during the WIRe conference next week! Bring your fresh ideas 4 #gov20

This moderated networking event will take place during the conference between 12-5pm each day. I am looking forward to moderating the event. Hope you can come with your ideas.

I will be attending this event, always moving forward in making Government more efficient and less redundant.

I am also looking forward to seeing Dion Hinchcliffe and Marcia Conner speak as well as the progress for the Apps for the Army and IDEO presentations.

If you are in the United States Government, Contractor, or state or local… DHS included, please think about registering and attending. Its not too late.

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A long needed Hiatus

To my dear readers, subscribers, friends, and colleagues:

This is a very personal post and because I believe in transparency, I would like to share the following…

I have been anxious to get back to blogging, public speaking, and writing for some time. But as some of you might know if you follow my personal and semi-professional twitter feeds, that I have been dealing with a multitude of personal crisis which have for the moment subsided. This absence is the reason I was unable to attend Gov 2.0 Camp in LA, which I was really looking forward to attending.

In mid-December 2009, I decided to finally put my health first and get a Gastric Bypass (RNY). I have been struggling with weight issues since my honorable discharge from the Army in 1998. I am a disabled American Veteran and I had suffered multiple injuries while in service. As such, these injuries and the medicine to help me cope contributed to a weight gain I was unfamiliar with. I spent 2/3 of my life being mostly underweight. Encouraged by family to eat more — I was never a big eater.

In 2008, I learned I had developed Osteo-Arthritis in both of my knees not only as a result from carrying too much weight, but as a result of how physical I once was before all the injuries. My damage from the injuries were common for a woman who had been a runner/basketball player, as I was both before and after high school. In early 2009, I had learned I had multiple esophageal ulcers, a hernia, and GERD. All of which my doctors attributed to stress. Not to mention adding to the problems of comorbidity. I decided this was my final straw and the weight had to come off.

I started looking into Weight Loss Surgery in 2007. But all the surgeries seemed too severe. I tried again weight watchers and other online monitoring tools. I would lose some, but it always came back. In Spring 2009, I started seeing a professional nutritionist in McLean, whom I have recommended to others. She put me on the right track and got me ready for surgery.

Many of my friends have been asking me questions of my progress and asking for pictures. I promise you that is coming. I am planning a public reveal at the WIRe Conference next week at the Gaylord National on February 24-25. As of this post I am 43lbs lost at day 63 of recovery. I have already been fitting and wearing clothes I bought myself and never had a chance to wear.

In other news, my family has recently gone through a very sad loss. My Aunt Claudia Romeo, who was also my Godmother and very close to my heart passed away on February 7, 2010 after being summoned by the Angels to end her battle with Acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She was a careerist in the Foreign Service of the US State Department. Two weeks before her death, we were told that she would not be with us much longer and so during the first of the two snow storms, we were able to say our last goodbyes and tell her how much we loved her. The service for her memory was held this past Valentine’s Day at our family Church, Oxon Hill Lutheran. So please take a moment to kiss and hug your loved ones. They can never hear this enough.

All in all, you can tell that I have had a trying two months mentally, emotionally, and physically. I have been battling personal depression and weakness when it comes to dealing with my recovery and the loss of someone so close. Luckily, friends and colleagues have been so supportive in this time of confusion for me. I am also lucky that last year I met someone special in my life that finally can be a partner to me rather than just a boyfriend. So Joe Higgs, you have been a rock, a nurse, and a HUGE help when it comes to making life a little easier.

And back to my weight loss adventure and new life, an even MORE public reveal will be this year at SxSW in Austin, TX. I may not be able to indulge in the drinking and the BBQ (maybe just a taste), but I will be able to participate in many sessions and reconnect with the online relationships I have been fostering for years. So if you happen to be in Austin for Geek Spring Break as well, please come find me — I know it might be harder to spot me, since there is less of me to go around

I am now back to work full time (if snow days allow for it) and I am focused on a real busy spring in public appearances, writing, and working with my wonderful customers. So my sincerest apologies, if you have called, emailed or tweeted looking for me in the past two months. I look forward to renewing our connections.

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NerdHerding for Fun and Profit

Today I am in Denver and I am going to be speaking this afternoon about how to have fun with Community Management at Defrag. As much as it is a business, its not all stuffed shirts and processes.

I believe I was born to be a community manager. At some level at least. When I was younger, I used to be the one on my street that organized all the kids together in the games we would play. If I had my scanner and photo album here with me, I would be sharing pictures with you of a bunch of kids rein-acting the Beatles “Help” in her grandmother’s front yard.

