My submission made it in even though I didn’t get an email from the SXSW staff.  I’ve been graciously invited to speak on two panels so if you want me presenting out SXSW, please vote for the second panel listed, WordPress: The Small Business Swiss Army Knife , because WordPress and  business is where my heart is.

How to Vote for a SXSW panel

First off.  How important is voting anyway?

Voting accounts for 30% of the final vote on which panels are selected.  The other 70% is split between a SXSW board (40%) and SXSW staff 30%.  Last year for my presentation, “How Sci-Fi Shapes The Internet“, I did very little promotion or “vote begging” and it was still selected.  Cream will always rise to the top.

My advice for anyone who feels strongly about getting votes for their panel is to write up a post expanding on the value your topic delivers to the SXSW audience, ask for a vote in the post and ask people to comment on your panel.

Voting for a SXSW panel

You can vote between August 11th – 27th.
You need an account at SXSW.com to cast your vote.
Here are instructions directly from the conference site:

Just sign-up for an account here. During the public voting phase (August 11-27, 2010) all you need to do is sign-up for an account. Signing-up is free, quick and easy. And your sign-up information remains completely confidential.

The SXSW Panels!

Here they are! I’ll tell you which one I voted for at the end *smile*

What The Government Can Learn From Amazon

Adria Richards, ButYoureAGirl.com
Have you ever bought something on Amazon and wondered, “Why isn’t buying a passport as easy as this?” With over 300 million people in the United States, there is certainly room for improvement how their lives are recorded, updated and exchanged.  If the Arpanet was created to provide a centralized, communications network, why are we not taking advantage of this access to lower costs and reduce data errors? Amazon processes, ships, and delivers packages all over the world and can now predict delivery within 12 hours of ordering. Why does your driver’s license take two weeks? We will explore what advances in digital data records and key benefits including: savings on redundant data entry and mistakes, less identity theft and fraud, rewarding efficiency and creating social benchmarks. The other side of this data coin includes managing expectations, privacy, security and opt-out from such programs. RFID’s in passports, pets and popcorn seem like the stuff of science fiction.
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Government and Technology government, Privacy, RFID

WordPress: The Small Business Swiss Army Knife <<<< VOTE FOR THIS ONE FOR ADRIA SO SHE CAN SPREAD THE JOY OF WORDPRESS AT SXSW

Stephanie Frost, Zero-G Creative, Adria Richards invited on panel
WordPress has been steadily growing in popularity as a CMS over the last two years because it’s free and relatively easy to learn–especially when compared with other packages like Joomla and Drupal. But WordPress is more than just a convenient choice — in many cases it’s the only web tool a small business owner is ever likely to need. WordPress isn’t just for blogs anymore, seamlessly handling media content, ecommerce, membership sites, search engine optimization, mobile sites, lead generation and much much more. Our panel of experts will describe the many uses and strengths of WordPress and demonstrate how WordPress is adaptable into just about any small business use.
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Content Management Content Management System, small business, WordPress

What Comic Books Can Teach Mobile Application Designers

Anjuan Simmons, Adverlyze
Mobile application design is a conversation that allows the developer to speak to the user. While manuals are able to guide this conversation, nothing is more immediate and enduring than the user interface of the application itself. Comic books have evolved through the years to maximize their ability to tell a story while confined to two dimensional static images. This presentation will explore the design principles Eisner shared in his landmark book and specifically apply them to mobile application design. Scott McCloud’s book “Understanding Comics”, which built on top of the foundation laid by Eisner, will also be covered as well as McCloud’s later work “Reinventing Comics”. The comic book medium can provide a blueprint for blockbuster mobile applications as well. When attendees leave this session, they will know how to throw some Eisner onto their mobile application designs!
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Mobile Applications applications, design, mobile

How to Ensure a Diverse Tech Event

Erica Mauter, swirlspice.com
Social networking is supposed to be the ultimate facilitator of grassroots interaction between producers and consumers. In the tech space, these online interactions go offline at conferences and unconferences around the world.  Are you hoping to attract more diverse audiences to your existing programming or are you tailoring your programming to diverse audiences? How can your product appeal to a diverse audience if you don’t have a diverse group developing it?  Individuals, organizations, conference organizers, sponsors and bloggers will walk away with actionable steps they can take to diversify events. We’ll explore what event organizers like O’Reilly are doing to encourage new people to attend. We’ll explore the barriers individuals face when joining new online communities and when transitioning into offline participation, as well as opportunities for contribution within the community.
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Social Issues Conferences, diversity, Events

Social Media: The Pink Collar Ghetto of Tech?

