Enrique Gutierrez

This past weekend, Los Angeles held a great business-minded social/conferenced/networking bit of neat at the Level 3 night club in West Hollywood, Community::Next. The event started nice and early with foods and (what seemed to create the setting for the rest of the day) a ton of networking with like-minded, direction-sharing individuals. As you may guess, ambitions and ideas were absolutely everywhere, which is a very motivating environment to place yourself into - lemme tell ya. For the first half of the day, I was simply listening to others, and asking them about what they did. In return, I got ear fulls of great stories, backgrounds and tons of neat ideas from innovative minds. Here are a few things that I remember from that morning (mind you I was really tired, so I’m sorry if I leave anyone out):

[Listed in order by chronological interaction - personally]

Ross Bagley - CEO/Founder of CoreTap Software
ross [dot] bagley [at] coretap-sw [dot] com
Company site - Coming Soon

Ross is basically giving you the power to project your nuance via the Interwebs and giving a sense of personal notoriety to one’s self based on a series of awesome. He describes it a hell of a lot better than I do, but lemme just say this… He’s developing the one thing IRL-old school folks still lean on as their “secret weapon” for devaluing online interaction, taking us that much closer to being able to never see anyone face to face ever again! Ok, I’m being a little dramatic, but it will be a great way to eliminate what I see is a problem in dealing with things such as online business.

Also, [Thank you Ross for getting the "Viral pack" of Comm:Next tickets. I wouldn't have gone otherwise, and awesome! giving me a hand with the car situation (see below) - and not wiping out after I loaded your motorcycle down with oil, sorry about that.]

Travis Savo - Oh boy… haha

Travis is actually how I found out about Comm:Next, via Twitter (@Kevlar). He’s developing a … I’ll call it a methodology, for technology to self improve. Yes, he does throw out the word “Skynet” while describing his innovations. We talked at length about how his project will do two things, upon successful execution. First, technology that evolves on it’s own will better itself at an exponential rate, and reduce or remove the creative process from humans when it comes to developing technology, interesting, aye? Second, the brilliant minds that create our technologies will then be able to use everything they could have ever wanted, like kids in a candy store, to do exactly what technology is meant to do… advance our existence.

Yes, this is creepy, and my gut tells me that in a few months, we’re going to want to throw an “End of the World” party juuuust in case. Travis is also one of the stand-up awesomes that helped me get my broken down car problem squared away, and lent every hand he could to help out. Not that I was shocked at all by that, you can tell these things about folks.

[Update: Here's Travis (and a bunch of others) on TechZulu]

Alexandra Mokhnatkina, Mike Prasad, Alex Levin - GirlGamer

Weird… I only picked up Alexandra’s card. She’s one of the founders of GirlGamer, and definitely runs the show (Just kidding, guys). I didn’t really get too much into GirlGamer myself, I left that up to the countless people interviewing them that I just happened to eves drop on. What I did do was give Alexandra a photography lesson, create a meme with Mike, and clink glasses with Alex at the MashMeet after party - good times. From being a spectator during their interviews, I can say this much - this team is down to Earth, has a great head on their shoulders, they’re addressing a tangible issue in the gaming community, and being great about proactive execution with their project.

Site: http://www.girlgamer.com

I’m excited to hear about people that address sociological issues with avenues and application, as well as proactive interaction, and ensuring the message is clearly defined about why they are going about doing what they’re doing. [Hat's off, guys/girl, this is a good project with a squishy center, and that's cool book material.]

Jackie Peters - CCO & Partner of Heavybag Media
jackie [at] heavybagmedia [dot] com
Company Site - http://heavybagmedia.com

There was an interest in Heavybag Media pretty much right away - as I met Jackie at BarCampLA 5, only this time this was an opportunity to talk real business with Jackie… I was sort of grilling her about her company’s abilities… you know, take all the fun and exciting branding ideas they have for bleeding edge bad ass companies, and set all that aside for my job’s needs (see about). Simply put, we’re not cutting edge awesome. We’re communities, and like to be seen as warm fuzzy pots of Mr. Rogers Sesame Street. I mean, we’re serene, soothing, master-planned micro-towns…

Her 30 minute pitch and the result of my on-the-spot interview resulted in motions in my company today to get them on the communication list (a very short one) for contracts involving community brand development and online marketing. Don’t tell her though, it’s supposed to be a surprise.