In high school, I wasn’t a loner, I was a connector. I didn’t belong to one specific group (grits, yo’s, preps, or jocks). I had friends in all these circles, but I didn’t associate with any specifically. However, I was able to work with all of them to get things done. I learned how to produce videos from the ideas in my head, using my associations to get the finished product to air on local television.

In the Army, while stationed in Germany, I used the old spaces in our barracks basement to throw parties. We would have themes and the parties kept the soldiers on the base safe and without having to drink and drive.

After the Army I created my own music promotions company, Emerging Sounds. In which I helped bands connect with their fans and get noticed by major record labels. Which, I can proudly say, several of the acts I worked with did go on to get signed. Some with big successes.

In recent years, as a Government Contractor with Navstar, Inc, I have been a community manager in a real sense being able to work on the Intellipedia project.

Taking my life lessons learned, I have been able to observe how people interact with each other in person and online in much of the same way. My talk today is a glimpse into that world and the dance of the community manager.

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Continuation on Communicating With Social Media

Last Week, I spoke at the Potomac Forum’s session on “How to” in Social Media in Government. My presentation was on How to Write a Blog Post: The first steps of organizational blogging.

I have been blogging in some shape or form since 1999. I started blogging about concerts I attended and the occasional hi-jinks that ensued with my work as a music promoter. Over the years, I have transitioned to community management and supporting the Federal Government with Enterprise 2.0 best practices. Part of being a good community manager is to have a voice that can be heard above the rest of the noise of discussion in regards to presenting policy and guidelines, as well as mitigating wiki edit wars.

As such, I leverage my blog internally in my company and with the customers I support to organize the chaos. Blogs are an effective way to place a conversation or announcement you would normally send to a large email recipient list and can prevent those long chains of “reply all”.

This workshop is a follow-up to my previous talk at the last Potomac Forum I spoke at in August 2009, Hints for Communicating in Social Media.

To see the steps I have covered in my talk, please check out the wiki on GovCollab.

Blogs I contribute to on the open internet aside from this one:

• navstar-inc.com/blog – @navstar
• smcdc.wordpress.com – @smcdc
• Capital Beltway – @thebeltway

I am also a guest blogger for ZDNet and Social Computing Journal on topics of Enterprise 2.0 and Government 2.0. Occasionally, I am also asked to guest post on blogs, which I consider an honor and will link on my website. If you would like me to be a guest blogger on your site you can contact me via twitter (@immunity) to connect for more details.

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Protected: Ignite DC #2 and SxSW Interactive

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US AIR GUITAR FINALS IN WASHINGTON DC

Finals in Washington DC

NBC had some great coverage about the event I judged as a preview for tonight’s finals. Take a look, I show up in the video at the end showing my love for STD!!

And Mitt Umlaut, I will be looking for you tonight

Full-screen

930
815 V St NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 393-0930

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Social Media Club DC – Mid-Summer Happy Hour (Tonight)

I am pleased to announce that my company Navstar, Inc. will be sponsoring tonight’s Social Media Club DC – Mid-Summer Happy Hour [July 29, 2009 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)] at Bar Louie in Chinatown, Washington, DC.

Larissa Fair – President

Twitter – @lyf108

Andrea Baker – Executive Vice President and Programming Director

@immunity

Anna Gabert and Travis Mason- Vice President & Sponsorship Directors

@annagabert @tgmason

Sarah Wurrey – Vice President & Promotions Director

@sarahwurrey

Nisha Chittal, Meg Roberts, Sara Burson – Event Managers

@nishachittal, @megmroberts, @saraburson

Maia Kotlus-Gates and Beth McNamee – Membership Managers

@maiakg, @bethmcnamee

Gabriel Key – Digital Scribe/Content Organizer

@gabrielmkey

Event Logistics:

Wednesday, July 29
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Bar Louie
701 7th Street NW #D
Washington, DC 20001
202-638-2460

Connect with SMC-DC

Washington DC has its own wiki-in-progress. Please visit: http://socialmediaclubdc.pbwiki.com/ for more details.

Washington DC Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/smcdc

Hashtag: #smcdc

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2419741913

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1820071&trk=hb_side_g

Friendfeed: http://www.friendfeed.com/smcdc

Sphere: Related Content

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Ignite DC Proposal – DC Women Rock

Women Rockstars

I have submitted a proposal to use my 5 minutes at Ignite DC on May 14, 2009 to highlight DC Women in tech, enterprise, and social media. Please comment on the proposal if you would like to see this make it as one of the final 16 presenters. The organizers of Ignite DC clearly said they wanted to see more women submit proposals, so you can do that too. I figured I can use my time to promote more women.

