Why you should THINK before you POST:

What It Is:
Mention Map is a visual tool so that you can see Twitter conversations as a network and click any user to explore.

Why You Should Use It:
To find relevant people to follow on Twitter.

What My Personal Mention Map Looks Like:

Click to view full size

What My Work Mention Map Looks Like:

Click to view full size

Follow my personal account on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AllEyesonJenny

Follow my work account on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AdvantageBOSTON

Enjoy!

I’m pretty excited about my queue of projects right now. As in work. As in I am excited to do my job. That’s pretty freaking great if you ask me.

What am I working on right now?

Outside of work (aka the freelance ‘n’ stuff):
I have been hired by a small business to design and build their business website from the ground up (currently they have nothing). This includes content, photography, and web design. I’m also consulting and training them on the digital media portion that will be integrated into the site.

I’ve also been hired back as a consultant on a business website I built two years ago to develop and integrate a social media strategy into the current online presence and train the assigned staff.

At work (aka the “9-5″ stuff – but is it really ever 9-5?):
Currently I am revamping the entire online presence. Yes, entire. This includes but is not limited to: a complete site redesign, a complete content refresh (updating content to reflect changes in the city and convention center as well as optimizing and seo-ing the crap out of what we have and what we will have) to be integrated into an open source content management system (yet to be determined, suggestions welcome), a new online photo library creation and management, social media plan strategy and implementation within our own brand and working in harmony with our sister companies …..

Tired yet? Not me. I’ve got an entire external hard drive, a file cabinet, a bookcase (and most of my desk real estate for that matter) dedicated to this project and I couldn’t be more excited. At the end of it, you’re going to be able to log on to our website and I’m going to be able to say “I did that*”.

For a design & digital media specialist, it really doesn’t get better than that. “What’s do you do?” That. That is what I do.

* Yes we do have an RFP out right now to 6 competing firms to work on this project with us. I know I’m not doing it on my own (thankfully) (it takes a village to …. build a website?), but as someone who’s in charge of mapping the project, creating the majority of the new content, have a heavy hand in the design, and involved in the decision making and sign-off process, it’s still a major project that I’m incredibly lucky to be a part of and be able to put in my portfolio.

Here’s to an absurdly busy summer. Weeeeee.

Last week I attended a conference – IAEE’s Expo! Expo in Atlanta. The conference program was great, I met some amazing contacts – but all that is to be expected at a conference (at least if you’re going there to you know – learn stuff and meet people in your industry.)

Something those of you should know about conferences, at least all the ones I’ve attended, is that there are always parties. Parties, parties, and more parties. Every company is trying to outdo their competition, people are running around trying to make an appearance everywhere. From beginning to end, you never stop running around, you’re always working, and by the time you get home you are sitting in a mountain of business cards, glassy eyed and have no idea what just happened.

Like I said I made plenty of amazing connections (I’d like to give a particularly big shout out to Taryn Pisaneschi (@TarynP on Twitter). We hit it off the very first day and met up throughout the rest of the conference. She is good people, and smart to boot!

It’s a good thing to stand out in a crowd like like that. Especially since I have the memory of an insect. It’s nice to remember specific interactions during a time when you’re meeting people essentially 24/7 for a week.

One of my favorite conversations happened with a person who coincidentally works out of Cambridge, MA. I won’t put his name here juuuuust in case he doesn’t want his name tied to our conversation, but it was one of the more hilarious ones I had.

Basically what you should know about Expo Expo is that it’s a conference for event professionals, and this year I attended the Social Media track. So all day long you’d be having conversations about your twitter name, your presence on Facebook, etc. People would start talking about “transparency” and “SEO” and all the same stuff you hear about social media EVERYWHERE. Which why this conversation was so refreshing:

Jenny: Oh hello man that my coworker just introduced me to! Nice to meet you. I hear your company is the one running this board over here.

Man: Oh hey Jenny, nice to meet you as well. Yes our company specializes in this type of service. So tell me what do you do?

Jenny: Oh I’m a Design & Digital Media Specialist – I work for the convention centers in Boston. (Hands over professional business card) But I also run my own site, events and do some work on the side that this would be useful for. (Hands over personal business card.)

Man: (Examines both cards for a few moments) Oh awesome! You’re a Social Media Douchebag too!!

Both burst out laughing.

Jenny: OMG. I am getting new cards made up immediately.

I absolutely will be contacting that company, first obviously because they provide a good service that I can use, but secondly – that guy was hilarious. And had me figured out in 2 seconds or less. Amazing.

I’m working on a branding/naming project for work right now. I love these kind of projects where my direction right now is “what do we name it and what is it going to look like?” because right now it doesn’t exist. But oh will it after I get done with it.

