Cake Wrecks World Tour

November 8th at 2:00 PM
Framingham Barnes and Noble

"The events will be set up the same as before, meaning there will be free cake provided by local bakeries, a fun slide show hosted by yours truly and John, a Q&A time, and of course the Wreckplica contest, complete with fabulous prizes."

To help us know how much cake and space we'll need, please RSVP."

CakeWrecks

Another Overlooked Boston Tweetup - Wednesday Night is JAMMED

Yes, another Wednesday night event. With Spookup and three other events already on the books for that night I was surprised to come across this event. I must have totally overlooked it in my search for Boston Tweetups.

Then I found it by pure happenstance while sitting on the couch watching the Twitter stream the past couple days. It's a Tweetup in Boston and the Facebook page says it's an open event. Guess I better expand my search to go beyond Eventbrite, Upcoming, Meetup and Ning.

And it underscores the fact that keeping an event calendar accurate - even for such a tight-knit social media community as Boston - is not a task that should be undertaken alone. Glad we've got the power of the crowd. *If you want to contribute, just leave a comment here on the blog. I'll send you an invite to be an author.

Here's the link to the aforementioned overlooked event - I've pasted details below.

In case you haven’t already heard about this, on Wednesday 10/28/2009 from 5:30pm through 8:30pm(-ish), we’ll be hosting our very own Tweetup here at the Sonicbids office in Boston.

As you may know, we have an open door policy for our members to drop by anytime, but this night will be extra special, since we’re bringing in a couple of friends from South By Southwest: Brent Grulke (SXSW’s Creative Director who oversees their team that reviews and selects the bands) and Scott McNearney (SXSW’s Sponsorship Manager).

This Tweetup will be a very casual get together, where you’ll get the chance to not only socialize with your fellow local peers and the Sonicbids bunch over food and drinks, but to also meet the folks from SXSW in person and pick their brain on what they look for in their showcasing bands.

So come down and join us next Wednesday; we’d love to see you!

Curveball Week

My plan this week was to attend ComicCon on the weekend and then dash out to the #140Conf in LA for Tuesday and Wednesday. Flu symptoms - or the actual flu - have kept me home. But that doesn't mean you have to stay indoors.

Instead of exhausting myself with excessive typing, I'll direct you to the calendar at the bottom of the page. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get some previews of events up.

Off to get some chicken soup right now.

Have fun out there....AND DON'T GET SICK!

Oh, Superheroes! Where will you be this weekend?

They'll be at Comicon Boston I suppose.

Will you be there?

Want to join the crowdsourced calendar project? Leave a comment here and we'll send you an application.

Have fun out there!

Where's Bobbie and where would Bobbie's Clone go?

I like Jeff's idea of just posting my calendar but I will also add some more things to my list, calling them "things I would go to if I was able to clone myself".

Monday (October 26, 2009) -- My clone would start off the week with a Wordpress meetup -- I'll be home playing Mom.

Tuesday (October 27, 2009) -- Mass Innovation Nights (me) is exhibiting at the MIT Enterprise Forum RFID SIG Big event: The Auto-ID and Sensing Expo. It's free and more than 40 companies will be exhibiting there plus some really awesome speakers.

Wednesday (October 28, 2009) -- Starting off the day with Open Coffee at Andala, I hope. Watch this space (and my space (but not MySpace) and the MassInno space for news on that front in the next few weeks. Evening -- attending the Charitable Irish Society's Annual Silver Key event as staff. (We won't tell them I am not Irish, OK? I've got the hair color but I only married and friended Irish.)

Thursday (October 29, 2009) -- Brainshark's Sharktoberfest from 3-5, then off to the big event of the week -- Mass High Tech All-Stars event with a Tweetup afterward. You'll have to scoop me up and pour me in a cab afterward.

Friday (October 30, 2009) -- My clone would be visiting HubSpot as I can't make it -- that thing about having kids, you know?

Saturday (October 31, 2009) -- Halloween, trick or treating.

Sunday --My clone would definitely head to Boston Media Makers at Doyle's with Steve Garfield

See you around...@BobbieC

Party on with Aiming Low

If you like a good party, the spunky chicks from Aiming Low will be throwing a good one Monday, October 26, 7-11pm at the Sheraton Boston. They're coming in tandem with HP and it's basically going to be food, drinks, HP product giveaways, and swag. Fun, no? Their only recommendation is that you bring some photos or your business logo or fun graphics on a flash drive, iPhone, or laptop so you can get in on the techy fun.

I'll be rocking this party along with some of my blog peeps, but this party is open to EVERYONE - chicks, dudes, bloggers, non-bloggers...you get the picture.
RSVP required.

GENIUS! I think I've got it

This post is really just for the contributors...but anyone can contribute by posting in the comments.

What I want to do is implement a quasi format. Gradon's post made me realize that everyone is doing tons of different things and with the right mix of people, we'll get an unbeatable mix of Bostontweetups, concerts, social media events and technology conferences.

SO, I'd love for all contributors to put a post up once a week detailing their week ahead. No heavy lifting, could be as simple as...

