Growing up Superwoman, Wonder Woman and the Bionic Woman all seemed like great role models to try to be like one day.  They were the heroine, saving lives and being wanted to continue to better society with their special talents.  But that meant having some super human power in an un-human like situation that, many years later, I realized was never going to happen.

And in real society, there was no Superwoman role model to look toward.  Instead it’s Angelina Jolie trotting to adopt a third world nation or another celeb entering prison for a bad encounter with the law.

However fact or fiction it is, we who still put pressure on ourselves to be Superwomen – but instead of saving lives and doing a good deed, it translates into being a rock star executive at the office, a wife and mom at home who is active in, if not leading many of, her child’s activities, participate in the community, and then on top of everything else look attractive, un-flawed and un-warn from the day to day hustle and bustle.

So instead of trying to do everything, why don’t we hone in on what we are talented at and apply it with all we have at work, at home and our community?   And why aren’t those who are doing this today, our congress women, local female community leaders or businesswomen, getting in the limelight more for others to follow?  Are we not tackling the big problems we still face in society that would obtain recognition?

In the end, it was knowing how to apply those 2-3 talents that made Superwoman so special and noticed.

The Web2.0 Expo in New York City was a great event and kudos go out to the Web2.0 Expo organizer chairs Brady Forrest and Jennifer Pahlka and their entire staff that helped make such a successful event. It was extremely well organized, with more than 75 exhibitors showcasing all things Web 2.0—tools, technologies, services, infrastructures, and more! There were many sponsors, of which Webgrrls International was one. There were interesting sessions to attend and with so many attendees, the networking was great too.

The exhibition hall was thriving it was great to see so many new and exciting offerings. I mostly attended Marketing and Media track and a few of the Landscape sessions. Most session where a little light on substance but two really stood out.

“If your company fails now it is not because of a lack of data…it is because YOU suck,” was the best line from Avinash Kaushik, the Google Analytics guru. His session, Web Analytics 2.0: Rethinking Decision Making in a “2.0″ World was a very engaging and entertaining presentation and between some very funny jokes, he offered some great insights and tips how to look at the data available to make business decisions…

Here are the highlights that were presented:

• How to use the data to increase your competitive intelligence
• He talked about the bounce rate of your pages (when someone comes to your site and leaves) his words “I came, I puked, I left” .
• He spoke about finding actionable data, it is not what your users are doing, but, why are they doing it is what is important.
• Most importantly, as always, listen to your reader and ask – Why are they here? Were they able to complete their task? And if not, why not?

  Continue Reading “Web 2.0 Expo Take Aways – Analytics and PR”

Last Wednesday I attended the Web 2.0 Expo at the Javits Center in NYC where attendees from around the world gathered to discuss the future of the Web as a platform for business.

Web 2.0 Expo is a global annual gathering of technical, design, marketing, and business professionals who are building the next generation web. Web 2.0 Expo features the most innovative and successful Internet industry figures and companies providing attendees with examples of business models, development paradigms, and design strategies to enable mainstream businesses and new arrivals to the Web 2.0 world to take advantage of this new generation of services and opportunities.

The conference offered seven diverse tracks to satisfy everybody’s needs and interests. My focus were the Design & UX, Technology & Tools, Media & Marketing tracks.

One of my favorite sessions was Design for Sign-up, led by Joshua Porter, author of Designing for the Social Web.

Continue Reading “Web 2.0 Expo: Motivate People To Sign Up For Your Web App”

1000 unread emails.

Non-stop meeting marathons.

People hunting you down for unexpected input and work.

No progress made on those strategic initiatives and plans you’ve been wanting to work through.

Now what?!?

Breathe, get organized and focus on plowing through your list of to dos with these simple tips to incorporate into your day to day routine.

1. Block time on your calendar to get things done, not take meetings or interruptions

Too many of us have ADD/ADHD and let email, calls and other water cooler talk get in our way.  Block time on your calendar to close the office door and focus on getting caught up.

2. Find one time during the day to respond to emails

Are you a morning email junkie or end of day?  Get your fix once a day versus 480 (that’s for those of you that check your email every minute of the day)

3. Start with your goals for the day

Do you know what you have to get done no matter what to feel like you accomplished something?  Make sure you have that list next to you so you can make progress through your to do list throughout the day.  Also look to delegate tasks to others so you can focus on the more strategic parts of the job your direct reports are not involved in.

You’re not alone with a pile up in the office – everyone is under it.  Those that can stay calm, cool and collected will be ahead of the rat race in the office – don’t you want to be one of them?

On September 5 and 6, entrepreneurs from multiple continents met in Seattle, WA for the 1st Annual Entrepreneurial Women’s International Tradeshow. The event’s site describes the tradeshow as a “global minded business women’s event created by and for entrepreneurial women. The goal was to discuss how to kick off US business overseas or bring a non-US company to the states. As someone who is very intersected in how e-commerce and socially driven sites can be pushed at the international level, I was thrilled when Nelly Yusupova, the New York City chapter leader of Webgrrls, asked if I wanted to go. We hopped on a cross-country flight from New York and headed to the Pacific Northwest.

After a day strolling through Pike’s Place Market and popping in the original Starbucks, it was time for the conference. The event was held on the top floor of the tallest building in Seattle, the Columbia Towers. The participants were predominantly women. In addition to people attending from the US, many had traveled from Japan for the conference, and women from Russia and China were also present.

Day 1 of the two-day event consisted of a string of presenters who each talked about international business from a different angle. Day 2 was a day of networking at a tradeshow and reception. Below is a recap of the events.

Continue Reading “International Women Entrepreneurs Gather in Seattle”