In that weird time between Christmas and the start of the next year, I love reviewing the year. My 2011 has been quite remarkable, I accomplished many goals and ticked off a few things on my bucket list, including graduating from Thunderbird in Europe, attending Sundance, visiting India and Germany – and overall, just had a wonderful time of travel, friends, and family throughout. 

Now it’s time to read the Top and Best of lists for the year, and as 2011 winds to an end, and we start to get a peek at 2012, it’s time to review what 2011 brought us…. and some of the lists it has spawned.

Here is a list of some of the Best Of lists of 2011 that I have found… I would LOVE to hear some of yours!

1. 50 Economic Numbers From 2011 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe
2. 19 Biggest Social Media Moments of 2011
3. 2011 Top Ten Global Topics
4. Top Selling DVD’s
5. 2011 Best Companies to work for
6. The Best Movies of 2011
7. The Best Artists of 2011
8. Top 10 Songs of 2011
9. The Best Games Of 2011- Awards
10. The Best of Ted Digital
11. The Best Cocktails of 2011 and where to drink them
12. Top Cars of 2011
13. The Top 10 Marketing Infographics
14. Best Photos Of The Year 2011
15. The Best of 2011 by Discovery
16. 10 Best Commercials of 2011
17. 2011 Year in Review: Best in art
18. 50 Best iPhone Apps 2011
19. 2011 Top Ten TV Shows
20. The 50 Best Websites of 2011
21. Best Books Of 2011
22. 2011 Best Dressed Celebrity Women
23. Forbes Most Powerful People
24. Best Of 2011 Pop Culture’s Tastiest bits
25. Best of 2011 – The Superficial
26. Forbes Most Powerful Women
27. The World’s Best Hotels 2011
28. Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs
29. The Best Mixtapes of 2011
30. The Best of 2011: Job Search and Recruiting
31. The Best of 2011 – AOL
32. Best of 2011 Brands and Films
33. Most Admired list of 2011
34. Top 10 Wines of 2011
35. 2011 Best Places to live
36. The Most Viral Fortune 500 Brands

So the Myan calendar ends in 2012. So what? My calendar ends in December. I just buy a new one. ~ Mr. Youngblood Geography teacher

And in 2012, pending that the world won’t end, here are some interesting lists of things to look forward to.

1. Color of the year 2012 – Tangerine Tango
2. The Top 10 Franchises for 2012
3. Where to Invest 2012
4. 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won’t End?
5. The List: 2012

Now as I am thinking ahead to 2012, making my resolutions, planning, strategizing and imagining what the year ahead may bring… I wish you all an amazing 2012.

The 2011 Holiday Season is fast approaching and to kick it off we are organizing a dual-city Webgrrls International Holiday Celebration December 6th with the San Francisco Webgrrls and December 7th with the New York City Webgrrls, and when the Webgrrls Community gets together, it becomes an industry event, not only about revelry but also about the celebration of the achievements of women in technology and business.

December 6 – San Francisco

The San Francisco Webgrrls Holiday Celebration will be Tuesday, December 6th at the Techsoup space. 

We will toast to success and ring in the Holidays with a wine and cheese affair with some great wine, great raffle prizes, and a great San Francisco crowd. Get more information and RSVP!

December 7 – New York City

The NYC Webgrrls Holiday celebration will be Wednesday, December 7th at Wix Lounge, a co-working and event space for creative professionals (located steps from Union Square).

We will have a great menu and can share a toast with some great wine & beer,  and some amazing people. Get more information and RSVP!

Webgrrls International has a lot celebrate this year! A new site, new technology, our workshop line-up has grown offering new information and new skills to our members and community, our regular and small business membership continues to grow. San Francisco Webgrrls has a new chapter leader, Anne Ward, and is growing exponentially and the NYC Webgrrls is having its best year. The Webgrrls Blog, Webgrrls Wisdom, continues to influence as our subscriber base continues to grow. We have created some great momentum for 2012. It has been a very rewarding year for many of us.

Come and celebrate with us!

You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.
~ Albert Einstein

Occupy your mind – Attracting and creating opportunity

The global “Occupy” movement has been on my mind a great deal lately, it disturbs me to the core, I understand the anger – at times, I am angry too. I am not a liberal, conservative, communist, a tea partier or a socialist, now that we got that out of the way – my feelings, hopes and dreams about this country, simply do not fit into any of those little categories. Like the occupiers, I want a renewed democracy, prosperity, and to restore “The American Dream” to it’s rightful glory.

