We’re here!

Web 2.0 Expo has arrived and Eastwick is in the house or, more specifically, Moscone West in San Francisco.

We’re already noticing things that are different this year than last: More B2B exhibitors in the Expo Hall than last year, fewer familiar faces on session panels (Forrester Research must miss the fabulous Charlene Li, who is still connected to the Expo as part of the Advisory Board, but is only co-leading one session).

Less social networks and blog platforms, more hosting and storage solutions companies. We love that, but we can also see that it’s a practical and logical sign of the economic times.

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Spencer Christian

It’s interesting how life comes full-circle sometimes.

 

I remember fondly, joining the ranks at ABC7 in San Francisco - my first big step into the ‘big leagues’ as it were and at almost the same time, Spencer Christian left Good Morning America to join the team there.

 

He has always been a delight and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with him during our weekly podcast, Break throught the Noise, today at 11:30 AM. It’s archived at the link below.

 

[Listen Here]

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Have you ever stood at the podium delivering what you think is the best presentation ever, but felt that no one was listening?

That’s how it can feel on Twitter.

You set up your new account, and you even change the look-and-feel to match your company brand.

And you tweet…….. and you tweet…….

But……

No one can hear you.

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Click on image to enlarge. Source: Customer Engagement Strategies

By Elaine Cummings, Principal

Each year, Eastwick commissions a survey of our clients to get feedback on how we’re doing.

We try to ask all the tough questions about what we can and should be doing better. It’s not always fun to hear the answers but it is always valuable. We get direct feedback that helps us fine tune our plans and services, polish any rough edges.

This year, we heard something we haven’t heard before. Several clients, mostly CEOs, told us they wanted Eastwick to help them get closer to their customers in the coming year.

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Michael Singer

It’s the rare pleasure when professional lives cross more than once, and each time is fantastic. That’s what’s happened with me and Michael Singer.

High ethics and standrds both personally and professionally, I thought he’d be our ideal first journalist to speak with for our podcast series, Break Through the Noise.

[Listen Here]

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 By Elizabeth Kollross, VP

Often one of the biggest challenges to our job as communicators is content development. A PR manager for a NASCAR team once told me a story that has always stuck.

The team wasn’t winning, there wasn’t much “new” to talk about, and his driver didn’t like to do interviews.

Sound familiar?

One day he looked at the sponsorship stickers on the car, tallied the amount of funding the team had as a result and put together a short piece on how NASCAR sponsorship worked.

The result?

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By Barbara Bates, Principal

Eastwick networker extraordinaire, Kimberly Stoddard, attended a Churchill Club event on Monday, March 16^th, about the state of the VC community.

I was fascinated to hear that the tone of the gathering was pretty upbeat considering everything we’re reading in the headlines or hearing around the proverbial water cooler.  I asked Kimberly to summarize the key take aways from the panel.  Here’s what she had to say:

• VC’s are still on the hunt for places to invest

• Their view of the recession is that it is culling out the bad companies from the good so it may be easier to find the next big thing

• They are looking out five to seven years for their investments to pay off…and are looking at the last downturn as a good model.  Many say some of their best investments were made in 2002-2004 a time when technology was climbing out of a similar slump.

Kimberly’s cohort at the event was FOE (friend of Eastwick) Robert Mullins.  Looks like he walked away with similar thoughts…

Gotta love any optimism out there right now!

By Barbara Bates, Principal

We’ve been talking for the last two years about how much the PR landscape has changed. What hasn’t changed however is the importance of telling a good story. Or, as my journalist friends call it, the narrative.

Helping companies tell their story is still a major focus of the communications counsel we provide. That’s why it’s key that we keep our storytelling skills sharp. You’ll be hearing more about how we’re doing that later this month.

This focus on storytelling isn’t new to us but has gotten a fresh shot in the arm thanks to our new chief storyteller in the white house.

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As you know, I interview social media and journalism influencers and thought leaders: What they do, how they got where they are and the passions that fuel their journey.

Michael Brito

Today I talked with Michael Brito.

 

 [Listen]

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Close your eyes and imagine a typical work day… you arrive at the office (late), grab a cup of coffee (hot), check voicemail (too many) and then… bing bang boom, you turn on your computer and log on. Now, imagine there was no internet and certainly no emails; your only means of communication with the “outside” world is through phone and snail mail.

How would we function?

We owe our connected existence to Bob Metcalfe, whose innovation and imagination changed our world forever.

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A poster of Bob with Eastwick's own Lyda, and post author, Samantha.

I was steeling myself for an evening of dense tech talk. Little did I know that the evening’s Q&A featuring Kathy Hills, SVP of Cisco’s Access Networking and Services Group, and Bob - “Father of the Internet” - Metcalfe, would be hugely entertaining and more than a little humbling.

After all, I was soon to learn that the man who conspired to put a computer on every desk is no mere nerd. Case in point, in the 8th grade, while others stumbled to create erupting volcanoes for the science fair, Metcalfe turned in a working computer made from spare parts. Not too shabby. For most, being acknowledged for the invention, standardization and commercialization of the internet would be more than enough for one lifetime, but not Bob; he pushes on, already identifying his next contribution to society-at-large: energy. Specifically, the pursuit of clean, cheap energy.

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