Social Learning Summit 2011

Join us for the 2011 Social Learning Summit Kickoff! With networking, light hors d'ouevres, an outstanding keynote speech by Peter Corbett, CEO of DC's own iStrategyLabs, and a rockstar panel, we hope to kick off our first annual SLS with a bang.

Featuring:

• Speaker/Moderator: Peter Corbett, CEO, iStrategyLabs (@corbett3000) - Peter Corbett is the founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs – an interactive agency that develops creative solutions to clients’ challenges and brings them to life in the digital and physical world. He’s widely known for his creative marketing approaches coupled with a deep technical background, and a focus on civic innovation through community building.

• Eddie Lee, Social Media Producer, United States Department of Education - Eddie Lee is the social media producer for the U.S. Department of Education and the Youth Outreach Coordinator for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.  His documentaries and online videos have been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube.  He is also the co-founder of a non-profit video production group called the Jubilee Project, which produces online viral videos to raise awareness and funds for non-profit organizations.  In eight months, he produced 40 videos that received 940 thousand views and raised over 22 thousand dollars for non-profit organizations. He was a state New Media director on the Obama campaign where he produced over 75 online videos. He graduated Harvard University in 2009 with a bachelors degree in government.
  
• Yong Lee, Acting Director, SMCEDU (@yongclee) - Yong Lee is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he received a B.S. in Information Systems. A former software developer, he currently directs Social Media Club for Education (SMCEDU), an initiative that seeks to advance social media in higher education. He hosts a weekly Twitter chat on these topics every Monday at 12:30pmET under the #smcedu hashtag. Yong also serves as a project assistant in the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) at Georgetown University.
• Alex Priest, President and Founder, AU Social Media Club (@alexpriest) - Alex is the founder and president of the AU Social Media Club. An American University senior, Alex is pursuing a dual-degree in marketing and public communications, with a minor in statistics. Alex has a passion for not only social media, but for learning and for finding innovative ways of improving higher education. In the past, he’s worked with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the American Legacy Foundation, MS&L PR, the Consumer Electronics Association, TechChange, and the United States Institute of Peace.

• Scott Talan, Assistant Professor, AU School of Communication (@talan) - Scott Talan, MPA, has worked in media, PR, and communications in four distinct fields: TV News, Politics, Nonprofits and Higher Education. Scott worked at the United Nations, Harvard University and the New Mexico Legislature. He recently served as the Director of Communications for the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs. Before news, Talan was as an elected city council member and Mayor of Lafayette, California. His first career was in nonprofit communications working for the March of Dimes. Talan received his Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, studied broadcast journalism at Stanford after getting his BA from the University of California at Davis.

Breakfast will be available and registration will be open from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

This opening keynote panel will discuss the current state of higher education, the rapid evolution of modern education with social media and technology, and the radically new and innovative ideas being promoted by some of those in the social media world, including the AU Social Media Club.

Featuring:

• Moderator: Sarah Kessler, Reporter, Mashable (@sarahfkessler) - Sarah Kessler is a reporter at Mashable, a top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture. Before joining Mashable in 2010, she was the editor-in-chief of global education magazine Abroad View. Her articles have appeared in Sierra Magazine, Inc. Magazine, CNN.com, and USAToday.com.

• Patrick Foster, Digital Solutions, USA TODAY College (@mrpattyfoster) - Patrick Foster works on digital solutions for the USA TODAY College and Business Development teams. He has a deep background in journalism and music as well, having spent more than a decade contributing to publications like The Washington Post, Time Out London and SPIN. He runs the Twitter accounts@USATODAYCollege and @mrpattyfoster.

• Jon Hussey, Manager of Web Communications, American University (@auwebmanager) - Jon Hussey, Manager of Web Communications, American University (@auwebmanager) - Jon Hussey is in charge of the American University Facebook, Twitter (@AmericanU), and Foursquare accounts and manages the university's social media strategy. He recently published a chapter on the use of Twitter in higher education in the book, "Higher Education Administration with Social Media." Before coming to American University, Hussey was a sports journalist with the Boston Globe. He is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Interactive Journalism from American University's School of Communication. 

