Events

Happy New Year all! Below are highlights for January events in LA. February promises to be a packed month with Twiistup Week anchoring many of the activities. As I hear about other events I’ll update this page. Also, a buddy is helping me get a proper calendar set-up. Cheers to a new year, new beginnings and new opportunities! -Nicole

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RECURRING WEEKLY:
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Tuesday’s with Exectec
7:30 PM @ D’Amore’s Pizza Connection on Westwood
1136 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Thursday Lunch
12PM @ Santa Monica/ 3rd
Santa Monica Promenade

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JANUARY EVENTS
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Tuesday, January 6th
Social Media Club LA: Focus on Film
6:30-9:00pm
Blank Spaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 9003

Social Media Club LA focuses on the unique mix of entertainment, technology and culture that makes LA an epicenter of the next evolution of the internet. The LA Chapter was founded in July of 2008.

The upcoming meeting will focus on the effect of social media on the film industry.

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Digital Family Reunion starts at 5pm tomorrow with a line-up of some of LA’s old guard. The VIC folks are coming back to town y’all! Finally.

Inviting early adopters and legacy participants of the Internet 1.0 and today’s digitally apt Internet 2.0 tube dwellers, the DFR will create the optimum conditions for these generations to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large. Attendees will include leaders from all the major industry sectors such as media, entertainment, finance, publishing, venture funding, software, commerce, education, and many more.

Hours: 4:30-11:00 PM
Skirball Cultural Center: 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Here’s the schedule:

5:15pm - 6:45pm/ Theater/Lobby - Town Hall Meeting
+ Interview with Nolan Bushnell by Tony Winders, ValueClick Media
+ Town Hall: Forecasting 2009 - Moderated by Ken Rutkowski, KenRadio.com. Participants: Jason Calacanis, Ted Cohen, Nolan Bushnell, Shawn Gold, Ryan Scott, Joey Tamer, Eric Pulier, and Nelson Gayton

6:45pm - 10:00pm/ Ahmanson Auditorium - Holiday Party
+ Doors open for Party
+ Video Interviews in Lobby
+ Business Card Art Installations - Jungle [8]
+ DJ music on stage - DJ Loomer
+ Jazz music outside - Pasadena Jazz Institute
+ Food, cash bar
+ Social networking

8:00pm - 8:20pm/ Ahmanson Auditorium - Program
+ Carbon Nation - Film trailer presentation
+ Charity Presentations - Causecast.org. Promotion of philanthropic initiatives (Witness, Carbon Nation)
+ Welcome/Thank you - Brad Nye and Kurt Daradics
+ Honor Presentation - Tony Winders. Nolan Bushnell acceptance speech
+ Social Graph Initiation - Business Card installation ritual
+ Past/Present photography montage

Get Tickets Here: http://www.digitalfamilyreunion.net/program.php (DFR30 for $20 off)

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DECEMBER CALENDAR

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The December event calendar is decently busy for LA. The past week I attended three: Dealmaker Media’s “VC Outlook for 2009” roundtable and mixer, Kick-off of Techkaraoke LA and the launch of Girls in Tech LA (followed by a little celebration at the Libertine.) It took me two days to catch up on rest.

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One of the awesome powers of the Internet (and Twitter as a by-product) is the ability to meet and form a relationship with like-minded people, even if you have never met in person.

Al Krueger is one such example for me. He’s a fellow advocate for a call to change in the PR and marketing industries and has been gathering thought leaders and creating discussions around the topic.

His online show, Comet Branding Radio, is a forum for such conversations. Topics are dedicated to “sharing and discussing the progressive and evolving elements of branding, marketing and PR with the people leading the charge, several shows have sprung from memes that have run around the social web about PR.”

Every Wednesday from 9-10 a.m. PST, he hosts guests on a variety of related topics with this week’s show being the third in a series with re-occuring guests (including yours truly) examining the evolving role of PR.

Take a look at Al’s comments about the importance of continuing online conversations into a real-world environment. Please join us for tomorrow’s show and be part of the conversation.

