Some of you might remember that last year I attended Blog World Expo.  If you are at all interested in learning about how social media strategy can help your businesses at warp speed, then this is the conference for you.  It is the essence of drinking from the firehose.

I recently wrote a post  on my company’s blog, Square Martini Media,  Blog World Expo Changed My Life in 2008! And It Could Change Yours in October 2009! This post talks in detail about what I love so much about this premier blogging conference.  Additionally, on the Blog World website, you can review a schedule of over 250 speakers who will present in over 80 sessions in various tracts.

You can also listen to my interview of the Blog World Founders on Boost Your Business Radio with my Co-Host Rieva Lesonsky.  Boost Your Business Radio airs live every Wednesday at 11am PDT just before Twitter Talk Radio at Noon PDT which I also host every week.

After attending Blog World Expo last year, I came home and changed my career.  I wonder what might happen to you and your business.  I urge you to spend a few minutes reviewing their speaker offering.  It is truly an eye opening experience for any working mother or  business professional.

An update on live meetings in San Diego….

Stay tuned for some other exciting events coming up the first week of November regarding Flexible Work and Gary Vaynerchuk! =-)

Ok, I admit it. I’m crazy in love with Twitter. Just like my historical attractions to men, this is happening with Twitter because I’m learning things I never even conceived. My relationship with Twitter started about six months ago when we casually started seeing each other. I signed up for a twitter account and then installed the Twitter application on my facebook account. By doing this, I could tweet and my updates would show up in Twitter and on my Facebook page as “status updates”. So efficient which really does it for me. I thought Twitter and I knew each other pretty well. But little did I know, our relationship, analogous to relationships with men, was to grow in layers.

Next I went to Blog World Expo, a true Twitter explosion. The entire conference was run using Twitter as it’s heartbeat. Below are just a few examples of Twitter’s usage.

• The conference leaders created a unique identifier (a hash code in Twitter lingo) for the conference and instructed attendees to identify all messages with this code. That allowed us to track all conference related tweets.
• Most sessions had twitter displayed on the presentation screen so that attendees and seminar leaders could have live, direct communication during presentations which made for a real-time, interactive learning experience. This also allowed participants to almost be in two places at once since you could be reading other seminar tweets from other rooms.
• Most conference related communication was done using Twitter. (This included anything related to conference materials, schedule changes, meetings, after hours events, lunch, etc.)

I really started to get the power of Twitter for business and my heart raced faster.

The next big step in our relationship was the Vice Presidential Debate last Thursday. Did you realize that on certain channels, Americans could tweet their thoughts while Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were debating. Check out Hack the Debate? Seriously! Tweeps were sending their tweets into public television and they were appearing across the bottom of the TV screen complete with their Twitter names and pictures. They were likely censored but this was an historic moment for social media. Think about that. People all around the globe had the opportunity to weigh in on the VP debate. I kept thinking, “the only way this is really happening is if the government does not really grasp how Twitter works”. So incredible. I couldn’t sleep well that night thinking about the possibilities for working women and the next thing that Twitter would teach me. What WOULD be next?

So, the next thing was a random encounter with a work colleague I hadn’t seen in three years. I started to update him about me. He stopped me and said, “I know all about you Angie. In fact, a bunch of us were just talking about you at lunch. We were talking about how often you update your facebook page. We keep track of what you’re up to and in fact I know who you had lunch with yesterday.” A bit embarassing for me that this friend thought I had nothing better to do than update my facebook page so I asked him if he knew about my friend Twitter. He did not. So, what’s a girl to do to explain her relationships? Until the world catches up, it’s nothing but opportunity for those of in the know.

So why am I choosing to out myself and my relationship with Twitter? Because ladies, each day the picture becomes clearer and clearer to me that there are so many opportunities for all of you who have even a slight interest in the internet to create so many great opportunities for yourself. Coincidentally, our live Six Figure Moms Club meeting in San Diego this week covers this topic. You can reengineer your career using New Media options if you want to.

If you would like to learn more about Twitter (or New Media in general), check out expert, Mari Smith’s, Twitter LIngo Demystified

Mari is amazing and continues to stay on the cutting edge of New Media as it seems she in a different learning conference every other day. If you only choose to follow one person on Twitter. She’s a great person to start with. I’ll be writing a post about her soon so stay tuned for more on Mari.

