Using New Media to Make Orlando Cool(er)

Here are the slides and video from last night's inaugural Ignite Orlando event. I met some great people and put Twitter names to faces which is always fun. Two very cool people to look out for
@BrianFeldman
@corycollier

And here is the fun stuff:

Greg Rollett Ignite Orlando Presentation

Enjoy and please drop some comments if you saw the presentation and didn't get to say hello. It's all about making Orlando cool(er) and I love meeting new people that add to this scene. See all you cool Orlando kids at BarCamp in April.

-Greg Rollett

Talk 4 Hunger + Ignite Orlando

Tonight is a big night here locally for community participation and growth. I am happy to be a part of both instances.

First is Talk 4 Hunger, a new initiative from Rock For Hunger. In its basic role it is a newspaper about the local entertainment scene, business and nonprofit stories. At the heart is a job building, financial training and income generating resource for the homeless community of Central Florida and especially Downtown Orlando.

The idea is borrowed from other successful papers, notably the Homeless Voice in South Florida. Through the Homeless Voice in Ft. Lauderdale and Broward County, the community has been able to provide a voice through the publication as well as jobs and stability in the lives of thousands of individuals.

We are excited to bring a similar program to Orlando. Look for issues to hit the streets next week. They are going to cost $1 with $0.75 going to the distributor. The issue was paid for by advertisements from local business, NFi Studios, 10,000 Villages, The Plaza Theatre and Gen-Y Rock Stars.

Tonight we are having a launch party at Endagon Headquarters at 6pm. There will be light refreshments and snacks as well as a presentation from Chris Goyzueta, Logan Lenz and myself. Donations will be accepted and copies of the March issue will be available for all guests.

Part 2 of the evening is Orlando's 1st Ignite Orlando. The event was put together by local volunteers and is a interesting addition to the free conferences and sessions that take place within the local tech, marketing and entertainment community. From their site:

Ignite Orlando is a local event usually held during a weeknight that brings together artists, geeks, entrepreneurs, academics and others to network with a twist. This free event paid by sponsors and organized by volunteers has two major features that make it different.

5 Minute Presentations

Presentations run five minutes but you are only limited to 20 slides that automatically rotate every 15 seconds. The volunteer speakers are predetermined by the Ignite Orlando planning staff and come from submissions generated by this website. Presentations are collected from speakers before the night of the event and compiled by the Ignite Talk Coordinator (volunteer staff member).

I will be presenting my 5 mintue talk on Using New Media to Make Our Community Cool and will be chatting about everything from Rock For Hunger to NOMSA to doterati to Tweetups to the Orlando Magic.

I will be posting the slides tomorrow, or come see them live tonight at 7pm at Slingapour's in Downtown Orlando. Admission is free and so is the learning and networking. See the schedule here.

Twitter Feeds 4,000 Homeless Invididuals

My wife loves Twitter. She loves the fact that instead of calling up our friends or texting them to meetup, we have a Tweetup. She loves that I Tweet about the most interesting things and my followers care enough about it to continue following.

She is bullshitting. Doesn't get it. And I'm cool with that.

When I had a bad day last week, the Twitter community was there to get me back in the swing of things in a big way. It played out like this:

The donor can be found here if you want to thank him too. (I kept his name anonymous, but I have no problem displaying, I will leave that up to him!)

I am not sure how this played out but the path that I led had at least a play in the matter. Below is the stream of events that lead to the donation and the direct feeding of 4,000 homeless Orlando area individuals, courtesy of Rock For Hunger.

1. Created a personal brand that encompassed my entire package (Rollett Marketing, Music Marketing, Rock For Hunger, Social Media, Gen-Y and so on)
2. Reached out on Social Media sites (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc)
3. Created loose relationships with people (blog comments, Twitter replies, introduction e-mails, etc)
4. Continued past relationships and built new ones - never settle on what you have. There are so many interesting people that can teach you so many things.
   
5. Build a brand that is recognized in the community - speaking at local events, joining user groups/organizations, etc.
   
6. Don't ask, but participate - My start-ups need money, Rock For Hunger can sure use some donations, etc, yet I do not ask for anything, but I do tell the stories that are involved in the process, hoping that someone will be inspired. This can include volunteering, donating some canned foods, helping out with research, sending out some links or yes, lead to a great donation.
7. Give back - You cannot solely be a taker. Give back to your community, volunteer your time and send some links out to make someone else's day brighter.

