Thursday, March 24, 2011

My Speech At 2011 Broadway Beauty Pageant

My remarks from Monday, March 21st.


"It’s great to be back for our fifth year and we’re already looking ahead to 2012. I’d like to thank the literally hundreds of people who have helped make this event an annual reality.


Before I bring on Carl to tell you more about the outstanding work done by The Ali Forney Center, I wanted to say a few words on a fairly dry subject, The New York State Budget.


In 1984 New York Governor Mario Cuomo, in his famous keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, spoke of a tale of two cities. In one city, people were doing well and in another “people slept on the city streets,” while the youth slipped into hopelessness.


I’d invite the current Gov. Cuomo to read his father’s speech and learn from it. His latest budget guts funding to homeless organizations, like the one we’re supporting tonight.


When the first Gov. Cuomo spoke that the “struggle to live with dignity is the real story of this city,” he was talking about the youth who benefit from The Ali Forney Center.


Here to tell you more about those young people, it’s my honor to introduce my friend and hero Carl Siciliano."

Friday, March 18, 2011

Live Tweeting Your Event

Below is an article I wrote that was published on the Blue State Digital blog this week.

Attend a conference these days and you’re likely to find a bigger conversation about the keynote speaker online than in the lobby.

And I’m not just talking about SXSW or a techie expo. In the past five years, there’s been an explosion in real-time coverage of all sorts of events via Facebook, blogs, and, most important, Twitter. Last fall, for example, the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly inspired nearly 6,000 tweets, covering everything from official announcements to follow-up discussions.

But quality online discourse via social media isn’t an automatic phenomenon. It will require some planning and legwork, of course, but here are some tips to help you pull off a great Twitter presence at your next event.

Click here for my five tips.