I do not resent wealth or wealthy individuals – I like money! What I resent, and in fact detest, are those individuals and institutions who have set about to kill the dream, and the dishonest means by which wealth has been achieved and rewarded in this country, and those that made “Greed is Good” a mantra for Wall Street ……. But, I am not choosing to occupy Wall Street – instead, I choose to focus my energies on creating my own wealth …. doing so ethically and honestly, as an example to others, and supporting those who will pursue the same. 

It’s a sad commentary that the general public is actually better versed in Kim and Kourtney Kardashian’s antics than our nation’s politics ….. that has got to change …. perhaps that will be one of the things that the “Occupy” movement will achieve. But it’s time to focus the “Occupy” tactics on what is sorely needed – jobs that pay a decent wage, and hope for those who have been struggling. 

I support the intent of the “Occupy” movement because…..

1. The “Occupy”  movement is a wake up call to American business.
2. It is an escape valve for those who have had to endure this crisis on their backs.
3. Protesting is a way to generate change – we need it in order to save the middle class. 
4. It is our right as guaranteed in the Bill of rights – which includes the phrase “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

A Humanitarian Mission to the ”Occupy” movement

I have a dear friend, Maria Caso, who is a certified Life Coach and grief recovery specialist. She went to the occupy Wall Street encampment together with a number of other Coaches, in the camp they set up a table, and spent an entire weekend offering advice and coaching. They considered this a humanitarian mission – offering their expertise and knowledge for free. She told me that besides the incredible stench (this was in the heat of September) the one thing that struck her was the palpable lack of hope. This lack of hope, is something that will remain in our country’s psyche for a long time …..  

Why aren’t employers coming to the movement to get people back to work?

If I where a business owner, I would take this opportunity to go down to those “Occupy”  encampments and get people back to work, you might find the next innovator for your company right there. The occupiers are obviously thinking differently, and that is exactly what American businesses need right now – people who will think in new ways.

At least one company is trying to do something of significance to get people back to work, starting November 1, the Starbucks Foundation, is teaming up to initially fund the “Create Jobs for USA program”. The purpose will be to provide loans to under-served community businesses, including small businesses, micro-enterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate, and affordable housing. 

How do we challenge other employers and lending institutions to get down to those encampments and get people back to work? …… I see this as an opportunity, that is being missed – but why? I would like to know the answers to these questions…. and I would like to see the energy of the “Occupy” movement spent on attracting and creating opportunity, and hope that the protest is the beginning of the process of change.

Besides creating good jobs, the “Occupy” movement has the groundswell and momentum to create a platform where to engage big business – starting perhaps with a manifesto of ethics and standards. The time is now, there is an opportunity to create a place to initiate the dialogue that will lead to the changes that the world wants to see.

The “Occupy” movement will be on our minds for a long time. But will camping in a park in unsanitary conditions indefinitely, with no real actionable agenda, help the movement achieve it’s goals? At the very least, I hope that the “Occupy” movement will spark the dialogue and action that is necessary to ignite the changes that will get people back to work! 

Drive more traffic, increase content consumption, and encourage user participation…Gamification has become a most exciting mainstream technique that marketers rely on.

Gamification is the process of using game thinking and mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems.

Game dynamics are now entering every aspect of daily life. Good games take players (aka customers) on a journey. Early Gamification techniques only involved adding simple game mechanics like points, badges and leader boards to websites and apps. But, what I discovered at the Gamification Summit in NYC, an incredible 2 day event, is that it is not enough. The gamification journey should give the user something to learn and master, encourages people to stay engaged with your brand and have FUN in the process.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivations: (what motivates people)

Continue Reading “Drive more traffic, increase content consumption, and encourage user participation with Gamification”

Webgrrls International often receives tickets to industry events and we two free passes to attend the Gamification Summit that we want to offer to our members. The dates for the Conference are September 15-16. The value of the pass is $995.00.

If you are interested in the opportunity to attend the conference, please enter to win now.  If you tweet about this event, we will enter you into the drawing twice!

We will randomly determine who receives the ticket for the conference.Please note that if you are selected, you will be responsible for your flight and hotel accommodations and other personal expenses.

ABOUT GAMIFICATION SUMMIT

Gamification Summit NYC is the leading, must-attend event that demonstrates how to leverage the power of games to create breakthrough engagement with your customers and employees.

Hear how successful companies like Gilt Groupe, Google, Microsoft, NBC/Universal, Scholastic, MTV, Recyclebank and Aetna have leveraged gamification to transform their businesses.

Mingle with experts and thought leaders as they share insights, case studies, statistics, and hands-on training workshops at GSummit NYC.

Join us and learn how gamification is rewriting the rules of marketing, product design, customer relationship management, and user behavior – and how you can get your business in the game.

Good Luck!
Nelly Yusupova
CTO, Webgrrls.com