Successful Blog

SOBCon09 … Words and Images of the IRL-ROI

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SOBCon09!! Thank YOU

The theme of SOBCon09 was the ROI of Relationships. We underscored the importance of relationships in business and had a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that.

On Monday @swoodruff asked, “Have you recovered from SOBCon09 yet?”

My answer was simple, “Who’d want to recover from that?” We all experienced the IRL-ROI — The In Real Life Return on Investment of Relationships. How do I describe a community a great minds working and shining side-by-side? I’m working on it. Until then, here’s what some folks have already said.

Top100 blogs in SOBCon09 Category by invesp consulting
Very cool set of charts ranking the blogs of SOBCon09

8 ways social media can learn from church
Let me suggest 8 lessons you may want to consider as you expand your social media efforts.
1. Great stories stick …

Be Nice
It may sound simple, over-simplified in fact, but it is actually not natural for humans these days. But one thing I can tell you for sure: I have been to a lot conferences (although only one other blogging one) and many networking events, and I have never had such an easy time speaking with and connecting to people.

What a Social Media Experience: 150 People In a Room Tweeting and Learning
I took a deep breath. I had come home. This was the kind of social media conference I had been looking for. This was going to be a blast.

What I Learned at SOBCon – Day 1
Zena Weist presents @jenchicago’s awesome video

Places to learn and meet
A thoughtful reflection on two meaningful connections and even more places to find content from the event.

Business Blogging Tips from SOBCon 09
It was a full 3 days, lots of talking, learning, photos, videos so getting interviews felt like a challenge for me.

Building Relationships Online? Meet Their Hierarchy of Needs
But, how do you build a relationships that only happen online? When Terry Starbucker spoke this past weekend at SOBCON, he listed the steps when approaching someone online in order to build a successful relationship.

CityChicOnAFarm goes to a Blogging Conference (SOBCon)
This CityChicOnAFarm was totally intimidated at first and thought “I soooo don’t belong here,” but after it got started and I started meeting many of the other attendees I realized I definitely needed to be there.

How Can You Change What You’re Afraid of?
This weekend, I was blessed with the wisdom, expertise, time, and friendship of more people than I have space to acknowledge here. I cannot begin to put a value on the support I received or the help I was given. I deserve none of it. I am no more special than anyone else and yet I walk away having been given priceless gifts. I doubt I could ever thank people enough.

SOBCon Synthesis: The Rise of the Digiloggers
What SOBCon is creating, in my view, is a new breed of businessperson – the “Digilogger“.
A Digilogger is someone, or a company, who can successfully synthesize what has and always will work on the “analog” side of the fence and blend it seamlessly with the digital tools we now have at our disposal.

Thank you everyone especially you, Terry, for the experience of a life, a heart, and mind.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We're Talking about Content Ideas!

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

Need Some Ideas?

Content defines who we are. What we write about is our expertise and our relevance. We become our words and our statements online. And as online presence becomes a stronger part of business, business becomes more about publishing ideas.

Oh, and bring links for ideas.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Thanks to Week 184 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe SOBCon09 Edition!!

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The SOBCon Speaker Specials this Week are

Chris Brogan
We face moments in our lives all the time when risk is the gating factor. Do we dive off the bridge like our friends, or just stay put? Do we seek out that mortgage we can’t exactly cover? Should you quit your job, even though you’re not sure where the next check will come from?

Confidence is about taking a risk and seeing it pay off, or taking a risk, failing, and moving on from the failure.

Brian Clark
Have you ever noticed when a new free report is announced online, it’s often pitched as “controversial” and “likely to upset people,” but mostly, it’s not controversial at all?

David Bullock
Face the facts. There is no way to manage time itself. You can’t move 2pm to 9am just because you want to. You can’t stretch an hour by 5 minutes. Oh, but I wish I could. And I bet that if you had the “magic power” you would manipulate time too.

Lorelle VanFossen
Isn’t that where everyone starts? Totally clueless. Everyone is talking blog this, blog that, social media, Twitter, Flickr, tweet, but really, until you dig in, you have little understand about what this bloggy thing is all about.

Terry Starbucker
As a “Baby Boomer”, I’m old enough to remember a world without computers, the Internet, blogging and social media – the days of pencils, paper, stamps, payphones, rotary dialing, social centers, happy hours, discos, and all the other “analog” ways we used to communicate and meet up with each other.

Chris Garrett
Social Media is not just a new bull horn for the loud and abrasive sales types to use to make our ears bleed some more. If you go against what people want and need then don’t expect to get great results.

Geoff Livingston
I know how human I am. And I fear that my personality while clearly me and not contrived, will in some way eclipse, or worse, harm a client or my company. Because, yeah, I do screw up just like everyone else.

Jason Falls
What this piece, and a lot of the accompanying statistics, might indicate is that our society is waking up from the self-indulgent bender of the last 50 years and shifting to a more sensible way of living. What that might mean to marketers is that premium is no longer chic.

KD Paine
Richard Stacy has written a great post about how all the people wringing their hands about Social Media Measurement are looking at the wrong thing.

I would take it one step further and argue that all of marketing is looking at the wrong things.

Related ala carte selections include

Give someone a hug today!
Two people will depart in a small prop plane, to fly 31,000 miles around the world, stopping in 50 locations on a 5-month tour to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and share $1,000,000 with important causes…

Oh and..

Visit the SOBCon09 Blog to see what’s going on !

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Mic Is On: We're Talking SOBCon09!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Who, What, When, Where, Why and What’s for You?

The event that started right here in the comment box is taking place for the third year in Chicago this week. Stop by to add a word or two or to find out what will be happening that you might want to pay attention to.

  • How’d it get started?
  • Who’s going to be there?
  • Who are those speakers?
  • What will the sponsors be doing?
  • What’s happening for the folks who can’t go?

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links of memories or bring your questions.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We're Talking SOBCon09!

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

Who, What, When, Where, Why and What’s for You?

The event that started right here in the comment box is taking place for the third year in Chicago this week. Stop by to add a word or two or to find out what will be happening that you might want to pay attention to.

Oh, and bring links of memories or bring your questions.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?