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A Tale of Two Breakfasts

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While working for a virtual company is an altogether fantastic experience, it’s not uncommon for a little “cabin fever” to set in every now and then. Escaping from the home office for client meetings or networking events can offer a nice change of pace. This week I was able to venture out for some [quite cold] fresh air to attend a pair of Social Media Breakfast events here on the East coast.

Pancakes with Pulver

Brickway on WickendenTuesday morning brought me to Providence, Rhode Island to participate in one of the stops on Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast Tour. The Brickway on Wickenden was the perfect location (thanks to Sara Streeter) for the small turnout of folks ready for social media conversation. The smaller head count allowed for a much more intimate series of conversations.

A highlight of the morning was a challenge offered up by Jeff Pulver. It involved creating a brand new word to describe the experience of meeting someone online and then later on in real life. The word could not already exist and had to be capable of being used as a verb. We came up with quite a few candidates during the 2 hour session and were even able to get some instant feedback on our creations from the BlogTV chat room while Jeff streamed the entire breakfast live via EVDO. The search for that perfect word is being continued on various blogs as well as Facebook.

Muffins with Mavens

Wednesday morning not only brought Bryan Person’s Social Media Breakfast 5 event to the S & S Restarant in Cambridge, but it brought an ugly mix of snow and rain that attempted to slow down the early commute. Despite the tricky traveling, the event was very well attended. It was nice to see a good number of new faces in the crowd along with the regular set of social media mavens.

SMB5 was sponsored by our client, Mzinga, and featured a series of 5-minute speeches from Scott Monty, Doug Haslam, Jim Storer and Laura Fitton on how Twitter has changed their lives. Each presenter brought a unique and engaging story to their discovery, use and love for Twitter. Steve Garfield was able to provide a live broadcast of each speaker via his Nokia N95 for those who were challenged by the weather.

In addition to the numerous still photos that were taken at the event, I was able to capture footage of the speeches. You’ll find the speech by Mzinga’s Jim Storer below. Links to additional media created from the event can be found in the round-up post on socialmediabreakfast.com.


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!