When I first clicked into the Google I/O Developers Conference keynote, I didn’t expect to be glued to my computer screen for three hours. A day later, I’m still checking in to follow along.

As Time said, “Google I/O 2013 Is All About Cleaning Up the Mess and Filling In the Gaps.”

If your’re looking for an all-in-one guide, you’ll want to review this handy list of everything announced at the Google I/O 2013 keynote. To make it more relevant , here are five ways the news impacts marketing and PR people.

What Google I/O Developers Conference Means to Marketing and PR aka People Like Us

1. Get into Google Plus as a Serious Social Channel 

Google Plus got 41 updates, including a new feature dubbed “Related hashtags” that analyzes the content of a post and then suggests hashtags.

Get used to it – Google Plus is here to stay.

If you’re not there yet, check in at least a few times a week. You can see what’s trending and what’s hot in your circles and communities.

Step outside of your comfort zone and hangout with clients or even your team. Interacting on video is a lot more fun than sitting in a conference room – and now you can hangout via a mobile app.

2. Picture It This Way

More than ever before, images are becoming all powerful.

Yes, yes, yes we all LOVE words, copy and design.

But. . . it’s the snapshot that grabs the attention.

And. . . Google’s Auto Awesome editor makes your pictures sexier, warmer and even wigglier.

The editor’s built in so even if you’re not a huge Google Plus fan, you might love turning images into animated .gifs.

Pro photographers will not be impressed. If you use Instagram, you might like their filters more – and that’s okay. But do check out Auto Awesome.

3. Search is Getting More Conversational – on Your Desktop

If you have an iPhone, you know Siri.

Since Siri seems to only knows about Yelp, we advise our clients to set up a page so she can find them.

We’re thinking that Google’s conversation search will use a bigger engine, but it’s still good to know what your customers ask for when they’re looking for you. You can bring their language back in as keywords.

Here’s how to test out Google Chrome conversation search with “hotwording” on your desktop.

4. Consider Going Bi-platform

If you’re all Apple all the time – you know who you are and I am one of you – you’re missing out on Google’s integration across mobile, tablet and PC.

Because everyone I collaborate with runs on Apple, I rely on my son, a soon to graduate high school senior and Android fan, to be my Google Play guide.

While his take is more from a gaming and social perspective, not a business functionality side, it’s interesting to see how apps and devices differ.

Since he never reads my blog, I think it’s okay to disclose that he’s probably getting a Chromebook for high school graduation. And, Mom may be getting one, too.

5. Think of Yourself as a Developer

I must admit I felt a little out of place when I first started watching this conference.

But, when I started thinking about myself as someone who develops things, I began to appreciate the concept and the approach.

And that’s when I sent an email to WDCB letting them know I’d like to talk about my take.

For more about what I had to say about the Google I/O keynote, here’s my interview.
Gary Zidek of WDCB Public Radio at College of DuPage Interviews Barbara Rozgonyi about the Google I/O Conference 

What are you developing that the world needs to know about?

Looking for some inspiration? Here’s where web design and customer experience interface going >> Check out the Google I/O Developers Site.

Hey Chicago social media types – what are you doing Thursday night?

Inviting you to join SMC Chicago, SOBCon and me for what promises to be one of May’s most entertaining events!

Here’s the official invitation information. And yes, you can even order your tickets right here on this site!

Experience The Customer Centered Social with SMC Chicago and SOBCon

It’s so phenomenal that it only happens once a year! On May 2, Social Media Club Chicago and SOBCon will connect for an epic night of networking, socializing and learning. Why SMC Chicago and SOBCon together? Because both communities offer amazing opportunities for creation and collaboration with thought leaders from around the world.

Running May 3-5 in Chicago, SOBCon, the Successful and Outstanding Business Conference, offers onsite attendees a TEDx meets Startup Weekend experience that delivers practical, actionable strategies for decision makers. At the May 2 joint event, you’ll get a taste of why SMC Chicago and SOBCon are the perfect partners. Loyola University’s Dean of Communications, Donald Heider, will moderate a panel discussion on the customer centered social experience. Panelists include Theresa Carter of TheLocalTourist.com, Jessica Masterson of US Cellular and Xan Pearson of the Bulls/Sox Academy.

