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Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast Tour

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Boston is a great place to be if your job revolves around social media. Each month you can count on multiple events taking place, and all of them are supported by a tight-knit bunch of social media and PR professionals.

One such event is the Social Media Breakfast, which was the brainchild of Boston’s own Bryan Person. Bryan founded the concept of the Social Media Breakfast in 2007 and has successfully organized four events to date. His fifth is scheduled for February 13th in Cambridge, Massachusetts and reservations quickly filled up in a few days. Jeff Pulver also brought his flavor of social media to Boston in 2007 in the form of his “Real-Time Social Networking” event which he started in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The concept is simple. Take online activities like “tagging” or posting on your friend’s wall and apply them to a real person! Jeff provides small stickers for real-time tagging and Post-It notes for people who want to post to each other’s walls. His first of these events in Bean-town was a well received evening affair at Vox Populi. His second was a mash-up between between Bryan’s SMB concept and his own real-time networking idea. Are you ready to move to Boston yet?

Fortunately for those outside of Boston, Jeff has begun taking the Person/Pulver mash-up on the road as “Breakfast with Pulver (and friends).” Scheduled dates for February include:

A date for San Jose, California is also scheduled for March 17th, but will be specifically for friends attending the Spring 2008 VON.x Conference. Additional events for Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, Montreal, Nashua, London (UK) and more are being planned for futures dates. A Facebook account is required to get more details on each event and to RSVP.

Employees of PerkettPR will be at Jeff’s Breakfast in Providence on the February 12th as well as Bryan’s Social Media Breakfast in Cambridge on the 13th. I highly recommend attending one or more of the events if you reside in or near any of the cities listed. Its guaranteed to be great time filled with food, fun and networking. Besides, where else can you cover someone with stickies in public and get away with it?!

Crunchies or Crashies?

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Crunchies or Crashies, call them what you like..either way call it an entertaining evening in San Francisco on Friday.

The Crunchies 2007

Attending the Crunchies was a great way to end a very busy work week. Upon arriving at the Herbst Theatre it was clear the bubble was back in full effect (or on its way to bursting, according to the usual cynics and of course the Richter Scales). Though the exuberance was rational, there were some flash signs of the days of old, the folks from Tesla Motors had one of their super-spendy electric cars parked out in front of theatre (who said you had to sacrifice sophistication to go green?) and there were massive search lights attracting passers-by and pointing them in the right direction to tech party fun. The camera crews from the local broadcast stations and video bloggers like PopSnap’s Sarah Myers were circling Michael Arrington, and others, to get some good pre-awards ceremony sound bytes and, of course, the usual party crashers were there too.

As with other TechCrunch events, the place was filled with overly enthusiastic students and bloggers, budding entrepreneurs and established CEOs, as well as the marketing and PR folks like us doing their best to network while juggling flashing mobile devices, handshakes and a drink, pre-ceremony. All of us were in the same boat with our thoughts though, hoping to see our company or client take home one of the coveted Crunchie monkey statues, or, at the very least, be entertained on a Friday night — and that we were. Check out this hilarious (though somewhat vulgar) acceptance speech video from the fake Steve Jobs (Dan Lyons). Apparently no one from Apple was available to attend the ceremony and accept the award so the Crunchies had a great laugh at their expense, and so did the rest of us! Also check out the Cool Whip response from Twine in the first set of video interviews section — very funny guy. The Richter Scales also had us laughing with their catchy tech party song, Here Comes Another Bubble.

Arrington along with Om Malik (who courageously still made it on stage 15 days post heart surgery), Matt Marshall and Richard MacManus were all gracious hosts and entertaining presenters. The event flowed just as well as any other first-year awards ceremony, with a few hiccups, that Arrington was the first to point out and remedy, (like never, ever leaving the stage empty), and the unscripted “Blogger Bash” panel, moderated byDan Farber, that was a bit rushed. All in all, that the event was a great success for the four blogs that hosted, all the companies that were nominated, and for those that won the coveted, crazy monkey “Crunchie.” And for the rest of us, the night was a chance to celebrate what a cool and crazy year in tech it has been. It was great to see the tremendous amount of activity that has happened in tech this year culminate in one nicely put together event. Congratulations to all the winners, and look forward to seeing you all at the next big valley celebration sometime soon.

Thanks to Mike, Om, Matt, and Richard for hosting all of us tech geeks and reminding us what a great ride it’s been –so far (I mean the second time) ☺!

