“See You At Symposium Europe” was the line I tested. I figured the term “See You At” may catch the attention of the reader who will think, “what did I sign up for?”

Well, it worked. The email had a 54% open rate, which is amazing.

1. Use an off-site AV rental company and make them bid for a job. Don’t accept the first offer, they have bargaining power.
2. Rent basic carpet. If you’re in a basic 10×10, you can afford to scrap the prestige carpet. The standard cut carpet will cost you 100%-150% less.
3. If you can’t afford giveaways for everyone, raffle off one good prize like a Wii or iPhone.
4. Place your literature on CD’s. For about $1, you can place all of your literature on one disc. Printed materials are expensive and 80% of it is left behind in hotel rooms.
5. If you must ship to the show, ship in advance to the warehouse, not to the convention center. The best possible option is to ship to your hotel room and carry your boxes onto the show floor.

Will & Kara - engaged in Oahu

Emma and Art - engaged in Buffalo, NY

 Don’t forget to check out the freelance designers in my blogroll: tinavaziri.com and conquestmedia.com.

We tasted olive oil at Bella Vista Ranch, sampled eight varieties of wine at the beautiful Driftwood Vineyards, and capped off our trip with fine Italian food and a wine tour at Mandola’s Estate Winery in Spicewood.

It was the perfect day…which required the perfect nap afterwards.

That’s all I have to say about the Nike Human Race 10k, taking place August 31st. Is has all the makings of a great program. Nike hand-selected 25 cities world-wide based on their geographical locations, landmarks and their unique race courses. In Austin, Texas, Nike is preparing runners for the race six weeks in advance. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, runners can meet with instructors and test out Nike products while they run three or five mile courses. I went with a group of friends and we had a great time. On August 31st, Lance Armstrong will be running in Austin for his foundation (the race benefits one of three charities), and Ben Harper will play a free show afterwards. Anyone who runs is encouraged to visit nikeplus.com to track their progress and network online with other runners.

Why this event is so great…
1. It’s built heavily on word-of-mouth marketing
2. The online community they are creating is a fantastic way to collect data on their top customers
3. Each person who runs in the race, or participates in the training has to give Nike their information - including home and email address information. What a great way to build a prospect list!
4. It benefits three great charities - Lance Armstrong Foundation, Ninemillion.org, and WWF.

This begs the question - can companies manage such communication?

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a bad email I received from a software company. There were three flaws with the email:
1. I received an e-mail  for a class I had already taken through them so I should not have been on their distribution list
2. The e-mail addressed me as “Dear FirstName”
3. This was not the first time that this company has made this mistake

Out of frustration, I decided to exercise my freedom of speech (and press) and write about it. The image of the e-mail that I had included on my website had an embedded code with the name of the company, thus, it showed up on Google Alerts. The entire company was heated over my post. I was even contacted by a representative, asking me to take down the post and telling me how disappointed in me they were in me.

Does a company have the right to make a mistake and then place blame on a blogger for pointing it out? Does a company have the right to restrict what is said about them from independent parties?

There is no such thing as control in social media. Welcome to the game…you better be willing to take a fall if you want to step up and play.