This is not your typical “vote for my panel” blog post (well, not exactly), but I do have a session in the South by Southwest (SXSW) Panel Picker this year. The Panel Picker process is often maligned as a popularity contest that requires potential speakers to pimp, which is one of the reasons I’ve never bothered to try to speak there.
I don’t have hundreds of employees or thousands of co-workers I can “encourage” to vote for my session (which many potential speakers have). But wait, do I – and my solo PR brethren – have something just as powerful?
The Solo PR Pro community is vast, supportive, and we’ve always been a band of brothers (and sisters). Collectively, surely we have as much muscle as the larger agencies and more traditionally employed!
So, let’s conduct an experiment to test this theory, by helping each other – what could you use help with? For me, I’ve proposed a SXSW “Core Conversation” on Making Money as an Agency of One, which will be an open discussion to share ideas, tips/tricks, and pitfalls to avoid. The SXSW crowd tends to include a lot of programmers, designers and others not typically involved in our Solo PR community, which could lead to a fascinating discussion where we can learn new approaches from each other.
If this sounds like a session you’d like to attend (or you think it should be part of the SXSW program), you can share your support by voting. To do so, quickly create a free account and hit the thumbs up (and comment/discuss, if you’d like) – the deadline is this Friday, September 2. Of course, if I’m speaking and go to the conference again this year, I think we should have a Solo PR meetup!
Now, what support do *you* need from the Solo PR gang? Whether you’d appreciate a “like” on your Facebook page or a follow for your new client on Twitter, all pimp-y requests are welcome in the comments below.
And, of course, if you also have a session up for vote in the SXSW Panel Picker, definitely let us know!
Just voted in favor, Kellye! Good luck! I don’t have any specific requests for anyone but I will take the opp to say I’m just getting my solo PR biz going (www.bluebridgecomm.com), and I look forward to interacting more with the Solo PR community to learn and grow. Also, for those who missed my blog on the awesomeness who is Kellye Crane and Solo PR Pro, check it out at http://wp.me/p12mkt-c3.
Thanks, Joel — congrats on getting up and running! And thanks for sharing the interview post here. 🙂
Wow, I’ll vote for this. I hope this conference would be great and have some fun and sharing knowledge as well. Congrats!
social media calendar
Thanks, Kellye! And no prob.
Don’t have a FB page, so I’ll settle for comments, RTs, unmarked nonsequential bills. 😉 and I voted, thumbs up even.
We just finished the chat and frost thing that came to my mind, which Kate mentioned was referral network. I remember years ago the Atlanta ICF planned a searchable database (for which I paid) that didn’t happen (though there is now something, only thru PRSA).
We chat but don’t pimp ourselves enough. I think if we had a more formal referral database or wiki, we could probably grow the chat, build an even stronger community. Other day I had lunch with a Twitter business friend, got to talking shop and he realized that I do know a niche (franchising) that I don’t really mention. In that light, I’d like to know others’ skills and industries, who has a blog, etc.
Plus it’s just good to know so that when I get leads for things I really don’t do, like book publicity, I can easily share them with the right members of the chat, not tag say the whole Solo PR LI page. FWIW.
Funny you should mention that! The reason Kate brought this up (besides the fact that she can’t keep a secret J), is because she emailed me about something else and I bounced this idea off her. Yes, plans for just such a database are in process. Stay tuned!