Chinwag

Heading out to Austin for this year's SXSW extravaganza? Or you'll be in the neighbourhood? Interested in meeting startups from around the globe and spending time at Dell's HQ, then take a gander at this event our friends at Dell are putting together the day before SXSW kicks off.

Centered on their HQ campus at Round Rock a few miles from Austin, Dell are  hosting a full day Unconference March 8th, 2012 (the day before SXSW), on social and technology trends in small businesses- a fast-paced, intense and fun event environment that allows participants to control the agenda.

Have an appetite for social media, blogging, twitter, and all things facebook? Want an insight into the world of social and the opportunity to meet some big brands, agencies and industry experts? Then we have the perfect opening for you.

Social Media Week London is less then 4 weeks away, and we need your help. Running from 13-17 February 2012 we are looking for enthusiastic individuals to help us make Social Media Week London a huge success.

We are looking for everyone, from keen bloggers to interviewers, super organised timekeepers to designers - if you want to help we want you!

Is your event now live on Social Media Week?

If the answer is yes, then give yourself a big pat on the back and follow the four simple steps below to make your event as available as possible. 

This year we have teamed up with Livestream so you can make the most of your event by having it streamed on the official London Social Media Week channel for all to enjoy. It's also free. 

Are you a self confessed social media junkie with an appetite for adventure? If so then the opportunity of a lifetime awaits you!

The London Social Media Week team have teamed up with our friends in Singapore to run a mini exchange trip in conjunction with Social Media Week.

The overall idea...one person, five days, Singapore. Uncover the power of social media and how it can be used for social good.

About this time last year we asked you if you could pick your most significant thing of 2010 what would it be?

We got some great results, from facebook reaching half a billion users to the one and only SXSW and one of my personal favs, the use of the word 'hacktivist' in a Daily Mail headline about WikiLeaks.

2011 has been a year full of ups and down, from the launch of the ipad 2 in March to the very sad loss of the Apple icon Steve Jobs in October. There has been technology failures, the BlackBerry network went down and left millions moving over to the i phone and you can't forget the PlayStation network hack in April.

Google+ took on Facebook and you can now ask your phone if you are going to need to take a umbrella to work thanks to the development of voice control.

It's that time of the year again, mince pies are coming out of your ears, that log fire smell is in the air, silly xmas decorations are up in the office, all in all there is alot of Christmas cheer about the place and to make it even better, we have another 'xmas drinks' to add to your list. 

Chinwag have teamed up with Kathryn McMann Consultancy and Put It Out and have organised a very informal xmas get together next Thursday,15th December in central London for some drinks, networking and chatter. We also have a magician for all your entertainment needs.

After last week's successful Social Media Week London brainstorm - we're delighted to announce a SMWLDN Brainstorm Round 2 in preparation for next February's SMWLDN on Wed 7th Dec from 6pm - 8pm in Shoreditch or TechCity, if you're startup-minded (RSVP).

This time, the aim is to focus on how social media is affecting and impacting our day-to-day lives from the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the music we listen to, the games we play, the sport (some of us, ehem) do and our families.

Plans for Social Media Week 2012 have well and truly started and some very exciting ideas have been flying around. Some events are already live in London and across the other 13 cities involved. Check out whats already planned for the week here:

http://socialmediaweek.org/schedule

Planning an event for Social Media Week can be slightly daunting. Where do you start? Do you have a panel session or a workshop? How do you invite people? Is there a hashtag for every event? Do you need to supply catering?

So many questions, so to help you plan and execute your event, along with hopefully answering all the questions you have, we've pulled together some guidelines to 'Hosting an event for SMW 2012'.

A couple of weeks back I was asked to speak at TechWorld, a conference and expo organised by UK Trade & Investment. This year's event included the addition of the first TechCity Entrepreneur's Festival.

The week-long festival incorporated a bootcamp, access to investors, a giant get-together with Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, pitch training and a pitch competition. In the light of so many overseas companies heading in to London, I thought a whistlestop tour of the UK's digital sector, location of clusters and London, in particular might be handy.

Two heads are better than one. So, 35 must be exponentially better, right?

At Chinwag, we're big fans of building things collaboratively, so we thought we'd really push the boat out for the initial planning of Social Media Week London 2012 (SMWLDN), 13-17th Feb, in case you're wondering.

On Tuesday evening, after an open invite, 35 people gathered at Ketchum PR's offices in Shoreditch to ruminate, dream and scheme on the themes for next year's SMWLDN. Analysing last year's event and taking informal soundings, the group started to explore five starting points:

Thinking caps on, pretty please - don't worry, nothing too onerous!

Following on from the success of our first Chinwag Insight conference, Chinwag Insight: Facebook Marketing, we're starting to plan for the next event, probably post-Easter 2012.

As with the first event, the aim of these conferences is to delve deep into a topic area. There's lots of options, which is where you come in. If we could beg 15 seconds of your precious brain power, could you fill in the poll below and let us know what you think.

It couldn't be easier. Just one question: which topic should we dive into and explore in-depth? Should we revisit Facebook Marketing, what about Twitter? YouTube? Or for those looking at B2B and recruitment, what about Linkedin?