The Customer Centered Social Speakers

Panel Moderator: Dean Donald Heider [ @donheider ], Loyola University Chicago’s School of Communication
Donald Heider is the first appointed dean of Loyola University Chicago’s School of Communication. Dr. Heider is an award-winning broadcast journalist and joined Loyola from Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Dr. Heider is president-elect of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC), a non-profit, educational association composed of some 190 JMC programs at the college level.
Panelists:
Jessica Masterson [ @awomanswork ] US Cellular Socia Media Manager
Xan Pearson [ @xanpearson ] Vice President of Marketing, Social Media Strategist, Sports Sponsorship for Bulls/Sox Training Academy
Theresa Carter [ @thelocaltourist ] Founder and Publisher, TheLocalTourist.com
Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: 5:30-7:30pm CDT
Location:
Regents Hall, Lewis Towers, Loyola University
111 E. Pearson Street, 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60611

About SOBCon

This year’s Chicago theme is “The Customer Centered Business,” focusing on masterminding about strategies that will engage your customers and grow your businesses. Register for SOBCon with the code SMC100 to save $100 off of your SOBCon registration.

About Our Sponsor Wayin

Wayin, based in Denver, is a leading mobile and web engagement platform that enables conversations between individuals, brands and enterprises with their fans, customers and employees. Follow them on Twitter @Wayin.

About the Social Media Club Chicago Chapter

Social Media Club is a worldwide organization, with local chapters, that serves as connecting organization for anyone interested in social media. Membership is free and open to all levels, including beginners. Chicago’s SMC chapter, launched in October 2008, presents events that mix socializing, networking and learning. Event attendees include entrepreneurs, corporate communicators, journalists, business professionals, publishers, marketers, media creators, citizen journalists, students and technology types. For more information, please visit www.socialmediaclub.org/chapter/chicago , follow us on Twitter at @SMCChicago, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SMCChicago, or email smcchicagonews@gmail.com.

SMC Chicago Board Members
Barbara Rozgonyi ( @wiredprworks ), Founder
Jeff Willinger ( @jwillie ), President
Carolyn Martin ( @cm_socialmedia )
Elly Deutch ( @deutche )
Caleb Gardner ( @calebgardner )
Audrey Schroder ( @audreyschroder )
Become a Sponsor:
Sponsorships begin at $500. In kind sponsorships, door prizes, and professional service donations are always welcome. Contact Carolyn Martin at cmartin@socialmediademand.com.

And, now a look at back at the 2012 SMC Chicago SOBCon event . . .

Will you be there? Let me know so I can be sure to say hello!

What really happens at SXSW? It depends on who you ask.

Everyone’s perspective is different and that’s why on March 26 SMC Chicago invited four panelists, with varying views, to talk about their SXSW experience. 

For me, the panel moderator [and SMC Chicago founder], the SMC Chicago community conversation became a convincing argument to seriously consider grabbing a SXSW14 pass when they go on sale in August. Are you planning to go next year?

SMC Chicago SXSW Redux Event Recording

Thanks to Grant Crowell for recording the event.

SXSW 2014 Dates

Interactive: March 7–11
Film: March 7–16
Music: March 11–16

SXSW is a festival, conference, gathering, concert, party – and whatever else you make of it – that takes place in Austin every March. After you watch CNN’s SXSW special, you may find yourself thinking about who you want to hang out with when you get there.

Two SMC Chicago SXSW Redux Replays

A first-time SMC Chicago attendee, Rae Guimond, wrote about the event on her blog.

Read Social Media Club Chicago Presents “SXSW Redux” hosted by Draftfcb to a Sold-Out Crowd.

Thanks to Rae for giving me permission to include a few highlights here.

Emerging Internet of Things

IBM’s Ed Brill (@edbrill) shared IBM’s SXSW story highlighting their focus on brands, brand apps, and marketing social practice. IBM is looking at the second wave of mobile marketing as bringing consumer mobile advertising past the initial retail store front to the consumer at the department or favorite item and sale pricing level. Lizz Kannenberg (@lizzkannenberg) and Melissa Pierce (@melissapierce) echoed this highly customized advertising and device interconnectivity. Also, Kannenberg cited the importance of getting to people at the right time with the right brand value message: “You need to offer something people need and give them an experience with your brand,” she stated—needs matter. At SXSW, Kannenberg thought Uber (Uber Basic Pedicabs or UberX Tesla/Rolls-Royce premium rides), Chevrolet (Chevy Experience), and Oreo (think a giant plush Oreo-man and free Oreos everywhere) accomplished this very well by meeting attendees’ needs at the right time with memorable brand experiences.

#disruption

You can catch up on Melissa Pierce’s #RVSX experience at http://blog.rvsx.tv/. Already, she is planning for her SXSW 2014 trip. This long-time SXSW participant traveled from Chicago to Austin in a bus loaded with a gaggle of artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and internetters to document SXSW Interactive and SXSW Film . Her crew’s reports showcase the kind of innovative branding, avant-garde sponsorship, and social media hijinks many in the industry talk about but never fully implement effectively. What’s more, their #disruption RV experiment caught CNN’s eye without even trying.