Monday - Mobile Mondays at The Place
Tuesday - Brunch Conference
Wednesday - #140 Conference Boston
Thursday - Networking at the District
Friday - Hubspot TV taping

Or could be as in-depth as the calendar at the bottom of this page. Just share and I bet we make everyone aware of the events that might be missed by other so-called sources for Boston tweetup and local area events.

Have fun out there!

NomX3 Lunch-up Wednesday

Yup. That's right, join us at 2PM Wednesday at Ted's Montana Grill in Westborough for a tweetup!

We'll be filming an episode of NomX3 - the first episode since the Gary Vaynerchuk show last Friday night - and you're invited to be in the studio audience.

Put a note in the comments here if you'd like to attend...or just show up. Hope to see you there.

Have fun out there!

Non-profits need people too

Just got a note from Reiko Beach of TRB Designs, Inc. detailing an event that's happening right around the corner from my house this Thursday.
But it's not the usual event I'd attend. It's a non-profit focused conference positioned to show people how to use different tools to make their events and their organizations successful.
I might go see some of the sessions depending on my schedule. But if you're into non-profits and maybe even social change, give this event a look.
\That's all for now. Have fun out there!

Other random events

Still struggling with the inclusion of all events or just tech events or who knows what. But what I'm hearing is that if we toss everything up into the stream, people will have many options.

Here's an event I just read about over on The Life and Times of Sooz. Seems cool. Wish I didn't already have plans tonight.

What am I missing? Leave your events in the comments.

Have fun out there!

One busy day for Gradon

After 16 days with the beautiful Meg Fowler in town, I'm settling into what I thought was a slow week, but it turns out not to be so slow. Well, for Thursday, at least.

On Thursday morning, I'll be giving a presentation on social media for causes to a class at - ahem - Harvard University. I've spoken at colleges and universities before, but never to a class. I feel so, educational.

Then, Thursday evening, I'll be on Jennifer Leggio and Aaron Strout's Quick-n-Dirty Podcast, a weekly discussion on social media. For some strange reason, they've offered me the chance to speak with them. The show airs from 6-7 EST.

Immediately after that, I'm off to Cambridge for a design get together. Dutch furniture retailer BoConcept is celebrating their new line, and I'll be covering it for my DesignBoston blog.

Beyond that one night, it's a pretty quiet week for me. What've you got going on?

Six Pixels of Separation & Mitch Joel on Awareness Inc.

Have you read "Six Pixels of Separation" yet? Our friends at Awareness Inc. are hosting author Mitch Joel as a guest on their webinar series, Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m. The webinar is free but requires registration - check it out here.

Webinar Link

Mitch is the President of Twist Image, an award-winning digital marketing and communications agencies with offices in Toronto and Montreal.

Free Classes for Small Businesses/Entrepreneurs

Boston is replete with small business owners and entrepreneurs, and for those looking to learn more about free online and social media solutions to build and promote your business, come to a Hands On Small Business session. These FREE classes are sponsored by Kirtsy and Microsoft Office Live and are running in 20 cities across the US and Canada. I’m team teaching the Boston sessions with Angela from Mommy Bytes and there are 3 Boston dates left (October 20, November 5, November 11). Click here to register; look forward to meeting you there!

Growing Pains

Still trying to figure out if you'd also like to have daily events posted here.

Let me know in the comments. Otherwise, you know you can always go to the blog post that covers the entire week...or just click on the calendar at the bottom of the blog.

Going forward, we'll be adding some more functionality. Maybe even linking to each author's Eventbrite and/or Upcoming schedule.

Please share your comments about this site so we can make it better. Or if you have the name of a person who should be invited, the editorial board here at WithJeff will bring it up at our next meeting.

Have fun out there.

Jeff's Week Ahead - October 18-24

While there are multiple authors on "With Jeff", this is just what I have planned for the upcoming week.

If you'd like to become an author here, drop me a line. We'd love to find out what you have planned for the week ahead!

SUNDAY, October 18

Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The second of the two-day sporting event should be fun as the weather is supposed to break and make wandering around the Charles River a lot more bearable. Head of the Charles

MONDAY, October 19

Aside from this being Meg Fowler's last day in Boston - See her on Twitter - there are some other events on tap.

Mobile Monday and TCN: Making money through carrier and OEM app stores. A cool little event on Monday evening from 7-9PM at The Place on 2 Broad Street, Boston. Sign up here

TUESDAY, October 20

Solo PR Practitioner Coffee in Newton. From 9AM to whenever, Chuck and the gang host a PR chat at the Taste Coffee House, 311 Walnut Street in Newton. Sign up here - or just show up. Great coffee according to Roy Krantz and Chuck.

WEDNESDAY, October 21

Mid-morning each Wednesday is an event at Andala Coffee House in Central Square. Start time is around 8:30 but the meetup is a little free-form. It's essentially an open coffee hour where startups, investors and interested tech people join to chat about everything.

NomX3 taping at Ted's Montana Grill in Westborough at 2PM. Come join Mike Langford and me as we dine on beef! Setup at 1PM, taping at 2.

