On Monday, I was interviewed by students in an Advanced Placement (AP) Government Class from Osbourn Park High School in Manassas, VA, where my sister is a Social Studies Teacher.  They asked me how they could use social media to raise awareness to their cause, “Kicks For Kids“, and inspire people to donate and/or help however they could.

According to the students and their teacher, Christina Ross:

“Kicks for Kids goes from May 21-30 and our goal is to collect 652 pairs of shoes (kids size 12.5 to women’s size 6 are recommended.)  The shoes would go to Title I elementary schools in Yorkshire and West Gate, where 74% of Yorkshire students receive free and price-reduced lunch, and 87% of West Gate students receive free or reduced lunch.  Title I is a program adopted by high-poverty elementary schools to ensure children in their schools have the chance to obtain a high quality education; the program funnels resources to schools where the needs are the greatest.”

During the interview with students, I was impressed with their thoughtful and professional questions.  We discussed doing some assessment with their classmates and the greater High School community about what type of technology and online media would work best to achieve their goals. We talked about putting a plan together and making it happen.  What they didn’t know was how inspired I was by their collective efforts and that I wanted to lend a hand as well.

Today, as I celebrate my “30-something” birthday, I wanted to continue my little tradition that started in 2010, by doing some social good.  My birthday wish is to help these students reach their goal and there are a few ways you and others can get involved:

1.  Share this blog post on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, and/or email using the icons at the bottom of the blog post. Encourage your online connections to join me in taking action.
2.  Donate to their Kicks for Kids campaign on AlumniChoose or by contacting Christina Ross directly.
3.  Repeat step 1 each day until the drive is over

While I appreciate the Facebook posts, tweets, emails, texts, and calls today, it would mean the world to me to have you and those you know support this cause.  It would certainly bring joy to the Osbourn Park High School students who are passionately working to meet their goal.

Finally, a special thanks to Tom Krieglstein for having AlumniChoose join in on the fun and to everyone who already have sent me thoughtful birthday greetings.  It means the world to me!

What social good projects are you involved with?  How have you used online media to inspire people to get involved and take action?

Google Plus announced today that their “On-Air” for Hangouts feature will be going live in a few weeks. is now LIVE.  I’m VERY EXCITED about this as it will change the way administrators and faculty in Higher Education will be able to deliver content.  The “On-Air” feature allows you to broadcast you and up to 9 others for anyone to watch in real time.  If you can’t make the broadcast live, no problem!  You can also record and repost it on YouTube for those to watch on-demand, on their schedule.  Since Google Plus Hangouts come embedded with many apps, including SlideShare, Docs, YouTube, etc., the amount of online “group work” productivity you can accomplish with others, has grown exponentially!

Imagine doing the following over Google Plus Hangouts:

• Any type of trainings for student volunteers, employees, and/or staff
• Pre-Orientation and/or Academic Advising Sessions
• Conference Education Sessions and Keynotes
• Focus and study groups
• Planning meetings for any event, cause, or purpose.
• Broadcasting events to the greater campus community, including your Alumni and Parents.
• And many… many more!

Now the classroom, meeting room, laboratory, has NO walls.  If you were wondering why Google Plus mattered, you now have a strong reason in Hangouts.  While Facebook = Social; Twitter = Information; LinkedIn = Professional; and Pinterest = Visual… now Google Plus = Group Productivity.

I am looking forward to seeing how everyone uses it

What could you use Google Plus Hangout’s “On Air” feature for in your area(s)?  What are your thoughts on all the new features?

One of the reasons I have always been drawn to technology is its ability to increase work efficiency when leveraged properly.  While traveling in March to Austin, Boston, and Louisville, a common conversation I had was how I used cloud technology in my daily work to keep up with everything I was expected to do.  Here are some quick ideas that you can implement today, with some others you may deem as summer projects

1.  Storage
It’s time to shift your computer “storage” paradigm into one that includes saving files to the cloud (unless it contains personal information, of course!) Set your PC or MAC to save to a cloud service such as DropBox, which allows you to access files from multiple devices, including your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop computer.  Telling folks, “Oh, that file is on my home computer, can I send it to you later?” is not really viable anymore… and with the dawn of Google Drive upon us, DropBox has upped its free account to 5GB (Beta) to stay competitive.

