Find me in print and on the road this summer

I’ll be hitting the road quite a bit this summer attending various communications conferences. A few organizers are even crazy enough to let me speak!

First on the schedule is ALI’s Social Media for Government conference (#smgov) in July in Washington, DC. I’ll be presenting a three-hour (yikes!) pre-conference workshop about “How to blend traditional and non-traditional new media into your government communications plan” on July 12. I plan to share several examples of readMedia clients and other organizations who are successfully adopting modern public relations strategies that incorporate web communications, social media, traditional media relations and multimedia. The rest of the conference kicks off the next day and features a variety of sessions and speakers from local, state and federal government organizations.

If you’re interested in attending the conference, you can save $400 off current registration rates if you sign up by next Thursday, May 20. Click here for more info.

At the end of July, I’m heading to the Windy City to drink good beer with Allan Schoenberg and Mike Pilarz speak at the eduWeb conference about how colleges and universities can generate hyperlocal media coverage in print and online by publicizing student accomplishments in their hometowns. I’ll go over the results of the recent study readMedia conducted that asked editors and publishers of community newspapers for their opinions about hometown news content, and I’ll also discuss how to get more of this content to live online (currently only half of hometown news is published to the web, even though editors say that it’s engaging and important to their audience).

If you work in higher education PR or web communications, you won’t want to miss eduWeb. The schedule is packed and there will be something for everyone. Click here for more info.

Lastly, the Age of Conversation 3 is finally on sale at Amazon! The book is a collaborative effort of more than 171 authors, each contributing an essay on a particular aspect of how to implement social media strategy. All proceeds benefit the Make-a-Wish foundation. You can grab your copy using the widget below:

Where are you headed this summer? What conferences and meetings are on your radar?

Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy

If 2009 was the year we all sat around talking about social media, then 2010 is the year that we start doing it. It’s time to get busy! That’s the subtitle of the third installment of the Age of Conversation, a book that features the collaborative, crowdsourced effort of more than 200 authors, including yours truly.

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton headed up the project and have assembled quite a group of social media smarties. I’m not sure how I managed to be included with the likes of Joseph Jaffe, Amber Naslund, Jacob Morgan and Karen Swim, but I’m glad to be part of an effort where 100 percent of the profits will be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

The book is broken into several sections with each author contributing a short essay or chapter. My contribution is part of the “corporate conversations” chapter and is an adaptation of a post about enhancing internal communications with social media. Other sections include “conversational branding”, “in the boardroom”, and “innovation and execution”.

Age of Conversation 3 will be available by mid-April in hardback, paperback, Kindle and iPad versions. Purchase details will be posted here.

The book’s contributors span marketing, communications, PR, branding, measurement, HR and community management functions from across the globe and from a variety of different organizations. Check out the list below:

Adam Joseph Priyanka Sachar Mark Earls
Cory Coley-Christakos Stefan Erschwendner Paul Hebert
Jeff De Cagna Thomas Clifford Phil Gerbyshak
Jon Burg Toby Bloomberg Shambhu Neil Vineberg
Joseph Jaffe Uwe Hook Steve Roesler
Michael E. Rubin anibal casso Steve Woodruff
Steve Sponder Becky Carroll Tim Tyler
Chris Wilson Beth Harte Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Dan Schawbel Carol Bodensteiner Trey Pennington
David Weinfeld Dan Sitter Vanessa DiMauro
Ed Brenegar David Zinger Brett T. T. Macfarlane
Efrain Mendicuti Deb Brown Brian Reich
Gaurav Mishra Dennis Deery C.B. Whittemore
Gordon Whitehead Heather Rast Cam Beck
Hajj E. Flemings Joan Endicott Cathryn Hrudicka
Jeroen Verkroost Karen D. Swim Christopher Morris
Joe Pulizzi Leah Otto Corentin Monot
Karalee Evans Leigh Durst David Berkowitz
Kevin Jessop Lesley Lambert Duane Brown
Peter Korchnak Mark Price Dustin Jacobsen
Piet Wulleman Mike Maddaloni Ernie Mosteller
Scott Townsend Nick Burcher Frank Stiefler
Steve Olenski Rich Nadworny John Rosen
Tim Jackson Suzanne Hull Len Kendall
Amber Naslund Wayne Buckhanan Mark McGuinness
Caroline Melberg Andy Drish Oleksandr Skorokhod
Claire Grinton Angela Maiers Paul Williams
Gary Cohen Armando Alves Sam Ismail
Gautam Ramdurai B.J. Smith Tamera Kremer
Eaon Pritchard Brendan Tripp Adelino de Almeida
Jacob Morgan Casey Hibbard Andy Hunter
Julian Cole Debra Helwig Anjali Ramachandran
Jye Smith Drew McLellan Craig Wilson
Karin Hermans Emily Reed David Petherick
Katie Harris Gavin Heaton Dennis Price
Mark Levy George Jenkins Doug Mitchell
Mark W. Schaefer Helge Tenno Douglas Hanna
Marshall Sponder James Stevens Ian Lurie
Ryan Hanser Jenny Meade Jeff Larche
Sacha Tueni and Katherine Maher David Svet Jessica Hagy
Simon Payn Joanne Austin-Olsen Mark Avnet
Stanley Johnson Marilyn Pratt Mark Hancock
Steve Kellogg Michelle Beckham-Corbin Michelle Chmielewski
Amy Mengel Veronique Rabuteau Peter Komendowski
Andrea Vascellari Timothy L Johnson Phil Osborne
Beth Wampler Amy Jussel Rick Liebling
Eric Brody Arun Rajagopal Dr Letitia Wright
Hugh de Winton David Koopmans Aki Spicer
Jeff Wallace Don Frederiksen Charles Sipe
Katie McIntyre James G Lindberg & Sandra Renshaw David Reich
Lynae Johnson Jasmin Tragas Deborah Chaddock Brown
Mike O’Toole Jeanne Dininni Iqbal Mohammed
Morriss M. Partee Katie Chatfield Jeff Cutler
Pete Jones Riku Vassinen Jeff Garrison
Kevin Dugan Tiphereth Gloria Mike Sansone
Lori Magno Valerie Simon Nettie Hartsock
Mark Goren Peter Salvitti

A pretty impressive collection. Don’t miss out on your chance to own Age of Conversation 3 and support a great charity.