Allow your idea to die and be reborn repeatedly; it will get better each time. ~ Dave Ramsey, p 92 of EntreLeadership

I’ve been a fan of TED and TED Talks for years. (No really, see this blog post from 2007).  I’m excited to be part of the team bringing TED to Knoxville for the first time, in the form of TEDxKnoxville.  

Our theme? Explore the meaning of human potential.

So come on out for one-night  and enjoy a series of 3-12 minute on-stage presentations from some of our area’s most compelling thought leaders. It is an event you don’t want to miss, but there is a maximum of 100 seats, so buy your tickets today.

It starts at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 16, 2011.  See you there!

Can’t make it Wednesday? Follow along on Twitter at @tedxknoxville and on Facebook.com/tedxknoxville

Last week, I wrote a post on the New Streak (where I blog for work), on my participation on a panel at the Entrepreneurial Imperative 2010, a conference focused on entrepreneurship and hosted here in Knoxville, TN.  I’d highly recommend this conference as it’s one of the biggest groupings of entrepreneurial minded folks I’ve seen in Knoxville.

My session was wittily titled “Social Networking – Untangling the Web of Cutting Edge Technology.”  I talked about marketing for startups and particularly on if Facebook or Twitter was a better place to start your marketing efforts. Wondering where I suggested?  Check out the post for the full answer.

Related articles

• UT connects executives, students in new venture (knoxnews.com)

I realized that I love other people’s recommendations – what iPhone apps they are using, where they are eating, what they are driving and what books they are reading.  Yet, I don’t share all of those things well with others.  So in a hat tip to those who’ve shared with me, here are my top 9 favorite iPhone apps.  I will make the disclaimer that Foursquare, Facebook and LinkedIn apps get used weekly.  But I consider them utilty players and really not all that sexy so I’m going to void their use for my top 9.

TOP 9

	Dragon Dictation	This app takes my speech and turns it into emails and tweets with crazy accuracy.
	Twitter for iPhone	I used SimplyTweet for months, but Twitter (aka Tweetie) knocks it out of the park
	eBay	Push notifications so I know I can swoop in a grab an auction?! Yes please!
	Notifo	Google SMS and @notifications at the speed of light speak my name
	Logos Bible	The most comprehensive bible study tool, now in my pocket
	State Farm Pocket Agent	Always have my insurance card with me now + how to report an accident!
	Meebo	Persistant chat via push. Love it.
	Zillow	Housing search and research made easy
	Pandora	My radio

Ok, I’ll throw one to the bonus round, Sleep Cycle is the closest thing to a WakeMate I’ll get since they just returned by deposit.

Flicker Credit: Phi1317

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with my friends Chad Parizman and Lynsay Caylor to a class of very bright full-time MBA students at the University of Tennessee. Our topic was social media monetization, although we certainly talked more broadly then that in our time with the class. I enjoyed hearing their questions, and learning more about the challenges that Chad faces at Scripps and Lynsay at Pilot.

The most striking thing to me about the class were their answers to a few questions Chad asked about their social involvement.

How many of you have updated your Facebook status in the last week? 80%

How many of you have updated Twitter in the last few hours? 45%

How many of you only have a Twitter account to study it? 60%

How many of you use LinkedIn? 65%

(The room was also about 75% PC and 25% Apple)

I found these answers very interesting, particularly the LinkedIn stat. Facebook and Twitter stats are pretty consistent with what I’ve experienced, but I was very surprised that there were students who were not on LinkedIn. I don’t consider it to be the end all be all, but there are MBA students who have had jobs and are going back to school to further their career. Blew my mind that they weren’t on LinkedIn. The opposite take away  is that LinkedIn isn’t a go to for these smart saavy students, so either it doesn’t present a value proposition to them OR they are unclear how to make best use of it.  This will be an interesting one to watch.

I closed with the following advice “79% of the Fortune 100 currently uses social media in one form or another. Most of you expect to get jobs in the Fortune 500 and once hired they will expect you as a younger MBA to know social media. You don’t need to love every service, but you do need to use them and understand their application to business.”

I hope they jumped on and started experimenting. If you had a final statement, what would you have shared?

[UPDATE] eMarketer today launched some statistics on job sites used by HR professionals as well as the following quote, “The most helpful tools for career advancement were professional networks such as LinkedIn as well as best-practice communities, each named by about two-thirds of HR executives.”