I have a few methods when trying to think of names. This of course has been complicated by the whole Twitter revolution (since I will be Twittering about it for work quite often and don’t want 50 of my available characters to go to a NAME).

The first thing I do is go through the project specs and pull out all the action verbs.

So now we have project related words. Now what? I write them on a white board.

Now we throw some of the better and more applicable ones (the ones that make it to the whiteboard) into the Visual Thesaurus.

Then I’ll take all the usable words that pop up from there and add those to the whiteboard list.

Then I walk away from all project related materials.

I look in other unexpected places for nice sounding words, workable words, words that fit the scope of the project that don’t appear in the materials I have in front of me.

Today, for fun, I went to iTunes. I know it sounds silly, but there are some amazing title names, and lines from songs that might jump out at me.

I add those words to my list and just start combining them. I take 10-20 of my favorites and present them in a meeting. I have two colleagues doing the same thing. In our meeting we’ll take my favorites, their favorites and start combining those until IT WORKS.

Sometimes we have to have a few of these meetings, with several rounds of edits, but at the end of it, we came up with something that absolutely did not exist before we jumped in.

Pretty cool, huh?

While I was deep in iTunes land I realized I have the weirdest collection of music …. ever. Interest piqued? Take a look at every artist in my library – the good, the bad and the real ugly. (I saved you from listing every single compilation/soundtrack I own and stuck with artists/bands).

So click here to see

A
Abba
AC/DC
Ace of Base
Adele
Aerosmith
Afghan Whigs
Age Rings
Air Supply
Al Green
Alanis Morissette
Alicia Keys
Alkaline Trio
Amber
Amy Winehouse
Andrew Bird
Angelito Villalona
Annie Lenox
Aretha Franklin
Arrested Development
Ashlee Simpson
Astrud Gilberto
Avenue Q sound track
Avril Lavigne

B
B-52s
Bad Company
Bally Sagoo
Band of Horses
The Bangles
Barry White
Basement Jaxx
The Beach Boys
Beastie Boys
The Beatles
Bebel Gilberto
Belle & Sebastian
Ben Folds
Beyonce
Bill Janovitz
Billy Idol
Billy Joel
Bjork
Blondie
Bob Dylan
Bobby Darin
Bon Jovi
Bonnie Tyler
Bonobo
Boston Pops Orchestra
Boy George
Brandy
Britney Spears
Bruce Springsteen
Buffalo Tom
Burt Bacharach
Busta Rymes
Butthole Surfers

C
C+C Music Factory
The Calling
Captain & Tennile
The Cardigans
Carrie Underwood
The Cars
Cascada
Cecilia Noel & The Wild Clams
Celine Dion
Cheap Trick
Cher
Cheryl Lynn
Christina Aguliera
Christopher Cross
Clay Aiken
Coldplay
Colin Hay
Color Me Bad
Craig Armstrong
Culture Club
Cyndi Lauper

D
Damien Jurado
Damone
Danity Kane
Dashboard Confessional
David Bowie
Dead or Alive
Dean Martin
Deborah Cox
Deee-Lite
Depeche Mode
Des’ree
Destiny’s Child
Detroit Cobras
Dexter Gordon
Diane Warren
Dido
Dimitri from Paris
Donna Summer
Donny Osmond
Doobie Brothers
Dreamgirls Soundtrack
Drexel
Dropkick Murphys
Durran Durran

E
Eldridge Rodriguez
Elton John
Elvis Costello
En Vogue
Estelle
Esthero
Etta James
Europe
Eva Cassidy
Everclear
Express Rising

F
Faith Hill
Fantasia
Favorite Atomic Hero
Fergie
A Fine Frenzy
The Flaming Lips
Flo Rida
Flock of Seagulls
The Flying Lizards
Foam & Mesh
Frank Sinatra
Frank Smith
Franz Ferdinand
Freda Payne
Frente!
Further

G
Garbage
Gavin Friday
Girl Talk
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Glee Cast
The Goonies

H
Hairspray soundtrack
Hall & Oates
Hanson
The Hazzards
Heart
Hooray for Earth

I
I Have Ears
Ida Corr
Imogene Heap
Indigo Girls

J
J Lo
J Geils Band
Jamie I’ Neil
Jane’s Addication
Janet Jackson
Jawbreaker
Jay-Z
Jeff Buckley
Jennifer Holliday
Jennifer Hudson
Jessica Simpson
Jimmy Eat World
Joan Jett
Joe Cocker
John Coltrane
John Mayer
John Waite
Johnny Cash
Jonathan Richman
Joni Mitchell
Journey
Juliana Hatfield
Julie London
Justin Timberlake
Juvenile

