I am a karaoke virgin no more!

Wednesday night, October 29, 2008, I went to my first TechKaraokeSF! I heard Tara Hunt talking about it last month at Social Media Club and I thought it sounded fun, so I had to check it out! TechKaraokeSF is an open event-your only qualification-is that you’re in the tech industry-which covers a lot of fields!

TechKaraokeSF is organized by John Yamasaki, Chief Location Wrangler, Tara Hunt, Chief Crooner Wrangler, and Sandra Arriaga, Chief Enthusiasm Wranger. John was a wonderful host, he came and introduced himself to me and added me on twitter instantly. He also checked in with me through the night and encouraged me to sing.

TechKaraokeSF is a place where those in the tech industry can come and let their hair down and mingle with others for a night, instead of sitting in their home or cubicle staring at the computer screen! Alchohol consumption is a must, as well as your duty to rock the mic! Be a rockstar or popstar for the night, it’s your choice!

I’ve noticed that a lot of people in tech seem to have moved to the San Francisco area from other parts of the country or world. It can take awhile to make new friends. This event gives them the chance to get out and meet others in their field in a fun environment.

I wanted to go to TechKaraokeSf, but-I was a little nervous-since I had never been and never tried karaoke before.  I did some research and looked at Annie’s Social Club’s song list.  I picked out a couple of songs that I thought I could sing.  When I was in school I was always in choir, then in high school, acapella choir.  I wasn’t the number one soloist, but I could sing. Yes, that was a long time ago. I also am pretty comfortable on stage in front of a crowd-still-this was something different.

It was a little slow getting started, but once it did it was tons of fun!  I thought it would be more of a networking event-but honestly-it was not easy to have much of a conversation with people while the karaoke was going on.  Plus, you want to watch and listen to whoever is on the stage anyway-after all-that’s what karaoke is all about!

I did meet a couple of people-before things got started.  Morgan Brown is Director of Marketing with TURNHERE internet video.  He and I were the first ones on the scene.  Next, Michael Selvidge, PR Dude with VSC consulting arrived.

Daniel Lieberman, President and CEO of bitpusher kept encouraging me to give karaoke a try. He said he’s only been karaoke-ing a couple of months and is hooked on it now!

Our karaoke hostess with the mostest was Eileen.  She was fantastic!  She kept the party moving! Eileen also dances with a burlesque group of cheerleaders (I wish I could remember their name! I love burlesque!) and taught me something I will now use forever-if you lean forward slightly with your shoulders your double chin will disappear in photos! Yes!

I signed up for a song, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”, by Lauren Hill. The thing is, I ended up third on the list, and I wasn’t ready yet.  The crowd was still small, and I hadn’t even finished one glass of wine.  Not that I drink much, but I needed two for this.  I told Eileen I wasn’t ready yet and she was very kind.  She said to let her know whenever I was ready.  I sat, I watched, I listened, I took lots of pictures.  I drank my wine.  Daniel said, “Just go for it-it’s not going to get any easier later”.  So, I did.

I have no idea what I sounded like? But, I got through it just fine. I sang, I danced a little, I saw other people in the audience singing along with me, and when it was over, people clapped! It wasn’t bad at all! I didn’t sign up for another song, but one was enough for starters. The rest of the night I enjoyed watching and listening to everyone else. It was great night, nice to see Karen Hartline, event coordinator with Mashable, Tara Hunt, blogger at Horse, Pig, Cow and author of the upcoming book, The Whuffie Factor, and Nick Starr, and nice to make some new friends. Mitu Khandaker is one of my twitter friends, who is now a real life friend! And Lisa made me dance with her!

Everyone was dressed pretty low key, mainly jeans with a nice top.  Tara Hunt, on the other hand, arrived in her Halloween costume, a bumble bee!  I must admit, she was as cute as a bug!

The crowd was wonderful.  I truly wish I had the chance to meet everyone personally.  Everyone was friendly and fun with a great sense of humor!

I’ll be there next month, join me if you can!

