I spent the weekend at an incredible event: Social Media Weekend, at the Columbia School of Journalism. Hosted by Sree Sreenivasan, I was fortunate enough to be able to assist in the planning, serving as a “social media doctor,” and moderating the panel with Mashable.
The event ran from Friday evening to Sunday, with an incredible cast of those in journalism who are leveraging social media in powerful ways. Okay, let’s dig into the photos:
The ever-bucolic Columbia University. Clearly, dealing with a red balloon infestation:
The Columbia School of Journalism. Jefferson guards the doors:
At the sign-up table, you are required to put your Twitter handle on your badge:
Our host, Dean of Student Affairs & Professor Sree Sreenivasan:
Ernest R. Sotomayor Assistant Dean/Career Services & Continuing Education at Columbia Journalism School sets the stage:
Attendees at the event came from more than 50 cities and 12 countries:
It’s hard to underestimate the power of a white board. Throughout the weekend, Twitter handles from speakers were thrown up here, which made it super-easy to Tweet:
Tweets flew by on screen, the latest updates to the event hashtag #smwknd
Sree kept checking in on a site called Hashtracking, which told us the reach of all the Tweets coming out of the event:
The audience, taking notes and Tweeting away…
The keynote for Friday was delivered by Fred Wilson, venture capitalist who writes the influential blog http://avc.com and has invested in many of the biggest social media companies.
*insert words of wisdom here*
The audience oohs and ahhs…
Fred explains how he uses Twitter to engage with his community:
Explaining how he feels social media is changing:
Q&A time. This journalism asked Fred how journalists can remain financially viable in a world where non-professionals will work for free:
The crowd seeking wisdom, and perhaps some venture capital:
The Friday night mixer, food and drinks provided by Facebook:
Vadim Lavrusik of Facebook talks about journalism and Facebook:
Some good tips on what engages:
An interesting timeline of the evolution of Facebook as a platform. Farm animals, it seems, are to blame:
The Saturday session. Here Dorian Benkoil takes us through the ROI of Social Media for Business:
Dorian talking about ROI:
I believe this was the new social media tools panel:
The halls were indeed packed:
Here, Google ran a Google Hangout with 10 journalists from around the world. The guy on the screen is the Googler in charge of a bunch of products, including Google+
I really loved capturing this moment of Sree and Ernesto taking a stroll down the hall to discuss the event so far:
An incredible bonus was that professional photographers were on hand to snap FREE headshots that all attendees could use as their social media profile images:
They also had “social media doctors,” of which I was one. Basically, if you needed advice on your usage of social media, experts were on hand to give personal advice:
The doctors at work:
Me working with an attendee on her social media presence:
I was so impressed to see Mashable’s Meghan Peters and GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram serve as social media doctors:
It was cool to see Craig Kanalley, Social Media Editor at NBC News Tweeting away:
Me moderating the session: “Mashable’s Secrets” with Meghan Peters and Christina Warren:
Questions for Meghan and Christina after the session:
All in all, an incredible weekend. I could not attend the Saturday party at Foursquare headquarters, or the Sunday sessions. Coming off of 9 days at 3 conferences, I needed some quality family time.
Thanks!
-Dan