General DropBox Tips:
1.  Keep only the files you access regularly on the cloud instead of your computer’s Desktop. If you haven’t used certain files in three months, move it alternative storage like a internal or external hard drive, thumb drive,  or simply delete it.  If you want to make your “My Documents” folder point to DropBox, simply right-click on your My Documents folder then select the Location tab, click on ‘move’ & select your Dropbox folder. When you hit ok it will ask if you want to move all your files and folders to the new location also.  Click yes and you are done!
2.   Leave any “Shared Folders” once you have completed the tasks at hand.  Joining a shared folder contributes to your overall space usage, so make sure you leave as soon as you are able to!
3.  Disable the “Camera Upload” feature from your mobile phone:  Unless you are paying for more storage, this can eat into your space quickly.  While its a great feature to back up your mobile images, you may need to sacrifice this feature to keep the maximum amount of space you can.
4.  Save all your “meeting related” email attachments to DropBox to access them during a meeting.  Encourage meeting organizers to send agendas, articles, etc. ahead of time and to save unnecessary printing.

Favorite DropBox Uses:
1.   Sharing Files/Folders: As of this week, you can now share any file or folder upload to DropBox by right-clicking the file or folder and selecting the “Copy Link” action.    Now you can share that file via email and NOT clog the recipients Inbox with large attachments. Advanced Tip: If you want to know how many people clicked on your DropBox link, shorten it in bit.ly first, customize it if you wish (e.g. bit.ly/hereticposter), and then send it out.  Later on, check on your statistics by typing the bit.ly link with a + at the end of it (e.g.  bit.ly/hereticposter+)
2.   Leadership Transition Files: Do you have a group in transition that needs last year’s documents all in one easy place? Open up a new shared file in DropBox, have your officers, staff, leadership, etc. upload them all to one place, then share that folder with the new leadership. Can we move beyond the “passing of the binder” please?
3. Multiple DropBox Instances on Mac OSX: If you have more than one Dropbox account (e.g. one for work & one for personal), you may want to keep these files separate. Dropbox currently doesn’t allow you to run both instances on one user account. However, It’s possible to get a Mac to run multiple Dropbox instances.   There’s a useful app called DropboxEncore that allows you to have two separate instances running. Very handy!

2.  Google Docs and Microsoft Office
Another Cloud feature to consider is Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, which allows users to upload Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly to Google Docs. While it is not available for Mac users, PC users will find it quite useful!  Whatever you are working on, you can easily upload to Google Docs by a click of button once you install this plugin on your computer.  Then, share the file easily to whomever is working with you on the file!

The difference between Google Docs and DropBox is simple: Upload a file to Google Docs for multiple people to edit and collaborate on.  Upload a file to DropBox to store and/or share with others.  For example, instead of emailing five different people a Word Document to edit (and not knowing which version is the current one), you send those five people to Google Docs to edit the document, always knowing what you are looking at is the most recent.

3.  Cloud Calendars
While I use Microsoft Outlook on campus to schedule and manage my BSU related appointments, there are instances where folks outside of BSU need to meet with me.  In these instances, I utilize Tungle to sync my calendar online so folks can see when I am available and suggest possible meeting times. Once the initial sync is complete, you could add a line to your email signature such as, “Need to schedule an appointment with me? Click here to suggest common times.” While I think its important to utilize Microsoft Outlook’s “Meeting Request” feature on campus (versus ‘emailing’ someone a meeting request), Tungle really does a nice job to make one’s calendar availability easy to access.

4.  Note Taking
When I first got my iPad, one of the things I was most excited about was the ability to take notes sans a pen and paper.  As I use my mobile devices more and more, I have found using Evernote essential.  Whether it be on my computer, iPad2 or Android RAZR, all of my ideas are centralized in one place.  You can create separate “notebooks” and create tags for advanced organization and easily share with others.

General Evernote Tips:
1.  Creating note tags that start with the * sign put it at the top of the “Tag List” (e.g. *Unfiled). Also, create note tags that include (year, month, specific people, ‘to_read’, ‘to_buy’, etc.)
2.  If you use Safari on the Mac, Shift+clicking the elephant icon will create a PDF from the current page and add it to your default notebook.
3.  Go beyond text to take “notes.” Consider drawing out your thoughts using Skitch, recording audio, or taking a photo.

