I’ve been totally geeking out over Marco Tempest’s blend of technology and magic lately, and I keep thinking I need to make it to a Twin Cities Maker event.

The idea of partnering physical and digital (phygital, as my friends at Momentum would say) is truly inspiring.

I keep thinking if I get a breath at work I’m going to order an Arduino and figure out how to make a website ring a doorbell. Perhaps in 2012.

Here are two of Marco’s TED presentations that you absolutely must see…

Of the handful of MIMA Summit sessions I attended, I made certain to sit in on The Digital-Physical Connection: From Nike Chalkbot to Prius Roller Coaster with Eamae Mirkin from Deeplocal.

Deeplocal is known for employing creative engineers who use science and technology to build experiences, stunts and engagement opportunities to help a brand reach their audiences.

These guys cut up cars and make roller coasters and solar powered bio-tents out of the parts. They built the famous chalk-bot, which has now spun off its own company. They mounted millions of LED lights on a skyscraper in Africa and let the Internet write headlines. They built an entire miniature city and let users on the web pilot a camera-mounted train through the cityscapes seeking hidden artifacts.

Unfortunately the iOS 5 update on my iPad 2 completely wiped the notes I took on his session, but luckily Eamae let Deeplocal’s video case studies do most of the talking. And thus, so will I…

What do you think? How would you blend technology and the everyday if time, knowledge and budget weren’t an issue?

I attended the MIMA event on mobile trends (yes, apparently mobile has not yet “arrived” as a trend)…

Arrived too early so enjoyed some coffee on the riverfront…

Grant’s soccer team has more fun off the field than on…

The kids picked out some enthralling bedtime stories…

I performed my weekly duty of gluing back together cheaply-made Transformers…

We took the kids to Chaska’s annual Touch a Truck…

We helped some friends move…

I attended the Alphabet Bash and ate something on every plate of this table…

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

James the tiny dog came to work…

Grant started his new soccer schedule…

We visited Grandma Kay’s new place and tested out her pool…

Enjoyed the backyard fire pit…

My car’s thermostat is apparently on the fritz…

And the kids continue to sprout…

Backyard nature…

That picture is something else. :) — Read the whole article here.

She made a great impression on our 1,000 attendees, even for a Steelers fan.

And judging her 2010 Social Media Hot/Not List, it seems we made an impression on her…

See the whole list here.

Missed the Summit? Here’s the 2009 highlight video.

Pencil out time in your calendar for every single day next October (actual date to be announced soon!)…

Nathan Wright and I copresented “Social Marketing 101: Everything you think you should already know…”

Get the handout here (pdf)

I had no idea this photo would follow me around

What are people saying about you? What kinds of pictures will your boss, employees or (gasp!) kids discover with a few short clicks? What does any of this mean to your personal brand?

This Thursday I’m co-presenting “The Brand of You in the Digital Age” with Tim Brunelle at an event hosted by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association and Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA).

We’re going to talk about the changing face of personal brand, why your online identify matters and tips for monitoring, positioning and saving your digital reputation.

Event details:
The Brand of You in a Digital Age
July 9, 2009 | 5:00 p.m.
Grumpy’s Bar – Roseville, MN | REGISTER HERE

Be sure to check out Tim’s preview post at the MNAMA blog.

I attended the first 2009 Conversations About the Future of Advertising event (CATFOA) put on by Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) and Minnesota College of Art and Design (MCAD) at the Fine Line Music Cafe (FLMC) last night.

Wow, that’s a damn lot of acronyms there (WTAHOALOAT).

If you’re not already familiar, “CATFOA seeks to improve the quality of interactive marketing and advertising developed in the Twin Cities through enlightening presentations and their resulting conversation.”

Last year’s events were both informative and popular, bringing in a good assortment of nationally recognized media and marketing folks, including Joseph Jaffe (sporting shiny white tennis shoes, mind you) and Adweek’s Brian Morrissey.

Last night’s speaker was Alan Wolk, a New York marketing consultant known for his marketing blog, The Toad Stool, and most recently for his blog series, “Your Brand is Not My Friend.”

Here are a few highlights (captured in <140 character succinct bites, of course):

• “99 percent of brands are NOT Prom Kings” (e.g., Whole Foods, Apple, Batman, Chicago Bears, Rolling Stones) -@awolk #catfoa
• “Ads are now all about getting people to Google. Once this happened, tv and print couldn’t close the deal anymore” -@awolk #catfoa
• “What consumers think is far more valuable than what the brand and ad agency have to say when driving purchase” -@awolk #catfoa

It has to be tough to come in from out of town and have to tackle a diverse crowd of consultants, agency veterans, designers, copywriters, social media gurus and/or recently laid-off folks who may or may not already know lots or very little about what you’re talking about. Hell, I’m still struggling with it. We’re a diverse group.

