Posted by Evo Terra
Last night was the Epic Super Hero/Villain Battle 2009. I helped organize the event as part of Improv AZ. Additionally, I took on directorial duties to coordinate the Hero-side of the battle.
As you can see from dozens of pics on Flickr, the battle was a smash success. Truly meeting the “epic” descriptor. While it looks like it went off without a hitch — a hitch there was. Scottsdale Fashion Square security intercepted my intrepid band of heroes before we could step foot inside the mall. After some tense negotiation (kidding — everyone was quite friendly) between our group, security and a lone police officer, we were allowed to pass through the mall sans masks. Since the battle was taking place outside of the mall-proper (you don’t think we’re stupid enough to do this inside the mall, do you?), we modified our plans slightly and proceeded.
Which brings me to the point of this post. You see, Improv AZ is fun. PodCamp AZ is fun. Hacknight at Gangplank is fun. Ignite Phoenix is fun. And #evfn is a heck of a lot of fun.
I’m working a full time job now. With a 45 minute one-way commute. And I’m still dedicating 15 - 20 hours a week to my duties for Podiobooks.com1.
I spend a lot of time on things that are fun. And when something stops being fun, I stop doing it. Save the work stuff. But I try and make that fun, too.
Are you having fun?
1 - Podiobooks.com is a hell of a lot of fun. I put it here in the “work” paragraph because it’s more than fun, and I can quantify the time.
Posted by Evo Terra
On November 14th and 15th, we’ll once again be putting on PodCamp AZ. I’m really looking forward to the event. It’s our third year and the folks helping plan the event are fantastic — even more fantastic than the prior years. I think we’re getting good at this stuff.
PodCamp AZ is free to attend. If you live further north than say, Phoenix, your weather sucks in November. You’ll want to come here. It’s usually still in the 80s, with no fear of that frozen water falling as if by magic from the sky.
PodCamp AZ is also a blast. I’ve heard many folks call it the new and social media event of the southwest. We drew over 700 people last year. If you were one, great. If not, come out this year and help us break 1000.
PodCamp AZ is a free unconference, but with a twist. Most notable: we actually schedule tracks, speakers and presentations. Anyone can present on any topic, but we encourage speakers to get us their info quickly so we can get them on the schedule. That helps those who want to attend but aren’t sure of the value. But let me assure you — we provide value to spare.
And yes boys, I’m sure iJustine will be back this year. We’re getting commitments from other web-celebs from all over the country. It is the place to both see and be seen. Oh, and you can learn some stuff about new and social media, too.
If you’re interested, register now. It’s free. In the coming weeks we’ll be putting up special rates for lodging at local hotels. Or find a buddy to crash with. Couch surfing is the hot new trend.
And if you want to help spread the word on this, today is the day. We’re doing a big blog blast. Find the details here. See you in November!
Posted by Evo Terra
If you missed the event or didn’t get the full picture from the Sideshare presentation, I’m delighted to say that the video of my talk on Big Numbers from Ignite Phoenix #4 is online!
Ignite Phoenix continues to be the very best event in the Valley. And I’m not making that up. It. Is. The. Best. If you don’t have one in your community, start one.
I was a lot happier with my presentation this time than last. Why? Because this time, I pushed my arrogance aside (try and picture that) and actually rehearsed. I was prepped. I knew the material. I know what I was going to say and when I was going to say it. I could do the whole 5 minutes without the slides. Yet I left enough breathing room for the crowed to react. And they did, in all the right spots.
Could I improve? Sure. I need to stop moving around so much. Maybe I should only move during the transition. Or maybe it’s fine. But if I’m going to do more talks professionally — no, I wasn’t paid to speak at Ignite Phoenix — then I need to get my body motion as prepped as my ability to nail the slides and the words. Not that I’m not happy. I’m friggin’ thrilled with how I did!