Andy Sternberg and Robert Scoble

Before Mashable’s Pete Cashmore got a hold of Robert Scoble, Andy Sternberg held a candid outdoor interview with the infamous blogger: http://netzoo.net/interview-robert-scoble-at-community-next/

And then… Robert turned his camera on and returned the favor:
Armed with a Nokia N95, Robert interviewed Andy about his AT&T 3G powered USBConnect 881, streaming it live to Qik.com, of course [link]. I sort of make a little cameo at the end of the interview.

I have to say, Scoble’s gotta be one of the most amped bloggers I’ve ever known… Amped about blogging and understanding what it means to be a blogger. Blogging because he enjoys blogging… That’s all from the interview with Pete Cashmore though:

Pete Cashmore - CEO/Founder of Mashable.com

First off, his interview with Scoble was awesome. There was a good display of perception of Scobles motives (from questions on Mashable asked by their readers to him) for blogging, and a great down to earth response and reaction to pretty much everything. During the talk, Pete asked some pretty well loaded questions, ad Robert stayed true to his beliefs about his love for doing what he does… which is his motivator. It was a very good talk, as a blogger who blogs for really no “reason” to see that from him, I appreciated the interview.

Second, MashMeet - Holy cow did Pete & his folks packed whatever bar we ended up at. Drink tickets were handed out, which meant free booze, tons of people were there, including some LA BarCamp peopel that didn’t make it to Community::Next, and all around, it was a time to be more deliberately social… which is great, considering that’s what Mashable, and obviously Pete Cashmore, are all about. if you ever get a chance to shake hands with Pete and snag some conversation, do it. He’s brilliant, driven, and is very focussed on presenting social networks and interactions as they should be - socially.

I’m realizing that I may have to continue writing about this one a little later, or just leave it at that… I’m sure I’ll see a good number of the people I hung out with again in the near future. I mean, realistically - Web 2.0 Expo is only 3 weeks out, and there will be fun and mayhem to be had, that is certain.

First, I want to mention, the meet-up (3/25) was great. Matt Brown and Jennifer Van Grove did an excellent job with venue and event planning, and a big thanks to those of you that are spreading the word and gathering more & more attendees.

[Update] Here’s the list of those of you who attended, as posted on InsideTheRabbitHole.com

• tonybalsamo.com [Future Blogger, Real-Estate]
• whisperbuzz [Luke Pilon, Photography & Glass Blowing]
• sneakeracademy.com [Jessica McKimmie, Marketing]
• thesandiegotraveler.com [Carol Lane, Travel]
• obraq.org [Patty Jones, Ocean Beach News & Commentary]
• revolutionarymayor.com [Eric Bidwell, San Diego Mayoral Candidate]
• www.higherpassages.com [John
• shycloud.com [David Matt Green, Photography]
• msdigital.smugmug.com [Linda. Photography]
• sdmegacoalition.blogspot.com [Walter Davis, San Diego Community/Groups]
• enrique-gutierrez.com [this blog]
• gwaveconsulting.com [Melanie Gordon, Marketing Consulting]
• www.sandiegogaslampandnightlife.com [Richie Edquid, San Diego Nightlife]
• edward.oconnor.cx [Edward O’Connor, Web Developer/Django]
• erin.oconnor.cx & snowclones.org [Erin O’Connor, Art/Linguistics]
• www.thaumatocracy.com [Dan Tentler, Photography/Hacks]
• blogworldexpo.com [Rick Calvert & Dave Cynkin, Co-Founders - group discount potential!]
• ducksnorts.com & www.knucklecurve.com [Geoff Young, Padres/Baseball]
• www.declan.net & eringoblog.declan.net [Declan Fleming & his daughter Erin, Family/Photography/Tech/San Diego]
• www.barcampsandiego.org [Dan Tentler, Patrick Crowley - Barcamp San Diego Unconference]
• www.jefferygordon.com [Jeff “Flash” Gordon, Photography/Books]
• binarywolf.com [Steve, Personal Interest]
• jacobbijani.com [Jacob Bijani]
• friarfaithful.com [Dominic Damian, Padres]
• grokz.com [Peter, blog coming soon]

Secondly, I wanted to take this post as an opportunity to share a conversation from the meet-up, that most of you probably weren’t even in ear shot of, since you were all mingling! Which is awesome. I think it’s really great that only a year after we started BarCamp in San Diego (@hober, @viss, @mokolabs, @declan), we’re really seeing community form around that mentality with the help of awesome folks like @mattsurfs, @dtelethapy, @saracarr84 and @jbruin. I know I’m missing a few people, but follow one of them & you’ll find the rest… Or just follow me, I’m a groupie.

