Happenings, Marketing and Technology Advice and Thoughts!

As usual, 2014 will start off with a conference called the New Media Expo (NMX) . This was formerly known as Blogworld and many people still refer to it as such. The conference lasts from January 4 to the 6 th . This is a conference in Vegas about social media, especially blogging, and its uses for businesses. There are panels from bloggers, photographers and basically anyone who’s involved in social media. There’s also panels from businesses who use social media. Sometimes the businesses do the keynote speeches too and those are more like case studies on how social media helped their business in advertising and/or connecting with customers. There’s also an Expo where the latest services and tools for and about social media are showcased. Speaking about tools for social media, let’s take a look at some minimalist writing software. If you’re like me and get distracted by the rest of your computer when you sit down to write something like a blog article, perhaps you should lo

Spending Christmas morning and watching a show that could be universally enjoyed by all is very nice. For that honor we chose Netflix's new exclusive series "Turbo FAST" ( Fast Action Stunt Team vs. (spoiler alert) F.A.R.T - Fast Action Racing Team). Netflix just released Season 1 with 5 episodes and will be releasing new ones every week. Some of the firsts here :  First episode is 22 minutes and others will be 11 minutes each convenient for kids to see on their home works break First exclusive kids series launched on netflix First time Dreamworks Animation Television has made an exclusive for Netflix First series based on the Dreamworks Animation Studios Movie Turbo that was produced by 20th century FOX I loved watching this series. Netflix has a good strategic vision for the future. As I dabble in several ways to consume media, the TV is still my favorite. With my Google Chromecast almost anything I can stream from my laptop, I can watch on the TV

If you are working in the PR, Communication or crisis management space,your day is likely filled with stressful moments.When you take time to relax and start conversations in your personal Twitter or other social media you don't want to add to the stress. Here are some simple tips that I try to follow myself which were first published in my Social Media Marketing Column in the Examiner The current storm over the tweet from  Justine Sacco  and the subsequent backlash spurs me to recap advice I give companies and organizations when speaking  about social media marketing  and online communication strategy.  I hope these simple check list will help all of us who work in the marketing and communications arena. 7 Tips to consider while using social media while working for a business 1)       Don’t be flippant : If you are a business or work for a business, humor is always good in your communications but it has to be something that everyone will find humorous. Avoid exclusionary hum

Comedies with nerds, geeks, techies are among the top comedy entertainment shows these days. I loved Big Bang Theory and it was with that expectation that I binge watched the new series by Amazon Studios "Betas" that launched in November.  It's very entertaining and hardly a boring moment. Having been part of the start-up and tech scene for a few years, it was nice to see a few realities mixed into the show. I loved it when they mentioned " Social Fresh" conference  and they mention social apps like Hy.ly  ( I think Highlight is more appropriate or I may have misheard).  A few of the characters seem so real life even though the roles they play in the story is definitely not true in real life.I love the way Maya Erskine helps breakup a party gone wild and using her connections to get BRB's CEO into a party ( SXSW came to mind) . I like the tole  Margo Harshman's plays as  a mentor/publicist in an incubator helping start-ups. How she makes a care

MCPS schools are CLOSED today (12/9). Administrative offices open at 11 a.m. — MCPS (@MCPS) December 9, 2013 It used to be difficult to see if school was closed. A few years ago I subscribed to  a private service called Schools Out   which sent alerts when schools closed. I would then email friends and colleagues early in the morning to let them know that schools closed as well. Most local school districts in the area now have alerts that will email and text you about closings and emergencies. For Montgomery County Schools you can sign up on the MCPS website's emergency information page  or follow @MCPS on Twitter. Conversation on Twitter and Instagram surprised me as students schools and colleges in the area took to Twitter to talk about school closings. Here are  a few examples, very creative!: Looking at the mcps website on my phone this morning #schoolsclosedagain pic.twitter.com/6DRGUk3BJB — Pearl Yu (@PEARLescent__) December 10, 2013 @MCPS I knew you would com

It's tough being a visionary. Ridicule,  discouragement and barriers of lack of understanding make it difficult to keep to your vision.  Successful entrepreneurs have had the courage of conviction to execute their plan and vision. In a CBS 60 minute segment on Sunday , Amazon's Jeff Bezos talked about octocopters that can achieve a " Half hour delivery/and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds, which covers 86 percent of the items that we deliver."  A very exciting idea and probably a few years away. Whether the idea is successful or not I am impressed with the fact that in :Amazon’s secret Lab 126 in California, designers and engineers are experimenting on next generation devices and what a great time to make this buzz worthy announcement. What are the lessons for small business and entrepreneurs? a) Always keep aside time for research and new ideas for your products. b) Disruptions from other industries may change the way you do busine