Wanna do this? Go ahead. Ignite Phoenix is taking submissions for their 5th event coming up in November. And yes, you know I’m submitting again. What? Not sure… I have time.
Posted by Evo Terra
I had a fabulous idea recently. Since timing and rehearsal are more important at Ignite Phoenix than other presentations (your 20 slides auto-rotate every 15 seconds without any input from you), I thought I’d do my night-before run in front of the microphone.
And thanks again to the magic o SlideCast by SlideShare, here is the dry-run of my Ignite Phoenix presentation, Big Numbers.
The actual video of the event will be posted in the coming days. I’m really hoping that turned out well, and that it captured the audiences reaction to my presentation. Which went really, really well. More on that when I can see the video and get it posted.
Oh, and if you live in the Phoenix metro area and are inspired by what you see here, submissions for Ignite Phoenix #5 are open. And yes, I’ll be submitting again. How can I not!
Posted by Evo Terra
Image by chuck-reynolds via Flickr
I’ve had a love/like relationship with SMC Phoenix for the last year. On one hand, I love the idea of getting social media enthusiasts together for the purpose of discussing social media. There are plenty of informal gatherings (e.g. #evfn, Gangplank, various Tweetups …) happening all over the valley all the time. But those are more social gatherings that use social media rather than social media gatherings. The difference is subtle, but there.
In my experience, SMC aimed to do just that, but meetings all too quickly devolved into just another social gathering. A gathering of “usual suspects” who — without actively trying — created a nearly impenetrable wall for anyone who was new to the group. I blame no one for this. And I fully recognize that this may be my own misperception of reality. So there’s no need to fill the comments with a bunch of “I disagree, Evo” statements.
Because this post is about the future. An unsure future, but a testable future.
Tonight, SMC Phoenix is trying a new direction. It may not be the direction from now on. Hence my use of the word testable. Current-coordinator Jeff Moriarty is tweaking the format and clarifying the scope. Enough to entice me back tonight for what I hope will be the first of many happy returns.
So if you’ve not been to SMC for a while, give it another shot. And if you’re sitting on the sidelines wondering if it’s for you, now is a great time to try. I hope to see you there.
Social Media Club Phoenix
Meets the 2nd Thursday of each month
from 6:30p - 8:00p
at Jobing.com headquarters (not the Arena)
4747 N. 22nd Street (between Indian School and Camelback)
Phoenix, Arizona
Posted by Evo Terra
Hugh MacLeod is very smart. I don’t know the man in any way other than reading his blog or looking at his back-of-business-card art, but the smarts shine through.
Today, in this photo, he’s accurately represented how I’ve been feeling for some time now:

And in a strange twist of fate, I’m once again getting more involved in the evil world of marketing and advertising. Hopefully, with less face-punching. More on that in a future post.
If you like Hugh’s art, you’ll soon be able to get it and more. That one is part of the IGNORE EVERYBODY: Cube Grenades series. Going on sale soon.
May 7th, 2009
10:30 am
Talks
Posted by Evo Terra
Image by evo_terra via Flickr
I’m off to Balticon again this year. I was thrilled to be one of the Guests of Honor two years ago and had an amazing time. This year, some other hack was named GOH, but Sheila Dee and I decided we’d make the cross-country trek to hang out with some of our fun new media friends.
Here’s what slave-driver and organizer Paul Fischer has me doing:
- Five Reasons Your New Media Project Sucks - Fri@ 5pm
Sheila Dee and I will try and not piss off everyone. Guess my 5 Sucky Things presentations are growing!
- Evo @ 11 Live! - Fri @ 11pm
P.G. will be pulling double-duty, giving his recap and playing the role of Debbie. Bill DeSmedt will be our guest. Phil Rossi has been banned.
- Live: Escape Pod - Sat @ 10am
Sheila and I in stereo as the farm in Rogue Farm by Charles Stross. That should be a hoot.
- Writing for Blogs - Sat @ 5pm
I blog. Therefore, I qualify.