Keidra Chaney, The Learned Fangirl – Adria Richards invited to panel
With women accounting for the majority of users on social media sites, there are exciting opportunities for women to take leadership roles in social media – as consultants, developers, entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Still, women make up less than 20% of panelists at major tech conferences, while women focused social media conferences like BlogHer, She’s Geeky, and Blogalicious continue to grow. Is social media is seen as a “soft” profession and drawing lower comparative salaries and less room for executive level leadership than other technology – oriented fields? Is this already happening? This panel of women professionals that work in social media will take a hard look at the unique issues women tech professionals face in the age of the social web, and discuss whether social media is helping to crack the “digital ceiling” of the tech world or creating a separate but equal space for women to lead?
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Career / Work Concerns digital ceiling, women in tech, women in social media

Under 25 and Rebuilding Communities Using Social Media

Karl Rivera, Teen On Da Rise and Corvida Raven, SheGeeks.net
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” -Neil Postman, The Di…  “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” -Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Childhood (introduction), 1982 As we move into an era of digitalization, today’s youth are poised to reap the rewards they sow (and tweet), and have been given the opportunity make history along the way. The youth are taking the reins on this technological era to generate more options for our lives than ever before. Youth from all over the globe are using digital platforms and tools to transform communities and building our very own empire. Free from financial limitations, cultural pressures, and stigmas, the Internet is serving as one of the biggest platforms to help the youth make impacts in everyday life. We’re creating new jobs, rebuilding communities, expanding networks, developing critical business skills, and learning how to preserve our history. We’re using the internet to “connect the dots” and this panel will take a deeper look at how the youth are making changes.
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New Technology / Next Generation community, Impact, Youth

Ten Sexy Skills for Project Success

Denise Jacobs, PapillonEffect Consulting
What if you knew your project would be a success from the very beginning? What if we could do away with dreading the inevitable scope creep, budget blow-out and overrun schedule, what if every team member could take control of the project outcome and make it a win? Join us for a fun, interactive session to learn solid communication skills, great project management tools, and how to cultivate an effective and enjoyable team culture. Leave the session with a fresh approach to looking at tech and new media projects and ways to apply new management skills to your personal workflow.
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Career / Work Concerns communication skills, project management, team culture

Die Laughing So Your Brand Can Live

Luvvie Ajayi, Awesomely Luvvie
With people facing chaos in their everyday world and the constant threat of layoffs, debt and war, a little humor can go a long way. When people want an escape from daily life, they turn to the Internet for entertainment and laughs.  In this session, learn how to set yourself and your brand apart from the rest by using humor to engage your audience, build value and get your message out.
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Branding / Marketing / Publicity brand, humor

Hater Blocking 101: Your Blog, Your Rules

Panama Jackson, Liz Burr, Very Smart Brothas
Do you author a blog that has engaged in its fair share of controversy resulting in a lot of negative attention and hateration? If so, you’re not alone. “Hate” is a good problem to have. How you deal with the hate can determine if you sink or swim.  Join us for a panel discussion on hateration, how to make the most of it and make it work for you with guests who are no stranger to controversy.
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Community / Online Community Audience, blogging, community

You’re Not Obama: Effectively Using Tech for Campaigns

Maurice Cherry, 3eighteen media
Since the 2008 Presidential election, politicians nationwide are realizing that social media can be an effective tool for reaching out to constituents, media, and potential voters. Unfortunately, most of them are completely unaware as to where to begin with integrating social media into their campaigns along with other technologies. E-mail, Twitter, Facebook…how does it all work to get votes? Using best practices and case studies of proven tactics from municipal and federal campaigns, I will show you how to unlock the power of social media and technology to help take your campaign to the next level of engagement.
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Government and Technology Political engagement, Social Media ROI, Technology

The Progressive Web: Let’s Change the World (Seriously)

Andy Stratton, Sizeable Interactive with panelist Denise Jacobs, PapillonEffect Consulting