To see more pics from the event, please visit my flickr photostream

So tell me, have you ever tried karaoke? If you did, what song would you sing?

I’m in a club now.  Social Media Club!

Last night I attended my second Social Media Club event.  It included a mixer and a panel discussion on, “Who Owns Social Media?”  The conversation was intelligent and insightful as they discussed whether social media was best handled by PR or Marketing.  My feeling is that it belongs mainly to PR, Public Relations, but it may depend on the task at hand, both might need to have input.

The panel included Jeremy Toeman with partner with Stage Two Consulting, Valerie Combs, VP Corporate Communications with BuzzLogic(@valeriec), and Mike Manuel from Voce Communications, it was mediated by Cathy Brooks with Seesmic.

I saw some old friends and met some new ones!  I got to spend some time with Cathryn Hrudicka(@CreativeSage) and Deb Roby(@debroby), both wonderful creative women.  Cathryn introduced me to Rachel Luxemburg, community manager with Adobe Systems Incorporated.  I ran into Eric Doyle Director of Integrated Media Campaigns with The Conversation Group, who had on the stand out shirt of the night!  I also saw Marie Williams(www.flackette.com), who I had previously met at the LOLcat book launch. Marie introduced me to Carlos Hernandez (@carloshernandez, http://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosrhernandez) with iRM Consulting (www.ireflectm.com).

Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer run Social Media Club, and by the sounds of it, it is keeping them busy, as they were flying off to Hawaii today for more Social Media Club events!

We ended the evening singing a chorus of Happy Birthday to Kristie and sharing her Dora the Explorer cake.

The topic for the next Social Media Club event is titled, “The Death of Advertising” with Brian Solis (http://bub.blicio.us.com).  Fun stuff, I can’t wait!

For more pictures from the event, please see my flickr photostream

What are your thoughts?  Who owns Social Media within a business structure?

This may be my last post about the Suisun Valley for awhile, they have changed my work assignment.  I no longer work at the charming old-fashioned country school in the valley.  I no longer drive past the grape vines and sunflowers.  I miss them all.

Above are some pics I took during my last week there.  Fall is settling into the Suisun Valley.  The grapes have been harvested.  Soon the grape leaves will turn vibrant fall colors, then flutter to the ground.

The sunflowers are beginning to fade and their heads are bowing under the weight of the ripening seeds.

There is a chill in the air, and a cooler breeze blowing.

I had lunch at Vezer Family Winery in their courtyard one of my last days there and was treated to - not one - but two barn owls perched in the tree above me!  One seemed slightly smaller than the other.  He was gone the next day, or perched somewhere out of my sight.  One of the people at Vezer told me that at one time there were owlets in the nest above.  One night they had a big function in the garden and apparently all the noise and people frightened the owls and the baby owls fell out of the nest and were running around on the ground, unable to fly yet, and ran under the deck.  The next day they caught them and took them to the wildlife center.  Unfortunately, they did not survive.

There are three horses that live in the field bordering the Suisun Valley School.  It always made me smile to see them as I drove in to work.  I mean, how many schools are lucky enough to have a field of horses next to them?

As I drove to the freeway one day after work I passed by Stonedene and slowed down and took a couple of pictures from my car.  Stonedene is an amazing old home built in 1861 by architect Julia Morgan, famous for her work on Hearst Castle!  I would imagine she had to be one of the first women architects in the San Francisco area.  Stonedene is located on Suisun Valley Road across the street from Solano Community College.  It’s built in the Gothic Revival Style.  I didn’t have time to drive up and take pics of the home.  But I love the picture I took of the creepy looking gate and the fabulous stone wall. When I was in high school I was hired by the family that lived there at the time to stay and help babysit their three children, along with their au pair, Mary, when the parents went out of town on antique buying trips for business.

I have always been fascinated by Stonedene, it was a treat getting to stay there as a teenager, and I would dearly love to see the inside again, now that I am a grown up!

If you would enjoy seeing more of my pictures of the Suisun Valley, please visit my flickr photostream at:

http://flickr.com/photos/lauralovesart/sets/72157607257906216/