I am pretty much all set to be at SocComm. The flight is this evening. I reach NY early tomorrow morning, spend all day at the 3LD and hop back on a flight to Seattle early Wednesday morning.
Excited to get there, meet people and learn! Not so scared about the socialization part, thanks to the video here. Itty bitty separation pangs that will be away room my babies.
What is SocComm?
A summit held by Jeff Pulver. In his words -
” On February 10th 2009 at the 3LD Art and Technology Center in New York City, I am producing SocComm – The Social Communications Summit. At SocComm, we will explore the state of “Social Communications”, where things are headed in the future and where the money is today and will be tomorrow.
The topics at SocComm will span across: Media / Internet / Communications / Entertainment, something I call the “MICE” space. SocComm will have a mixture of individual talks, on-stage interviews / conversations and a number of “group chat” sessions ”
This is what the website says – this is what I am going for -
Jeff has asked each of the selected speakers to address an area within the emerging Social Communications space which they are the most passionate about. The focus is on pulling together passionate people about various related topics with the intention of focusing on the passion and avoiding the situation of having someone directly pitching their company/product/application/service during their talk.
The world of social communications has made it so much easier for me to focus on my passions and give my life a lot more. I am enjoying this more than ever – and continue to be fascinated by the science of social communications. I go to NY today to explore this world and learn.
And I am very excited about this. For a few reasons:
1. Jeff Pulver is cool. How can you not want to meet him when he does something as cool as finding a way to replicate tagging in real life.(Watch that video up there). But he is about a lot more than just that ….
2. There are some amazing people going to be talking at SocComm – Gary Veynerchuck, Chris Brogan, David Kirkpatrick.
3. I am on the Official Twitter team for the event. Follow-me for updates throughout the day. The updates will be tagged #SocComm. I am @thinkmaya on twitter – Follow me!
4. I will meet a lot of other amazing people who have been in this space longer and done a lot more. Savvy Auntie – Melanie Notkin is one person I cannot wait to meet.
5. I think there will be some amazing pespectives shared on social communications – what it means to each person, how it is playing out in their lives today and how they see socal communications affecting tomorrow.
Everyone knows I am busy as hell and I am super-broke. So why am I going? I am going to the conference on a Scholarship. Thanks to @jeffpulver! I would not be going to the conference but for this scholarship and some saved up airline miles. And yes, I would never forget to thank my soulmate Pree for assuming complete responsibility of my little ones for 2 whole days!
Social Communications to me me just what it is – communicating with others – in the real and virual world – using the tools of social communications to move ahead, share passions, build brands, learn and make things happen. To me it is all about increasing the size of the pie – and eating together. And there is really no other space that lives and breathes this philosophy. The fields of social media and communications is a giant dome with props, music and dance. Come into this space, imagine, dress up and make things happen. Share your experiences, enrich and enhance. Know what tools work for you and flow with it. Be yourself and join in the game.
Over the past 6 months I have been getting deeper and deeper into the world of Social Media and Communications. This space has brought me alive like no other and for some reason I feel that this is probably the space I will be in for years to come. I feel like a natural here – learning a lot every day but very much at home. This is really my “ideal feeling” place. The life that starts online and spills into the real world – only my passions connecting the worlds – making the transition smooth – from one to the other – like in and out of water without a care in the world. I look forward to making this more a part of me by being at SocComm. I will be posting an update after the event right here.
Here is my Scholarship Application to Jeff Pulver – It is honest and I wrote it in 10 minutes 
I am responding to your tweet (http://twitter.com/jeffpulver/statuses/1170396192) regarding the Scholarship Program for SocComm. Thank you for the opportunity.
Less than 3 months back I started working on my own startup – Memetales – a children’s picture book bazaar. From that very day, I have been amazed at the power of Social Communications. The power of today’s tools for Social Communications takes a LOT of work out of trying to find the right people and helps me focus on my passions – creating valuable books for children while letting the creative community make their money. It happened with music and it will happen very soon with children’s books. In just 2 months I have built up more than a team of 200 authors, illustrators and book lovers – that are now a part of the Memetales community – mostly by following my passions and being smart about how and where to use various methods of Soc Com.
Why would I like to be at SocComm? Using Social Communications is as much about learning how and where to use it than just about using it. The art and science behind using the various mediums for Soc Comm along with focusing on our passions makes it an incredibly difficult area to master. I learn from watching people – taking in a lot, figuring out why it works for them and developing an action plan for what will work for me. This has worked incredibly well so far – so much so that I doubt there is any other way. I would like to be there and learn from all the incredible people out there – and apply what works for me – to explore and understand the value of Soc Comm for the future. Honestly, I do not have the money in my pocket or my budget to spend on this event at this point in my business. I’d rather write a convincing email since I really have the ability to offer and share with the others as much as I would learn from them.
Why would you want me at SocComm? For my passion. As simple as that I think. My passion and my ability to learn and share. Real lessons and real discoveries. I do think I have (from my years spent at getting 2 masters – tech and business) the ability to pick up things super fast and apply them to various fields at various points on the time scale. I am as passionate about Soc Communications as I am about my own venture – I will be able to communicate and share my experiences as well as my perspective on why things work out in the field of Soc Communications. I am not shy about participating and am most energized by an intellectual conversation.
Last but not least, I would LOVE to tweet about the event if I am chosen to be there.
photo credit: stu_spivack