Uncategorized: events happiness health holidays party plans Seattle tech
by Danielle Morrill
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Where the Hell is Danielle?
Yes, “Where the Hell is Danielle” is even the name of a jam my bandmates like to play when I’m running late for practice. Other than that, I thought I’d fill you guys in a bit on what I’ve been up to (and what I’ve been neglecting) over the past few weeks.
The unfun news is that I’ve been sick for over two weeks now, and since I am the kind of person who gets a lot of joy from socializing I’ve been pretty unhappy. No events, no juicy writeups, no coffee with promising entrepreneurs around Seattle. Yeah, pretty boring. I think my Twitter following is slowly declining (or at least has stopped growing). Such is life.
However, in my little cave (actually my big green and white Martha Stewart couch) I’ve been voraciously reading many of the books, periodicals, and blogs I’d been putting off — not to mention an unsightly backlog of “someday maybe” emails. It feels good to consume more than I produce, content wise, for a little while. Don’t fret though, I’ve already got myriad plans for my return both personally and professionally. Professionally? Well, my personal and professional passions just happen to (ha! like that was luck!) cross frequently and I look forward to bringing back the witty blog posts (more public ones!), videos, event coverage, witty banter, drink tabs, and whatever else it is that makes me a fun person to be around (80% of the time). You heard it from me first, I’ll be back in the saddle really soon.
There are plenty of fun event cooking, despite the volatile markets (up 6% today, down 4% tomorrow?!), and some things I’m looking forward to include:
- Feeling better
- Steak for Thanksgiving (Kev hates turkey)
- My facial at Red on Saturday
- Seeing “You Can’t Take it With You” at Seattle Rep, with Raviv
- Hosting the “Ugly Christmas Sweater” Party
- Tons of holiday parties, too many to list here but they include booze, Danish food, and mistletoe
- Twiistup (LA) in February
- South By Southwest (Austin) in March.
So I’m really looking forward to rejoining the world, and I know I’ll be covering events on a regular basis over at Seattle 2.0 soon. I’ve even got video footage of Clark Kockitch from Entrepreneur University that still needs to be posted!
Sweet - ReadWriteWeb Says “Community Manager Jobs Are Hot”
As a recently christened “community program manager”, this looks like good news to me.
What kinds of jobs are companies hiring for right now? In the move towards a social media world, we’ve seen a series of hires in the past week for variations on the theme “community manager.” Companies are hiring, candidates are hunting and competition for the best people and positions is heating up.
More than just customer service or PR, new community managers online need a combination of old fashioned (authentic) communication skills and the ability to leverage new technologies for maximum impact. It’s a skill set that appears to be getting increasing recognition.
Kirkpatrick also mentions that it is “grinding work and something that’s much easier said than done”, and after a few month in the role I can see where he’s coming from with this statement. The amount of time it takes to listen is the unseen timesuck of the role. For every tweet, Facebook note, blog comment, etc that I post there is probably 20x more reading (listening) going on. There’s also a sense of needing to be always “on”, which will be heightened even more when our product becomes available internationally.
Overall, I think the Community Manager role is a mashup of PR and customer service that is here to stay in one form or another. I’ve met with various CEOs of startups here in Seattle, talking about how to inexpensively bootstrap marketing buzz for their products. I’ve adamantly recommended AGAINST hiring a community manager for companies smaller than 10 people, simply because at that size I think the founder(s) and anyone who is passionate about the business should be actively communicating with users whenever possible. It’s only when growth of the business makes this hard to manage, or the size of the company creates logistical problems (like duplicate responses to tweets) that a single role needs to emerge. If it can be someone already within the company, all the better.
SLED practice streaming life on Ustream Tonight
After a month-long hiatus SLED (Sucking Less Every Day) is back in action, and Rene is back from his trip to visit family in Panama and Spain.
Tonight we’re going to try out streaming the practice live on Ustream here: http://ustream.tv/channel/daniellemorrill:-first-show-ever
And we’ve embedded it here:
My Core Values Index
Tonight I’m taking the Core Values Index for this week’s Entrepreneur University, hosted by NWEN. This has been the night of test taking, as I’ve also just taking the Thinking Feeling Knowing test for a workshop we’re undertaking at Pelago in a couple weeks.
The CVI assessment found that you are an INNOVATOR/BUILDER.
Innovator
Your primary value set is Innovator and your primary core value is Wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to see the way things work, and to know what to do about them. Understanding and compassion are central to your life strategy.
Builder
Your secondary value set is Builder and your secondary core value is Power. Power is the personal energy used to make a difference and create a positive result. Your cornerstone core value is Power, the application of pure energy for Good. This primary driver is supported by a strong faith in your own ability to know what to do, your faith that your actions are for the Good, and your faith that once you create change, you will know what to do next.
Interesting. I guess we’ll find out in the keynote if I have the “right” combination of values to lead to success.