Favorite Evernote Uses:
1.  Create notebooks for different projects, people, and work environments.
2.  Taking a picture of receipts and filing it in my “Receipts Notebooks”
3.  Created a shared “Groceries” note that you and your partner can use to make this task easier each week.
4.  Keep Software License numbers, Rewards Numbers for Airlines, Hotels, etc.
5.  Take pictures of your kids drawings and save them for sharing or reminiscing later.

While these are some of my everyday uses, here is a great list of 100+ more uses for Evernote!

5.  Music
While I am an avid iTunes user, one of the things I have never liked is being able to take all my music on the go via my Android device.  About a year ago, I got a beta invite to Google Music and have absolutely loved it ever since.  Now that it is open to everyone, you can sync your iTunes music with Google Music, including all your playlists, and have access to all your music whenever you want it.  If your music is on your computer at home, you can still listen to it at your work computer by logging in to Google Music or by downloading the Google Music Desktop App.

6.  Make Phone Calls Through GMail
I have been doing this since Google made this feature available in August of 2010, using my Google Voice phone number.  Since I have a webcam with a built in microphone, it is easy for me to do it.  What I find fun (and really cool), is making phone calls from my iPad using the Talkatone app, that ties directly into my Google Voice account.  Oh, you can also text from the app also !  So if my mobile phone dies, I can still use the iPad to make calls and send texts, as long as I have a WiFi connection.

How do you use technology to increase efficiency in your work and in your personal life? Do you use DropBox, Google Docs, Tungle, Evernote, Google Music and Voice? What other apps are on your computer, tablet, and/or mobile device?

In my last installment of “March Magic” this week, I wanted share my reflections on the 2012 ACPA Convention in Louisville, where I continued my role as ACPA 2013 Technology Chair, presented on Social Media Tools as part of an Institute, and reconnected with friends that I met on Twitter and in living color just three short years ago.  What a great end to a month filled with magic

This was the fourth ACPA Convention I had been to (2000 in DC, 2010 in Boston, 2011 in Baltimore) and I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to network and learn from a wide range of Student Affairs and Higher Educational professionals and faculty.  As I gain more experience in the field, its important that I network with folks who currently hold positions that I aspire to hold someday.  The Senior Student Affairs Officers I’ve met in ACPA  have always been so supportive and I’ve appreciated that greatly!  I started the convention being invited by Teri Bump and Cissy Petty to a Senior Student Affairs Officer meeting where I got to share my perspectives on Social Media and why more of them needed to be on board.  I was honored to be invited and with folks like Patrick Love in the room, it was a great opportunity with many rich follow up conversations.

As the Convention started, I knew I had two specific roles.  First was to present in part one of the Convention Social Media Institute with some amazing Student Affairs colleagues & friends.  While we were given a 7:30am slot (wow, was that ever early), we still had a modest showing and a great conversation. Kathy Petras did a great job coordinating this year’s institute which showcased five different sessions including:

“Use of Social Media Tools in Higher Education“:  Bruce Mann, Keegin Mills, Melissa Rocco, Kristen Rupert, and I
“Engaging First Year Students on Facebook”: Tom Krieglstein & Kathy Petras
“Social Media and the Job Search“:  Becca Obergefell & Mike Severy
“Social Media and Leadership Programs”: Chris Conzen, Becca Obergefell & Mike Severy:
“Accessibility and Social Media“:  Rachel Luna

The Institute model for teaching Social Media was a great one, and something I hope we can expand in Las Vegas.  If you combine this institute with teaching stations and “technology labs” where folks can play with the latest gear and online tools, this could be a powerful formula for growth in technology literacy and which implementation excitement.  I’m confident in Kathy and the newly formed Technology Workgroup/Task Force/Commission and our partnerships for the 2013 Convention to push the association forward in technology.

