Are you part of the unGeeked Elite?
media sponsor:
Mashable
Mashable (@Mashable ) – 15% off early bird and regular registrations. Use code:unGeekedMashable
Founded in 2005, Mashable is the top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture. With more than 30 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific news site reporting breaking web news, providing analysis of trends, reviewing new Web sites and services, and offering social media resources and guides. Mashable’s audience includes early adopters, social media enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, influencers, brands and corporations, marketing, PR and advertising agencies, Web 2.0 aficionados and technology journalists. Mashable is also popular with bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users — an increasingly influential demographic.
The Social CMO ( @TheSocialCMO ) – 10% off early bird and regular registrations. Use code: THESOCIALCMO
The Social CMO where the medium is the messages. Tweetsourcing only the best content for CMO and Chief Marketing Officers from across the mediaplex. Social media networks are at the tipping point and are key to future success in brand, advertising, PR, customer service and communication with all actors.
THE SOCIAL CMO is an informal consortium of likeminded and dynamic individuals who have embraced social media and the opportunity it represents for advertising, PR, sales and marketing.
Social Media Club Toronto – Social Media Club Toronto Members receive 10% off early bird or regular priced 3-day tickets – Use code: SMCToronto
Welcome to Social Media Club Toronto, where innovators from Ontario will meet for monthly events to share, engage and collaborate with the community on the issues of social media and technology. We are currently working to relaunch our chapter, and actively seeking people interested in leading this chapter. For more information, please leave a comment or visit our Facebook group, where we have 141 members as of today, and say hi.
Click on any of the links within the unGeeked e’lite web site to get to our Evenbrite registration page. Enter the appropriate discount code and we will see you at unGeeked Toronto!
The need for learning and engagement.
The need for smaller conferences or seminars is much like the argument for small classroom size. Similar to the argument for smaller classrooms, conferences with less than 250 attendees do the following:
- Create conditions that encourage learning.
- Leave room for more individual attention from keynoters and speakers.
- Allows keynoters and speakers to engage more with attendees.
- By having a combination of national and regional speakers, you can cover more ground on topics of integrating Social Media into Human Resources, Talent Acquisition Public Relations, Marketing, Branding, Customer Service, and Sales.
Bigger is better if the goal is glossing over topics, attending product or sales demonstrations or if attendees want to visit exhibits. In a larger setting, the focus is more on networking and less on fostering long-term relationships.
unGeeked is neither a conference nor an unConference – unGeeked is a Retreat.
Retreats…
- Builds community
- Are self contained and focused
- Takes you out of your element and allows for greater opportunities of discussion and creativity
- Encourages you to grow as individuals
- Encourages you to grow and bond more as members of a team
- Helps to create and foster bonds that “continue long after the retreat ends.”
- 20-on-One’s offer a chance to form closer bonds and face-to-face conversations with national and international keynoters that go beyond connecting on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and last beyond “unGeeked.”
- Provides national keynoters and regional speakers an opportunity to connect on topics, align for business, and create trust and bonds.
Why unGeeked?
Owners, Vice President, Directors, Consultants and Managers want to know more than the latest product introduction or rollout or business applications that can help their business or departments run smoothly. They want to also know how to manage their most important asset. They want to know how to manage their brand and the people who help to position and convey the value of the brand. unGeeked is the brand and your internal brand ambassadors and external brand evangelist.
Has your company aligned itself with your brands’ growing on-line persona? When someone “Likes,” follows, Tweets, recommends, or not recommend your brand on a network is your business participating in the conversation or is your brand “just hanging out there.”
More than 41% of companies realize that social networks and the use of new media tools are a powerful way to spread a message about your newest product or service or latest improvement. Your employees and peers use social networks to suggest and recommend new talent. Over the past six years, social networks and new media tools are now closely aligned with businesses more so than “personal brands.” Just look at the evolution of Facebook. Once a network focused on “the brand called you.” Now its focus is on company or brand pages. You Tube has enhanced its site to attract more businesses (brands) and have lessen the focus on “the brand called you.”
The focus is Retreat-style learning with a strong emphasis on attendee participation.
unGeeked e’lite is a three day concentrated retreat-style forum. In three days you will not be “presented to,” by keynotes and presenters. For three days you are encouraged to engage with keynotes and presenters and participate in discussions around disciplines that affect how you are participating along side your brand on social networks. There will be a few who disagree with me. But we are participating along side of our brands. The Marketing, Public Relations, Customer Service and Sales departments are all a vivid reflection of how your brand is communicated, positioned, relates to customers and how we ask for referrals (leads). And it all begins with good talent. This is where a good HR team or consultant can assist your company with hiring the talent who will communicate, position, covey the value of and ask for approval of your brand. Social Media affects every facet of your business. Social media has already aligned itself with your business and the people who are doing business with you.