Additionally, if you want to be one of the women featured in my 5 minutes presentation, please connect with me here in a comment on my blog or via twitter @immunity.

Thank you for your time.

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She’s Geeky Northern Virginia is Less Than a Month Away

The Girls of Shes Geeky NoVA at SxSWi

Update: This event has been postponed until Fall 2009

In honor of Ada Lovelace Day.

INVITATION TO ALL WOMEN!!

She’s Geeky is coming to Northern Virginia – the DC Area.
April 18th McLean Virginia (Tyson’s Corner).
http://www.shesgeeky.org/

Early bird admission is $40 until April 1 – $45 regular until April 11 and $50 after that.
Student admission is $20

We are inviting women from a divers range of industries together for a day of interactive learning and industry cross pollination.

To us Geekiness is self defined – from those with advanced degrees in mathematics, science and engineering. To skilled programmers who are in large enterprises, government or startups. To women who have taught themselves how to code the PHP on their side bars on their blog or just super enthusiastic users of technology.

Each city has a different mix of technologies – DC has a variety of fields
* the nonprofit and advocacy sectors,
* government, defense, aerospace, and intelligence
* Web portals – like AOL
* startups innovating

The range of topics discussed is diverse – in California you can see the list of sessions.
http://shesgeeky.org/wiki/Sg2009wc:Notes

————-
How does the unconference day work?

The sessions are put forward by the women who attend the event – and are diverse. They include expert topics about their particular expertise, hosting conversations about issues of interest both technical and personal (like how to balance work and family), exploring start-up ideas, introductions or deep dives to different programming languages or frameworks, sharing stories about what it was like to work in the early days of the industry, introduction to public speaking and many others.

Beginning at 9 AM each day, we start with a blank wall and, in less than an hour, through a highly participative process, create a full day, multi-track conference agenda that is relevant and inspiring to everyone there.

From there, we go to separate areas or rooms assigned to each topic. The session can be a presentation, inquiry about a question or discussion about an issue or technical field. or. One participant volunteers to record the proceedings.

The notes from each session are collected in the newsroom, then a book is compiled with all the notes from the conference and distributed to everyone who attended.

For this event, we have the pleasure of guest moderator, Jean Russell. This event is co-hosted by Amy Senger of LMI and myself, Andrea Baker, of Navstar, Inc.

—————–

Sponsorship opportunities for both small and large companies are available too.

If you have questions you can e-mail us at info@shesgeeky.org

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Almost Done But Not Quite, SxSWi

Someone caught me speaking at Amy's Salon on Friday night. Thanks to Luc Van Braekel

Its day 4 for me here now at SxSW interactive in Austin, Texas. Its been an amazing conference so far for this no longer a SWirgin. I came here with the tech expirement that I would attend and participate using only my blackberry, my flip, and my camera.

For the most part this has worked. I have been able to capture notes, tweet, and take pictures to capture this experience.

I have also luckily been able to stop in on occasion to the connection centers (this is where I am now), where laptops are available for short quick use, if you are ok with standing. Which, on day four… I am really not. I have learned that good shoes, hydration, and mental and physical rest are keys to survival for a productive conference.

This blog post is a quick teaser to the epic one that will follow with complete links to my media output and thoughts on sessions I attended. This will be posted later in the week when I return to DC.

I will say, this trip has been more geared to listening and participating in discussions on women’s issues, especially ones in tech. I have met many great people and have been able to also connect with my twitter friends who were only virtual creatures before this point. I am also greatful to the new friendships of people back home whom I’ve only seen a few times, bond over the experience.

Quick takeaways until the big post:

• Yes, this was worth it to be physically here.
• Networking and meeting people in real life alone is valuable.
• First person I saw at the convention center was Kevin Marks
• I am admittedly a google reader fan
• Gary V. still brings the Thunder
• Next year I am doing Cogaoke
• So many efforts out there to elevate woman’s issues in tech
• The Austin Convention center is “teh suck” in architectural design and layout – can’t find $h!7
• I wish I could stay for the music, but it already feels like I have been here too long.
• Tara Hunt first in real life impression awesome, while Julia Allison’s rude and inconsiderate.
• Even though I didn’t go to the sessions, I know what “making whuffie” is about
• @wefollow – so far maybe the biggest thing out of the conference
• The Keynotes were mostly unimpressive.
• Giving out your twitter handle and posting a specific hashtag for sessions makes the session more connected.
• The events I picked before hand online, are not necessarily the events I ended going to.
• Parties are fun. But don’t overdo it.

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