So, hats off to you folks for putting San Diego’s blip onto a radar screen somewhere in the blogosphere. We still have our work cut out for us to really tie this all in together, but, in due time we’ll be a cornerstone for a few awesomes of “contributions to technology” ourselves, I’m sure. Perhaps by pulling together the crap load of developers, designers, and all around enthusiasts going to these things, we can combine our talents and resources to achieve great things, muster up some new ideas, and be a nice staple in the west coast’s already awesome Tech/Conf/Social Networking/Twitterholic clan…

One thing I’ve been noticing lately, that’s beginning to bug the hell out of me, is the use of the Social Media Market to Advertise via Social Arena applications and methods. Not only is this disturbing, it’s dangerous for what you’re marketing, and if you’re doing it - stop it, you’re clogging up my Internet.

Advertising vs. Marketing

Ok, here’s the deal. You have a great idea, you think it’s awesome and you can’t wait for the world to find out about it. Naturally you go straight to your friends and brag, that’s a given, but then you take it a step further and attempt to gain more exposure by SPAM ramming it to the whole Social Arena… You’re now Advertising in our space.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but, Social Marketing is about social connections and creating a good network of friends that are knowledgeable and like to share their findings. Occasional items, such as this post, are fine to self-share on the Social Network, mainly because they’re written to share an opinion or a finding - and let’s face it, a blog is part of a social network (see below).

Marketing turns Advertising when:

1. The blog you’re writing is primarily used to generate revenue, market products or services, or brag about generating revenue from marketed products or services.
2. The items you share are geared at generating leads, anonymous traffic, and/or additional credibility in efforts to gain revenue, or become some web-based money making machine of some sorts.
3. You’re not typing to friends as much as you’re selling your self to a “target market” (the bastards that taint the arena with this kind of drivel are the worst, in my opinion)

Blogging and Actions

Actions, kids. There was a brief discussion yesterday on Twitter about how to “market” thyself on the Internet more better to get more exposure. Sean Bonner (@seanbonner) and Dan (@viss) pretty much summed it up with “Actions speak louder than words”… meaning, if you want to be an impacting individual in the Social Arena? DO SOMETHING AWESOME. Write a killer web-application, make some blog posts that are chalk full of totally rad ideas that put a new spin on things, become a resource that OTHERS WANT TO SHARE.

That way, you don’t have to brag about your input, and hey then you’re not advertising, and the Social Arena is marketing for you. Job well done.

We are not a Target Market

I’ve seen this … a LOT. Some new ass savvy dork discovers the Social Arena, Blogosphere, or some Social Network, and decides that this is the new California Gold Rush. They gear up to meet us, go to our meetings, hand out their business cards, moo-cards, and whatever else cards they can to make them appear part of our group, and simply… abuse that social “in” with us in efforts to get our clicks, and turn our dollars into theirs.

Now, I’m not saying - “new people, don’t come to our stuff, they’re OURS!!! RAAAH!” - not even close to that. But if you do come to our things, keep your greedy bullshit to yourself and try to use your newly found awesome connections to better yourself, better your connections to awesome, and when the time is right, and you have something awesome - we’ll be here to listen to your newly discovered rad… and we’ll share it with others that we know will love it… Just do the same for us when we do it too.

Cheers, folks.

Here’s what 2 minutes of free time yields at work when I’m hungry ~ yes… this is an Email to my team mates:

I was once abducted by aliens from the planet taco. They took me into outer space in their lettuce head space ship, and filled me with salsa and cheese. When we arrived, these little blue midgets made of silly putty carried me to the king of all Taco Aliens, his name was Lord Ground Chuck. When I told them I wasn’t a taco ingredient, the blue silly putty army began to chant and bounce about, making me uneasy, and as they bounced, they left splats on the ground all around me. The aliens from the lettuce head UFO gathered around, and Lord Ground Chuck stood up from his tomato throne. It was then they laid witness to the genetic code make up of a human of Earth, as opposed to what they were expected (Pico de gallo, I think).

They all started to get angry, so I pulled out my guacamole shotgun, blew them all to hell in a hand basket, and hijacked their lettuce head UFO, escaping with my life - just barely!…

In other words, what are we doing for lunch?

I guess we’re going to Mexican for lunch.