We don’t do Workshops
Our unique 20-on-One Private Sessions “are not workshops.” These are prime opportunities for 20 people outside of the main retreat to relax in an atmosphere where it’s just you and a keynote. It’s like one-on-one. You sit in a room with other attendees who have questions. Who want to poke each other in the eye with new concepts, proven theories, case studies and brainstorm on a certain topic. What happens in the 20-on-One stays in the 20-on-One. These sessions are not meant for the “novice.” This is where those who get it want to share it. They come to the 20-on-One’s to ask for more.
Who Attends unGeeked?
Business owners, VPs, Directors, Consultants and entrepreneurs come to unGeeked e’lite because they know that being unGeeked is about participating and engaging and listening. It’s about developing relationships with your clients and customers that go beyond Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and You Tube. And they want to be involved with their brand’s growing external as well as internal community. It’s about understanding that your business and its people define and are a reflection of your brand.
unGeeked e’lite is aligning social with business. And business with social.
What’s more fun than a barrel of monkey’s? A room full of geeks talking about how to use and get the most out of social networking, that’s what. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend all three days of the unGEEKED elite Retreat in Milwaukee on May 13th-15th, 2010 at the University Club of Milwaukee. The retreat was put on by incomparable CD Vann (@thatwoman_is) and the fine folks at ungeekedelite.com.
All I can say is what a blast! Speaking at the event were some of the best and brightest minds in all of social media, so it’s now wonder the retreat is touted as the SXSW of the Midwest. We heard from the likes of: Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), Jason Falls (@jasonfalls), Sally Hogshead (@sallyhogshead), Joe Sorge (of @AJBombers, fame) and tons of other folks, the presentations were great, and there were opportunities a plenty to get your geek on and hang out people from all over Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and even as far away as Canada who were as excited abut social networking as you were.
The best feature of all though I think were the 20-on-1 sessions with some of the presenters. These sessions were small and intimate enough that you could interact on a whole different level with someone like Olivier Blanchard (@thebrandbuilder) or Sally Hogshead. This was your chance to ask them your questions and get their advice on just about anything related to social networking.
Jason Falls described the 2010 unGeeked elite retreat as “the under-the-radar” hit of the year, and he was right. The breadth of talent at this years retreat both speakers and attendees was definitely something to behold. And if you didn’t get enough during the day, the after parties were stacked as well.
The food, as stellar as it was, was only eclipsed by the goings-on in the various venues for the parties. Every nook and cranny you looked in there were people huddled together getting social, laughing or swapping stories and jokes. Old friends just chatting, new friends just starting out, and everything in between. There was even a team-based Twitter event where you had the chance to win an iPad.
Early bird registrations for the May 2011 unGEEKED elite Retreat are on sale now. I’d hurry as they’re going fast and seats are limited. Definitely bring along your smartphone, laptop, and a real thirst for knowledge and a hunger for expertise because you’re sure to get what you pay for whether you attend one, two or all three days of this event. Yes, unGeeked is definitely more than the SXSW of the Midwest, metal heads have their “Monsters of Rock” concerts, well unGeeked is the “Monsters of Social Media” only their weren’t tour t-shirts available at the venue. Who knows, maybe next year.
From One Geeks Adventure In Life and Social Computing dated: 7/22/10 by Jeffrey G. Allen
Sally Hogshead delighted, informed and engaged the Milwaukee audience with her e’lite presentation centered around her book FASCINATE. Sally invited all registered attendees to take the {F} Score quiz. It’s amazing what you learn about yourself via your {F} Score and how you an apply that in both your professional and personal life.
And if that didn’t beat all. Sally participated in one of the 20-on-One Private Sessions to provide 20 attendees with an opportunity to relate on a much deeper level regarding not only their {F} Score but the psychology behind it.
Join us in Canada and take the time to not only engage with Sally regarding her latest book FASCINATE but also to find out your {F} Score. Oh, and guys – “hold up those elbows.”
“unGeeked e’lite was, in my mind, the under-the-radar hit of 2010. It was one of those events that, because it was new, few people were familiar with, but as soon as the speaker lineup was announced, folks perked up. During the event, I even saw a tweet that said something like, ‘I don’t know what UnGeeked is, but I wish I was there.’”