Web 2.0, social media, digital communities and relationships – what next? Can we be doing more? We’re at a climactic turn for technology and how it’s become an immovable piece of business operations and our personal lives – but: *can we be doing more?* Are we balancing our ability to produce, sell and acquire more with improving the overall quality of life for ourselves and our planet? Or are we making it easier to fit more work into the same amount of time.  Analysis, thoughts, musings, hopes and inspirations from my brain, and the brains of my friends and industry peers who believe in the same things and share the same hopes.
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humanity, progress, social

Cultivating a User-Centered Culture

Nancy Lyons, Megan Wilker, Geek Girls Guide
We’ve all heard about the importance of user-centered design (hopefully). But, how can a person, a team or an organization hope embrace it as a core value if the entire organization isn’t focused on who those users are? How can we bridge the gap between a typical web developer who is male and between the ages of 18-29 (according to A List Apart’s “Survey for the People Who Make Websites”, 2008), and the 45% of the senior population in the US who are now on the Internet (According to Pew Internet and the American Life Project, 2009)? From design to production to project management to customer service and support, this session aims to help web development teams view work product as a direct outcome of a work culture that includes and respects users at every level.  We’ll prove the hard business value of soft, squishy terms like emotional intelligence, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and vulnerability. But no hugging, we promise.
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Career / Work Concerns social media, users, work culture

Would you dig through trash for free fashion?  With the economy still affecting much of the country, people are always looking for ways to save money.  Over 50 New Yorkers scored scored free name brand shoes Sunday night in Union Square by taking initiative.

I was leaving Max Brenner’s with my Twitter friend @Nukirk when we saw a group of people gathered in front of Shoemania on the corner of Broadway and 14th.  As we approached, it appeared that people were looking at the bags of trash on the curb.  Some bags had been opened and people were looking through the trash for shoes.

There were about 30 people separating empty boxes, loose paper and empty soda cups from shoes.  There were murmurs that there were only left shoes but that was quickly squashed when someone yelled, “I found a pair!”.  People moved in quickly, opening up new bags and pouring the contents onto the sidewalk.  A young couple had found 4 pairs of mens shoes and had them lined up near Storemania’s closed doors.  I chatted with several people who apparently had found matching pairs of shoes.  Nukirk overheard people working together to find matches.

There were all sorts of shoes including Adidas, Crocs, Converse, Ed Hardy, Dansko, Sketchers, Teva, Donald Pliner, MBT, Steve Madden, Mephisto, Ecco and Dr. Martins.  Styles included everything from women’s heels and sandals to men’s dress shoes and high end sneakers.

For some human sociology reason, this sort of behaviour captivated me.  I snapped a few photos at this unique flashmob event.  A taxi slowed down to check out what was going on.  A woman in a tan SUV stopped as if she was considering joining the free-for-all.  I asked Nukirk if he wanted to join in.  We edged our way into the crowd as I exclaimed how people were overcoming the social messages that “dumpster diving” is a bad thing.  I’ve seen some beautiful furniture pieces my friends have landed at garage sales, on Craigslist and yes, dumpster diving on the weekends.  I started by watching others toss and sort shoes.  Nukirk was hopeful he’d match up a pair of artsy sneakers.  I scanned for matching pairs, tossing and sorting shoes to the sidewalk to make this a cooperative dumpster delight.

I ended up scoring a pair of brown sandals early on and had a great time joining all these enterprising New Yorkers in getting a great deal!  As we looked for our pairs, people stopped, stared, joined in, took photos and helped others find matching pairs.

As I left in a taxi with my score, I saw the crowd had swelled and wished everyone good luck in finding their next pair *smile*

Are iPhone apps like TaxiMagic perpetuating hate crimes?

Last night I took a taxi home from the Tenderloin to the Mission District.  I had the pleasure of being driven by Mustafa, a relaxed, cheerful older man.  Mustafa shared with me how he no longer feels safe driving his cab after 16 years due to an iPhone app called TaxiMagic.  He’s had at least three bad experiences upon being dispatched to a call that originated from the TaxiMagic iPhone app.

It’s affecting his work focus and earnings and the supervisor won’t help.

I asked Mustafa for permission to record our conversation.

If you have ideas that could help Mustafa, email me adria@butyoureagirl.com

All these things draw big traffic to the top websites listed on Technorati.

photo credit: jorel314

Yesterday I read a wonderful post over at the BlogHer website, Getting Over My Insecurities and Writing Through It which caused this to be my 4th blog post in less than 12 hours!

