Over the past few months I have been hyping up a new project. Each of those projects have slowly morphed into another eventually resulting in the current one: The Social Times. The Social Times is my attempt at covering the social web while hosting events that help active participants in the social web connect offline. The first event that I’m hosting is the Social Times launch event. We currently have the following sponsors and demos attending the event:

• Wine Library TV
• Freewebs
• Hungry Machine LLC
• Qloud
• Razoo
• Clearspring
• Why Go Solo

I will be announcing more demos and sponsors over the next few days. The event is going to be December 13th in downtown D.C. If you would like to attend, go register for the Social Times launch event. This is probably the most ambitious project I have ever taken on. I am looking to turn this into a national entity in the next 6 to 12 months. I will be sure to document the lessons learned on this blog so you can hear about the trials and tribulations.

I have chosen to go without seed funding from investors and am instead funding it myself. This will be an amazing experience and a massive challenge. I’m excited! I hope that each of you can be part of the journey. See you at the finish line

Over the past few weeks I have become increasingly focused on one of my goals: creating an environment that is comparable to Silicon Valley right here in Washington, D.C. On a daily basis I consider moving out to the valley to become more involved but instead I decide to stay here. Why? It’s much more exciting to watch this city transform into something incredible (in regard to technology) then go to Silicon Valley where I know what I’m going to get. So how do we create such an environment in D.C.?

Well, it’s already underway. There are events popping up all over and people are starting to become more active. The one issue that I see is that a large portion of the community is not locally active. While I can’t tell you why that is, I know it’s the case. There are investors who are quietly involved but they seem to be hesitant to become active in the community. What are the components of a successful technology community? I think there are a few components:

• Technology enthusiasts
• Entrepreneurs
• Investors
• Scholars
• Technology journalists

In discussing Lunch 2.0 with my new friend Isaac a couple days ago, Isaac brought up a good point: there is not enough coverage of events in Washington, D.C. by the local press. Why is that? Perhaps we are failing to do enough public relations. Why wasn’t there a Washington Post article about the recent Barcamp or any of the other technology events that have occurred? A few of the local tech companies are successful with coverage but there are bigger things happening. I have met a number of local companies that are now significantly invested in Facebook application development. So invested that it is now their core business model. Is such a shift in the technology environment not news worthy? I think is.

When we launched Tech Cocktail early this year, finding local sponsors was a difficult (if not impossible) task. The majority of the sponsors came from companies that have significant presences in other cities. Barcamp was the first event that I saw with actual local sponsors. So I guess there is forward motion. Rather than continuing my diatribe about what’s wrong with the existing environment, I will simply suggest a few things that I think can be done to continue the motion that is present:

• More press! - Every event deserves a press release. There needs to be more outreach to local journalists. Right now there isn’t.
• More investor outreach - There is a lot of money locally that is looking to be invested in new technology companies. For some reason the people that are investing that money are not showing up to events.
• More sponsorship - It should be a duty of every local tech company to sponsor the local events. Period. I know there are companies that have sponsored local events but perhaps we should be compiling a list of companies that are willing to donate even $50 to an event.

Those three things will help further the progress that has already been made over the past year. There are a lot of events that have been popping up and it will be great to see even more. I am excited for the future of technology in D.C. but I think there needs to be a bigger push for coverage. What do you think? I surely don’t have all the answers.

I came home tonight to my roommate’s girlfriend chatting about Lunch 2.0. She was asking if I had ever heard of it. Well I have but we have yet to have one in D.C. Why is that? The Lunch 2.0 website refers to Lunch 2.0 as “A social phenomenon referring to a migration of web 2.0 company employees to other offices around the Silicon Valley area; characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share food and ideas…”

She said that the World Bank had a great cafeteria but that doesn’t seem very web oriented to me. Let’s launch Lunch 2.0 in D.C. on September 25th. I’m creating a Facebook group now that will focus on this. So sign up for Lunch 2.0 and let’s make it happen. I don’t know where it will be held so place your suggestions. We need a term for the D.C. tech scene as well. Instead of the valley, alley and prairie (Chicago), let’s make one for D.C.

Post a comment on here as to where you think would be the best location. It’s time to make it happen so I’ve set the date: September 25, 2007. Suggest your office, suggest a friend’s office, I really don’t care. The main thing is that we need to make this happen as one of the many events taking place. This one should take place on a monthly basis. You can join the group here.