When the day is done, more times than not, you need to believe that you are doing the right thing. It is very easy to get caught up in your day-to-day and focus on the projects in front of your face. There is absolutely nothing wrong about that. But seeing the power in helping someone out, well, that is more power than going at it alone could ever be.

Thanks Twitter, not just for the act of kindness, but for the community and power that you bring. Wait, no, thanks to the community. Twitter is just the tool that we use to reach out to each other.

For those looking to know more about Rock For Hunger, please visit their Blog, which is back up and running on its regularly scheduled postings. The Fest is coming soon too, November 15th. I heard that G-Ro is bringing the Sneakers back for one more show! Just a rumor though.

-Greg Rollett

Our Community Coming Together

Getting an organization started is a royal pain in the ass. Getting one started solely with volunteers takes that up a notch. I am currently in the middle of starting my 2nd nonprofit company aimed at bringing our community together. The first is of course, Rock For Hunger, which is going strong with weekly feedings for those less fortunate in Orlando, job trainings and Rock For Hunger Fest 3 coming in November.

The 2nd is called doterati.
My 2-3 months being involved with the group has been great. There are so many talented people, awesome companies and passionate creatives right here in our backyard. What makes it even better s bringing everyone together to make the org tick. In our board meetings we have representatives from small companies like Atlantic Dominion Solutions and One Step Solutions to innovative design firms like NFi Studios to large Interactive firms like Mindcomet and Social Media Innovators IZEA to one man shops to corporations like Darden to schools like Rasmussen to employment solutions to user groups and beyond.

We have come together to not just build another networking group, but a community that is really out to help each other, teach each other and grow together.

Christmas All Year Long
One of the biggest joys that I have is making people come together and create something that is bigger and on a more grand stage than by them self, alone. With both organizations, I feel that the whole is bigger than the pieces, but the pieces are vital to the whole. The best part is that the people involved all give their time to make these orgs tick. No money involved, at least on the personal level. Rather it is the personalities and the hearts that they can take with them.

Gotta love community.
To get involved with either Rock For Hunger or doterati, please shoot an email to greg.rollett@endagon.com. Let's build this city together and see what we can accomplish!

-Greg

Help the Community from the Bottom Up

You are only as strong as your weakest link, right?

Well if that's the case, you need to look at your community and find the people on the bottom and gt them to be top performers.

This morning I had the privilege of attending the Community Service Center's Breakfast Club in Orlando. The event was great and I met a ton of motivated people all looking to make Orlando a better community by working from the bottom on up.

Orlando Blueprint Initiative
Orlando has some great, albeit controversial initiatives. Blueprint is one of them. Blueprint is essentially the project to make the new Orlando Magic arena, renovate the Citrus Bowl and build the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center. Whether you like the idea of the $1.1 billion project is up to you. What I liked and wanted to share was how they were going about this construction. Through a partnership with Workforce Central Florida, they are looking to help the homeless and those below the poverty line get work in not just the construction, but in the longterm running of the facilities.

(FYI - this initiative is supposed to bring in 7,500 jobs annually to the Central Florida area)

How does this compare to online communities or network groups?
It gets the people involved and makes the community tighter, cleaner and friendlier to outsiders. By taking your bottom line users and giving them power in shaping your community, you are giving them a reason to believe in your product or service.

It took a lot of high powered people to make the Blueprint project go through legislation and that that government mombo-jambo. It has to start with the top and realizing that getting everyone involved is the key to future success. By allowing the less fortunate not only the dollars today to build the facilities, we can give them a better future by providing long term jobs and use.

The bottom line
We are all concerned with our bottom line in these economic times. We would be lying if we weren't. The companies that are going to come out ahead are the ones that are making the most of everyone in their community, promoting their strength and togetherness and looking to make everyone in their company better today.

How to lose
The companies that are failing are the ones that are looking for the quick dollar, the flashy headline and the current trend. They are looking to fatten their pockets at their users and clients expense. When the tide turns, other businesses will be leagues ahead and ready to catapult on the businesses falling into the toilet.

What to do

• Find your weakest link
• Find a way to get them involved at any level
• Create long term impact for all of your users - why should I come back tomorrow?
• Stay away from the quick buck if you are going to turn people off
• Start with your leaders and influential personnel and get them involved - it is their pockets that are going to suffer in the long run when the company flops
• Remember the word community and what it means - then make your community the definition

How do you get everyone in your community involved? What can you do to help the lower bracket of your community?

Please leave your feedback, so that we can begin to understand the needs of communities and build stronger relations with those that matter.

-Greg Rollett

(Here is a Guide to the Blueprint Project for people in the Orlando area looking for more information)