hawaii Archives - Stay N Alive

Want to Come to Hawaii? I’ve Got a Great Excuse for You

I hear there’s no better time to visit Hawaii than October.  It’s just when things are starting to get cold in many states in the U.S., and I hear the weather is great there. On October 5, I’m going to be speaking at the Hawaii Social Media Summit at the Ala Moana Hotel, and I’ve got a great excuse to get you there.  Well, 2 great reasons: $97 and Double Bonus Miles on Delta.

My co-presenter (“co” meaning we’re each presenting at the same conference, not together in case anyone was confused), Andy Beal (MarketingPilgrim), put it quite well in stating that a conference like this normally, just for entrance, costs around $2,000 or more to get in.  You’ll join myself, and world-renowned speakers such as Andy Beal and Roxanne Darling and others as we talk on the technologies, techniques, and strategies you need to know to figure out how to use this thing called Social Media and turn it into profit for your business.  The title of my presentation is “From Fishers to Farmers – Bringing Your Brand to Your Customers Using Social Technologies”, and I’ll be showing you all the techniques I use with the businesses and brands I work with in order to integrate Social technologies into your own brand and website, and how you can gain full penetration of your brand on the social networks you participate in.  Roxanne is one of the best at viral video I know, and you can learn a ton from what she’s presenting with “Use Video and Go to the Head of the Class”.  Andy Beal is perhaps one of the top Marketers in the world and he’ll be speaking about “Reputation Management and Monitoring”.  In addition, you’ll get to hear from other experts in the industry who have all achieved top honors in their field.

Here’s the excuse you should pitch to your employer:

A typical conference of this caliber costs $2,000+.  Web 2.0 Expo at the end of this month in New York is $4-5,000 full price.  Hawaii Social Media Summit is just $97.  My plane ticket costs about $500, round trip (and I even got that non-stop from Utah).  If you search Craigslist, you can find rental apartments for around $100/night.  $97+$500+2 nights at $100 = Just about $800, a fraction of the cost of a typical conference plus hotel!  And as a bonus for you, Delta is currently offering Double Bonus Points for trips anywhere in the Continental U.S. to Hawaii between now and November.  So around $800 plus double bonus points for the entire trip is a steal!  Not to mention you get to stay in Hawaii!

Anyway, I don’t mean to be pitchy on this blog – I don’t get paid for this, other than my travel being covered (and a great getaway with my wife).  I just thought Andy Beal made a great point – this is an opportunity many of you shouldn’t pass!  Will you be there?

You can register here.  See you there!

Aloooha!

It has been probably 20 years since I last visited Hawaii.  On April 29 through May 1 I’ll be joining my Hawaiian friends at Next Level Hawaii in a weekend of Social Media goodness, and the best of strategies surrounding Social Technology.  My friends, Aaron Brazell (@technosailor), Micah Baldwin (@micah), and Chris Pirillo (@chrispirillo) will also be speaking.  I’m also excited to meet Geoff Livingston (@geoffliving), a well known D.C.-based blogger and PR Guru.

I was around 10 or 11 years old the last (and first) time I visited Hawaii.  My Dad grew up there, and my memories are still very fond of the area, based on my own experiences and my Dad’s stories from when he was a child in Hawaii (my Grandfather helped with the movie, Johnny Lingo, for those familiar with it).  I will always remember how welcoming the people were, even from just those memories of when I visited as a child.  That’s why I jumped on the opportunity to speak when invited.  I can’t wait to visit again and meet many of my Hawaiian readers and followers, as well as some of you I have met at conferences on the mainland USA.

My talk will have the title, “From Fishers to Farmers: Using Social Technologies on your own website to Engage, Build Traffic, and Spread Word about your Brand or Product”, and I hope to explain some of the benefits of technologies such as Facebook Connect and Twitter’s @Anywhere, as well as Google’s Friend Connect, when building a brand website.  I can’t wait to meet each of you and share this topic near and dear to my heart.  I’ll have another announcement on this blog very shortly surrounding this exact subject.

So if you’re in or around Honolulu, or you just want an excuse to get away (I hear it’s beautiful this time of year), please register here and come see me!  If you see me at the conference, please don’t hesitate to introduce yourself and say hi.