I just returned from an 18 day trip last night. My last stop was Blog World Expo ‘08 in Las Vegas. I went to the conference to enhance my understanding of the New Media industry and to learn how to better serve you, my readers, as a writer/blogger. Little did I know of the almost limitless benefits that this little four day trip would bring me. I’m still digesting everything I learned over the past few days and I know I will be for quite some time. However, the one gem of the conference is this:

“If you’re a blogger, you’ve stepped up to your life, addressed your issues, cleaned things up enough that you’re willing to put yourself on stage to the world. You’re an entrepreneur, you’re authentic, you’re passionate, you’re open, you have a genuine desire to help others. You think outside of the box about life options.”

Those of you that know me or who have been reading my blog, know that this is my message to my clients and readers. Can you imagine how lucky I felt to be in a room with 1,000+ other likeminded people? SOOOO amazing!

That in itself would have been enough but in addition, I personally met and talked to at least ten bloggers on Technorati’s Top 100 list and I’m not talking about “Hi, How are you?, Nice to Meet You”…but real, genuine, meaty, helpful conversations. These folks are down to earth, modest, pioneers of their industry and they are ready to help open doors for the next generation to step through and join them. Crazy! I’ll be writing about some of them in the future in more detail but here are just a few of the folks I met, attended class or twitted with during the conference:

• Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV),
• Tim Ferriss (Author, 4 Hour Work Week),
• Mike Shinoda (Lincoln Park),
• Brian Clark (CopyBlogger),
• Guy Kawasaki (Alltop),
• John Chow (John Chow),
• Jeremy Shoemaker (ShoeMoney),
• Wendy Piersall (eMom)

So, the list of things we six figure moms can learn from the blogger community is long. This is a whole community of people making a living via flexible work options. They work long and hard but they love what they do and they live passionately. They are pioneers just like you can be. I feel like I just hit the jackpot.

As soon as I get a little sleep and collect my thoughts, I’ll share some more with you and we’ll continue on our journey together. In the meantime, feel free to email me with any specific questions.

So, back to coffee. My dad and his wife drink instant coffee. I just can’t do it. I look around the kitchen and settle on Good Earth Tea. Funny. Good Earth Tea is here because I gave it to my dad last time he visited my house. Next, time to choose a coffee mug. Should be simple enough, right? Not so, I realize as I’m looking in my family’s cabinet that I am a coffee mug snob. All of the coffee mugs here have sayings and cartoons that fit the personalities of the people who live here. I’m stuck, I don’t relate to any of them. Funny huh? It’s just a crazy coffee mug and I am wasting time. I finally settle on one I can stomach. So, now I have tea from a coffee mug that is reminding me, “If Older is Better then I’m approaching Magnificent”. It’s even got the word “Magnificent” printed on the inside so when you take a sip, you get a second reminder. Too funny. Reminders to be our best self really are everywhere aren’t they? We just have to listen to them and keep our eyes open. So, today I will be more magnificent than I would have been otherwise thanks to the reminder from my dad’s coffee mug.

I like being in my dad’s space among his things. I am here alone as everyone else has left for there day. I didn’t grow up here so it’s different than coming home to your childhood memories. I look around breathing it all in and committing my dad’s life to memory. It’s my job to leave positive energy where ever I can and to leave my essence behind to remind him I was here. I want him to remember to stay positive and continue on the healing path. My dad had major surgery on 9/11 for some localized cancer. He’ll have a full recovery after a somewhat extensive healing process. I’m so glad I could be here to witness his vulnerability, strength, charm, and childlike amusement of the whole process. It’s also been fun to watch him flirting with the nurses. He’s enjoyed that part for sure. Hospitals, no matter how hard they try, are just not fun places to spend a week. I’ll be glad when he’s safely back in his own space.

So, if you are reading this from the comfort of your own coffee mug, I solute. Have a great day and remember how magnificent you are today. Until my next post, stay fabulous!

PS…Yes, this hospital does have it’s own McDreamy and McSteamy’s in case you were wondering fully equipped with blue eyes that would make any girl’s heart melt.