Second, as the Chair of Technology for the 2013 Convention, I was asked to observe how the association used technology and devise a plan for 2013.  I was humbled last fall when Keith Humphrey reached out and invited me to join (Convention Chair) Karen Warren Coleman and be part of the CPT, so I am focused on doing an excellent job for the association.  I’m excited to be working with Karen, Heather Gasser, Paulette Dalpes and the many others on the team, as they bring such fantastic energy and excitement to the planning process.  I am focused on working closely with each of the committee’s chairs since Technology will be finely woven into each of their areas, as well as with Jon Gilmore, who is Director of Information Technology for ACPA.  As the Convention Planning Team (CPT) met regularly, both formally and informally, I got a real sense for what was currently being done and thought about which pieces made sense moving forward.

I have already generated a lot of great ideas and am looking for a team of people to help pull it all together in Las Vegas.  Let me know if you are interested in joining the fun!

Taking into consideration what I learned at SXSW and ACUI, my goals for Technology use at the ACPA 2013 Convention are as follows:

1.  Data Gathering: I want to find out WHAT people know about Technology, HOW people are using it, & WHY some people are hesitant on using it.  Pre and post Convention assessment will be necessary as part of this goal.
2.  Education: Discover what level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) people are at and show them how to advance levels.  If you are already advanced, find out together how to we best teach others? How do we centralize this knowledge base so content is easy to find and share?
3.  Customer Service: If you have a question or concern at Convention, use technology for a prompt response.  I envision the team I’m pulling together working closely with the ACPA International Office (IO) to make sure we can accomplish this.
4.   Member Engagement: Whether you are in Las Vegas or not, we will use technology that will engage our membership to inspire action.  Whether that be through Social Media, video streaming of sessions, or the ability to provide instant feedback to presenters through Guidebook or other app, we will find a way that works best for you.

Finally, I really enjoyed reconnecting with a community of friends I’ve made thanks to Twitter, especially Chris, Tom, Kristen, Kathy, Becca, Mike, Eric, Teri, Kenn, Dan, & Jenna.  I also enjoyed getting to know Melissa, Bruce, Kat, and Laura better thanks to our evening hangouts … as well as meeting Kevin, Ciji, Eric, Erica, and Kari for the first time!

As I flew back to Boston, I started writing this post originally with the question, “Would I even be in ACPA right now if it weren’t for Twitter?”  It’s no secret that I have been heavily committed and involved in ACUI since graduate school in the, *cough cough*, “late 90′s”, so why get involved with ACPA now? Simple, because of serendipity in the form of 140 characters: Twitter. I became active on Twitter in the summer of 2009 and connected with Tom and many other Student Affairs professionals that happened to be coming to Boston in the spring of 2010 for the ACPA Convention. Since it was local, I decided to go to the Convention, in large part, to meet the very people I had grown quite fond of!  I remember vividly meeting Kathy,  Becca, Kristen, and Kat after the opening keynote and then meeting them, along with Mike and others at California Pizza Kitchen and thinking… there is something to this Twitter thing after all! Last year in Baltimore, thanks to Teri‘s ability to be the ultimate connector, I got to meet Heather & Keith, and was reconnected with my old friend Gavin, whom I worked with at the University of New Hampshire (a long time ago!) and all of a sudden, I’m hooked in.

Add in the 2010 ACPA Tweetup, the 2011 ACPA Tweetup, three years of twitter conversations, and a great 2012 Convention, and what you have is me… completely committed to these amazing people and ACPA.  I can’t wait to see what we all build, together.

What do you want to see out of the 2013 ACPA Convention in Las Vegas? How has technology played a role in your professional development?  Should our respective Associations adjust their programs to support more peer-peer learning opportunities or keep things status quo?

Yesterday, I wrote about the magic at SXSWedu and SXSWi. Today, I wanted to share the magic about what happened in Boston at the 2012 ACUI Annual Conference, as 18 months of hard work from our fantastic team finally came together!

I started working on the 2012 ACUI Annual Conference in the Fall of 2010 when I got a call from John Taylor, Michelle Smith, and Zach Wahlquist inviting me to be part of the team as Host Chair.  While I had a wonderful experience serving on the 2005 ACUI Conference Program Team in Reno, NV, I can honestly say that this  was the most rewarding ACUI volunteer experience I have had thus far.  From the very beginning, ACUI supported my ideas to infuse technology into many facets of the conference experience.  This made all the difference.

What are some of the most things I am proud of accomplishing with our team as the Host Chair?

