• Keynote speaker Brent D. Payne had a great time at the Saturday evening BBQ – enjoying some of the fantastic Fullsteam Lime & Basil Farmhouse Ale and world famous Banana Pudding. (Seriously even Robert Scoble thinks this stuff is great!)
• And speaking of Brent D. Payne, John Cass wrote an excellent summary about his keynote speech, “SEO 360°” from Friday morning.
• One of the best secrets kept at ConvergeSouth was the PitchCamp session held by John Cass and featured entrepreneurial guests like Eric Boggs of Argyle Social and Tim Janke of the Inception MicroAngel Fund. If you missed out on PitchCamp this year make sure you keep following #ConvergeSouth for updates on potential year-round events!
• Another rare moment at ConvergeSouth this year was the appearance by Craig Newmark via Skype from DC.

You no longer have to attend major conferences like PubCom in Las Vegas! ConvergeSouth has the same big name speakers for a ticket at 1/4 the price!

Make sure you’re ready for next year when ConvergeSouth will be back better than ever! Keep following ConvergeSouth on Twitter and stay up-to-date on the best tech conference for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the southeast!

Links to slideshows and presentations:

SEO Social Media ROI Presentation – by Kim E. Williams

Job Search and Social Media – by Mike VanDervort

iPad, iPhone and Windows Mobile 7 Apps – by Jeff SanGeorge

Free/Open Source Software for Business – by Brandon Eley

ConvergeSouth is not set up for at-the-door registration so there will be no walk-up registration.

Arrive early, enjoy a full day of networking, learning and participating in the sessions.

Important links:

• Venue map
• ConvergeSouth Schedule
• Parking & Driving Directions with Van Schedule
• Meet our Sponsors

It wasn’t the birthers or the truthers who earned the nod for helping shape America’s future: It was the makers. Their protests, their sit-ins, take the simple form of making things and sharing them with each other, online and off. The quietness of their ways, the heads-down determination of the scientist instead of the chin-jutting attitude of the street fighter, might make them easy to overlook. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a significant and enduring movement. it doesn’t mean the will of these millions of people doesn’t count, simply because it’s expressed in a way that doesn’t look like protest did five decades ago.

Best of all, the people who actually make these things happen aren’t just sitting around clicking “Like” on things online. As has been true since the earliest days of the blogosphere, the best minds in social media get together in person to help plan the future. One such event that you can visit this weekend? The venerable ConvergeSouth. It takes place at NC A&T State University, the proud home of the freshmen students who in 1960 held that first sit-in at Woolworth’s.

Read the whole thing.

Interview with Argyle Social

Quick conversation with Eric Boggs of Argyle Social about being on the Entrepreneurial Panel for PitchCamp at ConvergeSouth10

Interview with Group Story

Quick conversation with Jeff and George of Group Story about being chosen to pitch and meet with other entrepreneurs at PitchCamp

John Cass – organizer of Pitch Camp, organizer of the organization, and bringer-of-ideas from all over the globe. John has a “Why not?” attitude and moreover, follows through and follows up on every task.

Kevin Briody – proves that you should ask only people with “no time” to do things that take time. Kevin arranged the “Conversation with Craig Newmark” and the Friday Panel. Graciously. Professionally. Very few people know the background work Kevin did to pull of both events. All this with a young family and a hefty commute.

Rob Ainbinder – Rob is a true Meta Geek for all things online. When you throw out a question like, “Can we do this?” Rob says, “Yes,” and then DOES it.

Brandon Burke – Yes, you CAN use WordPress for a conference site. Brandon suggested it, built it, maintains it, throws in plugins and features whenever we think they’d be fun and restores the home page when it gets deleted. And he always smiles, never frowns and occasionally looks quizzically at what we suggest but always makes it happen.

Mark Tosczak – under-recognized, over-performing. Mark is the fundraiser behind ConvergeSouth 2010. He’s got a way with people we should all seek to emulate and should write an article called “How to Deal Successfully with Different Kinds of People in Volunteer Groups.” What a professional – and thanks to RLF Communications for some of his time plus thanks to his family for the rest of it.

Debbie Foster-Fuchs – When we have news and need a press release, Debbie delivers it the same day and sends it out. She is as charming as she is professional and conference news releases all come from her keyboard.

Tammy Colson – even moving to another state during the CS planning didn’t deter Tammy from managing the Twitter Shoot-out and the hotel/plane/driving logistics mostly from her phone. She’s not only a military veteran (“don’t mess with TL”), she’s there when you need her. Always.