- Podiobooks: A Novel Way To Listen - Sun @ 5pm
Exposing new listeners to the serialized audiobook format. You’d be surprised how many don’t know about it.
- Creating a Serialized Audiobook - Mon @ 11am
For authors who want to play in this new media field.
- New Media Triage - Mon @ 12 noon
I’ll be triageing (is that a verb) known curmudgeon Dave Slusher. Gonna be tough and fun!
Balticon is a SF/F convention with a great new media track. It takes place on Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25 2009 at Marriott’s Hunt Valley Inn in Baltimore, MD. If you’re in the area, you’ll wanna come by. Seriously. ‘Tis fun!
I’m excited about all of these!
Posted by Evo Terra
Image via CrunchBase
Twitter is a great communications tool. I manage several different accounts, but focus most of my attention on @evo_terra and @Podiobooks.com. The first is me, in all my glory. Those that follow there know that it’s often times not safe for work. But that’s the real me, and I’m not at work all the time.
The second is also me, but me as the guy running the day-to-day operations of Podiobooks.com, a site that gives away free audiobooks in serialized form. It’s all about the site, new books, existing books, authors, etc….
And as much as it kills me to say this, I need your help.
You see, I’ve noticed that people like to talk — a lot — about audiobooks on Twitter. Especially, they like to talk to others about what they are listening to, what they like and what they don’t like. I’ve been using my Podiobooks.com twitter account to do two things:
- Follow the real people who follow @Podiobooks.com. No, I don’t auto-follow. I look at each and every new follower notice and add based on what I see. I don’t add those who’ve only added for the express purpose of inflating their follower count. That’s a very douche-y action. Which is part of why this plea kills me.
- Those who talk about Podiobooks.com or free audiobooks. I facilitate this by monitoring the Twitter stream and picking up on conversations here and there. I figure that an innocuous follow notice is much better than me saying “Check us out for free audiobooks” every time someone asks where they can be found. Think of it as my commitment to de-cluttering the Twittersphere.
And that brings me to my problem. Twitter limits your ability follow more than 2,000 people. That limit is removed when your followers also pass 2,000. In principal, I agree with why they’ve done this. But in practice, it’s causing me pain. As of this posting, the @Podiobooks.com account only has 1,625 followers. And I have dozens of new follower requests every day by real people I’d like to follow back. But I can’t. Not until I break 2,000.
So here’s the plea: Follow @Podiobooks.com on Twitter? You have no idea how it pains me to ask that.
So why don’t I just unfollow those not following me? Well… I don’t think reciprocal follows are all that important. I follow people — on both accounts — for a primary reason: it allows them to DM me should they wish to. On Podiobooks.com, I get DM requests pretty often. Listeners with praise or issues, new authors looking for more info, and publishers wanting to know what it’s all about. And since Twitter — rightly so — only allows people to DM you who you are following, that communication point is cut-off.
Well, until get ~375 more followers to that account.
Take a look at how often I tweet over there. It’s rarely more than 2 - 3 tweets per day. Very low volume. So it shouldn’t impact your existing stream all that much.
I need to go shower now. I feel dirty after this.
Posted by Evo Terra
Hi. Did you miss me? Sorry for the hiatus. No major changes. No shifts in priorities. I’m still here.
This coming Thursday, I’m going to spend the day with a pile of Real Estate agents. No, I’m not in real estate. Quite the opposite, as I’ve been tweeting about recently. But I have found that the Phoenix RE community is hugely ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting digital, social and new media. And since I’m again going to be speaking at the NAR National Conference, I need to keep up with these people.
