It’s official! I’m registered for the Blog Indiana conference taking place next week in Indianapolis. It’s the 2nd year for the event and I absolutely cannot wait to see what’s in store. There will be over 50 speakers and panelists at this year’s event and I’m sure I’ll walk away with pages of notes on how to improve, expand or focus my blogging efforts for another year.

I was going to say that if you’re a blogger in Indiana you MUST come to this event! Then I decided that would be too exclusive.

• If you’re not a blogger and just curious about what’s all this hubbub is about. THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!
• If you’re in business and want to know how all this technology could help you succeed! THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!
• If you’re within driving distance from Indianapolis. THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!
• If you’re wondering what all this social media stuff is all about. THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!
• If you’re an "expert" in blogging or social media. THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!
• If you’re breathing. THIS IS THE CONFERENCE FOR YOU!

You get my point.

There’s so much great information to expect from this conference that you’ll want to be here participate. Last year’s conference was a great success and was the first year. Building on that event and moving forward, this year’s conference will be sure to be a success as well.

If you haven’t yet been convinced, visit the Blog Indiana website and find out a little more about some of the great speakers, informative sessions and all-around good time that’s to be had in Indianapolis next Thursday through Saturday. Oh, and while you’re on the site, go ahead and register!

What are you doing Monday night? If you don’t have anything else to do you should join a few Indianapolis tweeps at the Southside Smoosier Tech Club taking place at The Bean Cup coffee shop Monday night at 6:30pm.

Nothing too formal as you can see, just few people active in the local Indy blogging and twitter community that get together and chat about the latest ups and downs of what’s happening with them. Of course there’s always the great coffee and food to take advantage of while you’re at The Bean Cup too.

Bloggers from the Indianapolis area are getting together at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Bloggers Anonymous at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Friday, April 24 from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. In conjunction with AMP (Art Music People). If you’re a blogger, or want to be one, this is the world’s biggest blogging event held at an art museum.

The Mission:

Hoosier hospitality is inherent in all of us. It’s caring on a personal level. It’s performing random acts of kindness. It’s giving a ride to a friend, helping a sick neighbor or simply buying a stranger a cup of coffee. In these challenging times, the Indianapolis Colts are launching the “Help a Hoosier…and then some” campaign to help strengthen our community and empower Hoosiers to create change by engaging in random acts of kindness across the State of Indiana.

Go to The Colts’ Help a Hoosier Site to participate.

Take-off might be a little strong, but any new developments that have already brought jobs and will continue to do so are good news for central Indiana’s economy.

I’ve got a couple of friends that work for Rolls-Royce so I’m sure this is good news for them. It would be interesting to see how many jobs have come through and been brought into the economy due to developments and production of high-tech engines and components like this.

Source: Jet engine could boost Ind. economy

Have you heard of twitter? Very quickly it’s a micro-blogging application (140 character limits to each message) that lets you share information and stay in touch with people all over the world that are also on twitter. Think of it as a virtual water cooler at your office that you can always have a little conversation around throughout the day.

The people you’re interested in following what they’re saying you “follow”. You receive those people’s updates (a.k.a. tweets) and the dialogue begins when you see something interesting.

I’m eager to find more and more local Indianapolis people who twitter (a.k.a. tweeps) and would love to follow the conversation your having. If you’re looking for some people to start following, all the photos above are great places to start.

If I mentioned you above, I’d love to have you say a little hello and maybe give a quick reason of why you chose Indy as your place to live right now.

I’m still adding more and more people to my follow list, so if you’re not on it, just let me know and I’ll start following you if you’re from Indianapolis or the immediate surrounding areas.

Soon I’ll add a page to this site that we can kind of work like a little directory of local Indy tweeps. Be sure you’re on the page, and let the conversation begin.

UPDATE: Here’s the new Indy Twitterers page. Be sure and follow the instructions for adding yourself to the directory.

Are you reading this because you spend a lot of time online? Are you reading this because you do a lot of business online? Do you want to know more about doing business online?

There’s a conference coming up in Indianapolis that you could probably learn a lot from if you’re doing any type of business online. It’s called Masters of Business Online.

Not sure if that includes you or not? Are you one of these types of people?

• online / interactive marketing
• advertising / sales
• communications
• new media planning
• product brand management
• strategic planning
• website development

I’m sure that if that fits your title or responsibility in your career, then you’re going to gain some valuable information from what’s going to be shared next Tuesday, October 14th all day.

I’ll be there and would love to have you there as well and meet you in person. If you’re interested in attending. Let me know, I may have some registration discounts still available for you to attend.

This is a precursor to many more collaborative events we hope to organize in the mid-west. This is our ground-breaker, but based on the response and feedback, we hope to grow this into a much larger conference at a larger venue!

Register today and save the date on your Calendars: December 7th, 2007!

The story started in 1985 at IPS # 70 when my five-year-old daughter, Stephanie, started kindergarten. Stephanie formed an instant friendship with a cute little blond haired girl named Laura. Laura soon started coming to our house to play and spend the night. The girls were inseparable as they went to school together through eighth grade. Even though they attended different schools in high school and college, they remained best friends. Laura was like family.

In September 2005, 25-year-old Laura was diagnosed with brain cancer. As all of Laura’s friends and her family’s friends wanted to help, Stephanie and I coordinated meals, errands, other help – as friends always do. We communicated updates about Laura’s health via emails, and we created a website to allow friends to share their support for Laura.

What we also did was create an amazing cheer network, which became known as “Laura’s Team,” that brought great joy to Laura and her family, and helped them through the dark, difficult situation they were facing. The unique cheer we implemented also transformed all of Laura’s Team; friends did not drift away as they often do during uncomfortable situations. We “celebrated” special days: popcorn day, cherry pie day, random acts of kindness day, plant a flower day. We left surprises on Laura’s doorstep, held special parties, sent themed items in the mail.

Through the cheer patrol we organized, nobody was ‘doing it all’ and over 200 people were involved in various ways. As a result of the amazing impact this had on Laura, her family, and everyone on Laura’s Team, we created a very unique website to help friends help friends. www.WhatFriendsDo.com, which is free to use, allows users to create their own custom team site that includes a home page, blog, guestbook, photo collage. It also includes a page for friends to list their names as a show of support.

Another component is the Help Schedule – a calendar to coordinate who is bringing meals on which day, who is helping with errands, transportation, pet care, whatever needs to be done. The site assists with creative cheer ideas to help people stay connected, even in difficult or uncomfortable situations. It offers guidance about how to respond with care and grace in action and word, and has unique gifts that are practical, meaningful and often just plain fun.

Laura lost her battle in August 2006. She is greatly missed, but her legacy lives on by helping provide cheer to others on www.WhatFriendsDo.com, which went live in June 2007. More about the story is on the About Us section of the site. We encourage visitors to share a link to the site with friends, neighbors, co-workers, places of worship… because helping friends when it’s needed most is exactly what friends do!

Personally I am an avid developer and technology leader myself. I worked at ExactTarget where most recently I was responsible for an Open API. Since I left ExactTarget I have started my own company Orbicular Technologies, a company that helps individuals and companies adopt Web 2.0. Currently I am the VP, Technology at Right On Interactive. ROI is a data focussed marketing agency. We provide professional services, products and have partnerships with companies such as Salesforce.com and ExactTarget.

Please visit my site: www.quotesbyyouandme.com

Go Colts – World Champions!!