I want to write.

I want to write something that will make you laugh. I want to write something that will make you cry. I want to write something that will make you nod your head in agreement. I want to write something that will make you shake your fist at your computer monitor in anger. I want to make something that will make you think. I want to write something that will make you appreciate what you have a little bit more.

I want to write something that will make you jealous. I want to write something that will make you want to be my friend. I want to write something that will make you hate me just a little bit. I want to write something that will make you pick up the phone to call someone to tell them you love them. I want to write something that will make you want to hug someone. I want to write something that will make you want to turn on your music and dance all by yourself. I want to write something that makes you wish you were a kid again. I want to write something that makes you want to grow old.

It was really very touching to me because it spoke about what I want to do when I write but sometimes feel like i’m not the best storyteller.  As I write this post, I have 95 posts that have never left draft mode.  I am very thankful that my blog has done well, earning a Google Page Rank of 6 and even got a linkback from Lifehacker for an article on Google Voice a few months back.  The ongoing challenge is making my blogging as free flying as my words, thoughts and actions.

I used to self filter a lot in real life.  I would think of something I wanted to say but hold back for fear of being judged.  It felt like a form of paralysis.  Each time I could tell I  had made the wrong choice because I would dwell on not speaking up.  Sometimes the situations would anger me, other times annoy but any way you cut it, I was not expressing myself to my own satisfaction.  I was able to overcome this by doing things that helped me break free including:

• Improv comedy classes
• Practice saying things before I said them to someoneJ
• Journaling situations I had experienced
• Getting advice from more outspoken people

In 2006, I finally broke free of my life-long, self imposed censorship.  Unfortunately, I realize it has simply manifested in a digital form!  I first noticed it with Lifehacker.

Lifehacker used to require approval before you could leave comments.  I’d found out about it in 2005/2006 and began to follow the delicious ideas of how to use technology to save time.  The concept was entirely new to me and eventually led me to David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity” otherwise known as GTD.  Finally, I worked up the courage to apply to be a commenter and got the above invitation April 13th, 2006.  Boy was I excited!  I was going to be a part of the Lifehacker inner circle!

Guess what?  I got comment stage fright.  That’s right.  I wasn’t even writing the main meat and potatoes blog post and over-analyzed my potential comments to the point where I decided against commenting.  I just didn’t feel what I had to say would add that much value.  Later, I was to learn this is called “Lurking”.  Lurking can be done on:

• email lists
• forums
• blogs
• social networks like Twitter

Back in they days of party lines where multiple homes would share a single line, I’m sure there were lurkers just listening in and not talking.  See I think if I were a guy it would be creepy but since I’m a girl it’s more geeky uncomfortable than creepy.

photo credit: kungfootv
Why is this a problem?  Because part of me wants to engage, to be considered entertaining and funny but other parts want to avoid the spotlight and being noticed.  Twitter has been hugely helpful in helping me.  With a commitment to be transparent on my blog and Twitter, I’ve openly shared thoughts, ideas, goals and intents that I normally would have kept private.  Thankfully, by sharing this information, it has helped me move forward.  People have been supportive, have been able to identify with my struggles and have given good feedback.

I will always be an introvert who prefers to spend time alone but I feel compelled to be more social and over the last two years, I’ve made gigantic leaps as if I were running an Introvert marathon!

Now face face when I’m talking to one other person? I’m golden.  We can laugh, chat, discuss, brainstorm or just sit quietly.

Add a person and now my brain get a bit tangled.  Who to talk to first?  Am I making enough eye contact with the second person?

Add a group and now I actually change from my seemingly outgoing and friendly self into “Super Introvert” where I take the role of listener.  Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because then I ask a lot more questions and make note of who I want to talk to one to one later on.

• How do you deal with small groups vs big groups?

Thankfully, I have some really good friends and folks in my life who are just fine with how I am.  Plus, it has become so much easier than it was a few years ago.  I get frustrated because it’s hard to control my reversion to Introvertism.  It’s sort of like having the hiccups in church.  Some of my friends are real charmers like Brad.  He can walk into a room not knowing anyone and 12 minutes later have a group gathered around him while he and several of them are bellowing with laughter.  He has a true gift.  Hope to connect with him in Las Vegas while I’m there for Blogworld!