Thursday is RE BarCamp Phoenix 2009. It’s an unconference in that the sessions and topics are generated the day-of by the people attending the free event. Oh goody, you’re saying. A chance for real estate agents to get up and try and sell you on why they should sell — or sell you — your next house. No, not really. Here’s a preview of the planned topics:
- Twitter
Drowning in Useless Metrics
Screw SEO, it’s all about YEO (You Engaging Others)
Blogging 101
Online Niche Marketing
Web 2.0 Doesn’t Count Unless You Follow-Up
And you know who’s leading this discussions? Real estate agents. Not a bunch of techno-savvy web-workers who have nothing better to do with their time on Thursday. These are working real estate agents who’ve grabbed the idea of digital media by the throat and made it work for them.
I love it. I plan on learning a lot that day. Want to join me? RE BarCamp Phoenix 2009 happens this Thursday, April 23, 2009 at Scottsdale Stadium from 8:30 - 4:30. And it’s free. You should come. If for no other reason that to see how one industry — real estate — is utilizing social media: the right way.
Posted by Evo Terra
I’ve had two really really good ideas for April Fool’s Day pranks this year. Brilliant, mind-blowing pranks. I had them all planned out. But I’m not going to do either of them.
Guess I’m still not ready for today to be about anything other than remembering Joe Murphy. It’s last year all over again, it seems. That’s OK.
Maybe next year. Enjoy your April Fool’s Day. Joe would have wanted you to.
Obligatory link to and inclusion of Beatnik Turtle’s Mason Rocket. And thanks to Jack Mangan for the image used in this post. Cheyenne Wright created the original.

Mason Rocket by Beatnik Turtle [3:02m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download (495)
Posted by Evo Terra
Image by Kevin Steele via Flickr
Tune in at 9:00a PDT Saturday at http://ustream.tv/channel/social-media-triage
There’s nothing wrong with jumping in with both feed. But sometimes, you jump in with dozens of feet, and then you realize that you only have two.
What do you do when you’ve done way too much and you feel yourself being stretched thin? We’ll talk about that, and then get to solving your social media problems with real-world and tactical advice.
What is Social Media Triage?
If you’ve seen a M*A*S*H re-run, you know what triage is. It’s providing quick and immediate aid to those who need it the most. It’s patching a hole, fixing something that is broken, or getting something working that has stopped.
Social Media Triage™ is no different. Just with less icky stuff.
SMT assumes you’re already in the thick of things in the social media sphere, but those things are not going according to plan. Or perhaps you didn’t have a plan in the first place. SMT is all about quick and immediate tactical changes to fix what you could be doing better.
SMT is focused. While there is an evaluation of everything you are doing in the social space, it’s applied systematically. It’s not a re-work of your strategy. It’s making sure that your tactics match said strategy. One social media site at a time.
SMT is tough love, with actionable outcomes that are implemented by you on-the-spot. It’s about shifting your perspective and getting you focused back on why you started doing this stuff in the first place.
On uStream.tv, you’re getting a “group session” of SMT. It’s a taste of what you’ll get one-on-one if you hire me. And yes, we can do it remotely. The “full” SMT is an hour and a half of one-on-one consulting time (flat fee of $225) with no required follow-ups or pre-defined retainer arrangements. You pay for what you need, and you move on smarter and wiser for the experience.
Sound interesting? Let’s do it.
Posted by Evo Terra
A few weeks ago I gave a talk to a 100+ owners of business in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. It was at the Cochise County Travel & Tourism Workshop down in Benson Arizona. My job was to speak to the attendees about getting started in social media.
Here’s the abbreviated version of that talk, minus the question and answers which took place as I talked. I love questions raised in the middle of my talk, for it really lets me craft the rest of the presentation to the needs of my audience. But it’s tough to capture those questions on audio, and it sure drags out the presentation.
So now my 1 hour talk has been boiled down to 20 minutes, thanks to the magic of SlideShare. Love those guys. And I hope you enjoy the talk. Remember who it’s geared for, but I think many of you will get something out of it.
Posted by Evo Terra
Image via CrunchBase
After successive and successful alpha and beta launches of my free weekly group version of Social Media Triage, I’m ready to make it official.