Not Just Spring Break for Nerds

A 14-year veteran of SXSW, Chris Miller (@scubachris) has seen this “Spring Break for Nerds” grow in attendance to almost 30,000 people. Miller shared that SXSW Interactive attendance was up 25% this year, and this number included an increased international population from places such as Brazil, South Africa, and Canada. All of the panel members agreed that continuity and collaboration across SXSW Interactive, SXSW Film, and SXSW Music continue to increase each year—more than ever, brands are merging all three platforms in compelling ways.

Collin Canright, an early SMC Chicago supporter, also covered the event.

Here’s an excerpt about the collabortion trend. Read Collin’s post about SXSW Redux and SMC Chicago.

Collaborate and converse. Panelists remarked on increased collaboration among the digital, film, and music disciplines. Brands sought to collaborate with technology vendors, and the whole event (I have never been) sounds like one big conversation among nerds morphing into another among hipsters, with the two types blending as life becomes digital while retaining the human yearning to connect face to face.

SXSW 2013 Retakes

In researching for my role as the SMC Chicago event moderator, I found Altimeter’s Take: The Technologies That Matter from SXSW 2013. In the post, Chris Silva and Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analysts at Altimeter Group, observed these major SXSW themes:

• hardware ruled
• Android curiosity is swaying iPhone users [I feel that!]
• mobile enterprise was a star and
• brands and their vendors were out in full force

They also categorized technologies that matter by experiment, invest or ignore.

One of the ones to watch? Google Glass

Chris and Jeremiah say, ”We’re bullish on Google Glass and, while we’ve not yet received our Explorer units to demo, we think the market will be very receptive to technology that augments daily tasks and does it in a lightweight way. We see a market emerging for AR-centric content and interactions and brands should be ready to play.”

A Final Reflection – 9 Key Takeaways from #SXSW 2013 — #SXSWOgilvy from Social@Ogilvy is a quick flip through; the slides convey the top themes.

And, a question Jeff Willinger would want to ask if you did go: What was the best party?

Spring break ends today. It’s back to school tomorrow. Where do you like to go to getaway?

For our getaway, we drove 4.5 hours north to Door County Wisconsin.

The plan was to look around and spend the night.

Door County Four Hour Vacation To Do List

1. Eat pancakes and drink hot cocoa at Al Johnson’s
2. Stop by the Sister Bay Library and piece together a jigsaw puzzle
3. Check out the Skatepark
4. Go to the beach
5. Climb the Peninsula State Park fire tower
6. See animals [we spotted wild turkeys, deer and red tailed hawks]
7. Munch on cheese whips
8. ‘Gram some pics
9. Play mini golf
10. Look at the water Walk on the water/icy lake, which was probably the highlight of the trip. That’s Phoebe and Warren out on the lake. So happy I told them to pack snow boots!

Except for playing mini golf and skateboarding [both closed], we did all that and then some. We drove by the biggest snow person in the world – this creature must have been at least 20′ tall.

After four hours, it was either stay or go. With plenty of triple dipped chocolate malted milk balls and a pound of cheese whips to tide us over, we decided to head home and call this the 4 Hour Vacation.

How to Take a Four Hour Vacation

1. Decide where you want to go.
2. Budget time to get there and back.
3. How much time is left? Four hours? Good!
4. Make a list of everything you really want to do.
5. Fuel up before you hit the road.
6. Plan to make your next meal the first activity when you get to your destination.
7. Enjoy your lunch, share via instagram, then move quickly on the next big thing.
8. Don’t get distracted and enjoy everything. Know when to move on.
9. Stop for snacks to munch on the way home.
10. Take a few final ‘grams, upload and then hit the road.

Where else can you see this approach working?

Image credits: Barbara Rozgonyi, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

Happy Easter, Passover and Spring!

Wishing you and yours a beautiful and blessed day!

Here’s a picture of of my sister and me with our four Easter cuties taken when they were little at our first family home in Oak Park. From left to right: Warren, Lori, me, Peter, Phoebe and my niece Andrea. Patrick, Andrea’s brother, would be born a few years later.

A few places to check out online today . . .

Easter Photos from Around the World from Huffington Post.

13 Things You Need to Know for Passover 2013 like why Passover is the most celebrated Jewish holiday in America.

Simply put, like America itself, Passover is about freedom.  It celebrates the eternal quest for human dignity and the freedom which is perhaps the greatest expression of that dignity. Nowhere, and at no time, in 3,000 years of Jewish history have Jews known the kind of centuries-long freedom and security which are the American Jewish experience. The Passover story of freedom — of the journey from oppression to opportunity — is also the American story at its best, not just for Jews but for all people, and it rings deeply true when it is told at Seder tables across this nation. Source: Fox News

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