For those of you that were at the first DC Tech Cocktail, you may not have known that it was started in Chicago. Eric Olson and Frank Gruber started it last year and are now holding the 5th one today. There will be more to come in the next couple months including one next month in D.C. (details coming soon) and one in September in Boston (also have details coming soon). Unfortunately, if you are not already on the list to the Chicago one, you probably won’t be able to attend since the event is already sold out. Over 700 people will be in attendance so it is sure to be a great time. I will let you know about any interesting things that take place at the event. If you want to learn more about Tech Cocktail go check out the Tech Cocktail blog.

Tonight, I will be co-hosting Social Media Club with Peter Corbett. The topic of discussion tonight will be Facebook. If you are in DC and want to chat about Facebook and its impact on social media and the web in general, come stop by the event! Peter posted the event on Upcoming and you can register for the event through eventbrite. The event is being hosted by Blattner Brunner at 1250 I Street NW, Suite 1200. I will be posting a follow-up about the event sometime tomorrow. Come join the conversation!

Last week, while attending the Future of Online Advertising Conference I had a chance to meet some amazing people in addition to see some great presenters. In contrast to most people (I would imagine), I spend my time focusing on how well a presenter presents rather than the content they are providing. Additionally, a great presenter is much more likely to grab my attention, forcing me to actually listen to what they have to say. After seeing some amazing presenters and one pretty bad presenter (who will remain unnamed), I decided to put together a short list of important presentation skills.

1. Don’t stay behind the podium - This one is key. When you go up on stage and have an entire stage to present, you should walk around and engage the audience. Standing in one place does not help at all. Look like you are having fun even if you aren’t. Moving around will also help to make you feel a little more comfortable up on stage.
2. Don’t read from notes - I thought everyone was taught this in college but apparently not. One of the speakers at the conference read directly from their own notes. If you are going to present come prepared. If you forget a part, just glance up at your presentation to remind yourself of where you are.
3. Start with a bang - If you walk up on stage and just start talking, your audience will fade fast. Walk up and try to connect. This one can be truly difficult and understandably so. If you at least make a solid effort, it shows that you are trying to connect. If you use a joke as an introduction and it fails, say so and poke fun at yourself. This is always a good technique to get the audience listening.
4. Use humor - Humor is the best way to captivate an audience. I saw someone present at a past presentation and he livened the audience. It had nothing to do with the content he was explaining, it had much more to do with his ability to entertain the audience. When you are making a presentation, you are a performer, so get up there and have fun.
5. Speak passionately - Some people aren’t interested in what they are talking about, and it shows. Don’t be one of those people. Be passionate when you are speaking. If you aren’t really passionate about it then it is time to act and pretend like you are!

While this is by no mean an exhaustive list, it is a few of the key characteristics that are exemplified by successful presenters. Bottom line, engage your audience and look like you are having fun. If you aren’t having fun on stage, your audience won’t have a fun time listening to you.

This past week was a whirlwind of events in New York. I had the opportunity to attend the Future of Online Advertising, the Paid Content mixer, and the Problogger meetup. I also got to meet some great people. I met Ethan Bodnar, a young high school student who is ready to conquer the digital world after attending his first conference. It is pretty inspiring to meet someone that is so young and passionate. I also had the opportunity to hang out with AJ Vaynerchuk who was present at our DC Tech Cocktail. AJ has a site called Wii Tube which covers everything related to the Nintendo Wii.

I also was fortunate enough to meet Darren Rowse who is truly a leader in blogging. Also from b5media was Shai Coggins and Chad Randall. I met a lot of other great people as well, too many to cover. But all in all it was a great week. Special thanks Ryan Carson and the Carson systems team for putting together a great conference. Also special thanks to Lara Kulpa for helping organize the ProBlogger event on Saturday. I look forward to getting back to my normal blog schedule!

This evening I am headed up to New York City to attend the Future of Online Advertising Conference. I will be covering any interesting topics that are discussed. I am bringing my laptop and if any news comes about I will be sure to post about it. Here is an overview of the event’s speakers and what they are presenting:

• Jed Nahum (Microsoft adCenter) - Using demographics to improve your online marketing
• Ron Belanger (Yahoo!) - The Future of Search Marketing
• Kim Malone (Google AdSense) - Adapting advertising models to an evolving web experience
• Joel Greenberg (Electric Sheep) - Advertising in the virtual world
• Heather Luttrell (Indieclick) - Deciphering online advertising trends
• Carla Hendra (Ogilvy) - The most effective online ads - Why some make it and others don’t
• Erick Schonfeld (Business 2.0) -What is the future of interactive advertising
• Henry Copeland (Blog Ads) - Cracking the blogosphere - the secret to successful blog advertising.
• Drew Schutte (Wired) - How will online and traditional advertising peacefully coexist?
• Darren Rowse (ProBlogger.net) - How to dramtically increase ad revenue from your site
• … and more!

