Launch Fest 2010: The Art of Storytelling...

The week between Jazz Fest weekends is known to be the stomping grounds for fests of all kinds and this year was no exception. Fests rule the day when the weather is nice but not too sticky here in New Orleans! I was asked to give a talk at a newcomer to the Fest scene” Launch Fest: A fun conference for serious entrepreneurs. In the social entrepreneurship talk on Tuesday I gave a talk called: The Art of Storytelling. I talked about how storytelling is the new elevator pitch and showed examples of compelling stories on the market as well as gave tips, tricks and resources for everyone to discover and cultivate their own story around what they do, why they do it and who they are.

Reference websites from my slides:

• Kiva
• Vittana
• Microsoft BizSpark
• Microsoft Give Camp
• Microsoft DigiGirlz
• Charity Challenge Weekend
• Donate Life PA
• Step Up To Speak Up
• Donate Life Pennsylvania Facebook
• Walt Disney World Public Affairs
• Disney’s Friends for Change
• Citizen Effect
• Do Something
• Volunteer Spot
• KaBoom
• Story Navigation
• More Than Myth
• Answer With Action

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Join Me TONIGHT 7pm EST: The 21st Century Classroo...

Join me tonight at 7pm EST for online discussion about education and technology, called The 21st Century Classroom. I’m really excited to be moderating this conversation!

Log in and participate in the conversation at 7pm!

Joining me in the chat tonight are:
Adelma Stanford, Social Media Marketing Strategist, Promethean USA: @prometheanUSA
Karen Bantuveris, CEO, VolunteerSpot: @volunteerspot
Kevin Prentiss, Founder, Red Rover: @kprentiss
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Introducing Answer With Action...

I have an exciting announcement to make! My marketing and strategy consulting website is now live. It’s been a long dream of mine. Answer With Action started as a boutique networking group in Los Angeles for socially conscious young professionals offering volunteer events and networking opportunities with my good friends Alexa Brandt and Joey Soto. Putting action to our ideas about how to get people more involved with cause inspired us. This new direction is really exciting for Answer With Action and the sky is the limit, but I wouldn’t be here today with those two amazing ladies and I’ll never forget that. So there you go! Answer With Action.

Please welcome me in introducing Answer With Action to the world! Contact me about getting started on your big ideas at sloane (at) answerwithaction.com.

What is Answer With Action?
ANSWER WITH ACTION is about taking big ideas and making them happen. Answer With Action is about inspiring you to take your small business, company or nonprofit to the next level. Answer With Action is about combining online tools with offline engagement and creating a robust conversation about you, your brand, your services, your products, and your events.

Answer With Action is a New Orleans-based integrated marketing, digital media and public relations consultancy. Create campaigns and events that have an immediate impact on your business and learn how building relationships online using new strategies and tools can transform the way you communicate with customers, vendors and donors. Answer With Action creates opportunities for you to learn, adopt and implement new media into your existing business. Answer With Action will help you build cause marketing campaigns to broaden your audience and create more depth and sincere story-telling into your current strategy. We provide short and long-term engagements with clients including website reviews, training sessions, webinars, and speaking opportunities to help your business go to the next level by understanding how your content is consumed and make it accessible to your target audience.
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Shady Side Academy’s 2010 Cum Laude Society ...

Last week I had the esteemed pleasure of being asked to give the address during my alma mater, Shady Side Academy’s cum laude induction. As a 1997 graduate of the Academy, I appreciate deeply the wonderfully rigorous academic environment the school provided me and the many lifelong friends that I have from my years there.

During Homecoming weekend last fall, I was given an award, the Paul R. Pigman prize. An award for a young alumni who has demonstrated excellence in citizenship. The head of the school enjoyed my acceptance speech and asked me to come back to talk to the entire Senior School (9-12), plus faculty and parents during the cum laude (high honor) ceremony which inducts the top scholars in the senior class to the society.

Having family and friends in the audience of about 700 especially warmed my heart. But what really is amazing to me is how far I’ve come! I never would have dreamed sitting where those students sat that I would be the one at the podium addressing them. Nor, would I ever had imagined (dreamed yes! imagined no!) the accomplishments that I could reflect on while talking to them about cause-filled living, the art of giving back and why those pieces are so important to incorporate into their lives now and forever.
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First Quarter Review: Acknowledgments and Influenc...

When I think back on the beginning of 2010 years from now, I will remember it as a whirlwind. How else can I ever explain moving to a new city, diving into new projects and clients, entering my first contest (EVER) and then winning and finding myself in Switzerland days later for the World Economic Forum then jumping back to New Orleans for festivities already described?

Through it all, my main and most important constant has been the amazing Taylor Davidson and Carl Nelson. Without these two NOLAlicious wouldn’t have happened, would not have grown and I would be experiencing this new city without them – an idea so preposterous I can’t even imagine it.