TOP CHEF SOUTHIE. This invite-only event will pair four chefs off in a Top-Chef-style cooking competition. Sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the cook-off will require each chef to use coffee in their dishes. May share a recap after the event. If they have coffee with each meal, I'm gonna be wired!

THURSDAY, October 22

Holland-Mark Digital is having a Launch Party on Thursday. The renowned digital agency is inviting marketing, advertising and other media professionals to come and enjoy drinks and polite conversation at Post 390 on Stuart Street. Sign-up is required, so go here to get on the list.

Blogtoberfest! I missed it. This is one event I want to attend but I was too focused on some of my own stuff to remember to sign up. Jenny will assuredly put on a FANTASTIC bash and some of the coolest people are already going. Maybe I can find a John Wall namebadge and sneak in. For more info, check out the site.

Thursdays at Berkman. Tech talk with some smarties at Baker House, 1587 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. Runs from 7-9PM. For more info and to join the mailing list for all things related to this event and a few other great things happening in and around Harvard pertaining to tech, go here and join.

Pokin' Holes. A fun session from 6-9:30PM that involves an open exchange of opinions and ideas, all moderated and organized by my friend Cortlandt. More info is right here. Not to be missed if you can help it.

FRIDAY, October 23

All-Day Social Media for Business Seminar in Arlington. eBiz Symposium 2009 should be a blast. Use ebiz100 to get a free ticket - a multi-hundred-dollar value - to the event. I'll be on a panel talking about the tools people are using today to be successful. Sign up here, the event goes from 8:00-4:30.

The CR Live with Jim Storer and Rachel Happe. Join them - and often me - in Bedford this week, so don't be stuck in Harvard Square. Join us for lively discussions about community management, beer and fashion. OK, it's mostly about social media and community management. Details right here. Starts at 12PM.

Hubspot TV. The inbound marketing specialists put on a fabulous show each Friday from 4-4:30PM. Get there - Hubspot, One Broadway, 5th Fl, Cambridge, MA - at 3:40 or so for a seat in the front row. They talk marketing, take questions via Twitter, give great insights and generally put on a light show that entertains and informs. Stars Mike Volpe and Karen Rubin. *Did I mention they have free beverages (MALT BEVERAGES!!) in the studio for all audience members? But don't drink the Raspberry UFO, that belongs to Rubin and she'd knock you out if you bogart her beer.

That's all I've got for this week, I'm sure there's more. Please share your events in the comments or sign up to be a contributor.

Our mission is to share events so people can have fun and learn stuff. Just leave a comment and we all win.

Bobbie Out and About in Boston

Back in March when we started Mass Innovation Nights, the MIN uber-intern, Jennie, must have spent countless hours pushing out our Mass Innovation Nights Listings to dozens of them: Gary's Guide, Boston. com, Events.com and more. (Even now, months later, I stumble across listings on sites I didn't know existed.) Family events, technology events, industry events, social media events, there are all kinds of sites devoted to them. (I'm even working with Accounting Management Solutions of Waltham to create a calendar in their online Resource Center for Finance professionals. But the thing is, they all require the hosting organization to submit the details, something that can take quite a bit of time if you try to do it in any kind of comprehensive manner.

Just this week I attended a Concept Clinic at MIT to learn more about a real-time search service, currently under construction,that will power a dynamic event calendar. This service will pull from Twitter streams and other social media, in order to create a Web site with a complete view of the events available. What a boon this will be for the event planners! The question is, will it draw in the viewers/visitors/event attendees or will they continue to go elsewhere for their info. The competitive advantage might not be as obvious to the casual viewer. It will be interesting to see what happens with this idea.

But until that option is available, how do we find out what's happening? And what event will make best use of our time? My own time for networking and "education" is somewhat limited as I have kids at home and a spouse who frequently works evenings. (He's a bassoonist with a couple different bands and orchestras, and practices and concerts happen in the evenings.)

I am on dozens of mailing lists from dozens of organizations. I input the options on my calendar. I watch where like-minded individuals (like Jeff) are going to be via their tweets and Facebook accounts. I review various calendars, including @Bostontweetup's. I also get forwarded various events from my clients, friends and co-workers. But the best options are always when I get a personal invite from one of the presenters and that presenter is someone I know (and obviously, someone who knows me.) When I find a good event, I usually tweet about it -- either as "me," @Bobbiec, or, if it is an event that I know the Mass Innovation Nights community would like, I tweet about it as @MassInno. (Lots of innovation-oriented groups send me their group information so I can share it with the MIN community.) From now on, I'll add them here too!

What to do in Boston

Recently, I found that the services I had depended on for accurate information about Boston events were woefully inadequate and unreliable.

In fact, one of these services even neglected to list one of the largest social media events of the year - a book signing and show taping with Gary Vaynerchuk at the Estate in Boston.

So I've decided to crowdsource - partially - and create a more comprehensive collection of events. These events might interest you, or you might be ambivalent. But that's the name of the game. I want you to share your info too.

Please get in touch via the comments - and leave your email - so that if you want to contribute to the blog I can send you an invite.

Thanks so much for your help and support.

Have fun out there!