Join Social Media maven Mark Horvath (@hardlynormal) for your morning cuppa at South by Southwest in Austin, TX. (SXSW)

Each morning Mark will chat about using Social Media for Social Good with a panel of genius communicators in the world of tech and non-profit. His guests have each set the standard for “now communication” within their niche.

The show films live in The Beacon: Lounge with a Conscience (NonProfit Lounge) March 13, 14 & 15th and will be airing online at The What Gives Ustream account.

Guest Lineup

Chris Brogan
President of the New Marketing Labs (www.newmarketinglabs.com), widely-read blogger, trendsetter, and co-author of the breakaway book, Trust Agents.

Beth Kanter
Author of “Beth’s Blog: How Non-Profits Can Use Social Media,” expert consultant to the non-profit world on Social Media strategy.

Jeff Pulver
Technology Anthropologist, Entrepreneur, Storyteller and Producer of the #140 Conference.

Kari Saratovsky
VP of Social Innovation, The Case Foundation (http://www.casefoundation.org/)

Chris Noble
President of Cause Media Group

Tony Steward of LifeChurch.tv
Known for their large-scale community creation muscle, LifeChurch.tv will share about the ins and outs of community interaction.

The Hardly Normal Cup of Coffee is a morning broadcast not to be missed. These discussions will infuse tech heads with an informational buzz sure to wake the mind and heart. Mark Horvath, a homeless advocate and hope coach by nature, will lead an new interview conversation each day at the non-profit lounge. Each episode will stream live to his InvisiblePeople.tv website.

With the world getting flatter and flatter, the lines of best practices on the web for non-profit and for profit businesses is becoming slim, the distinction is in the approach.

Strategic Partners

(Woooo!)

The Beacon is located on the 3rd floor of the Austin Convention Center, Room 8B—smack in the heart of the Greater Good Campus.

This post will most likely blur the lines between personal and professional and I’m ok with that.

Last January I met Charles Lee. We connected through Twitter and we met for a cup of coffee.

Believe or not I was nervous to meet him. He was the first Pastor to ever reach out to me in LA and he was also the creator of The Freeze Project (The international Flash mob that brings awareness to human slavery) Just One and Laundry Loves. He had major street cred and he wanted to talk to me. We met that day and talked about the work I do and the role that Portnoy Media Group plays with organizations. Then we talked about what he was working on and ways to possibly further the scope. A few weeks later, I got to join the guys from Deidox in facilitating a session on communication with film.

Since then I’ve been fortunate to be involved with Charles in a few other instances. (Idea Camp DC, guest lecturing in his class) The thing is, Charles is a thinker. He doesn’t waste time with half baked ideas. If I’m getting a phone call from him it’s because he’s got a lot worked out already and wants to get my take on a project that I’d be involved in.

Which is why I will always take his call.

Idea Camp
It was the first un-conference I’d ever been to and will have a unique place in my heart. What happened on that weekend I don’t think can ever be fully duplicated again. The timing for many of the facilitators and attendees was at the intersection of a communication shift. A bunch of like minded rockstars and gave all there ideas away for free. The difference between the facilitators and attendee was minimal. All barriers and egos removed. If you had a question for someone they had time for you – it was wild.

There’s another opportunity to experience that same kind of openness and it’s The Ideation Conference – Check it out here

Daniel Li
We didn’t actually meet at The Idea Camp but I heard that the web developer for International Justice Mission was going to be there and geeked out a little. So I reached out on Twitter – what followed was coffee in DC a month later. And a few months later I got the chance to collaborate with IJM on their film: At The End of Slavery. We also share a love of the Red Sox.

Dawn Carter
When I first met Dawn at Idea Camp she was holding a tutoring session for a few people about tech communication and the power of information in the now. But it was really after the event that I got to find out who she was. She’s super dynamic and I can’t even wait to get to collaborate with her at SXSW this year. See for yourself, watch this short doc about her – Click here

Josh Roberts
Josh has been/is responsible for my matriculation to the SoCal lifestyle. He’s introduced me to my first fish taco and is a great guy to just chill with. Many times when hanging with church staff/pastor it can feel like he/she’s doing me a favor by gracing me with their presence. Nothing could be further from the truth with Josh. He’s just a solid guy – he genuinely cares for people, has a lot of responsibility and doesn’t shy away from it at all.

Eugene Cho
I had never heard of Eugene prior to Idea Camp but I instantly became a fan of his while there. There a lot of people in my life that I’d categorize as cool and then there are those who just ooze it, Eugene is the latter. He does a whole bunch of inspiring things like One Days Wages. Hopefully he won’t remember me from my exploits at the Idea Camp facilitators meet up.

