It's an H1N1 World....

You know that life has shifted
and you have entered the other side of existence
when the late night owl that has always been you
needs to enter into conversation
any conversation, just to stay awake
in anticipation of a bus load of kids
back from an out-of-state field trip

If only I didn't have an early morning meeting
I could sleep in to make up for this loss
such a difference from five years ago, when I
existed on 3 to 4 hours of sleep

So much has changed
So much has changed me

Living anti-parallel lives now,
I remember when we lived for the conversation
any conversation
any time of day or night

The place between darkness and dawn
between separateness and being one
When time stood still and the world passed
by around us.

That was then, this is now.
Text message alerts me that the bus
is crossing the Ohio River
It's 1:00 a.m., do you know where your child is??
Mine is on a packed bus with H1N1
Lying in wait on every iTouch and cell phone surface.
I'm outta here- taking the hand sanitizer with me!



Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

Animoto.com

SummitUp: A Social Media Confab in Images

Fabulous SummitUp Social Media Conference in Dayton this week. Will be posting key take-aways at a later date, but wanted to get the vid that I created from some pics that I took at the event up on the Blog. Just a bit of a video montage:






Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

Social Media in Dayton

Next week finds C3 in Dayton participating in two exciting Social Media events. The first is the SummitUp conference which consists of local and national speakers. I was excited to register for this conference because one of the keynote speakers is a Twitter personality and social media guru that I respect, Chris Brogan. Was thrilled to get to hear him speak live (have participated in a couple of webinars that he has been part of) and to get a copy of his new book. Recently found out that I was the winner of a Twitter contest whose prize is a seat at the speakers' table for this event. Now I am triply thrilled about going!!!

The second event is one in which I will be speaking on, or rather leading a discussion around Social Media and how a successful strategy can help to build business. It is a very unique event that is part of Cox Media's Dynamic Dialogue Series and involves three speed discussions that rotate for the first hour of the event. The second hour will be spent with more traditional networking with food and drinks all within the gorgeous back drop of the Dayton Art Institute.


My friend and Internet Marketing Czar, Rob Bunting, does a great job detailing the event and interviewing event coordinator, Cathi Eastman from Cox Ohio Media. Check it out here.


Chris Brogan's book: "Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust".

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

Surround Yourself With Brilliance!

" Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin into the future..."

*Fly Like An Eagle- Steve Miller

Feeling like the days and weeks are flying by. Just want to grab a hold of the day and screenshot it into permanency. To take those rich, vibrant fall colors and unusually lush, green grass populated by seasonal displays of pumpkins and scarecrows and bales of hay and frame them forever in my mind. Don't get me wrong, the days are flying, but I am loving every minute of the life I am leading. I am truly where I want to be and traveling the path that has been my destiny for some time. All of our inherent gifts, personality traits, education, idiosyncrasies and life experiences join forces to carve us into who we are today. The people that intersect our path for a moment, a day, a life-time, leave an indelible mark on who we are and we are forever changed by their presence in our lives.

So my thought for the day is this: Surround yourself with the best possible friends and mentors and be "gift" to others by intersecting their path of life. I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that it is in giving that we receive. While you are at it, make a list of the people who have deeply affected your life. You may be surprised by what you find!




Image credit: http://www.northshorefallcolors.com/images/fall_colors_2007_5.jpg

Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

Reaching Out Through Social Media

What would you do if you found a long forgotten journal that detailed every day of your high school life? Imagine what would happen if the very first love of your teenage life, lifted from the pages of said journal, finds you via Twitter and you begin a conversation many decades later. What would happen if those present day conversations began to include pages from the forgotten journal that detail the birth and death of that first love between the two of you?

I do have that journal (among many others) and my first boyfriend from age 13 recently found me through Twitter. Actually the truth of the matter is that he found me via Classmates.com (who even remembers they have a profile on this archaic site!). Received an email letting me know that "someone" signed my guest book (WTH- guest book???). Followed the link and saw who it was, but could not read the message he had left for me because I wasn't a paying Gold member. Is anyone a member of Classmates.com? Why would you want to pay for info that you can get for free on other social media sites??

Imagine getting a message that someone left for you- someone you had heard nothing about since you were a junior in high school- and you were unable to see what the message contained!!! I was dying to find out what he possibly would have to say to me so many years later--so I circumvented the program (long story) and was able to get a simple message to him: "Google me for contact info."

Well he happened upon my Twitter profile, and despite being part of the clueless over 35 population with regard to social media tools, he created a Twitter profile and proceeded to make contact with me. I was shocked to say the least. Since then, we have taken our tweeting to email. I have been sharing the pages of his life with him as seen through my eyes and it has been a completely fascinating journey.

