The theme was “envision, engage and execute,” and it was threaded throughout the day. Princess Yasmine Pahlavi, Founder of the Foundation for the Children of Iran, gave the opening keynote speech with the theme of “envision.” Her discussion of her career, her family and how she has carved out her path perfectly fit the bill. Her advice was straightforward and her candid stories made the speech really fun.

I attended the Technology panel and was thrilled to see such a robust, talented lineup. Leslie Bradshaw, President, COO and co-founder of JESS3, led a thought-provoking conversation; the panelists weren’t afraid to be upfront about what it takes to succeed in tech. They emphasized the importance of learning hard skills like HTML and CSS but also stressed that strong writing skills are invaluable.

Other panelists included Nisha Chittal of Discovery Channel, Svetlana Legetic of BYT, Danielle Kurtzleben of U.S. News and World Report, and Jenn Gustetic of NASA. Every single one had meaningful advice, compelling career stories and a unique perspective on the industry.

After lunch, I had the pleasure of speaking on the social media panel with two experts whom I admire, Alex Priest of Uber DC and Hastie Afkhami of Social@Ogilvy. We each covered a case study and then had a great discussion about trends and best practices of social media.

The day ended with a closing keynote from Alexis Maybank, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Gilt Groupe. Being a huge fan of the site, I was excited to hear from her. Her speech totally exceeded my high expectations and I loved her discussion of strategy, dealing with chaos and expecting the unexpected. It was fascinating to hear about Gilt’s beginnings, how quickly it has grown and how it has revolutionized ecommerce.

From the speakers to the gift bags to the food, the women of GWWIB did a phenomenal job with their annual conference. I left feeling excited and inspired to take action in my own life and put the insights I learned into practice. I look forward to attending the event in the future and I hope they all got some sleep afterwards.

Ben Loeb, AU SMC Vice President; Alex Priest, AU SMC Founder and Uber DC Community Manager; Kayden Horwitz, Product and Marketing at Womply and Chloë Troia, AU SMC President.

Melanie Loff-Bird, rising AU SMC Vice President; Alexis Maybank, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Gilt Groupe; Chloë Troia, AU SMC President

#1. Getting the Weekend Started – The Faculty Face-off

The Faculty Face-off was a lively panel that discussed social media and education. The panel consisted of  AU Faculty members including Scott Talan of SOC, Stef Woods of CAS and other tech-savvy professors. Biggest take-away? By excluding social media from the classroom, not only are professors losing student’s attention, they are doing them a disservice. These skills are no longer a hobby, but an essential skill in today’s digital world.

#2. Alex’s Kick-Off Speech: How Did We Get Here?

In true AP fashion, AU SMC founder and former President Alex Priest gave a bomb.com kick-off keynote. He used Uber’s “God-view” map and the narrative arc of “How did we get here?” to structure his presentation. Biggest insights? Data is more important than you think, progress is slow and hard and our “always-on” generation approaches problems in a fundamentally different way.

{bonus: check out his presentation here}

#3. Opening Panel – Social Media and 2012

The opening panel featured industry leaders from advertising, PR, tech and social media discussing what’s on the agenda for this year. Ryan Lytle, the multi-talented producer, reporter and social strategist at U.S. News & World Report did an excellent job moderating this robust panel.

The panel was full of great content including new technology, making mistakes and overcoming setbacks. New Media Strategies’ Joe Gizzi discussed social sentiment analysis, a new tool that NMS will use in the upcoming year to examine the effectiveness of more subjective content.

MWW’s Ari Greenberg spilled the beans about one of his past mistakes: “FratCast,” a social media platform built around frat bro Q&A. We were also lucky enough to hear about MWW’s wildly successful campaign with Nikon that asked users to submit potential cover photos for Nikon’s timeline page. Ogilvy and Mather’s Nichole Brown put it all into perspective explaining that in the long run, mistakes are truly the best learning experiences.

The panel discussed how to  find your “share-balance.” Google DC’s Corrie Davidson explained that social media has changed her career for the better but emphasized that it’s important to use discretion. For example, no one wants to see your 9AM liquor store check-in. Best takeaways from this panel? Content needs to be more interactive and smart companies will take full advantage of Facebook timeline. Brown emphasized that it’s great for companies like Ogilvy to showcase their rich history.

#4. The Digital Me – Personal Branding

Alright, elephant in the room – we admittedly chose the wrong hashtag for this panel. Let’s just say that “#DigMe” brought up some pretty unfortunate tweets. I’ll let you put two and two together. Thanks to the keen eye of @emilCDC, we quickly added an “i” to our hashtag and the problem was solved.

Personal branding and conference planning expert, Tod Plotkin of Green Buzz Agency and What’s Next DC, moderated the panel. Big theme? Being proactive. Panelist Bennett Resnik summed it up nicely when he said “dig your well before you’re thirsty.” All of the panelists emphasized the importance of building your network and staying in touch with people regardless of whether or not you need a job. Update your LinkedIn regularly. Rachael King reminded us that your LinkedIn should not be a copy of your resume. King’s idea to create a Pinterest resume was a huge hit. It’s one of the most innovative and functional ways of using Pinterest that I’ve heard thus far.