1. Our Marketing Video, produced during our meeting last June, and its subsequent blooper reel: As the brain child of the Marketing Team (made up of Jason Cruz, Katie Falbo and I), the video was a great start to getting folks to think differently about how we marketed our association conference.  It was a great collaboration of ideas and energy! I would love to see the 2013 planning team to continue to use video to tell a great story.
2. Collecting our Wicked Awesome Ideas via Google Docs:  While it didn’t work as well as I had hoped, I was thrilled that Barry Bram and Nancy Loosle took the leap of faith and tried to make it work.  I wonder if online note-taking is something our Association is really ready for? Perhaps people like taking their own educational notes privately versus sharing educational nuggets on Twitter?
3. Helping develop the 2012 Social Media Challenge : Justin Rudisille in the ACUI Central Office deserves all the credit for this idea. For those who wanted to engage in and learn more about Social Media, there was a really fun way to do it.  While participation and engagement statistics are still being compiled, I  hope the 2013 team creates another Social Media Challenge with three different tracks: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
4. Recommending the Guidebook App and seeing it implemented with the addition of Sched: Again, this was a complete push from the ACUI Central Office, who took the opportunity to try this approach and implement it with the Conference schedule and educational session information. I would love to take it a step further and build in Educational Session evaluations within each session description for real time feedback. That would be revolutionary.
5. Use of Twitter:  Simply put, I was thrilled to see the spike in Twitter users at the Conference as well as our Twitter handles on our nametags.  Next year, I would recommend putting the conference hashtag on ALL conference signage.  If the hashtag is in plain view, people may use it more.
6. Our Boston Sights and Bites Poster at Conference Concierge Desk:  While I’m still crunching numbers from bit.ly’s back end, I know that many folks were excited with this poster, as it made getting answers to local area sights and bites that much easier.  I think some people were amazed that scanning certain QR codes not only gave them directions, but gave them up to the minute train information
7. Educational Session Block 7, The UnConference Sessions: I was thrilled to see conference delegates tell us what they wanted to learn about during this block, come together, and experience formal peer-peer learning.  Next year, I hope the 2013 team extends this block beyond two-30 minute sessions to two-60 minute sessions,  dedicating more time for peer-peer learning.
8.  Our Opening at the JFK Library and UMASS Boston: Getting 800+ people over from the hotel via bus and public transportation was no easy task, but thanks to the dedication of our regional volunteers and planning team members, we made it happen without incident.  It was an amazing opening to our conference and allowed us to leave our mark on conference attendees from the start.  I wonder what will be in store in St. Louis?

Since I didn’t get to go to any educational sessions during this conferences, engaging conversations with old and new friends provided me the inspiration, excitement, and ideas that I always look forward to at ACUI.  Beyond the fantastic CPT and my amazing Region 1 colleagues, it was also great to see Julie, Jeff, Jenn,  Mike, Justin, Erin, Joanne, Becky, Michele, Laura, Nes, Tim, Gavin, Wally, and so many others.  Oh, and let’s not forget Region 1′s big “Battle of the Regions” Win.  Since 1999, I have been a member of ACUI and this was the first Annual Conference where our Region took home the trophy.  I was super proud of Brenda and all who made the win possible in Boston.

I truly believe that the conference experience lived up to our theme, “Our Revolution.”  The real litmus test will be how much action takes place on our member’s home campuses over the coming year.  I already miss my weekly conference calls with the John and the team, especially with Michelle and Zack, who are two of the best event planners I’ve ever worked with.

If the opportunity arises to help plan a national conference or convention for your professional association, I hope you apply and take full advantage of it.

Paradigm Shifts:  1.  There should be ONE conference hashtag to rule them all (e.g. #acui12, #acui) and not one for each educational session.  However, if a presenter wants to create one, s/he should be allowed to.   Also, the conference hashtag should be everywhere (e.g. Signs, flyers, powerpoint slides, presentation slides).  If folks see it more, they may use it more. 2.  Individual technology teaching stations make a huge difference in adopting conference technology.  Offer this service with your association’s technology champions.  3.  QR codes still matter. Don’t use them just to use them, have a clear purpose. (e.g. In 2013, use them as a simple way to trade contact information.)

What’s been your favorite Association Volunteer opportunity and why?