PerkettPR speaks with Mark Pascarella, CEO of Gotuit at TechCrunch Boston

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TechCrunch Boston was a great place to meet new people and to connect with old friends and clients, like the focus of today’s blog entry and interview, Mark Pascarella, CEO of Gotuit Media, a former client and sometimes project partner of ours. We’ve been big fans of Gotuit for a few years now and loved hearing about the recent successes they have been experiencing in the mobile space with the NFL Fantasy Football application through Sprint, their recent selection as Streaming Media Magazine’s 2007 Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Search and Indexing Platform” and their very impressive work with Sports Illustrated and Fox Reality Channel.

Check out our interview with Mark to hear more about what Gotuit has been up to, and why they came to network at the TechCrunch Boston MeetUp.

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Sarah Wurrey Dishes on PR, Technology and Social Media from TechCrunch Boston

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More from our TechCrunch interview series. Today’s subject is Sarah Wurrey, who writes for BlogString.com. Sarah shares her opinions and insights on PR, social media and technology – and whether or not traditional media will be overrun by the blogosphere.

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PerkettPR TechCrunch Interviews – Sarah Meyers of PopSnap

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We continue with another interview from TechCrunch Boston. Today’s subject is Sarah Meyers. Sarah is a very ambitious, intelligent and admirable woman who had an early claim to fame for sneaking in to one of the earlier TechCrunch MeetUp events in Silicon Valley – and getting booted. The next year she was invited personally and has since gone on to grace the videos, blog posts and more of many infamous social media and technology pundits including Justin.TV, Dan Lyons (aka Fake Steve Jobs), Robert Scoble, David Berlind of ZDNet and more. She is often found with a video camera and microphone, interviewing and recording various emerging start ups, conferences, events and more – and has been called her own personal TV channel.

Sarah is building a great brand for herself with her insightful and consistent analysis of the tech market. She is a great example of how today’s social media can help you build a brand – and eventually a company – around nothing but your own hard work and tenacity. Keep up the great work, Sarah!

You can watch Sarah live at her lifecast or keep up via her YouTube Channel or new videocast company, PopSnap. Or, if you prefer print, read her blog.

For our interview with Sarah, click below. (Apologies for the dark qualities – our videographer failed to show up so we had to work impromptu with our digital cameras!)

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Thanks, Boston – TechCrunch MeetUp Success!

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We are recovering from a busy week that culminated in the TechCrunch Boston MeetUp last Friday. We are very proud of the way the event turned out – in addition to helping the TechCrunch gang plan, promote and secure sponsors, we participated as one ourselves and also helped launch two new clients, Moola and Mzinga, at the event. Among the sea of people we met a lot of intelligent, enthusiastic and zealous Web 2.0 entrepreneurs. From those still in business school to old clients and colleagues we hadn’t seen in years, it was a wonderful place to connect with the Boston tech community.

Some of our favorites – in addition to our own clients, of course – were Punchbowl, SnapYap, UpNext and Mogility as well as individuals, bloggers and reporters including, of course Mike, Heather Harde and Erick Schonfeld, Sarah Wurrey and Nate Burke of BlogString, the infamous Chris Brogan, Scott Monty, John Puskarich of Bountii, Wade Roush, David Cutler (who got Christine Perkett to do her first Utter!) Julia Roy, Amanda Mooney, Chris Herot, Brian Costello and Matt Hillery, Tracy Brady of Referral Key, David Aronoff, Kate Castle and Chip Hazard of IDG Ventures Boston, Sangita Chandra and Jason Potts of Chronicle/WCVB-TV and many, many more. Thank you everyone for attending, chatting and connecting!

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In addition to Twittering updates from the party, we spent a good deal of time in the lit-up PerkettPR Lounge – interviewing attendees about what they do, why they were attending the party and what they thought about the tech market’s future. We will feature these interviews over the next couple of weeks. Img_2287

Today we begin with Mike Arrington – we wanted to know what he thought of Boston and the tech market in general. One of his most interesting comments was in regards to the Boston tech community and how we should self-organize more to connect and support all the entrepreneurial spirit in the city. At PerkettPR, we’ve seen more of this happen as we continue to get involved in the social networking community here and expand our relationships both online and off. It’s been a great experience meeting so many intelligent people who are passionate about technology. We look forward to continuing the dialogue in many ways in 2008 – in Boston and beyond.