Don Moore – we wanted webcasts. Don’s doing it. With his expertise and consult with A&T tech staff, we’re going to be able to record sessions for later viewing. That’s a first for ConvergeSouth and Don’s expertise and geeky emails were fun to read and Google terminology so we could sound like we understood what he was saying.

Joe Killian – wordsmither extraordinaire and content provider. Joe rewrote sections of the website, helped steer us toward multiple publications for print articles (without compromising his professional ethics) and gave us ideas we didn’t know existed – that worked. He also showed us geeks that print still has lots of value and gets results.

Janet Wright – aka “JW,” Janet has been the food coordinator for 5 ConvergeSouth conferences. She finds the best prices (“And you will give us free bottled water and afternoon cookies with that?”), the most reliable and low-cost catering, always has tasty food (with a vegetarian alternative) and meets us at 6:45 a.m. to lay out nametags. Janet is the personal caterer for the nametag-stuffing party that’s held annually on the Wednesday night before ConvergeSouth.

Lauren Polinsky – A 5-year ConvergeSouth vet, Lauren has done 4 years of graphic design and this year is in charge of: Social Media, Audio Interviews, Twitter, Facebook, HootSuite, metrics, fliers, handouts, layout & design, and schleps in from Durham for meetings. She’s also our contact for the best craft beer in NC.

David and Jinni Hoggard – They throw the BBQ. They provide banana pudding. The most gracious and community-spirited family ever.

Robert Reddick – CS friend and CLT-area geek, Robert got us started with a variety of team-building tools and lots of visioning. A 3-computer guy, we got to work from multiple angles on every issue. (Not to mention the year he was the last-second fill-in moderator for a panel simply because we needed him.)

Chris Oakman – Chris is a behind-the-scenes, “don’t send me email updates” geek who is so iSmart that he advised us how to make Macs and iPads work in every presentation situation and pointed us to Droid, Windows Phone 7 and iPhone apps that made info sharing easier. (aka “The Best Engineer on the East Coast”)

NC A&T State University College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. David Aldridge, Dean, and Dr. Nita Dewberry, Associate Dean.  There is no host as gracious and forthcoming as NC A&T State University. Ms. Willine Rucker and Ms. Deborah Williamson are our main contacts and walk us through all the paperwork, including those treasured visitor parking passes. We simply couldn’t do ConvergeSouth without NC A&T.

Haven’t registered for ConvergeSouth10 yet? Hurry – registration closes September 29, 2010!

• Craig Newmark – Customer Rep for Craigslist.org – will be on hand virtually to answer you questions. Submit a question for Craig here!
• Keynote speaker Brent D. Payne – the Bald SEO – will also answer questions, so submit one for Brent now!
• The Saturday Lunch with the Lawyers & Politicians about Internet Law is open for questions. Get your question answered!
• Jeff SanGeorge – designer and blogger – did a nice video blog about ConvergeSouth this week. He’ll be talking about iPhones, iPad and iDeveloping on Friday morning at ConvergeSouth.
• Eric Boggs – founder of ArgyleSocial – will be speaking at PitchCamp on Saturday. Lots more details on John Cass’s blog.
• George Junginger – founder of GroupStory – will have a 10 minute pitch at PitchCamp on Saturday. More details here.
• Jason Caplain – General Partner at Southern Capitol Ventures – Read an interview with him and John Cass, the host of PitchCamp, about  how to pitch start-up ideas to investors.
• Sean Wilson – Chief Executive Optimist for Fullsteam Brewery – will be a part of the Friday afternoon panel on the Future of the Internet. He’ll speak from the small business perspective on how to use social marketing to a buying fan base.
• Ernie Hsiung – Editor-In-Chief for 8Asians.com – will be part of the Friday afternoon panel about the Future of the Internet. He’ll be joined at the conference by his colleague Ben Hwang.
• Michael VanDervort – a Human Resources Strategist – will explain to businesses and job seekers how to use social media to find a new job.
• Kim Williams – Client Services Manager for BEM – will talk about how to set up social media and measure its success on Saturday morning at ConvergeSouth.

Jessica Miller-Merrill Interview
Jessica Miller-Merrill

Branding is Not Just Your Logo – Using FB, Twitter & LinkedIn to Market Your Business

Tammy Colson Interview Tammy Colson

Twitter Shoot-Out

2010-09-15_patrick_okeefePatrick O’Keefe

Personal Branding & How to Break Into Social Media

Rob Ainbinder Interview Rob Ainbinder