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4 Step Custom 3D Tag Cloud Page Using WP and Cumulus

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
This is an instructional video on how to create a large or customized tag cloud on an individual page on a Wordpress based website. The concept is relatively simple:
  1. WP-Cumulus is a Plugin/Widget, install the plug-in first.
  2. Customize WP-Cumulus on the Widget Page any size/colors.
  3. Viewing the source of your page you will grab the code to.
  4. Create a new page and use the source code from step 3.
Filed Under: Technology, Video, Wordpress Tagged With: , , ,

2 Important Reasons to Use Facebook Re-Tweet

January 16, 2010 By 5 Comments
This morning I woke up and while scanning Twitter for news I noticed @Mashable has an article about a Facebook re-tweet feature. This is kind of a big deal for Facebook users but many Facebook users aren't also Twitter users so I knew it would be useful to do a screencast to demonstrate the feature and talk about the benefits. The two reasons you should use it:
  1. To provide the person who original shared the content credit for their efforts.
  2. To encourage your friends to become fans of similar content that interests you.
Here is a screen cast demonstration of how to use the feature:
Filed Under: Facebook, Twitter, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Radar Now Application for Android Phones

January 9, 2010 By 2 Comments
I love opening up the Android Marketplace on my Droid Phone and checking out the latest apps. This is a video of the Radar Now application for the Android Phone Operating system. I am using and demonstrating this app on my Verizon Droid Phone. It is a very useful app particularly if you are travelling and need access to some recent weather radar coverage. I wish I had this years ago when I did a lot of camping
Filed Under: Technology, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

3 Simple Steps to help Find a Job

January 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I've had a number of conversations with friends who are facing job transitions, most of them unemployed. Through this process I've compiled 3 things that I have done and received extremely good feedback from my friends. The purpose of this article is simple, to share a formula that you can use to help friends (or yourself!) if a jobless situation occurs. If you'd rather just listen, I have a podcast at the bottom of this post. Step #1 Information Gathering I ask my friends about their situation, specifically:
  1. What kind of work do they do.
  2. What kind of work would they like to do.
  3. Where would they like to work.
I then use that information to make constructive suggestions based on my own personal experience and the activity within my network. I also make sure that I am very supportive of them to try to embolden them to drive hard to the finish line (find a job that they will love!). Step #2 I know this person that.... I then look at my network and think about who I know that might be able to help them. I make virtual introductions usually via Email and offer to help facilitate a connection. I'll follow that up with another communication in a week or two and ask if they were able to connect and if that person was able to help them. The top person on my list that I refer people to is my neighbor and friend JP McDermott. JP has done a lot of outreach with people that are in these transitional situations. JP has a career coaching column at examiner.com. Step #3 Support Being jobless during a bad economic time with high unemployment is not a happy place to be. Step 3 for me is simple, I do everything I can to be supportive of my friend who is searching. I write encouraging comments on blog or social media posts they make, I re-tweet some of their key tweets, or I just send little follow up messages to encourage them. Mind you this is emerging opportunity, I don't setup a schedule and I don't do this equally with all of my friends. You can do this, anyone can do this. I know there are jobs out there sometimes it's just about getting the right people together. The sooner these jobs are filled with the right candidate the more quickly that company and the employee can start building an economically viable relationship. The net result is we all win. I hope you find this useful, please share your stories and tips.
Filed Under: Inspiration, Jobs Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Parent’s Guide to RSS

December 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
In my day to day travels both personally and professionally I am often encouraging people to check out and use certain social media sites and blogs. When I mention RSS it seems like a lot of my audience drops off comprehension wise. In response to this I've come up with a video that your parents could use to understand and use RSS and more specifically Google Reader. The video will get into detail but it will be useful for people who:
  • Might want to get updated content from certain web and blog sites.
  • Like to organize all of their media content in one place when possible.
  • Don't know what RSS is but would like to be able to explain it to others.
  • Want to learn more about blogging and how the content gets delivered.
  • Have an interest in Feedburner for promoting their blog and RSS feed.
Filed Under: Blogging, Tools Tagged With: , , , , ,

