This is gaining momentum! I love how some locals have agreed to shave their heads (Seth Godin style) if Seth comes. That is a great news story. We’re also creating a video about the event for YouTube. It’s going to be hilarious.

Utahns to Become Seth Godin Look Alikes
For a $2,500 corporate sponsorship, Seth Godin will shave the heads of the organizers But not me! I will not shave my head for any amount of money (sorry Brittney) but the men will. They will adhere your logo to their head as a temporary tattoo and all of us will wear your company’s t-shirt while on stage for the event!

Pledges Growing
We have 42 people pledged now – see the list of people who have pledged $50 to hear Seth Godin speak and get 5 copies of his new book
Follow everything at: http://www.wordmob.com/

Paul Allen Joins the Effort
Paul Allen just blogged about it (not yet on the wordmob page). That itself is a feat.

Here are the sponsorship levels:
The Purple Cow
$25,000.00 – Presented by status. Your company name will prominently appear proceeded with “Presented By:”on every piece of literature and sign associated with the event. Your company will be given up to 10 minutes to present to the audience. A flyer from your company will be inserted into each book that is handed out at the event. Your company will also have all of the benefits of the other levels of sponsorship.

$5,000.00 – Platinum status. Your company will be prominently listed with other platinum companies proceeded with “Supported By:” on every piece of literature and sign associated with the event. You will be given up to 5 minutes to present to the audience. Your company will also have all of the benefits of the lower levels of sponsorship.

$2,500.00 – Gold status. Your company will be listed in the sponsor section of all literature and signs associated with the event. You will have up to 3 minutes to present to the audience. You will be able to select one of the organizers of the event and have them wear your company TShirt on stage, their head will be shaved by Seth Godin or a representative of your company, you representative will then be allowed to draw your company logo or name on their head with a permanent marker, all on stage before Seth Godin speaks. Your company will also have all of the benefits of the lower levels of sponsorship

$1,000.00 – Silver status. Your company will be listed in the sponsor section of all literature associated with the event.

$500.00 – Bronze status. Your company logo will be listed in the sponsor section of the primary handouts of the event.

Email me grocerybike at gmail.com for more info or to sponsor.

Here is what is going on in other cities racing to get 500 people to sign up and get Seth Godin (Wikipedia entry) to speak:

- Phoenix: 68 people have signed up, 431 more needed
- Salt Lake City 14 people have signed up, 485 more needed
Massachusetts and Boston are also in the race, though I haven’t found any information yet.

We have several Utah companies who are sponsors, but need more. We will put a flyer in each book (2500) with the sponsor’s name and logo on it. The main sponsor will get one whole side of the slick.

We’re almost done with a badge for bloggers. My idea is to get MLM distributors to invite their downlines, since Utah is the MOTHERSHIP. Then they can have a training meeting and give away books to anyone who didn’t make get to attend.

If you can help spread the word, please do! May 24th is the day he’ll speak when there are 500 pledges. Here is the pledge: http://www.pledgebank.com/SethGodinUtah

For more background on Seth Godin: SEO Book interviews Seth Godin about his books.

From Seth:

I’m trying something new this May.

Usually, when authors tour, they trudge from bookstore to bookstore…Well, I love to do speaking gigs, but rarely get the chance to do events that are open to the public and relatively inexpensive.

Here’s the deal. In each city I’m able to get to, if you buy 5 books (in advance), you get to come hear me give a speech for free. OR, if you prefer to think of it differently, if you pay $50 to hear me speak, you get five books for free.

Why five books? So you’ll give four away. That’s why I wrote the book. So you would buy copies and give them away. You register online, you pay in advance, you’re guaranteed a seat and you’re guaranteed your copies, available when you show up. We can’t do refunds, because the books are a pain to move around, so please be sure you can come when you sign up.

It’s been a while since I wrote about Twitter, but Phil Windley just blogged about it. His post is moving, something I wouldn’t usually say about his posts. I completely agree: Twitter develops a sense of connectedness with your friends that you otherwise don’t have. You get too busy to be in on the small details of life. I also get to know about cool things like 30boxes – a calendar and to-do list that I’m hooked on.