Unsurprisingly, the questions from the audience showed this diversity — from basic, “How do I know if my company should/should not be blogging?” to the more complex “How you monetize and prove ROI for social media tactics?”

Alan did a good job focusing on top-level concepts and citing a few real world case studies. And since some of us were ready for the 201 and 301-level discussion, his presentation helped kickstart post-lecture networking discussions among attendees, and you know me, I always love the opportunity to bring the interactive marketing community together and pool our intellectual capital (buzzword bingo, ftw!)

CATFOA provided that very opportunity last night (and free food, to boot). Thanks to MIMA, MCAD and Alan!

Check out the upcoming speakers and tell your coworkers they are missing out if they don’t show up (btw, it’s free):

photo by @tbrunelle

On Wednesday, I had the profound pleasure of moderating a Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) event on the topic Digital Reputation Management, a topic that is a core focus of my company (and me personally) in 2009.

A Weber Shandwick proprietary analysis revealed that over three-quarters (79 percent) of the world’s number-one most admired companies lost their crowns over the past five years in their respective industries.

Reputation loss is also on the rise. Nearly 9 out of 10 business executives participating in our Safeguarding Reputation™ survey agree that susceptibility to reputation damage is a growing threat.

Similarly, a sizable 84 percent of global senior executives surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit reported that reputation risk increased significantly over the past five years. When executives were asked to choose among 13 risk types, reputation risk emerged as the most significant threat to global corporate business.

As company, brand and product reputations fluctuate and/or deteriorate worldwide, communicators need to proactively engage reputation radar systems to identify, track and respond to approaching reputation threats, as well as find ways to locate and empower brand advocates.

This is definitely a topic which our interactive marketing community needs to be active (especially proactive) in discussing, exploring and collaborating. What a great panel topic!

Our star-studded panel constsited of Tammy Lee Stanoch, VP Corporate Communications for Delta/NWA, Lela Phommasouvanh, Senior Consultant, Search Marketing for FindLaw, a Thomson Reuters Business, and Steve Bendt, Social Technology Activist for Best Buy, Inc.

More than 250 attendees absorbed tips about tracking buzz, making the business case to leadership and the imperative “Set Up a Google Alert for your name and your clients’ names” mantras. If you missed the event, you can stream the archive here.

Gems from the discussion:

• Be authentic
• Be transparent
• Be cautious, but fearless
• Don’t be stupid
• Don’t be unethical
• Trust your employees and your customers
• Realize you don’t have control, but put forth measures to proactively inoculate detractors and engage advocates

The panel put together a list of suggested reading links on del.icio.us here, and also mentioned the following resources to research, check out, use or peruse:

• Best Buy Connect (BBY Employee Aggregator)
• Blue Shirt Nation (BBY’s Internal Social Network)
• Spy (can listen in on the social media conversations you’re interested in)
• Twitter Search (Twitter search tool that includes RSS feeds)
• RipOff Report (central place to enter complaints about companies and individuals who are ripping people off)
• Yelp (User Reviews and Recommendations of Top Restaurants, Shopping, Nightlife, Entertainment, Services and More)
• Radian6 (tools for real-time social media monitoring and analysis designed primarily for PR and Ad agencies)
• Trakur (online reputation monitoring tool designed to assist you in tracking what is said about you on the internet)
• FlyerTalk (the world’s most popular frequent flyer community)
• LinkedIn (a networking tool that helps you discover inside connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners.)
• ZoomInfo (a Web-based service that extracts information about people and companies from millions of published resources)
• Spock (the world’s leading people search engine)
• Cluetrain Manifesto (suggestion from audience that everyone should read it, and I concur)
• Addictomatic (suggestion from the audience)

I also recommend:

• OMGILI (research tool that finds consumer opinions, debates, discussions, personal experiences, answers and solutions)
• PopURLS (the aggregator of the aggregators, which you can set a bookmark for specific keyword/industry terms)
• And a whole host of other resources that can be found on this post from July’s Information Overload MIMA event.

If you have others to share, please include them in the comments.

UPDATE:

Steve Bendt has a recap post here.

Tim Brunelle has a recap post here.

Hello Viking has a recap post here.