“Cd Vann sat out with the goal of bringing the world of social media and a wealth of learning to Milwaukee. She didn’t just hit a home run with unGeeked e’lite, she hit a grand slam. From the magnitude of national speakers, to the mix of topics, to the regional case studies and panel discussions and the 20-on-1 sessions with the keynote presenters, people who came to this conference got more out of it than they would have at similar national and regional conferences around the country. Everything about unGeeked was first-class, but with Cd behind it, we all knew that would be the case.” via Jason Falls, Founder Social Media Explorer
I’ve been in the Digital Agency biz for just over 14 years now, and some people call me an expert (when I pay them enough). So, I have to beat back my ego a bit when I admit that I’m a Scott Stratten (@unMarketing) fanboy. Put simply; I wish I could communicate the concepts and relevance of Social Media to my clients as eloquently and as passionately as Scott does.
After seeing Scott speak at a few Social Media conferences in Toronto I decided to follow him to an event in Milwaukee a few months ago; that event was the very first unGeeked e’lite event. Without any exaggeration those three days at unGeeked blew my mind. It was unlike any conference I had been to.
It wasn’t that I was presented with a bunch of facts I hadn’t heard, or because people like Chris Brogan, Olivier Blanchard, Jason Falls, and a ton of other Social Media heavy weights were there. It was because the event wasn’t a conference… it was… well… more like summer camp, like a retreat. Over the course of three days I was immersed in discussion in a personal setting. I wasn’t being spoken to like I was at every other conference or event I went to, I was engaged in conversation over breakfast, lunch, at the bar, even during presentations where the whole room stopped to chat. I was actually at a Social Media event that carried the sharing spirit of open conversation right into the real world.
Imagine that you’re an actor and that you went to an Acting conference. And there you were, not being spoken at by Tom Hanks, but chatting about the latest breathing techniques with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, as Michael Caine shares his brownie recipe with you. You’re not watching a movie, or reading a book about acting anymore – you’re sharing the stage.
I established deep relationships with so many at unGeeked that it had a profound effect on me both on a professional and personal level. Maybe it was something in the water, but by the third day I wasn’t handing out business cards… I was sharing, laughing, and dare I say hugging my fellow unGeeked. And it wasn’t just me. This small event with only about 160 or so people managed to create so much buzz that it became a trending Twitter topic. The demand was so great that what was supposed to be a one-time event is now going to span the continent from Canada to Brazil, with several stops in-between. I take my hat off to Cd Vann (@unGeeked, @thatwoman_is), the organizer of unGeeked e’lite. What she did was magic and I was touched by it.
I’m so excited that it’s coming to Toronto. Unfortunately the event is small; it’s designed to be that way because it’s immensely effective that way. I purchased my tickets for the first event very early, and I’m glad I did.
So yeah, I got to hang with Scott Stratten and chat over a burger and beer, and yeah he knows my name now. He’s even helped me out once and a while since then. I’m still a fanboy, is that so wrong?
Olivier Blanchard (@theBrandBuilder) talks about what makes unGeeked elite so different and foreshadows the first unGeeked e’lite retreat held in Milwaukee.
“The format is very different… I really, really liked the engagement…” ~ Olivier Blanchard
Scott Stratten often “Tells it like it is,” by unplugging and engaging with his audience.
And just what is it?
unGeeked Elite Retreat is not a traditional conference. Neither is it a “un-conference.” It’s not a Boot Camp. Nor is it a Tweet-up or Meet-up. unGeeked Elite is a 3-day retreat where attendees spend a concentrated 3-days with other businesses, consultants and practitioners who have gone beyond wanting to “learn social media.”
unGeeked Elite Retreat is for businesses, consultants, and practitioners who “are integrating social media,” into every facet of their business. They are using new media tools to enhance their brands visibility, to invite customer feedback, provoke ideas from brand ambassadors and to storm the beachhead with new and innovative service and product ideas for B2B’s and P2Cs.
unGeeked is all aspects of Social Media, Marketing, Branding and PR that makes your business work.
It’s not one-way communication. unGeeked Elite Attendees do not sit like drones and listen to presenters and eagerly await for slides to be shared. unGeeked Elite Attendees want immediate feedback to their questions.
- They do not want a formal Q&A at the end of the presentation.
- They want to give their in-put “during the presentation.”
- They want to brainstorm now with other attendees, Elites and Regional presenters.
- They like their presentations only “partially plugged.” This means no more than a 15-minute slide presentation.
- And most unGeeked Elite Attendees want their presentations 100% unPlugged for maximum Elite and Regional engagement with the audience.
Most importantly unGeeked Elite Attendees are those who already “understand social media,” and would like to “integrate it,” into other aspects of their business for growth, visibility and sustainability.