Here is what I wrote to my friend that I made off Twitter when he asked me what I thought about it. I tried to keep it basic. (I hope he will let me post the illustration he drew to accompany my thoughts):

I love Twitter because it keeps me in touch with a different side of my friends than I otherwise see. Most of my friends on Twitter are fellow bloggers. I send out requests and get immediate replies. People call me about what I write on Twitter (which rarely happens on my blog). You try getting in touch with Phil801, now he calls me! I’ve had an offer to help rework my blog from someone I only know through Twitter (note: we never caught up with each other, so you’re stuck with this one for a while longer).

There is also an egotistical side of Twitter too…you wake up, log in to your computer, and bam! you have an email announcing that you have a new follower. I guess it makes me feel like Christ must’ve felt when someone became a follower of him (though on a much smaller scale).

Twitter helps me feel people care about the rhythm of my life, even the sometimes mundane. I get to participate in the human experience in a new way, even with people I don’t yet know. I boil things down to an essence, the little messages of what I’m up to in life.

I’m a devoted Twitter user. Sometimes I don’t update it very often but when I’m back I see that life continues to be lived and I have a window into it. Imagine if a solider Twittered war. A family twittered each day. It can build intimacy and understanding in real time.

What is going on in your life? What is happening in the world? Twitter keeps me in sync with the daily happenings of a whole group of people. And, as Phil Windley points out, it helps me feel more connected.

The state of Utah passed a new law making it illegal to bid on trademarked keywords when advertising on search engines. Google said the law is unconstitutional and hinted that they could sue over it. Surprisingly, the law passed with almost no opposition, even though many parties warned that it would be challenged.
Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara, House sponsored the law. I think the tech community should contact him and offer to be a contact on these issues. Also, let him know what you think. His email is: deastman@utahsenate.org.
Here my friend Mat’s opinion, a Utah SEO blogger.

NEWSFLASH

Here’s the story: Seth Godin is going to speak in Utah on May 24th IF we can get 500 people to pay $50. He’s doing a book tour to promote his new book, “The Dip – A Little Book that Teaches you When to Quit (and when to Stick).”

I have pledged my $50, here is how you can: Get Seth Godin to Utah. A lot of different states are competing for him to come. He has lowered his speaking fee. Every person will get 5 copies of his book. 1 to keep, 4 to give away. Thanks to Phil for organizing the effort to get Seth to come to Utah.

Anyone available to create a viral video today or tomorrow? We have one killer idea that involves interviewing bald guys.

My question of the day is: has Seth trademarked his head? and if he hasn’t, can we rent out space (if only with a swim or other kind of cap)? Then we could get Xango or another company to sponsor it and have a picture with Seth wearing an orange cap with Xango written on it. I bet he could auction off space.

PLEASE DIGG this.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction, both are transformed.”

The Internet in Politics

First I must commend Chris Cannon for doing this. It took guts and he was a good sport. It was challenging and I hope he is still open to doing another event like this. I’m not a supporter (I worked on a campaign for his opponent Wayne Owens), but that doesn’t matter.

I’m here at the first Politic 2.0 event. It’s at the University of Utah. Congressman Chris Cannon is talking in a computer lab about a smattering of subjects. Bloggers are submitting questions in real time. There are about 20 of us. The typing in the room is distracting.

Cannon starts off the “discussion” asking us to “be irreverent”. At one point, he says it’s getting a little boring. It’s a little uncomfortable. He’s doing all the talking. We’re all participating, except we’re not talking, we’re writing. It’s a little challenging to participate in both ways.

I try to engage him about his internet policy but he doesn’t seem to have a real plan. He says it’s too new and that most people aren’t using the internet in politics yet (excuse). I point out Pete Ashdown in the audience, who is very web savvy. Chris responds, “yes, and he LOST.” Funny!