This Saturday morning at 9:00 Phoenix-time (currently PDT) I’ll kick off the group session by sharing some things I’ve learned about Yelp this week. After that, we’ll get in to the true meat of the matter — the issues you’re currently facing in your own social media efforts.
I do it live on Ustream.tv so you can enjoy it from wherever you happen to be. Go here to watch it live or to see recordings of the the prior two sessions.
Do you know of someone who should attend? Please tell them about this event. You can direct them to this page, the Upcoming RSVP page, or the event listing on Facebook. And if you’d like to post it somewhere else… please do!
See you Saturday morning!
Interested in having the personal and complete Social Media Triage experience? It’s an hour and a half of one-on-one consulting time (flat fee of $225) with no required follow-ups or pre-defined retainer arrangements. You pay for what you need, and you move on smarter and wiser for the experience. Contact me to schedule a time that works for you. And yes, we can do it over the interwebs. No need to come to Phoenix!
Posted by Evo Terra
Image by ousooner44 via Flickr
How did your spend your Sunday afternoon? We spent ours welcoming back a total stranger at the airport.
Nope. Not kidding.
It’s another one of our “warm ups” for Improv AZ that started with the No Pants Day Light Rail ride a few months ago (that amazingly got picked up by the press in places like BOSTON!). This one is called Welcome Back!, and it’s a solid staple in the “Improv Everywhere” lineup. Our little group is shaping up to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to the next event! Check out the write-up, complete with pics and a video. Everyone wanted to be Debbie!
March 10th, 2009
8:36 am
#evfn
Posted by Evo Terra
Image by Andorra Photography via Flickr
#evfn is a weekly social gathering organized primarily over Twitter. It stands for East Valley Friday Nights (that’s the east valley of Phoenix, AZ) and yes, you are invited.
This week we’re off to the Tilted Kilt in Mesa. Many of our regular attendees are familiar with the Tempe establishment, but manager Kevin Kleinfelter convinced me that they’d take extra special care of us at his place in Mesa!
The Kilt is one of those establishments that needs to be experienced. Plenty of good beer, great pub-grub and some pretty waitresses in short skirts. How can that be bad?
Remember the agenda: no agenda. Have fun. Meet people. Party on!
RSVP:
Stay updated:
Posted by Evo Terra
I co-written books with Tee Morris. I know him as a stand-up guy, filled to the brim with passion and drive. He’s been on the lecture circuit for a while now. But since he’s on the east coast and I’m near the west, I’ve never seen him present.
Until today, thanks to Blip.tv:
Tee took some noobs through the beginning stages of social media, with some good tips. I look forward to the remaining four episodes of this series. He’s not only a patient and helpful teacher, he’s damn skilled at the video stuff. Which makes me want to kill him.
Posted by Evo Terra
Update: Pulled my head out and figured out what was wrong with the Ustream.tv embedding. See? Everyone makes mistakes at this stuff. All part of the fun!
Earlier today I did the beta launch of my Social Media Triage on Ustream.tv. I think it went very well, and I’m indebted to those who graciously hung out with me for an hour as I bounced around and answered a few questions.
I’m really amazed at the size of the audience, as I neglected posting anything about the event until late yesterday afternoon. I’ll fix that before next time. And there will be a next time. It’ll happen each and every Saturday at 9:00am MST (which is about to be the same as PDT, so make a note).
More info coming. If you missed it, watch the recorded video above — if you have an hour. 
Posted by Evo Terra
Here are the slides and the audio track from my Big Distance presentation, originally given at Ignite Phoenix 3 on February 25, 2009. The slides have been corrected. The audio was recorded right here in my office. So is it the exact same talk as happened live last week? Nope. It’s better.
Props to Phil Plait for much of the math. And checking the rest. Of the math. Go buy Death from the Skies!. It’s where I got much of the info.
If you’re not familiar with the Ignite format, here’s all you need to know. 20 slides. 5 minutes. Go. The most fun you’ll have presenting anything you want.