While all the advice was good, my favorite nugget came from David All Group’s Bennett Richardson: when trying to network online – Facebook poking is the best way to go*.

*kidding

#5. Closing Keynote with Peter Corbett – Looking Forward

Peter Corbett has done some incredible things for the DC community, especially over the past year. DC Week really blew my mind, especially the Core Conference and Social Media Week DC had some great events created by members of the DC community. All this being said, it was great to have him here for our closing keynote.

Corbett discussed ‘what’s next’ but took a refreshing outlook and discussed how social media has the power to hack physical space through the innovative use of data. He shared some of the recent projects from Grandstand, a web platform from iStrategyLabs that transforms social media channels like Foursquare and Twitter into games, rewards and visualizations. With Grandstand, venues can run promotions, drive ad revenues and increase brand engagement. Full of insight, inspiration and some very cool projects, the closing keynote was the perfect end to the weekend.

#6. Bonus reason: the AU Social Media Club team

GroupTexts, 3AM emails, tri-weekly meetings with a sleep-deprived president – I’ll  admit that planning this conference was no easy task. Thankfully, I had a team full of creative, hard-working, hilarious and passionate members. The event would not have happened without them (seriously) and spending time with them was definitely the best part of the whole process. You guys are the best!

Well, those are my favorite moments – what were yours? Let me know (@ChloeTroia) and I hope I see you at #SLS13!

Well, here are 7 reasons why you shouldn’t miss the Social Learning Summit coming up this weekend.

7) FREE DUNKIN’ DONUTS

That’s right! We’re having free Dunkin’ Donuts! What’s better at 9 AM than free coffee and donuts? Thanks to our awesome sponsors, Dunkin’ Donuts (@DCDunkin), we will have free doughnuts and coffee for all attendees!

6) FREE VITAMIN WATER, HONEST TEA, & COOKIES

I know you must be thinking how can they afford to give us all this free food? Well thanks to sponsorships from Vitamin Water (@VitaminWater), Smart Water (@SmartWater) and Honest Tea (@HonestTea), none of our attendees will go thirsty! Also thanks to DoubleTree by Hilton (@DoubleTree) there will be free cookies for every attendee. I’m not sure there is anything better than biting into a fresh chocolate chip cookie and talking about social media.

5) NETWORKING

In case you didn’t hear this year’s conference is going to have some really awesome speakers and attendees. SLS will give you the opportunity to broaden your network, meet social media influencers from the DC area, and greet all your favorite Tweeps! Therefore you should definitely join us Friday, March 30 at 7:30PM in the School of International Service Founder’s Room for an awesome Networking Reception. Although, if for some terrible reason you can’t make Friday’s kickoff and networking reception, there will be plenty of opportunities to introduce yourself to our awesome speakers after their panels.

4) THE PANELS

Have you seen the list of panels?!?! They are incredible! Panels will cover all things social media including: Tweeting and Eating, Social Business Success, Education, Personal Branding, and Entertainment (just to name a few of my favorites). Take a look at the schedule and plan your day!

3) THE PANELISTS AND MODERATORS

Now that you’ve looked at the schedule of panels, look at our awesome panelists and moderators. That’s right we have speakers from GoogleDC, OgilvyWW, Edelman, LinkedIn, USA Today, and the B*tches Who Brunch.

2) OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN

If you’re reading this you probably have an interest in social media (or really want free cookies). Either way, the innovative online universe is constantly changing and it can be a little overwhelming to keep track of! Everyday it seems like a new app or platform is “the Next Big Thing.” The best way to break through the noise is to listen to the experts and find out what tools they are actually using. The conference is an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and learn about what’s happening in social media and education.

1) $10

Tickets to this amazing conference are ONLY $10. Your ticket gets you coffee and Dunkin Donuts, Vitamin Water and Smart Water, Honest Tea, DoubleTree Cookies and great networking and learning opportunities. Free food and the chance to get a job or internship! Why haven’t you registered yet?*

American University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America is hosting the PRSSA Regional Conference: When Two Worlds Collide: Bridging Online and Offline Communications.

The conference will take place March 23-24 on campus with great speakers, including John Bell from Social@Ogilvy on Friday and Drew Hammill, Nancy Pelosi’s press secretary, on Saturday.  Be sure to bring your resumes and business cards because there will be plenty of opportunities to network with people in the field, especially at the job/internship fair with top PR firms. Even Felicia Parks from our Career Center will be available to critique your resume!A reception will be held at the National Press Club on Saturday night with great food and top-notch networking.

