Sheila's Guide To The Good Stuff

The Austin American-Statesman launched the Texas Social Media Awards last year, and I’m humbled to tell you that the 2010 award winners were just announced and I’m one of the awardees.

Thanks very much to the judges on the Statesman staff and to those who supported my nomination.

It is truly an honor to be recognized in such a constantly-changing space and with so many other fine people.

From the paper’s article about the Awards:

“In the year since the awards were first held, social media sites increasingly have become a part of daily life. ‘We’ve gone from people who were early adopters and having fun with the technology to people using it for business and nonprofits in ways I’ve never even thought of before,’ says American-Statesman social media editor Robert Quigley.”

I sincerely hope that my work in the social Web is helpful to the tourism and travel communities.

Take a gander at the list of awardees to appreciate the variety of folks, and allow me to give a special shout-out to a few of them….

1. Michelle Greer – last year’s overall winner and one of this year’s judges. A tireless advocate of using tech for worthy causes and an expert on cloud computing with Rackspace.
2. Jennifer Navarrete – A good friend and occasional business colleague, Jennifer is the driving force behind much of San Antonio’s tech scene, plus she’s a dynamite podcaster at (among other shows) Tech in Twenty.
3. Dara Quackenbush – Dara is a PR professor at Texas State, and I love watching how she brings her students into modern PR, done right. Here’s her class blog where they practice what they learn.
4. Jenn Dearing Davis and Hayes Davis – They tweet and tell us about good deals, on CheapTweet. They appreciate all of us on a budget. They are super-nice. Drawbacks = none.
5. Mando Rayo – He investigates the local taco scene, then blogs about it on Taco Journalism.  He told me that my best local taco joint is Juarez Mexican Bakery, and when Mando tells me where to go, I go. I eat. I’m happy.
6. Hugh MacLeod – He draws quirky cartoons at Gaping Void. He does marketing for a South African winery from his location in Alpine, Texas; hey, it’s the Web so it makes sense to me.

I’m thrilled to be in such company, and thanks again for your support.

After watching this incredible video of musician Bobby McFerrin using his body, some humming and audience feedback to demonstrate the pentatonic scale at a science conference, I wondered….

How often are organizations willing to open their minds to new people who can teach everyone new ways to look at things?

It is scary to stretch your brain, but that’s when the “Oh, wow!” moments happen.

Is your organization hiring the same old, same old?

That’s perhaps why it is stuck doing the same old, same old.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

When should you continue to be part of a team, and when should you strike out on your own?

At what point do you start to question whether your individual efforts for the benefit of a team are not worth the benefit to you, personally?

When should you take a gimlet-eyed view of your output vs input and ask, “What’s in it for me?”

Confidence in your own talents and abilities is critical.

When you’re less confident in your abilities, you’ll do anything for a team because you figure it’s not possible to make it on your own.  It’s learning time.

As you gain confidence, it’s normal to begin (even almost unconsciously) measuring the value of what you’re providing and comparing it to the value of what your team brings to you.

I am at that point.

I’m not sure that I like being here.

I’m thinking about it.

I’m grateful for mentors and friends like Liz and Becky and events like SOBCon, so I don’t have to think alone.

I’ve blogged (and still blog) for lots of other sites, using several different platforms and themes, but ironically, I’ve never started a blog of my own from the ground up.

Today, it’s time to do that.

I want a space to write about the topics that I don’t already cover in my family travel, cultural travel, motorsports or on other Web 2.0/social media sites.

I want to write about helping people find “the good stuff.”  I’m your guide to quality information, destinations and thoughts, wherever I find them.  If I’m going to be a know-it-all, I might as well be a helpful one.

Thanks for listening.