Almost exactly a year ago we met Alex and John from Spin Advertising and Design in Christchurch. They talk about how social media has helped build their sales and extended their networks. A year on, it’s amazing how little has really changed – pick up some best practices in this interview.

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UPDATE:  See TVNZ’s coverage of the Auckland Twestival

This Thursday Auckland , Wellington and Christchurch will be the first places in the world to kick off a worldwide Twestival .

Twestival is like a normal tweetup , but it’s raising funds for CharityWater .

For just $10 at the door (or paid on the website) you can enjoy:

• meeting other "imaginary friends" (people you know on Twitter but not in "real life")
• free alcohol
• possibly some music
• being part of a world event that’s doing a lot of good!
• and if you don’t even know what Twitter is, it’s a great opportunity to find out!

iJump is supporting the event and we’ll be saying a few things about social media and how it’s changing the world on the night. But only for a few minutes

The Auckland Twestival 2009:

• Venue: Sale Street Brewery
• Time: 5pm – about 9pm
• Cost: $10 – all proceeds go toward Charity Water
• Partners: Zendesk is the main sponsor; Sale Street Brewery are contributing; and little old iJump is helping get the word out.
• HELP NEEDED: We’re still looking for someone to provide a laptop, large screen/projector and internet connection, so we can hook up with all the other Twestivals around the world! Contact Justin Flitter to help, or just leave a comment.

And thanks so much to Joi Design for putting together the nametags at such short notice.

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photo credit: nyki_m

We’re about to enter a slightly crazy time of public speaking engagements, which means just as much listening and talking – if we do our job right.

Here they are, in short order:

• Monday, August 4th , 7:30am – 9:30am, at Lowndes Associates ‘ Business Intelligence Workshop , at the Stamford Plaza in Albert Street, Auckland. Subject is “Online Strategies for Non-Online Businesses” Bookings here .
• Thursday, August 7th , 12pm-2pm, at the Marketing Association ’s Southern Luncheon at the Hotel Grand Chancellor , 161 Cashel Street, Christchurch. Subject: Making Sense of Social Media. Bookings here .
• Wednesday, August 13th , 2:30-3pm as part of the day-long Digital Future Now summit, at the SkyCity Convention Centre in Auckland. I’ll be on a panel with Paul Reynolds and Nicholas O’Flaherty discussing how social media can help business. Bookings here .
• Monday, September 15th , 4:15-5pm as part of the day-long 6th Annual Media Relations Conference at the Wellington Town Hall . I’m chairing a “champagne roundtable” (hic!) on exploring the potential of social media. Bookings here .
• Tuesday, September 16th , 1:30pm-5pm in a workshop entitled Blogs: Friend or Foe? Also at the Wellington Town Hall . Bookings here .

And if you can’t make it to any of these, we’ll still be producing the weekly Jump In video podcast , and appearing from time to time on Radio NZ National’s Virtual World segment with Jim Mora .

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