Most embarrassing moment of Idea Camp
The only was for embarrassment not to have any power is to share it so, here goes: All the facilitators for Idea Camp were gathered together before the sessions and we had a chance to share a bit about ourselves. Cynthia Ware facilitated the session and encouraged us to “really take your time and share who you are…” Then she looked at me and I took her up on it. I dominated a room full of brilliance for far too long by giving my life story. The worst part was I didn’t feel bad about it until after the session ended and the teasing began. Completely oblivious to my communication faux pas during the entire session – it felt like the verbal equivalent to a Cannonball at your Aunt’s wake at the country club. Dave Mahanes was the funniest in the aftermath, “Sometimes when they say share who you are, you don’t have to share all of you”

There’s also a slew of so many others like Marc Payan, EloraNicole, Russell Ramirez, Mel McGowan, Jim Gray, Laurence Tom, and Amanda Jones (there really are too many to mention)

Charles, you’re responsible for all of this and I love you for it. I’ll be watching my phone for the next adventure.

Last week the Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit (D.I.C.E.)

Check out this video from Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell. He predicts that we’re moving into a world of game development which will emerge from the popular “Facebook Games” era. Check out the video.

Whether this change continues to become all that Professor Schell suggests, it’s wild to think about the implications for marketing and yet another change to the commerce landscape. I found the video to be challenging and informative at how pervasive gamer culture has influenced so many facets of today’s living and also why I’m not accepting Farmville, or Mafia Wars invites on facebook.

“It’s a brilliant device of beauty”

“Connectivity in your hand”

“Why did they call it that? Where was the female voice on that marketing team?”

So much has already been said about the iPad and I’m going to be one of the first in line. Am I a fanboy? Maybe. But I’m definitely into gadgets and this might be one of the most accessible computer appliances ever made. Yesterday I read a great post from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TAUW) called “iPad in the Family: what it’ll take” by Michael Grothaus and I highly recommend checking it out.

Michael makes some solid points about how and where this product will be impacting the home and it got me thinking about the last several years and the full on assault to get your mom into their products. In this case your mom is a metaphor for the main market or average consumer but she really is also your mom. She’s got real electronic needs and wants to play in a digital sandbox. Now she might not want to play World of Warcraft or make a Second Life avatar but she might want to read an eBook, watch a movie while traveling or put more control into a digital planner.

Apple has had great success when they launched iTunes but honestly I don’t think even in their wildest dreams did they think expect the landscaping changing impact that it has had. As Apple just announced sales of over 250 MIllion iPods in January and billions in revenue they’re looking to continue to reshape the market to make sure that they’re at the head of the pack. Also last months they announced 75 Million iPhones have been sold, another market they entered and dominated within just 12 months. At this point in time it makes a lot of sense that Apple wants to have a device that becomes as common place as TV’s.

It is my understanding that the iPad idea was to replace all text books and primarily as an educational tool. Of course as the book store gets rolling and universities and schools around the country start treating digital copies as viable source material and recommending a digital book reader of some kind this will take the product to a new height.

My prediction is that as the iPad is released to the market they’re going to experience an unexpected boom from unanticipated demographics (Like the Wii with those over 60 and the Honda Element with Soccer dads). I think that the iPad could replace planners in depth, I was a Franklin Covey guy for many years and I like the side by side layout on the iPad. It could also completely be used as a lecturing/teaching tool. Then there’s the market that is unseen, the one that decides how this will be best suited. Could the iPad replace medical charts? Could an app be made that uses the display as a secondary display for guerrilla film makers? Will Seth get his idea for a non linear slide show presenter?

Whatever the case may be, this much is true – there is entirely a new market waiting for your ideas, your brain power and your innovation. If you could bring that with you as we wait in line together we could flesh out some ideas.

Sunday’s Superbowl was definitely one for the ages, the game was great and right down to the wire. The game also set records for the most watched program in the history of Television at 106.5 Million people. As the morning after talk started and the Monday AM Quarterbacks started giving their take on the game at the collective water cooler that is Twitter, there was one prevailing theme, “That Google ad was amazing!”. I heard that over and over, references being made, emotional pleas of tears thinking about love’s completion. It was a beautiful ad, and maybe it wins the day as best ad.. but more than that. It changed a landscape. Google has been under some fire recently and as a conglomerate , their hands are in virtually everything – from phones, to vids and of course they dominate search.

Since it played at the Superbowl it ’s been watched online an additional 2Million times. Plus it’s been ReTweeted 32,000 times.. Of course the big deal is that it wasn’t made for the Superbowl and in fact, has been on the web since mid November. It’s safe to say that Google is pretty happy with the ad and the Search Stories campaigns that this ad is apart of is sheer brilliance.

What amazes me is the human connection and transference that has so many relating and connecting with this story. The bigger deal is that this commercial can be done for a budget, with the right people, for less than $5,000. Which puts a high quality, highly impacting brilliant ad in the reach of any organization.

What we can learn from the Google Ad “Parisan Love”:

Use your product to make a connection.

Tell a story and tell it well.

Talk about the intersection of life and your product or service.

Make it available for all to see

Cream rises to the top – Good quality may take a little time but it will be found out.

Please leave a comment if there’s something you think I’ve missed or that you specifically came away with.

Also yesterday I was sent this amazing ad for seatbelt safety and the tag line was, “If you like Google’s ad yesterday, you’re going to dig this.”

What was the part that you connected with most?