SXSW 2013: Give Me Some Love!

Okay folks -- it's that time again. Time to spread your love this way!

The illustrious Panel Picker for SXSW Interactive 2013. Yes, it's really far away (March), but the voting and panel picking starts now. The public's opinion accounts for roughly 30 percent in the final decision process, so you clicking the "thumb's up" button really does make a huge difference. But wait, what is SXSW?

Scheduled March 8-12, the 2013 SXSW® Interactive Festival will feature five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders, the SXSW Trade Show and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer. Join us for the most energetic, inspiring and creative event of the year.

I spoke on the first "Jewish" panel at SXSW Interactive back in 2010, and in 2011 I created and hosted/participated in the only Jewish panel at SXSW with the illustrious @susqhb. This year I simply attended SXSW Interactive, thanks to a delicious grant from the ROI Community (of which I'm a 2011 alum).

So at this point, it's a chazakah -- I simply have to go again. Yes, I'll be in Israel, but guess what -- there are ways to make magic happen and I believe in that.

So please go and give my panel -- Getting Social at the Niche Nonprofit -- your love and a thumb's up, and be sure to Tweet it and Facebook it so that we get PLENTY of votes! Here are the details:

Description
If you're AARP or PETA, you've got hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people backing your niche, nonprofit cause. But when it comes to smaller, localized nonprofits, the work can be a lot more lonely and daunting. Reaching, let alone finding, your audience and engaging them with innovative platforms is soul-breaking work. 

Questions Answered

1. How do you find a very niche audience in the social universe?
2. How do you engage with your audience across social platforms?
3. How do you scale DOWN the campaigns that larger nonprofits find success in?
4. How do you create a social campaign on a shoestring budget when you're standing alone?
5. How do you sell the product and the effort to a board or funders who are skeptical -- at best -- about social media?

Oh, and while you're at it ... also give a thumb's up to my bestie @Mottel's panel: Transcendent Tech: Is G-d Rebooting The World?

The Working Woman: Console Me, Please

Every night this week, I've done that thing you see in movies and on TV shows that tell the tale of the hardworking career woman.

I come home after 9 p.m. after a 12-hour workday, put my keys on the hook by the door, unload my bags on the table, kick off my shoes, start to take my earrings and watch off, get rid of my "work" clothes -- black pencil skirt and nice top -- trading them in for comfy lounge pants and my Boulder Startup Week T-shirt. I look at my living room, look at the kitchen, realize that my entire apartment is in need of a huge scrub-down, stare blankly into my fridge and pick a random something that's been in the fridge too long to warm up, plop on the couch, pray that Hulu has something mind-numbing in my queue to watch, find out otherwise, start working -- again -- and consider how I'd kill to have a husband or kids to serve as an excuse to step away from work more often than I do.

The nonprofit world isn't gentle on a working girl these days. I've been complaining -- a lot -- this week on Social Media about the mind-explosion-inducing level of work I've been enduring. I love my job, and I love my coworkers. It's the kind of work where I know I take on and commit to more than I can possibly accomplish in the 30 hours a week I'm paid for. The work amounts to more like 70 hours a week, putting me on my computer and throwing together some newsletter or graphic or social update or website fix or email list or ... something ... from the moment I wake up until quite literally the moment I close my computer and go into my bedroom (although I always check to make sure something didn't come up at, you know, the ridiculous hour that I happen to crawl into bed).

This week, my comfort-before-bed was in the book In Black and White by Dov Haller -- an Artscroll tome. I know, I know. Chaviva's dipping her toe in the Rabbi Artscroll pool. But the water is good, and I really, really enjoyed this book (mad props to Mrs. Z for letting me borrow it all those weeks ago). But it was the kind of reading that put my mind at ease and gave me some food for thought and Yiddish to nosh on while dozing off. (Word of the week: Abishter -- the Yiddish word for HaShem.)

And yet, I feel exhausted from too many nights of bad sleep, not making it to the gym at all this week as a result (I was set to go today between work and the work event tonight, but, well, I ended up working) didn't help either. I. am. beat.

So this Shabbat is Shabbat Nachuma. Baruch HaShem! In a nutshell:

Shabbat Nachamu means "Sabbath of Consolation." Shabbat Nachamu is the first of seven haftarot starting with the Shabbat after Tisha B'Av and leading up to Rosh Hashanah. These readings are meant to console us after the destruction of the Temple and reassure us that it will be built again. As with Shabbat Hazon, the cycle of Torah readings is structured in such a way that these readings will occur on the appropriate weeks.

I look forward to being consoled, to knowing that yes, the Temple will be rebuilt. After weeks like this, where I feel worked to the bone at a Jewish educational nonprofit, where every moment I spend working plays a role in tikkun olam and filling Jewish souls with the nurturing of knowledge, I have to believe that Mashiach is not far off. And -- puhlease HaShem -- rebuild the Temple soon, in this lifetime.

And, you know, a nice relaxing Shabbos would be nice, too. Please HaShem?