Wow - is it already March?  I can’t believe the event was almost four months ago.  Time flies…I have been wanting to write for a while, but have been holding off as I wanted to clear all monies before doing so.  It is now way past due so I just decided to post the numbers AS IS, and if/when the last check comes in, I will update the spreadsheet to close the door on this puppy.

Once the Eventbrite and Paypal fees were cleared and the donations made, the event ended with a net profit of $475.40.  Overall, I think we budgeted well, and looking back – I am really happy with the way the money was spent (even the $6k bar bill for the After Party).  And the thing we really ‘splurged’ on (American Apparel t-shirts) is the one thing I still receive comments on today, so I am happy we made that decision.

The event was an interesting one as we tried to blend the structure of a conference with the fly by the seat of your pants model found in unconferences everywhere.  I think there were some definite successes, and there were some absolute failures, but all of it a learning experience for everyone involved and I think we are better for it.  I still like the idea of blending the two models, but some tweaks are to be made if we decide to go for Web 2point3 this year (up for discussion).

One thing I know for sure – we would not have been able to do any of it without the amazing support of our volunteers – and I need to give props out to two of them specifically as they were my guardian angels during the two day event at Microsoft – a huge ‘thank you’ to the wonderful Sarah Dopp and to C. Lee (sorry C, I don’t have a link for you  :/).  You guys were amazing and I cannot thank you enough for lending me (personally) the support that you did.

And while I am on the topic of thanking people…big love to all the folks who joined us for the two day event.  We had over 150 people registered from five countries.  Thank you for your input.  Thank you for your support.  Thank you for participating.

I would also like to give mad props to our sponsors.  Without their support, both financial and moral, the event would not have taken place so we owe you the biggest debt of grattitude.  So, in alphabetical order, we thank: Blue Whale Labs, BuzzLogic, Factiva, Fleishman Hillard, France Telecom (Orange), Furl/Looksmart, FutureWorks, Israel Chamber of Commerce, Joyent, LaughingSquid, LockerGnome, Loomia, Microsoft, Mighty Leaf, MobiTV, No Starch Press, Odesk, Personal Bee, Photobucket, Rate It All, Scripting News, SimplyHired.com, Social Media Club, SpotDJ, Tangler, Well.com (Salon), Wordpress, and Yahoo!.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

Ok.  I think I will call this one a wrap.

• Leave a comment...

We have about 40 shirts left over from the event last week and I am offering them up for sale here. They are American Apparel* brand, and are $20/each plus $3.95 S&H (includes insurance) for a total of $23.95 per shirt. All proceeds will go to funding future BrainJams and Social Media Club events around the world.

This is a limited edition, with only 200 made and we currently have the following sizes available (I will update the sizes once the stock is sold out):

MENS - (12) Large, (12) XL, (10) 2XL
WOMENS - (7) XL

* American Apparel tends to run a little small, so a womens XL is more like a M-L.

If you would like to order one, please send the appropriate dollar amount through Paypal to events [at] socialmediaclub [dot] com and note ‘Web22 shirt’, the size you would like and whether you want a MENS or a WOMENs in the description. The shirt(s) will be mailed the next business day.

If you have any questions, or would like to pay via cash (local to San Francisco only) or check, please contact me at kristie [at] brainjams [dot] org.

And thanks again to Greg Narain (Social Roots / Blue Whale Labs) who designed the shirts (and our brochure) for us. You rock Greg!

• Leave a comment...

I have been swamped and have not had a time to write up the notes from the event, but will be wokring on that task and catching up by the end of the week, including posting the audio we captured from a few sessions.  In the meantime, you may be interested in seeing some of the photos from our two days together…

Many thanks to everyone who participated and extra thanks to all the great sponsors who made it all possible!

• Leave a comment...

Heather Gold led the discussion. People are missing quality connections, meaningful conversations online. If you have a deep conversation with someone face to face, can you continue that online? Can you have such a deep connection when you meet online?

Gail Williams: I see the words friend and community used to describe database divisions.

Shannon Clark: People in online communities who are bound together will almost inevitably reach out on other levels. The ones that last are the ones where there’s at least one in-person interaction. People you’ve had a meal with, whose house you’ve slept in are the ones you can build that relationship with.

Paul Clegg: Some email mailing lists simply have a friendlier tone, where it’s accepted that you can be off-topic once in a while, without getting slapped down.

Nevio: Five minutes with someone on the phone can be electric and I can feel completely understood. Because we talk about the things that really matter to me.

Susan Kuchinskas (Me): It’s about disclosure. If I tell you something personal and you accept it, I feel closer to you. Whether it’s me posting something dumb on a technical mailing list and others kindly answering my question instead of being snarky or saying something more personal.

Heather: When I do comedy and I do something to make someone shy open up, that opens up the room faster. Intentional sincerity.

Al Chang: Lightweight connection tools like LinkedIn or MySpace are a nice and easy way to maintain contact. MySpace provides a low-cost way to check in with someone, give them a light touch, let them know I was thinking about them.

Gina: I think it needs to be a private space, one where I know that not only will I be accepted and not slapped down, but also where I know that everyone in the world isn’t going to read it.

David: I’ve never had a close relationship with someone I haven’t met in person. It will never happen.

Gail: I have.

Gina: With Post Secret, I feel like I’ve had intimate experiences with people just by looking at what they made.

Paul: The failures in the last few years are the companies that think social networking is an application. LinkedIn is successful because it has a layer of jobs, it uses social networking to achieve a goal.

Heather: We have such a commercialized life, and the web is amplifying the idea that it’s only specific connections that link us together. I’d like to connect across differences.

Paul: People go to these sites for affirmation.

Heather: People can get more affirmation from their personal relationships.

Gail: Yes, but some people may have all the intense personal relationships they need, and they go online for something a little lighter.

Nevio: Some people love the lightweight connections because it’s too heavy to have this friendship workload.

Heather: We’ve forgotten the reason we talked to each other was to know each other.

– Susan Kuchinskas

Technorati tag: web22

• Leave a comment...

So that it is clear that we don’t just get together to blow hot air, we wanted to do something  that brought participation and creative collaboration into the unconference.  Skittles and Sketches is a sketch comedy contest around the idea of Web two-dot-OHHHHH.  We have asked unconference participants to:

1. Find a team
2. Find a theme
3. Live the dream (of being a video star)

So tomorrow at 5PM, coinciding with the start of the  Bubble Free Pub Crawl (some free beer here to kick it off), participants will be presenting their sketches.  The winning team, as judged by the audience, will receive a $250 cash prize. So let the creative comedy begin!

• Leave a comment...