This is the beta model of the system, so of course there are some kinks. I’m impressed that they got this much done (none of them spoke). For one thing, asking questions in real time is difficult. Especially with amateurs. We’re covering too much ground too fast.

I propose that the voting and questions happen BEFORE the event. Then at the event, have a section for bloggers and one for everyone else. Everyone else can talk and engage the Congressman in a real dialog. It’s just too difficult to both write and talk at the same time.

Today I had an NPR moment. I had so much to do but I still couldn’t miss any of this amazing interview. It’s with the author of the book: Einstein: His Life and Universe. Author Walter Isaacson talks about how Einstein’s genius was in his creative, open-mindedness and refusal to follow convention. The payoff for his courage did not come fast or easily but he was dogged in his persistence.

Einstein couldn’t get a job in academia because he was too unconventional and no one would recommend him. The only job he could get was working as a patent clerk. His friend got him the job. He was constantly reading other people’s ideas and discussing them with his good friend as they walked to work. She was even given credit in one of his papers (on special relativity?). Our jobs shape who we become, sometimes even seemingly insignificant ones, like my part-time job selling handmade paper.

His personal life was full of intrigue (he had an affair with a Russian spy among other things). He mellowed out about age 40 when he became an authority figure — he went from fighting them to joining them. He stood for freedom. It made me feel patriotic listening to the letters he wrote and how he defended the US for its freedoms (patriotism is not a feeling I feel often lately. Perfect timing. Tomorrow I’m going to hear a politician I don’t particularly like speak in an experimental meeting that I’ll be blogging about later).

Einstein was cremated but someone saved his brain – of course someone did, it would be a tragedy not to! I wonder where Einstein’s brain is now…anyone know?

I love this article because it captures the way internet marketing is going. This is taken from a speech by Brendan McGeever, marketing manager for Google Inc.’s Consumer Packaged Goods.

Here are the main points of Internet marketing:

• Don’t wait until your product is perfect to launch it, get it out there and improve it as you go.
• Ask your customers to help develop, market, and advertise your product instead of relying on your marketing dept. to come up with the ideas. He suggests user-generated ads, and videos.
• 12- to 24-year-olds are incredibly tech savvy and connected, look to them for leadership.
• Businesses should take part in the online communities their target market is using.
• Innovation and learning are constants in this industry

Thatcher Drew, President and CEO of the business group being addressed said: “ever since the Internet came along, there has not been a standard way of doing things. As my technology changes, I have to completely reinvent the approach to innovation…It changes every six months…if we’re not constantly innovating and constantly learning and constantly coming up with new ways to meet our clients’ needs, then we lose.”

“…you’ve got a problem and you go to the Internet…you go to your communities that you’ve already set up with your users and consumers. Ask them what are some ways for us to solve this problem, and then you test those ideas.” AMEN!

If you are marketing to moms, find the social communities where moms are going, the blogs they are reading, the places they visit online (ClubMom, iVilliage, etc). Don’t go there to market to them and tell them to buy your product. Go there to start a dialog and see what they think of your product. Start conversations and take notes.

Rather than keep what you are doing a secret, open up the discussion early on and you’ll end up with a better product, book, article, etc. I still need to do this more. It is counter-intuitive for most of us. But it has been shown to work again and again. I’m betting the next generation won’t even think of developing a product WITHOUT doing this. I can’t wait to see how things evolve!

I write about Google in my Podango blog (www.podango.com/google Unfortunately there is no permalink!) but you can listen to a daily wrapup of the news I wrote about in a podcast).

Google just launched a free phone directory service. You dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and you say the city and state and business name. They connect you free. Or, you can say “pizza” and it will give you 10 options of pizza joints near you. You can also elect to get a text message of the number by saying, “text” message.

I tried it today and said, “Orem, Utah, hamburgers” and the 10 places I got back were all Wendy’s locations. That wasn’t too helpful. I was curious if I would get locally owned places or specify any further detail, but so far you can’t. I wonder if eventually businesses can pay to be suggested in the top 10. The service will get better over time. Plus it’s free and you can’t beat that.