Thanks to Huber + co Interactive and Best Light Video, we have some footage of the Ohio Interactive Awards mixer and ceremony. Thanks again to Tim Schigel, Johnny DiLoretto, and Tech Corps for their participation, and congratulations to all of the winners! I'm already looking forward to next years event! Enjoy!

2010 Ohio Interactive Awards from huber+co. interactive on Vimeo.

I was given an opportunity to share my Zen and the Art of the Technology Brainstorm thoughts with the members of the Columbus Chapter of BDPA for their May Information and Exchange Rally. The meeting was held at OCLC (very cool place - (former?) home of Eric Schmidt and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiatve for all of you Semantic Web people out there). It was well attended - hor d'ouerves, great conversation, insight from the OCLC CEO Jay Jordan. I shared the podium with Wayne Hicks, the Executive Director of BETF, who shared the history and purpose of BDPA with us, and John Henderson, COO of CSI International, who is about to unleash some cool, new technology into the market soon.

Thanks to Reggie Hillery and Alva Anderson for the invitation and a great event! If you are black and an IT Professional, you really need to take a look at this organization!

My company, 247Interactive, is a founding sponsor of the Ohio Interactive Awards! We are hosting our inaugural recognition ceremony saluting the top digital and interactive talent in the state beginning at 5:30p, Thursday , April 29, at the Arena Grand Theater.

Awards are being presented in six categories: Advertising, Sectors/Industry, Social Web, Student, Best Integrated Campaign, and Best Use of New Technology. Additionally, awards are being presented for Interactive Agency of the Year and Interactive Marketer of The Year. A panel of judges comprised of marketing industry leaders who work with and represent some of the world’s most recognizable brands and Fortune 500 companies have reviewed more than 35 entries from across the state. Entries were judged on three criteria: strategy, execution and results.

Tim Schigel, CEO of Cincinnati-based ShareThis, the world’s largest sharing network and a market of influence across the web, is the featured speaker of the evening. He will lead a discussion on the current and future trends of online sharing and the social web. 

Our host for the evening will be Johnny DiLoretto, from WSYX ABC 6/Fox 28 Good Day Columbus!

We have worked really hard on this and are expecting a great turnout, and an awesome event. If you haven't got your tickets yet, you can get them here, or at the door.

Last Thursday, I had an opportunity to expand on my 'Zen and the Art of the Technology Brainstorm' concept at the Executive Straight Talk Event, hosted by the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council (SCOMSDC). In my opinion, it turned out to be a great session - good conversation about how to critically think about technology. I was even able to include some of my own personal drama, as I used an old picture of me that was pasted on Facebook by someone from my high school to illustrate just how much our perception of one another has changing as a result of the increased transparency that technology brings.

 Here is the deck. It includes some elements from the last presentation but explores the approach from a Small Business perspective. What do you think?

As promised, here is the presentation deck from the Exhibitor Exchange. In summary, we have to think beyond the tools when we are trying to dream up good digital campaign ideas. We have to think about the tech, and technology usage amongst our target audience. Six points to consider when brainstorming cretive technology ideas:

• Information is the key currency. The more you share, the better.
• Awareness is easy on a grand scale. Think about the incredible impact of seo and social media.
• Location awareness is becoming ubiquitous. We can now pinpoint people where you are, determine what is around you, and then use this 'information' to build 'awareness'
• Convergence is happening. People are interfacing with their technologies in ever more recreational and less invasive ways - i.e. Mobile, Game Consoles, Television, Tablets
• Advocacy is the new advertising - through these expansive networks we can more easily identify and nurture advocates for our brands and our products
• Measurement - anything you do in the digital world can be counted, thus qualifying everything we do.

Enjoy!