I am seeing myself through adult eyes as well and looking at the pre-cursor of who I am today. I have written many posts expounding on my belief that we truly are made up of a sum of our experiences and interactions with the people who travel our path in life. I am so blessed to be crossing paths again with so many people who played an integral part in helping to shape who I am today and I thank social media applications for enabling these connections to happen.


Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

The Art of Creating Conversations: Dynamic Dialogues Social Media Event

A little Picasso, some oozing Brie nestled among the foie gras, Chopin playing lightly in the background and the sound of a whistle calling all social media enthusiasts to their discussion tables. Piqued your interest? Come check out my latest Social Media Event:

C3 was approached by Cox Media/Dayton B2B Magazine to be a Discussion Leader at a very unique social media event for local businesses on October 21st, 2009 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.. The event is part of the Dynamic Dialogues Series and the topic for this event will be "New Media: Effective Business Applications". This will be an incredibly unique event not only for its format, but also for it's venue. The format is reminiscent of speed dating or speed networking. Participants will receive a "dance card" of sorts indicating which three of the many discussion tables they will be visiting on a 20 minute rotation that night. The event is being held at the Dayton Art Institute among the many inspiring pieces in the museum's collection. When the rotation hour is up, all participants meet up for general networking, wine and hors d'oeuvres. This gives people a chance to continue some spirited discussions previously interrupted by the rotation bell as well as to make contact with a discussion leader that was not on the "dance card".

Sounds to me like a great time! This follows the big SummitUp Social Media conference being held the day before at Wright State University featuring my favorite social media guru: Chris Brogan. I like Brogan's style: straight to the point with humor. He keeps it real and most importantly he practices the main principle of social media: conversation. The guy actually responds to tweets, despite having 102,308 followers this very minute. Now watch, someone is going to burst my bubble and tell me that he is operating @chrisbrogan with a staff of ghost tweeters like Guy Kawasaki!

Anyway, if you like social media, wine, cheese, moonlight and great art-you need to check this event out and sign up immediately. The last event in this series SOLD OUT!



Check out info here: Dynamic Dialogues Event

Let me know if you are stopping by!

Image Credits: inside919.ning.com
www.architettura.uniss.it/.../1374/1/30/
Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009

Social Media Ranting: Time to Dialogue!!

Ok, this is simply pathetic. It has been so long since I lasted posted that Blogger has changed it's background design and added some new capabilities. Ugggh. Have been incredibly busy with the business and new clients and projects. All good- but so many very cool things to work on and so little time. I already have lots of people asking me 'when do I sleep?' Ummm, are the dark circles showing or are they just following me on all of the spokes of my social media presence?? I need a clone now!! Preferably one that can make incredible gourmet meals; bake goodies to share with others; clean my house so that it doesn't look like it has been taken over by dust mites; attend out-of-town seminars like the very cool social media event going on in Boston- wait, I WANT to attend that event- the clone can work on client projects...... Anyway,

I have been meaning to blog on several key business/networking events and hoping to deposit the impressions of my experiences in a brand new business blog dedicated to all things flying around in my C3: Creating Connections World- but just couldn't get the blog going and it was causing a stalemate in the writing end of things. No point in developing brilliant business analysis if you have no garage to park it in, so back to Kaleidoscope Discoveries, which as the explanation and disclaimer states: is a place for my random musings.

So, here are some key events that will be future blog posts on the new Biz Blog (coaching note to self- write it down on the To Do list and put a date next to it with the letter 'A'- can we say graduate of Franklin Planner Time Mangement System???):

• New Media Cincinnati 2nd Saturday Event-Topic: Dealing with Competitors
• Digital Hub Inititative non-Conference- Very cool Social Media/Digital Event- won a prize for being the most prolific tweeter of Day 1 at the event #dhi09- link is to Chuck Gose's recap

• Get Motivated! Seminar featuring Laura Bush, General Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and others. I have lots to say on this!!!! Would I do it again?......NO!!!

Want to leave you with some very cool quotes from a very eye-catching (especially in the title) presentation on Social Media by Marta Kagan.


"Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it's the people who are in control."

-Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur


"The word blog is irrelevant. What's important is that it is now common and will soon be expected that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world."

-Seth Godin, Author

Ok, last one from the presentation creator herself:

"If your product sucks, then social media won't fix it."

-Marta Kagan

Amen. I'm outta here- back to the social media of my own business. Remember folks it's all in the conversation. Strike up a dialogue- you just might like what happens (hey, you can quote ME on that one!).










Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009