The Changing Role of Public Relations as Media Evolves and Why Social Media is Not Killing PR

Brian Solis — Blogger, PR 2.0 and Bub.blicio.us; Author “Now is Gone” and Principal of FutureWorks
Jennifer Leggio — Blogger, ZDnet.com and Director of Strategic Communications, Fortinet
Nicole Jordan — Blogger, Bub.blicio.us, KickingSand.com and PR Director, The Rubicon Project

A particular conversation last night sparked an expanded thought process to a topic I touched on earlier.

–Nothing beats the bond of a real world experience between a company and a brand in whatever form that takes.–

No doubt that online is a crucial conduit to a steady flow of information and insights but there are certain nuances that are missed when not also connecting in person. Focus groups, in-person events, sponsorships, experiential marketing, “street teams;” they are all additional relations efforts to connect with consumers and discover truths that will help the company better relate and develop a better user experience. The combination of utilizing both is what’s accelerating the new world order of “PR.” Both communication streams (online and offline) are necessary to connect with consumers in a truly lasting way.

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I’m still figuring out how to integrate a calendar on the site so in the mean time here’s the master list I put together for the SoCal FB group. I tried to send it out to the list but seems some list URL’s were blocked as spam…so until I find another work around it will live here. Happy holidays!

Technorati Profile
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RECURRING WEEKLY:
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Tuesday’s with Exectec
7:30 PM @ D’Amore’s Pizza Connection on Westwood
1136 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Thursday Lunch
12PM @ Santa Monica/ 3rd

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DECEMBER CALENDAR
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Monday, December 1st – Tuesday, December 2nd
3D Entertainment Summit
Hyatt Century Plaza
Los Angeles, CA

3D Entertainment Summit is totally focused on how the 3D entertainment transformation is going to affect the business of entertainment attracting decision makers from theater owners, filmmakers directors, writers, talent executives, studio executives, pre & post production personnel, specialists in playback and distribution, business management, video game development executives, motion picture and TV engineers and financial analysts, media and the press.

See schedule here
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Tuesday, December 2nd

Dealmaker Media LA
VC OUTLOOK ‘09: If You Need Funding, You’re F%#$*d…Or Are You?
Roundtable 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Mixer 7:30pm - 9:00pm

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
11355 West Olympic Boulevard 10th FL
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Join some of LA’s most experienced investors and founders for a “get real” discussion about what it’ll take to grow in a down market.

Moderator:
Mike Jones, CEO, Tsavos

Speakers:
Nate Redmond, Partner, Rustic Canyon Ventures
Richard Wolpert, Managing Director, the Mailroom Fund
Jim Armstrong, Managing Director, Clearstone Venture Partners
Mark Suster, Partner, GRP Partners

Register here
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This article first appeared on Bub.blicio.us on August 13th, 2008. Since that time I’ve heard a tremendous amount of feedback from fellow PR and Marketing professionals who struggle with this very thing- gaining acceptance of PR’s expanding role into the realm of marketing and branding.

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This article has been brewing in my mind for five years but it just kind of sat there, not taking shape, only growing larger in substance. Two blog posts this week have kicked my ass in to gear to finally get initial thoughts down on (e)paper.

Steve Rubel, prominent blogger and, dare I say, PR person, started it off with this. Then Arrington followed up with this.

Both completely reinforce what I’ve long believed:

PR has a branding crisis.

I’ve been in Tech PR for 10 years. I studied PR and communications in college after finding a natural affinity towards the field. The first 6 ½ years of my career was at PR agencies in Silicon Valley, beginning in 1998 right during the hay day. The only thing that mattered was getting press coverage. Everything moved so quickly that the way you proved immediate results for that boat load of money they were throwing at you was by the thud factor, or clip book, as it’s more commonly known.

There was no patience for PR strategy that involved developing deep relationships with customers to turn them into advocates for your brand. The Internet was pretty nascent to most of America so there was no reaching customers directly or being in engaged in blogging and social media. It was all press all the time. With some analysts thrown in for endorsement.

After only four years into my PR career I saw how narrow the definition of “PR” was. Clients would come to us to promote their companies but it was always through the media and rarely through non-traditional “PR” avenues. I witnessed time after time the demand from my clients for creativity in campaigns and promoting the company but some of the best ideas generated to directly connect with the audience were shot down if it didn’t guarantee press coverage. This, to me, missed the point of what PR should ultimately be used for.

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