Patrick O'Keefe

photo credit: Calvin Lee

I returned from SXSW Interactive a few days ago, and a full recap of the event is forthcoming, even if it isn’t soon (I’m maybe half way as far as catching up to everything I need to catch up with). In the mean time, I wanted to share something.

One of the things that I felt pretty strongly throughout is that I am incredibly blessed to know the people that I know. As I wrote this post, I started grouping people up into categories, but that’s  just too difficult. There are my long term friends, there are friends I’ve made recently, there are people who I’m still building a relationship with, who I wouldn’t (yet) identify as a “friend” in the serious sense of the word, more as an acquaintance and I am sure there are other categories, as well. (more…)

photo credit:
butlerphotography

I’m about to head down to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive for the third consecutive year (2009 recap, 2008 recap). It’s a tremendous event for those of us in the tech, web, social media, whatever you want to call it space. So many people are there, which makes it a little surreal, especially when you visit for the first time.

So, for those of you new to the show, here are my 5 quick tips for the event, in an effort to help you to get the most out of it.

1. Use the Hilton Bathrooms

Even if you’re not staying there. Yes, I’m serious. The Hilton bathrooms are nice, clean and smell respectable. The Hilton is also part of the conference as some of the sessions are scheduled within the hotel. The convention center bathrooms do not even compare. Yes, it’s a short walk across the street. It’s worth it. (more…)

I’ve been working on booking speaking engagements for 2010. I’m talking to a number of different parties and hope to have more announced soon, but as I have a pair that are fast approaching, I thought I’d mention them as I always like to meet people at the events I attend. Not only will I speak at the events below, but I will be attending them each and every day.

On March 13 at 12:30 PM CT, I will be co-leading a Core Conversation at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive with Twanna A. Hines. It’s called “Shameless Self Promotion Without Looking Like an @#$%^&!” Here’s the short description: (more…)

Back in September, I was approached by Manning Publications about receiving an advance copy of an upcoming book, “Website Owner’s Manual” by Paul Boag, founder of Headscape and the creator of Boagworld, one of, if not the, most popular web design podcasts in the world. They provided me with an advance eBook, in consideration of a review or advance praise for the book’s cover.

I had met Paul for the first time at South by Southwest last year and we exchanged a few e-mails. He seemed like a pretty good guy, so I agreed to look over the eBook. I’ve since been able to get to know him ever so slightly better and that has only worked to confirm my initial impressions. (more…)

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photo credit: jasonkeath

Sometimes, in reference to someone’s writing or a speaking engagement or some sort of content, a reader might say “well, that’s common sense.” As if that’s a bad thing.

Common sense is a funny thing, for two reasons:

• Nothing is common sense. Until it is.
• Common sense for you may not be common sense for me. For every (virtually) universal common sense, there is a common sense more along the lines of “yeah, I agree with you.”

(more…)

Last March, I spoke at South by Southwest Interactive (see my recap), presenting a solo presentation titled “The Art of Responding to Feedback From Your Community.” The basis of this talk was a blog post that I made on ManagingCommunities.com in January of 2009.

The presentation is based around my three steps for responding to feedback. In short, they are: appreciate, acknowledge and consider. Be appreciative that someone contacted you, acknowledge their perspective and what they are saying and then consider it and how applicable it may or may not be.

If you’d like to check it out, the full video has been posted at ManagingCommunities.com, along with slides.

As part of my work on my new about and speaking pages, I wanted to create a profile on SlideShare and upload all of my past presentations, making it easier to share them and share the style of my slides.

Just in case anyone is interested, my username is iFroggy. Here is one of the presentations that I have uploaded, from the panel that I was on at Blog World & New Media Expo 2009: (more…)

Directly following Blog World & New Media Expo in October, I was able to attend and speak at Social Media Business Forum in my home state of North Carolina.

I was on two panels: “Advertising and the Social Web: Can it Work?” with Gregory Ng, the Creative Director at Brooks Bell Interactive and David Millsaps, Senior Web Architect at VisionPoint Marketing; and “Building and Managing an Online Community” with Ryan Boyles, an Advisory Software Engineer for IBM and Laurie Smithwick, Founder and Creative Director of LEAP Design and Founder of Kirtsy.

It was the inaugural edition of the conference, organized by Jeff Cohen, Kipp Bodnar, Ryan Boyles and Wayne Sutton and it was a wonderful experience.

For more on my time at the event, please check out the full recap at ManagingCommunities.com.

photo credit: BuzzShift

For what seems like forever, I’ve been working on my just launched about and speaking pages. Probably the biggest reason I did it was because I’m hoping to speak more. Since finishing “Managing Online Forums,” I’ve done 11 engagements at 7 different events.

While this doesn’t make me a veteran, it means I’m not just starting out, either. So, I’m hoping to get more serious about speaking and I would like it to become a slightly larger part of my life.

When I speak, I tend to focus on the value of social media and online community to individuals and businesses and how best to participate in these areas as a manager/owner, marketer or user/member.

I love speaking at social media, internet and technology focused conferences, but I also hope to branch out and talk about these things at events not for our industry, but for other industries who can benefit from what we know.

So, if you’re a conference or event organizer, please keep me in mind (I have a special speaking contact form). If you’re a speaker like me and you happen to have a panel or presentation you’d like me to be involved in, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you for reading.