Events and Communications are my passion,  hence my 20+ years of professional experience on both the corporate and the agency side.  However, there are NEW aspects of communications, specifically social media that I am humbled to say I do not understand and I am truly an ‘amateur’ within this exciting new ‘phenom’.  I certainly have an opinion on the various new and not so new mediums (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, etc.) but really no experience to back them up. I have so many questions: Where do we go? How do we effectively communicate in these forums? Why should we be there? And ultimately, what is the benefit to ourselves and our clients?

So what have we done up until now? We sat back, watched, waited and we... consulted an expert!

I had the pleasure of meeting (via conference call) Bill Denmark (http://www.touristtracker.blogspot.com), who I would confidently suggest is an expert in social media. I learned more in one hour than I could have possibly gained in months of trial and error (and I learned that trial and error is not a great tactic). Based on our objective to build relationships with people far and wide, I have a new understanding of Twitter (which, I have to admit, really confused me previously). One hour was not enough (we’ll schedule more time in the future) but it was an hour well spent that will help us to effectively and intelligently begin to develop our social media approach and strategy over the next few months.

Bottom line: Always consult an expert. And more importantly, an expert who exudes passion.