Click below to see Mike’s interview.

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A Busy Week – Heading to College, Making Moola and Hosting a TechCrunch Martini Lounge

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This week is shaping up to be very busy and exciting for the staff at PerkettPR. Not only are we finalizing our sponsorship presence for TechCrunch MeetUp Boston this Friday, but we are also launching two new clients at the event and promoting CollegeWeekLive – taking place this Tuesday and Wednesday, November 13 and 14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, we are looking forward to the launch of CollegeWeekLive – the biggest virtual college fair ever with over 10,000 students, parents and guidance counselors attending, including many from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

CollegeWeekLive enables students to “visit” multiple colleges in just two days – they can connect with current college students, guidance counselors, admissions experts and more in a live, interactive environment. The event is geared toward enhancing the process of choosing a college that’s best for the student – all from the their home computer. It will feature many great sessions to help today’s college-bound student make better choices. For more information, check out the agenda.

 

 

Over 75 colleges from over 35 states are signed up to-date, including Air Force Academy, Bentley, Central Connecticut State, Northeastern University, Tufts University, University of Buffalo, University of Texas and more.

Secondly, on Friday we will be at TechCrunch Boston MeetUp at Estate in Boston. We will be helping clients Moola and Mzinga launch – please stop by and see what they are all about. They will both be providing demos and some interactive fun as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are a reporter, blogger or analyst covering social networking, online gaming, advergaming, online collaboration or community, and would like a pre-launch briefing to learn more, please email me at chris[at]perkettpr.com.

 

If you are attending the party, please stop by the PerkettPR Martini Lounge and find out what all the buzz is about. More details coming later this week. See you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow us – @PerkettPR – on Twitter – for live updates and interviews from the party!

Congratulations Boston Red Sox – World Series Champs!

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world series Top news of the day!

After a four game sweep, Boston’s beloved Red Sox are headed home as World Series Champions. They took the series with ease over the Colorado Rockies.

Congratulations from our team to yours! Go Red Sox!

Boston Bloggers Dinner Was Invaluable

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A few of us attended the Boston Blogger Dinner at Rattlesnake last night – hosted by EMC and Jeremiah Owyang (former blogger now turned Forrester analyst – cool).

It was a great event! I was blown away by the awesome passion and intelligence in the room. So many of these folks have “chucked” their day jobs (realtor, designer, marketer, etc.) and found a way to monetize their interest in social media. It was really inspiring to meet everyone and they convinced me to join the Twitter community – for which I am so grateful (although it can be too addicting, it’s a great resource community already).

We met a couple of great BU students who are, unfortunately for us, interns at another PR company (although we don’t hire interns). I was really interested by their passion and foresight – how many University students have had the insight to post thoughtful commentary and content on their Facebook page rather than simply party pictures or to join a Boston Bloggers Dinner in lieu of local bar hopping with their classmates? These ladies – Amanda and Amanda – impressed us enough to make us reconsider our stance on accepting interns at the firm. They were bright, engaged and very plugged in – who couldn’t benefit from working with them?

We met a few people who we had wanted to connect with after reading their blogs. Julia Patricia Roy, Carlie Flossberg and Laura Athavale Fitton – all super smart ladies rocking the social media world.

For more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffglasson/sets/72157602524956994/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/sets/72157602518854364/

 

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PerkettPR Helps TechCrunch Bring MeetUp 11 to Boston

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Grouop_at_tc The team here is really excited to be working with the TechCrunch gang, and their co-host IDG Ventures, to bring the respected MeetUp parties to Boston November 16. We have been busy over the last month or so planning venues, confirming sponsors and brainstorming with Jeanne Logozzo to pull the MeetUp 11 party together. We’re proud to welcome Mike Arrington, Heather Harde and new Co-Editor Erick Schonfeld to our beautiful city and we intend to work very hard to help them make this the best TechCrunch event yet.

 

 

Like last time, PerkettPR will be in full force with a thirst-quenching station. We hope to see you all there! If you are interested in sponsorships, let us know or contact Jeanne directly.

 

 

 

Don’t forget, the MeetUps tend to sell out rather quickly so watch the site today to get yours – the first 250 will be available today through EventBrite.

 

Details:

Date: November 16, 2007
Time: 6 – 11 pm
Location: The Estate; 1 Boylston Place (Maps: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo)
Register here through EventBrite, based on availability

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