And for Lifehacker?  It took me almost a year to post my first comment and made about 30 over 3 years:

That’s it.  That’s my piece.  I’m going to continue efforts to not self censor when writing and continue to read other blogs for inspiration!

Steps

1. Sign into cPanel
2. Go to Databases > phpMyAdmin
3. Choose your database on the left (you can verify which one by looking in your wp-config.php file via ftp)
4. Go to **_options (the default is wp_options but you may have changed your prefix)
5. The SiteURL will most likely be the 2nd row and you will click the pencil to the left to edit
6. Edit the “option_value” box to reflect your correct website address and hit “go”
7. You will get a green confirmation that it was successful

So Lauren, there you go.  Make sure to sign up for my training newsletter to get tips and news on WordPress and business productivity tools.

Let’s take a look at the brief list I put together on ways you can use Twitter for your business.  This is a similar list I go over with my clients to help them think big when we brainstorm.

Taking it from from the aspect of someone working in technology, development, mobile apps to really, any sort of company that provides a product, you can see Twitter is flexible and full of valuable information.

Twitter creates action items for you

1. Questions about your product or service
2. Support issues
3. Feature ideas
4. Bug reports
5. Reaching out to product fans
6. Bringing ideas in for department discussion

People do more than complain and recommend on Twitter.  They laugh, joke, share their adventures, their frustrations and their hopes.  They spread news about politics, natural disasters and the latest leaked tech gadget.  They ask for help, offer it and directly pray to @god for guidance.

With such a vibrant and varied environment, make sure to consider more than just reacting to tweets but being proactive.  Sharing your insights and experiences can go a long way to build relationships on social networks.

Twitter allows you to share

1. Solutions that have worked
2. Problems your product or service solves
3. Feedback on updates in your vertical market
4. How people can connect with your brand an company

Twitter becomes a resource for your entire company including sales, marketing, development, technical support and can have a positive influence on your business strategy.  Twitter is like having your ear on the ground; you can hear change coming.

Everyone sees Twitter differently.  I see it as an opportunity to connect with people worldwide, help others and learn what’s working and what’s not.

photo credit: The Geeker Joy

Public Conferences

• “Professional Blogging: Your Stats Are A Business Asset“

  BlogHer New York City, NY, August 2010

  

• “Google Analytics Demystified”

  Blogalicious Miami, FL, October 2010

  

• “Keeping it Real: How to Land Your Dream Job in Social Media”

  Blogworld, Las Vegas, October 2010

  

Private Conferences

There are also a few private conferences and events I’ll be presenting at

• “The Security of  Digital Health Records”

  Private Conference, Colorado, August 2010

• “Everything To Gain: Utilizing Social Media For Your Organization”

  Private Conference, Alabama, October 2010

The a

Posted via email from Adria Richards. Living Life; Giving Hugs

Shared from Adria’s Posterous site of verbal reflections http://adria.posterous.com

Photo Credit: Jeff Croft

Yesterday I spent my first 4th of July in San Francisco. We had a BBQ here and then some fellow Zendeskians came over and we headed off to visit Clay, our old co-worker who was having a Vegan cookout.

Scene on the rooftop in the Mission – Lot of Googlers since both roommates work there.  Young crowd.  Single + few couples.  Freetime.  Smartphone in your pocket. Burgers.  Hot dogs (kosher?). Sunny.  More beer than the cooler could hold.

Scene at Clay’s in Mission/Noe – Young crowd.  More couples.  Indoors.  A few dogs.  Curios cat feeder.  Agile development. Pet rescue.  Delicious white wine sangria. Jailbreaking.

It’s been almost 5 years since I made a commitment to be more social.  Small talk is still not my favorite thing in the entire world; it’s like a salty drink in the middle of a desert.   This geeky introvert has come a long way from not showing up at parties to seeking them out and *gasp* inviting others to come!

On this day of celebrating freedom, I felt especially appreciative that I even have the CHOICE to focus my attention, future and career.  I was born in New York City at a Jewish Hospital in 1978.   If I were born just 100 – 200 years earlier, I would be disenfranchised due to my race, gender and high falootin’ curiosity about science, technology and trying new things.  That fact that I’m a combination of races could have created even more hardship.  This post was quite a bit longer but I’m going to hold of on the second part while I develop it out a bit.

Be grateful.  Live in the moment.  Appreciate every day you wake up breathing.

photo credit: n. panelo