What an wonderful start to 2009!

Despite the economic challenges, there have been many small things to be happy about. I started the year with two things I wanted to learn more about: organizing events and thinking visually.

Well, you get what you ask for! <laugh>

Event organizing:

I hosted the first Web 2.0 for Business community call with Amy Shuen as our external speaker. She spoke about the ROI for Web 2.0 at work, and people really enjoyed the interactive discussion. I wish I’d figured out how to record it on the teleconference before the call, instead of after! Next time, I’ll get that all sorted out.

I’ve also volunteered to help out with some real-life events. I’m organizing LifeCampTO tomorrow. It’s an interesting experiment because people shared what they’re looking for and what they can help with beforehand, and this allows everyone to do that kind of face-to-face facilitation I did at the Greater IBM Connection party. It’ll also be an interesting experiment in using the sound and video system at a venue. Fortunately, the Linux Caffe folks are nice people, and the people who’ve signed up for the event can help me figure all of this out too. =)

And then there’s DrupalCampTO, too. That’s going to teach me about asking people for money. =) And figuring out swag that makes people smile and helps people connect while not being a waste of the planet’s resources. =)

As for visual thinking:

I started playing with numbers in calculating my personal ROI on shared talks, and then I played with drawing it. I also played with jazzing up an otherwise bullet-y presentation. That was fun.

Other highlights:

• Quinn visited, yay!
• Had a great Skype party with my family and friends in the Philippines. We had so much fun laughing and sharing YouTube videos!
• Lots of good stuff happened at work, even though it was mixed with many of my friends and role models scrambling for opportunities.
• Baked awesomes
• LEGO laughter

Next month:

• Whole bunch of talks and lectures =)
• Getting into lots more Drupal development
• Fixing up that conference site
• Maybe making more baked awesomes?
• and learning a whole bunch more about events, and visual thinking, and connecting, and wonderful things