It’s not just their spirit, it’s their ability to launch new projects, take ideas and make them happen and be tremendous friends.

The influences I’ve had this quarter are many. The Young Global Leaders I met at Davos moved and shook me, and the opportunity to connect with incredible individuals at talks I’ve given this Spring including at Rise Austin and SXSW. But if I had to pick two, it would be Taylor and Carl.

And (selfishly) I want them to stay in New Orleans as long as possible, which means they need support for their projects. Let me share…

Narratively: Taylor’s a true photographer. In high school he wrapped his own film, shot it and then developed it himself. As a photographer he’s shot landscapes and weddings, creative series and had public shows and self-published a book. As a lover of photography, he knows cameras and how to promote photography and has written extensively about how to make money as a photographer, the future of the stock photo industry and where the industry is going. In addition to photograhy, he now offers his services as consulting to share experience and wisdom for other aspiring and established photographers and also online strategy and marketing for brands. His approach is analytical yet thoughtful and I recommend hiring him in any capacity you can.

The Dancing Nomad: Carl is an amazing dancer, to be sure, but the fact that he can teach dance makes his contribution to both New Orleans and the dance community that much stronger. Classes in Lindy Hop and Charleston can be had out of his Shiny Step Studios and he consults to other dancers and dance studios about how to navigate the social web and find a space online to promote their business and services. You can sometimes find him busking on Royal Street in the French Quarter on the weekends or at The Orange Couch in the Marigny. I completely recommend taking one of his classes or hiring him for online services.

Here’s to many more experiences with both of them and to more reflections and posts about those who move and inspire me in the months and years to come.

First Quarter Review: Top Posts...

Starting in April, I think I’ll summarize my top posts from the past month, but as part of the series of posts reviewing the first quarter (and promise to myself to be reflect and commemorate more), here are my favorite 11 posts (so far) from 2010.

• Three Exciting Announcements: This is the post where I announced NOLAlicious (now at it’s 15th edition and growing rapidly), my contract work with FSC Interactive on the Ochsner Health System social media strategy team and my segment on LPTV for social entrepreneurship. In 3 months, these 3 projects are among my favorite.
• Dear Future Me: Of all the future me’s I write, this one by far is my favorite. It was also a big step to share it, and I felt really brave for putting this foot forward and challenging myself to be more open and honest.
• Crisis Camp New Orleans: After the earthquake in Haiti, I knew I had to get involved. I looked around and asked friends and after about 72 hours heard about Crisis Camp. Since I was (and still am) new to New Orleans, I knew I needed to enlist someone to help make a local event like this a success and finding a great partner to do that was wonderful. Putting on Camps are a lot of work with a lot of reward and it was truly amazing the spirit of the people who came out that day to help create technology tools to help emergency response teams in Haiti.
• I’m the new MySpace Wall Street Journal Citizen Journalist for Davos! What is there even to say? I truly was overwhelmed and amazed by the response I go from friends all over the place who voted for me, supported me, sent me notes of encouragement. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and I can’t even being to describe the way that attending Davos changed my life and my perspective on the world. My biggest wish is to attend again, it was remarkable and huge thank you again to everyone for your support in helping make this dream come true.
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First Quarter Review: Changes and Upgrades To The ...

This is the first of three posts reviewing the first quarter.

Life goes by fast and I’ve found if you don’t stop and smell the roses, well, it passes fast and it’s hard to look back and remember things. Remark on them. Tell those you care about how much those moments COUNT for something.

A friend of mine told me of an exercise where she takes the printout of her calendar and at the end of each month writes on the back what she is most proud of, who she is happy she connect with or who impacted her the most that month and then looks forward to the next month.

I’ve been wanting to do that for every month of 2010, which of course didn’t happen. It was a whirlwind and instead of fighting the wind, I succumbed to it. I was wrapped up and twisted into post-Davos, Superbowl, local election, Mardi Gras mayhem, trips to Los Angeles and SXSW and wouldn’t you know, a truly terrific cold and cough that once I recovered from, I was staring down the face of mountains of work. The work I love! It just leaves little time to post, to write, to share.

No matter. I can go back and recount what happened a few weeks ago, a few months ago. I’m no less busy now, but sometimes you just have to force yourself to MAKE time. This is me making time.

So looking back on the first three months of this year, I’ve decided to break the posts into three parts:
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Meet Me In New Orleans...

Since I’ve moved to New Orleans the most magical thing has happened…I’ve had visitors nonstop. Sometimes they’ve been friends coming to town to see me, sometimes they’ve been here for a conference or a wedding or work, but regardless of WHY they were here, they reached out to say something like, “Hey Sloane, I’m coming to New Orleans and I’d love to get together with you.” Somewhere in that simple outreach, I’ve had some of the best and most thought-provoking conversations of 2010.

