Monday, May 25, 2009

Support the Social Media Venture Fund

One of the great strengths of the Social Media Club - Cleveland (“SMCC”) is that the club decided early in its development to be a catalyst for the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. As one of the fastest growing social media clubs in the U.S., the SMCC clearly is well positioned to become a voice not only the growing usage of social media but for entrepreneurs as well. 

Last week, in fact, the SMCC had a forum on Cleveland, OH-based social media start-ups - CorkShare, CitizenGroove, GamerTrainer and Within3. All expectations out of the event were that other start-ups were going to begin percolating in Cleveland. I am part of two start-ups (and a third being discussed) that will begin development and beta testing very soon. 

Which leads me to another critical issue that the SMCC has been a key proponent of: the Social Media Venture Fund (“SMVF”). The SMVF was originally conceived as an “ever-green” fund that would raise between $3.0 million and $5.0 million in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio to invest in the fledgling social media industry. The SMCC took it upon itself to apply for Third Frontier Funds from the State of Ohio. Every economic development group that the SMCC took this concept too offered key advice but little in the way of overt support. Based upon the complexity and the very short duration of time that the SMCC had to register with the State of Ohio it was decided to shelve the concept until the fall of 2009. 

That was until the SMCC, after during significant research, discovered an opportunity to request $30,000 in a grant from the Civic Innovation Lab (www.civicinnovationlab.org). These grant dollars would help support the legal fees and consulting fees necessary to successfully launch the SMVF. Today the SMCC is requesting your support for the SMVF. Please email me (mdealoia@mac.com) for a copy of the original Civic Innovation Lab proposal. But more importantly the SMCC and I are asking for you to show support of the SMVF through a twitter campaign. Please tweet about your support of the Fund by using the at-sign designation of @civiclab and the hash-tag sign of #SMVF. 

Key Tweet Nomenclature:

Civic Innovation Lab - @civiclab

Key Hash-Tag Sign - #SMVF

The SMVF would make investments of between $50,000 and $150,000 in social media based start-ups. And with the great wealth of knowledge emanating out from the SMCC - the start-ups would have access to some of the best and brightest in the social media arena. Please get involved today! Make your voice heard so that the SMCC can receive this valuable and necessary grant from the Civic Innovation Lab. The best support of the SMVF must come from the community it desires to serve. This is a critical time for the fund and, indeed, for the future of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Pledge your support today.

Posted by Tech Czar at 21:16:02 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cleveland Professionals Group - Networking Event

My good friend Christopher Ernst of the Cleveland Professionals Group (“CPG”) reached out to me to help publicize the CPG’s fantastic June 4th networking event. The event will help benefit the American Red Cross - which is awesome! So I hope you will join Christopher and the rest of CPG gang on June 4th from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton. 

Tickets in advance are $40 and are $50 the day of the event. Advanced tickets can be purchased at www.clevelandprofessionals.com. 

The CPG is dedicated to empowering professionals and executives to enhance their careers through mentoring, strategic positioning, education, unity and networking. The mission of the CPG is to build and develop a rich community of professionals in the Cleveland-area who are committed to helping one another by sharing their business expertise and knowledge.

Posted by Tech Czar at 18:04:35 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Cleveland’s Social Media Start-ups

I am happy to report that I will be the MC of a great event on May 20th as I and the Cleveland Social Media Club delve into the social media start-ups that are beginning to percolate around the city. I hope you will join me on that date at 6pm at the Peter B. Lewis Building on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. Upon arrival everyone will be offered refreshments in the first floor “glass lounge” courtesy of CorkShare.com. The start-up panel will include:

  • Anthony Broad-Crawford, Within3.com
  • Jim England, CorkShare.com
  • John Heaney, LimeRibbon.com 
  • Kyle Napierkowski, CitizenGroove.com 
  • David Williams, GamerTrainer.com  

Man, you could not have put together a better panel. I am jazzed about this group! So, please join me and Cleveland Social Media Club on May 20th @ 6pm - Case Western Reserve University. Check it out here - http://clevelandsmc.ning.com. 

Posted by Tech Czar at 22:38:04 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Social Media BluePrint - The Movie

Hey, hey kids! Hope you are enjoying a most beautiful day. I am happy to announce that the presentation I was a part of at the 3rd Annual eMarketing Techniques Conference is now available on video. Check out the viewer below. 

Also, check out the PowerPoint presentation on SlideShare (http://tiny.cc/jB0s9). The entire cast of the “Social Media BluePrint” presentation would love to hear your input.