There will be plenty of speakers and a bunch of industry experts at the event. If you are interested in attending the event, I believe there are still tickets available. You can check out more about the event at the Future of Online Advertising website. Additionally I will be attending the Paid Content event tomorrow night and the blogger meetup on Saturday. If you are going to be at any of the events, come say hello!

Tech Cocktail DC was a huge success. Thanks to everyone for coming out last night. Thanks to the following companies for sponsoring the event:

• Wine Library TV
• AN Hosting
• AOL
• BuzzXYZ powered by Blogdigger
• Blue Sky Factory

Also thanks to all of the great demos from the event.

• Animal Attraction
• BuzzXYZ powered by Blogdigger
• Sportsvite
• PatentMonkey.com
• Wine Library TV

Additionally we were fortunate enough to have Gabe Rivera of Techmeme show up at the event. Gabe is one of the industry leaders and it was great to have him present. We will definitely continue to host future Tech Cocktail events in Washington, DC. There was a great response and it seems like we are truly amplifying the signal in DC. I cannot say thank you enough to all of the people that supported the event as well as my close friends that helped make this event a success.

We are looking for future supporters of the event so if you are looking to increase your company’s exposure please get in touch. There will be plenty of pictures on flickr throughout the day and I will be sure to update this post with all the pics. Thanks agian to everyone! A massive thank you to Frank Gruber and Eric Olson for coming up with the idea for the event and willingness to expand into new locations. These guys are truly super connectors and I am fortunate enough to have met them. Thanks!

Update
Here are some pictures of last night:
Frank’s photos
Raoul’s photos

Tech Cocktail is coming to DC tomorrow! If you haven’t already signed up then go sign up now!!! There are only a few more spots left. Frank Gruber, Eric Olson, and myself will be hosting the first ever DC Tech Cocktail at MCCXXIII which is located at 1223 Connecticut Avenue NW from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. This will surely be a great event. We are fortunate enough to have the following exhibitors at the event:

• Animal Attractions - an online dating site that connects pet lovers
• AudioSnacks - a community powered site to find, purchase and download audio tours
• BuzzXYZ - helps track the online buzz
• Clearspring - provides services for building, deploying, and tracking widgets
• Sportsvite - helps people organize sport events and meet other athletes
• PatentMonkey - fully search-able US patent text database
• Wine Library TV - provides a wine videocast and just yesterday acquired Cork’d which is a social network for wine lovers.

I look forward to seeing you at the event!

Apparently MC Hammer has been added to the list of panel experts at the TechCrunch20 Conference. I’m not quite sure what startup needs advice from MC Hammer but it was a good way to get some coverage of the upcoming conference. If anybody is going to use ruthless tactics for promoting their own conference, you can bet it would be Mike Arrington. When it comes down to business promotion is the most important thing to getting conference attendees. I’m not quite sure that MC Hammer is the guy to convince entrepreneurs (webpreneurs), tech enthusiasts, and others in the field to a tech conference. In all honesty this is probably a great link bait tactic used as a “May Fools” joke. Regardless, it will surely get the buzz going and expand the current advertising reach to new attendees. Good luck Mike!

Why pay for conferences when you can go for free? An upcoming Business Week article discusses the impact that unconferences are having on the convention industry. If you don’t already know what an unconference is, it is an event in which the attendees are the presenters. The overall concept is that the attendees have more knowledge on the topics being discussed then the few “expert” presenters.

I was fortunate enough to attend a recent unconference in New York City, “Podcamp NYC”. While many of the presenters were not professional speakers, they did have experience in their given fields. I found most of the value of the unconference to be the opportunity to attend a free event and meet a lot of people.

What is the point of a conference anyways? While some conferences have the goal of teaching the attendees about a new technology most conferences are basically an opportunity to network with other attendees. In my article “10 Steps to Become a Perfect Conference Attendee” I highlighted the point that most people attend conferences to network with other people in the same industry. Will unconferences bring about the end of traditional conferences? Definitely not, but it is a new format that deserves attention. If you haven’t had the opportunity to attend an unconference then I highly suggest that you check one out.