I wanted to say thank you to those out-of-towners not only for your friendship but also for the stimulating conversation, the opportunity to have really quality one-on-one time with you talking about life, business, politics, life dreams and everything in between. Since my blog is an extension of me, I wanted to have a blog post that I could update with my visitors so I can look back at the end of 2010 and my one-year anniversary in New Orleans and reflect on those who have crossed my path during their own travels to this town I’ve come to love so much.

Talking about New Orleans to visitors, showing people around, highlighting my favorite nooks and crannies and exploring new ones reminds me of all of the reasons I moved to New Orleans and keep me fresh, excited and inspired. In all honesty I don’t have time to meet with everyone who connects or reaches out to me, there is only so much time in the day. But I try, I certainly always try to be a sounding board and to answer questions about New Orleans and its culture, food, people, history and future to be best of my ability and with the same enthusiasm every time. And when I’m out of town myself, I always have NOLAlicious to pass along. That’s a start to a good New Orleans experience! The rest, like much of life, is up to you.

I’ve created a Twitter List for all these visitors (those on Twitter at least) that you can follow!

Drumroll please:

April:
Wedding season! Great night on the town with my NYC buddy, Michael Gruen, talking about venture funding, creating opportunity, living remotely and wandering through some of my favorite spots including Marigny Brasserie, d.b.a., and the piano bar at Pat O’Briens.

Best friend and partner-in-crime visit from the one and only Casey Stone. My former roommate in Los Angeles who herself has gone through a transformation this past year from working as a Hollywood studio web-publicist to living in Portsmouth, NH working as a social media consultant plus sandwich-maker (!) and I loved every minute with her. Every minute. I miss my good girlfriends from Los Angeles maybe more than I miss anything else about any other chapter of my life and time with Casey was very much needed.
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25 Free Educational Resources Online...

Secret revealing time! My early usernames on sites (before we all went back to using our real names) was InfoJunkette. Why? Because I love learning. I always have. I’ve always been more of a applicable learner. More of a learner on my own and for the joy of learning versus school and tests. When I saw yesterday’s New York Times special section, Education Life, called Downloadable Education, it awakened something inside of me that was alert and alive and excited. Learning from elite universities online is nothing new to me. Listening to Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leadership Series has been a weekly habit of mine for years, as have countless other resources and tools.

This excitement towards learning is inside all of us. And thanks to the Internet, it’s free (or close) and available when and how you want it. I’ve listed first the resources from The New York Times this weekend (aggregated together from a few articles) and then a list of my personal favorites. If you have one you’d like to share, please leave a note in the comments!

What They’re Watching (Top YouTube classes online):

• Moral Reasoning 22: Justice Harvard
• Integrative Biology 131: General Human Anatomy University of California, Berkeley
• Physics 10: Physics for Future Presidents University of California, Berkeley
• Physics 1: Classical Mechanics M.I.T.
• Introduction to Basic Electronics Indian Institutes of Technology
• SIMS 141: Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business University of California, Berkeley
• Computer Science 106A: Programming Methodology Stanford
• Mathematics 18.03: Differential Equations M.I.T.
• Modern Theoretical Physics: Einstein Stanford Continuing Studies
• Math 18.06: Linear Algebra M.I.T.

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Please Vote for Kiva In Sam’s Club Giving Co...

I might be a former Kiva Fellow, but Kiva never fails to remind us “alumni” that we’re part of their extended family. My true passion for Kiva and dedication to the work they are doing in microfinance and microlending grows stronger with each loan I make, each update from a borrower, each correspondence with a new Kiva Fellow.

I hope you’ll take my true sincerity for this nonprofit and consider the request below.

Kiva has been chosen as one of four finalists in the Sam’s Club “Giving Made Simple” competition, for a chance to win a $1 Million dollar grant! Yes, this is super exciting news!

Winning this $1 Million grant would be a huge deal for Kiva! With this grant, Kiva will multiply the impact by 10 by generating approximately $10 Million more in loans from the Internet community, to help 25,000 entrepreneurs in the US and around the world.

If you’re a Sam’s Club member, you can vote daily between April 8th – May 2nd.

If you’re NOT a Sam’s Club member but would like to support the campaign in other ways, Kiva is accepting volunteers – fill out their form for more information.

Other ways to help?
* Share the voting link with friends and family who are Sam’s Club members.
* Post to your online social networks.
* Tweet a message! Here’s mine:

Kiva could win a $1M dollar grant with your vote! Sam’s Club Members – Vote for Kiva once a day. http://bit.ly/arTEUH – Please RT!

You can do something TODAY to change lives from where ever you are by taking just a few minutes to take action on this very simple request. Thank you (in advance) for your support!

Sidenote: In the grand scheme of things, there has been much debate about the merit of these contests and the impact and effectiveness. Regardless of those conversations, debates and arguments, $! million is on the line so let’s vote for Kiva NOW and continue that very worthwhile conversation in another outlet.