Posted by Tech Czar at 22:08:08 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Social Media BluePrint

Happy to report that the eMarketing Techniques Conference in Cleveland, OH was a huge success. I really enjoyed meeting everyone at the conference. Also, Matt Dickman of Techno-Marketer (http://technomarketer.typepad.com/) did a great plenary session. Had a great audience for the Social Media BluePrint presentation I did with John Heaney of Orange Envelopes (http://orange-envelopes.com/blog/). Special kudos to Bill Russell of CrossFit who lead us through a special case study of how a start-up enterprise can use social media and marketing to generate revenue. 

For those of you who were not able to attend please review the Social Media Presentation at SlideShare: http://tiny.cc/3l6BR. 
Posted by Tech Czar at 21:50:07 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, May 8, 2009

Cleveland’s Take on Social Media

During the April meeting of the Social Media Club - Cleveland, the good people at Thunder::Tech had the great idea of getting some of the local “rock stars” and “evangelists” to talk about and define social media. (Please note a brief cameo by yours truly.) A fantastic video! Really proud of the Social Media Club - Cleveland and all they are doing. Enjoy the video.

Posted by Tech Czar at 13:55:12 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

3rd Annual eMarketing Techniques Conference

Good news everyone - the 3rd Annual eMarketing Techniques Conference in on for May 8th at the Corporate College East in Cleveland, OH. I will be presenting “The Social Media Blueprint” in the third breakout session from 2:45pm - 3:45pm. In this presentation we will be detailing the “holy trivium” of social media and how it can help your company generate recognition and sales leads that will ultimately generate revenue. Please join me - the Tech Czar - and my special guests John Heaney of Orange Envelopes (http://orange-envelopes.com/blog/) and Bill Russell of CrossFit Cleveland (http://www.crossfitcleveland.com/) as they offer provocative lessons in the Social Media Blueprint.

For more check-out this video and I will see you on Friday!

Posted by Tech Czar at 16:19:18 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

NOTACON Cometh!

My good friend Jim Eastman of Notacon is offering a free public preview of the show on April 16th @ 7pm. This event will take place at the Wyndham Hotel in Downtown Cleveland. Outside of meeting just perhaps some of the coolest people on the planet and the Founders of Notacon – you will also get a behind the scenes review of presenters as well as Jason Scott of textfiles.com fame who will provide a cool “insider” presentation at 9pm. Be there, my friends. Did I mention it was free? Big thanks to Jim Eastman who made this happen.
Posted by Tech Czar at 14:40:23 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Social Media Event - Hospitality

Hey kids – I am moderating a great event sponsored by HSMAI – Cleveland and ISES – Cleveland at the Wyndham Hotel @ Playhouse Square. The event is entitled “Social Media in Layman’s Terms,” and will cover the following key questions:

•    How do you maximize your social media outlets?
•    How can you leverage the new way to network?
•    What role does social media play in the events and hospitality industry?

The event is featuring (not only yours truly) but some of Cleveland’s finest social media experts such as:

•    George Nemeth – Optiem
•    Melissa Koski – Edward Howard
•    Matt Dickman – Fleishman Hillard
•    Dominic Litten – Fathom SEO

All the fun starts at 11:30am on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009. Lunch will be provided. $30 for HSMAI memebers and $35 for non-members. To RSVP (and space is limited) please email: hsmaicleveland@gmail.com. This will be a great social media event that will clarify and hone your social media skills.
Posted by Tech Czar at 15:30:34 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, April 10, 2009

Cleveland Entrepreneur’s Club Meeting

The Entrepreneur’s Club of America (“TECA”) of Cleveland luncheons are fast becoming one of downtown’s best places to meet its sharpest minds and find its brightest ideas.  The food, drink and location are excellent. So join us on April 16th @ 11:30 a.m. See register link below.

Past events have featured myself as well as Sam Gerace, Founder of Inventix. Lunch includes the 5-Minute Fast Pitch. This month the 5 minute Fast Pitch is Joe Regallis who will share his latest creation, Flexhire, a niche recruiting system for the retail merchandising and secret shopping industry. Flexhire helps match available personnel to merchandising and secret shopping projects in their area. Joe is also a principal with DataStream Integration, which provides services in the area of retail systems integration.

The Speaker: “What’s it like to be a true serial entrepreneur?” by Bob Schepens, CEO of Drug Free Solutions, NEO, Inc., CEO and Founder of A Job Near You.com, and founder/ CEO at Champion Staffing. Great stuff, Cleveland. Hope you will join us.

Register here, my friends:  https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=19743B82.

Posted by Tech Czar at 22:50:34 | Permalink | No Comments »