K
K-Ci and Jojo
K7
Kajagoogoo
Kanye West
Katrina & The Waves
Kelly Clarkson
Kicked in the Head
Kid Rock
Kim Carnes
Kim Wilde
Kimberly Locke
Kylie Minogue
Kym Mazelle

L
Lady Gaga
Led Zeppelin
The Lemonheads
Letters to Cleo
Lionel Richie
Lipps Inc.
Lou Rawls
Lovers Muggers & Theives
Low Red Land
Lucero
Lucinda Williams
Lux
Lynden David Hall

M
Madder Rose
Madonna
Mandy Moore
Marc Shaiman
Mariah Carey
Maroon 5
Marvin Gaye
Mary J. Blige
Mel C.
Men at Work
MGMT
Michael Buble
Michael Jackson
Michael McDonald
Michael Seimbello
Miles Davis
Miley Cyrus
Missy Elliott
Mittens
Moby
The Modern Lovers
Modjo
Mogwai
Monifah
Morrissey
Motley Crue
Mr. Big
Mndy
Musical Youth
My Morning Jacket

N
‘N Sync
Natalie Cole
Naughty By Nature
New Kids on the Block
New Order
Norah Jones
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

O
Obie Trice
Ol Dirty Bastard
One Inch Punch
Otis Redding

P
Pink
Pat Benetar
Pearl Jam
Phil Collins
Pink Floyd
The Pointer Sisters
Poison
The Police
Portishead
The Presidents of the United States
Pretenders
Prince
The Psychedelic Furs
Pussy Cat Dolls

Q
Queen
Quindon Tarver

R
Radiohead
Random Acts of Violence
Ray Castoldi
Ray Charles
Red House Painters
Reel Big Fish
Regina Spektor
Rick Springfield
Rhianna
Rilo Kiley
Robbie Williams
Robyn
Ryan Adams

S
Sade
Salt ‘n’ Pepa
Sarah McLachlan
Scorpians
Self
The Sharking
Sheena Easton
Sheryl Crow
The Smiths
Sondre Lerche
Sonic Youth
Spandau Ballet
Spice Girls
Spoon
Steely Dan
Stevie Wonder
Stina Nordenstam
Sting
Stu Walker
Sugababes
Sugarcubes
Sun Kil Moon
The Supremes
Survivor
SWV

T
Technotronic
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Teenage Prayers
Texas
The Thermals
They Might Be Giants
Thin Lizzy
The Thompson Twins
Three Degrees
Tim McGraw
Timbaland
TLC
Tom Waits
Tomorrow the Gallows
Toni Basil
Two Gallants

V
Van Halen
Venice Shoreline Chris
The Veronicas
The Village People

W
WG Snuffy Walden
Waltham
The Wannadies
The Weakerthans
Weezer
Where the Land Meets the Sea
Whiskeytown
White Snake
Whiteney Houston
Wildlife
Wilco
Willa Ford
William Elliot Whitmore
Wyclef Jean

X
Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra

Y
Yael Naim
Yes

Z
Zakk Wylde

0-10
98 Degrees

Good question. And I have an equally good answer: busy. I’ve been busy. And to prove it I’m going to let you into my crazy life. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

I went to Miami. It was amazing. I laid on the beach, by the pool, drank some cocktails, went shopping and I hit the spa. I hit the spa HARD. If you ever have some extra vacation days (HA!) and some extra cash lying around (HA! HA!) head to the Fontainebleau. It was a vacation within a vacation there. Also, if you do go – go to Sushi Samba. Go twice. I did. Yum.

I helped organize and attended Dinkstock 2. Eleven bands, Ten hours, One Dink. It was a crazy week leading up to Dinkstock 2, and even crazier morning, but the event turn out was fantastic. My friends and Dink never cease to amaze me with their generosity and talent. My new favorite band officially is Where the Land Meets the Sea. Good god they are awesome. I’ve been listening to their album ever since and I can not wait to see them again.

I hosted my weekly dinner/Glee party. I made baked chicken stuffed with sundried tomato pesto, goat cheese and fresh basil. And it was phenomenal if I do say so myself. Make it. It’s easy. Like your mom. WHOA.

I’ve been working non-stop on my new site design/relaunch. I did a soft launch for about 20 people to get some feedback and constructive criticism so that when I launch it to the masses (you know, the other 20 readers) it will be perfect.

And now on to what I’m doing in the future … future …. future ……..

Attending the Social Branding Event. Tonight. In Cambridge. Will you be there? Come say hello if so.