The #1 Mistake Accomplished Public Speakers Make

November 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I became a member of a Toastmaster club around 2003. Toastmasters is really an incredible opportunity for persons from any walk of life to gain confidence, leadership and public speaking skills. I was fortunate to have two very important people in my original club, the woman that would one day become my wife and the mother of my first and only child and Art Breslow a wise old Toastmaster of 50+ years! To say Toastmasters changed my life would be an understatement but you really need to be ready for change to happen, that was up to me. One of the most valuable lessons I learned that I've seen the majority of speakers I've watched error on is in the naming of podium and lectern. Most speakers call the stand that they put their notes on a podium but it is a lectern. A podium is an elevated area where a speaker gives his or her presentation. I've watched many accomplished speakers make this mistake so I am hoping this helps them become even that much more accurate of a speaker. I have to confess, the lesson learned was thanks to Mr. Art Breslow. Mr. Breslow was keen at keeping certain inaccuracies from perpetuating in his presence often in a very spirited way. I can still here him piping up when people used certain jargon, his memories haunt me in a good way. Thank you Mr. Breslow.
Filed Under: Public Speaking Tagged With: , ,

Commit to Excellence

November 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Is there any reason you can think of to NOT make the best of every day of your life? Each conversation you have with family, friends or your spouse, work and even parenting. Today I challenged myself with that very question and I could not think of anything that stuck. I came up with excuses but I could not come up with reasons. It sounds so cliché - "Live life to the fullest" or "Carpe Diem" but you know what, those are some of the wisest words man has ever uttered. Take an honest assessment on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning horrible and 10 meaning completely dominant – how powerful would you rate your commitment to everything you do in a given day? I suspect if most people are honest with themselves it comes in well under 5, it would for me and I am at what I feel a very high level of productivity/attitude for my lifetime. Now imagine how effective you would be if you increased your commitment to everything you do in a given day 10% or 1 point on that scale. Think about your relationships with others, your children, your co-workers, your boss, or even your clients. How much of an impact would it have in those relationships if you cared more today than you did yesterday. I would be willing to theorize that for every 10% you increase that scale you would feel a very big improvement in the quality of your life, your health and the lives of people you interact with. Today is a day that we give thanks for the bountiful harvest in our lives, much as the pilgrims and Native Americans did during a time of peace and prosperity that inspired this Thanksgiving Day ritual. For me I have an additional thing to be thankful for, awareness that I can be happier, more productive and successful in every aspect of my life by making a series of decisions to commit to excellence. Also the pride I have that these decisions will bring happiness, joy and success to the people that I care about and to people I’ve never met.
Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: , , , , ,

Premium Youtube Access for Non Profits

November 26, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Did you know that your 503(c) or similar non-profit can receive for no fee premium YouTube services? The service includes a number of very beneficial features including:
  • Premium branding
  • Increased upload capacity
  • Special Channel listings
  • Video Volunteer posting
Filed Under: Community, Video Tagged With: , , ,

Twitter Adds Lists!

October 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Twitter Feature - ListsTonight Twitter launched a new feature - lists. These lists allow you to combine a number of different twitter feeds to one group and creates a new tier to the url system. I created 2 new lists to test:

@hackmanj/socialmediagurus and @hackmanj/rotariansiknow These lists are a fast demonstration of how this tool could be used. This is a great idea and will really add a lot of value for Twitter. You could in essence locate every news outlet on Twitter and combine them in one list, this would be a very busy feed. No longer will people have to use sophisticated tools to search for certain kinds of tweets, they can find someone who's done the work for them already. Way to go Twitter.
Filed Under: Social Media Strategy, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

5 Twitter Tips

October 25, 2009 By 1 Comment
Compliments of Guy Kawasaki, if you are on Twitter and interested in Entrepreneurial ventures or Social Media I recommend you follow him. These are 5 excellent Twitter tips. What I found the most compelling is the competitive advantage and guerrilla marketing aspects of the suggestions. I hope you find them interesting: Five Wickedly Clever Ways to use Twitter
Filed Under: Social Media Strategy, Twitter Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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