For PRSSA members, the conference is $30 for Friday, $30 on Saturday and $50 for both days.  For non-PRSSA members, the conference is $35 for Friday, $35 dollars for Saturday and $60 for both days; breakfast, lunch and dinner are included. And be sure to follow us on Twitter–with every tweet including @AU_PRSSA and #TwoWorlds, we’ll donate 25 cents to Computer Aid. And of course, you can “like” our Facebook page!

We hope to see you there!

Prep Youself Before You Rep Yourself is AU SMC’s feature event for Social Media Week 2012 (@SMWWDC). We’ll have 4 stations devoted to help students digitally brand themselves. By the end of the event, we want students to leave the event feeling more prepared than when they walked in the door.

The first 20 people to arrive will get free head shots from campus photographer Cedric Terrell (@CedricTerrell). Cedric’s headshots are amazing so you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity. Check out his work on his website. We’ll also have the expertise of Kogod Center for Career Development (@theKCCD) on site.

The event will be held in the Battelle Atrium on February 15 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, follow us on Twitter at @AU_SMCEDU or our hashtag #PrepYourself

• Take a pic (ask permission first, and be nice about it!)
• Write a caption
• Tweet #frumpyshirt, @AU_SMCEDU and @HughandCrye

We will be reposting #frumpyshirt pictures on our facebook page as the campaign goes on.  You can tweet #frumpyshirt pictures until October 21, 2011.  The reception where the winners get to show off their new digs will be on October 26, 2011.

Over the course of the ten weeks I spent at Ogilvy this summer, I spoke with a lot of smart, talented people who do brilliant things for the advertising industry. I was lucky enough to lunch with Nichole Brown, a corporate communications editor and social media strategist for Ogilvy & Mather.

In our world of ever-decreasing attention spans, it’s crucial for Nichole to create new ways to capture people’s attention and keep them interested. She’s made it her job to find creative and more interesting ways to communicate Ogilvy’s message without all the corporate speak. In a conference room in Ogilvy’s New York headquarters overlooking the Hudson, Nichole and I discussed everything from her discovery of social media to the emergence of personal branding and changes in corporate communications.

Joining the Conversation
Nichole: I first became involved in social media out of sheer curiosity. I was curious about the digital spaces that people were using to express their thoughts and feelings. I initially joined Facebook to communicate with a group of mentees that I had worked with on a mission trip to Uganda. I joined Twitter because I wanted to check out what my favorite journalists were tweeting about. I quickly saw it as a way to get into the minds of people I admire.

Through my personal experience with Twitter, I realized that it would be a great tool for Ogilvy to connect and share its message with clients, employees and industry at large. Twitter, and social media in general, changed the way companies and the media communicate with the public. Simply posting press releases on the corporate website couldn’t cut it anymore. Twitter made news-worthy information instantly available. Twitter gave everyone an outlet to voice their opinion. It gave companies a way to talk directly to their audiences. And that was perfect for us. We were able to promote Ogilvy’s brand, our people, our work. We were able to give voice to the brand, or, more accurately, the many voices that reflect the agency’s personality.

The Evolution of Corporate Communications
Flash back to Facebook 2008. There were no brand pages, there were just groups. There was not a model for companies to follow. I saw that as a challenge because no model meant no rules. I like guidelines and structure, but I love being able to make up the rules. I used my own professional profile to explore what I could do. I used what I learned to create and enhance Ogilvy’s profile in several social channels, including LinkedIn groups, Flickr and YouTube.

There’s a lot you can do without following the norms. I’m a total non-conformist. I go against the grain. I like being first, and I’m always looking for a new platform that Ogilvy can use to communicate effectively.

The Power Behind a Name & the Emergence of Personal Branding
In the early days, people used to say that Twitter was the great equalizer, but when I first joined someone suggested that I add my employer to my bio to give me credibility. I noticed a huge difference in the kinds of people who followed me and replied and retweeted my posts. People don’t know me, but I put Ogilvy in my bio and suddenly they were willing to listen to what I had to say. There is definitely power behind the Ogilvy name. It’s something I stress to our employees who are active in social media.

In 2009, the whole idea of personal branding became hot. People began to realize that you need to be smart and thoughtful about what you put out there. The goal of Ogilvy’s social media accounts is to promote our people and our best work in a way that is interesting and engaging.

One of the criticisms of Ogilvy has been that we’re too big and not nimble enough to keep up with the times. You can’t combat that because we are huge. But we’re made up of people, and our people think and act smartly and quickly. Social media gives us a way to promote that.

My goal with social media is to put a face to the company, to humanize it. It’s all about the people who work here – the giants that David Ogilvy advised us to hire – because it’s the people who build the company. The purpose of social media is not just to share what we do but also to show who we are.

Nichole’s Top 3 Social Media Tips

1. Be you!
It’s cliché but know who you are first. What’s your personality? Show it! Authenticity is key.

2. Don’t be afraid to change!
It’s okay to change your focus on social media platforms. If you used to tweet about leadership skills but now you want to tweet about travel, that’s okay. Pick a focus and don’t be afraid to shift it.

3. Think twice before you hit send.
When in doubt, leave it out!