Working on the Mega Tweet Up! Have you heard about it yet? Has Joselin been on your case to RSVP? If not, I will be from here on out. It’s going to be an amazing event. We’re meeting tomorrow to work on the remaining details and we better see you all, dressed to the nines, ready to walk the red carpet on December 3rd!

So there you go. Happy now? GOOD.

*PS I miss your face! How have you been? Tell me all about YOU now. No really. GO.

1.) Fashion capes:

2.) Booking TONS of Social Media related travel.

So far:

Miami/South Beach, FL || November 5-8, 2009
Truth be told this is more of an escape everything to be able to WORK on everything I need to get done kind of trip. Work includes: my personal site, redesigning my company website (concepts), finalizing my business plan.

New Orleans, LA || December 4 – 6, 2009 … ??
POSSIBLY. And this is just a meet up …. but more than likely I’d have to fly through Atlanta to get there anyway …. why not since ….

Atlanta, GA || December 7 – 10, 2009
Attending IAEE’s Expo Expo for the Social Media Marketing track (obviously). Am looking forward to hearing Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki.

Dallas, TX || January 10 -13, 2010
Attending PCMA’s Annual Meeting. Networking, dinners, networking, repeat.

Did I mention I love my new job?

3.) The personalities on the showfloor at the BCEC for the National Funeral Directors Association … they’re “far from grave”. GET IT??? GRAVE??? GET IT???:

4.) Tory Burch military boots. Sigh:

(As seen on Mary Rambin. I blame her for making them look adorable. And subsequently making me want them.)

5.) Autumn in Boston:

Rainy:

Sunny (and also as seen from my living room):

What are you into today?

So Thursday’s event was a success (at least I think so). What I liked most about this event was the variety of people. There were people I’ve never met, or have wanted to meet, or never thought I’d get the chance to meet who showed up.

I had some of the best conversations about the business of blogging, blogging in Boston, expanding the community, future events to consider. It was social, it was business, it was networking, it was productive — it was really everything I could have wished to come out of an event.

Thanks to many of the attendees, I have a list of events that I’m working on in the future (with you, for you, etc). If you didn’t sign up for my email list for future events, leave a comment and I’ll get you added.

A huge thanks again to all of my sponsors:

Carl and the folks at 28 Degrees
Boston-based writer Angela Simonelli
Marc Beaupre of MB Graphics
Chris and all the wonderful folks over at Shoebuy.com
Kelly and all the lovely people at A Beautiful You
John Wall (The M Show) and Christopher Penn from Marketing Over Coffee.

A heartfelt thanks to you all. I really couldn’t have done this without you.

Regrettably I was so busy talking to all of you, I didn’t really take many photos. In fact, I think I got like 3 decent ones the whole night. Oops! Here’s what I got …

A few other recaps I found around the interwebs:

http://www.jqlounge.com/2009/10/boston-blogtoberfest-recap.html

http://ilookgood.blogspot.com/2009/10/blogtoberfest-recap.html

http://peteypumpkin.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/blogtoberfest/

http://fabulouslyoutthere.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/the-night-had-all-i-needed-for-a-perfect-night/

http://barwarrior.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/condensed-recap-of-1022/

http://www.thegeminiweb.com/babyboomer/?p=3351

I want to see what you have! Shoot me links, show me your best shots. It was a blast meeting all of you Blogtoberfest newbies and it was a pleasure to see the repeat customers. The conversations that happened have really inspired me. Thanks. Boston Bloggers are kind of the best :)

Staff,

Please join me in congratulating Jenny Frazier on her promotion to the newly created position of Design & Digital Media Specialist!

For three and a half years, Jenny has been an integral part of the CMC marketing team, contributing to the development of first-class marketing programs for the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Hynes Convention Center and MassMutual Center in Springfield. Jenny has supported the efforts of the sales team in their bids to bring convention business to Boston and has often volunteered her creative services to other departments. In her new role, Jenny will be able to showcase her tremendous talents as a graphic designer as well as her expertise in e-marketing and social media.

With Jenny’s promotion, we will be looking to fill the position of Marketing Coordinator. Click here for a job description.* If you know of any qualified candidates, please direct them to me.

Caryn

* (Seriously, if you are or you know a good candidate … email me at work: jfrazier@advantageboston.com)

Attention Boston area peeps! The “smartest man in the world”, Saul Colt, is coming to town for one night and one night only!

If you know what’s good for you, you’ll join us for a Tweet Up ( “ColtUp”!) this Thursday, June 11th at Charley’s (284 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02115). We’ll be downstairs and you should be too.

Me and Saul last year at The Mashable SummerMash at the Roxy.