Posted by Evo Terra
Image via Wikipedia
Ignite Phoenix the Third was last night. And by all accounts, it was far and above the best event so far. The Tempe Center for the Arts was a great venue. A packed venue that quickly setup video screens outside the room for those who couldn’t get in. 300+ extremely appreciative people. Wait, don’t forget the beer and wine. That tends to help!
And yet, I walked away disappointed. Not in any of the things I mentioned above. Not in the organizers who did a fabulous job as usual. And not at my fellow presenters, some of which knocked it out of the park.
No, my disappointment comes as I reflect upon my own presentation. I screwed up. In three ways:
- Overconfidence: I spoke on a topic I’m well-versed in. I spent at least four hours assembling my 20 slides. I rehearsed it several times until I had the timing pat. I did all of that over a week ago. And then I didn’t look at the presentation again until it started showing on the big screen.
I’ve heard it said that airline pilots work the hardest at takeoff and landing — the plane pretty much flies itself in between those points. Turns out it’s the same for me and presenting. Once I got rolling, it went pretty well. Even the ending was OK (since the Ignite format doesn’t leave a lot of room for long “In conclusion…” slides). But I totally boffed the opening. Which threw me off for the rest of the presentation.
Had I spent 60 seconds flipping through the slides an hour before I went on, I would have nailed it. But I didn’t. Cocksure doesn’t go far enough to describe me at times.
- No outside editor: Simple mistakes get made. It’s easy for our eyes to overlook them, especially when they are the same eyes that are connected to the brain that made the mistake in the first place. In my case, I had a unit of measurement wrong. The number that came from the calculations was right, but a transposing error threw the whole thing off. Sometimes these tiny mistakes crash presentations. Sometimes satellites. In hindsight, I should have sent the whole presentation — a whopping five minutes — to Phil Plait for vetting. He helped me with some of the math anyhow, and I’m sure he would have caught my gaff in an instant.
- No notes: I’m not much of a note-taking person. I craft my slides in such a way that they contain clues about what I want to say. And since I’m good at memorizing my points, it hasn’t been much of an issue in the past. But the two prior errors caused me to be a bit flustered as I progressed, compounding errors. I forgot words. I transposed names. I started shooting from the hip. Granted, I’ve got decent aim from there. But it would have been better to have an anchor to draw me back in.
But don’t get the impression that I bombed. I doubt I’ll be banned from future talks. Everyone in the audience seemed to appreciate what I had to say. And all in all, the intent of my talk was successfully conveyed to the audience. Though I’m sure at least one person caught an error and wrote me off on principle. I say this because I do this.
The good news: I can fix it in post. I’ll get some time to record myself giving the talk here in my own domain. Where I won’t screw up. And that’s the one I’ll post for you.
Posted by Evo Terra
Image via Wikipedia
For months now I’ve been talking about Social Media Triage. It’s all about quick and actionable tactics — course corrections, if you will — for your current social and new media efforts. Hey, sometimes an outside eye helps. And lords know I’ve made enough mistakes in this field over time.
I’ve decided to try and use the power of live internet video to help me get this out to the greater world. Yes, a full 1.5 hour session of SMT does cost money, but the live video I do weekly (?) will be free. I might as well eat my own dog poo, since I preach that giving away free content can and does lead to sales. So here I go!
Right now, this is VERY much an alpha project. I did something similar last weekend specifically to Podiobooks.com authors and producers. It’ll be for an hour, so come on over and ask questions.
Please note that this is specifically designed for newbies, for folks who need help. I do not want to see my social and new media buddies show up and turn this into yet another social event. You’re welcome to hang out in the wings and offer up your $0.02, but please understand the intent. I won’t take offense if I don’t see a pile of friends in there.
There are several ways you can RSPV and get more info:
So come on over and pick my brain for an hour this coming Saturday. After that… we’ll see!