• Yong Lee, Acting Director, SMCEDU (@yongclee) - Yong Lee is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he received a B.S. in Information Systems. A former software developer, he currently directs Social Media Club for Education (SMCEDU), an initiative that seeks to advance social media in higher education. He hosts a weekly Twitter chat on these topics every Monday at 12:30pmET under the #smcedu hashtag. Yong also serves as a project assistant in the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) at Georgetown University.
• Andi Narvaez, SMCEDU Advisory Board Member (@andinarvaez) - Andi Narvaez is a social media and public relations professional. She currently serves on the advisory boards of Social Media Club DC and Social Media Club Education Connection, she is public relations chair for DC Twestival and works for Citizen Effect, a philanthropy startup dedicated to providing citizens with the tools and support they need to work directly with communities in need around the world. She is originally from Quito, Ecuador but moved to Washington, DC in 2009 to pursue a masters degree in Public Relations at University of Maryland. You can read her blog at andinarvaez.com and follow her on Twitter @andinarvaez.
• Alex Priest, President and Founder, AU Social Media Club (@alexpriest) - Alex is the founder and president of the AU Social Media Club. An American University senior, Alex is pursuing a dual-degree in marketing and public communications, with a minor in statistics. Alex has a passion for not only social media, but for learning and for finding innovative ways of improving higher education. In the past, he’s worked with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the American Legacy Foundation, MS&L PR, the Consumer Electronics Association, TechChange, and the United States Institute of Peace.

• Scott Talan, Assistant Professor, AU School of Communication (@talan) - Scott Talan, MPA, has worked in media, PR, and communications in four distinct fields: TV News, Politics, Nonprofits and Higher Education. Scott worked at the United Nations, Harvard University and the New Mexico Legislature. He recently served as the Director of Communications for the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs. Before news, Talan was as an elected city council member and Mayor of Lafayette, California. His first career was in nonprofit communications working for the March of Dimes. Talan received his Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, studied broadcast journalism at Stanford after getting his BA from the University of California at Davis.

• Rhonda Zaharana, Assistant Professor, AU School of Communication - Dr. Rhonda Zaharna is an associate professor of public communication in the School of Communication. She has been teaching full time at the university level since receiving her doctorate from Columbia University in 1987. This semester, she experimented with hosting her International Public Relations class on Facebook during a snow day, and her story was featured in The Washington Post and on Facebook's twitter feed.

Some have suggested today's youth are a generation of "slacktivists". Activists in name only, using the "like" button and tweets as forms of protest. Is this generation of students less motivated to truly act than in the past? Or are they simply armed with different tools?

Featuring:

• Moderator: Tyler Gray, Social Media Associate, Bivings Group (@tylergray) - Tyler works as a Social Media Associate at The Bivings Group, a D.C. based website development and media monitoring agency. His background in online activism includes work with corporations, small businesses, non-profits and political organizations / candidates for local, state and national office. While a student at George Mason University (class of 09’), Tyler’s most memorable achievement was working with Students for Barack Obama to bring then Senator Obama to a rally at GMU one week before he announced his run for president in February 2007.
• Angelo Carusone, Campaign Director, Media Matters for America (@StopBeck) - Angelo Carusone is Campaign Director at Media Matters for America. He received a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Fordham University in 2004 and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2010.  During law school, Carusone founded the StopBeck effort.  Organizing participants via social media, the StopBeck effort has helped hold Glenn Beck accountable by successfully convincing sponsors to cease advertising on Beck’s show.

• Christie Garton, Editor and Blogger, USA TODAY (@universitychic) - Christie Garton is the editor and blogger for USA Today’s "Kindness" community, dedicated to philanthropy and corporate responsibility coverage. An award-winning social entrepreneur for her work in founding a music volunteer non-profit at the age of 19, Garton is also founder of UniversityChic.com, an online magazine and community website for college women nationwide and author of best-selling guide for college women, U Chic: The College Girl's Guide to Everything. Garton graduated magna cum laude from the University of Kansas with a double degree in Business Administration and French in 2001 and then went on to secure her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 2006. She lives in New York City with her husband.

• Asher Huey, New Media, New Partners (@asherhuey) - Asher Huey is a new media political consultant based of out Washington, DC. He has a background as an organizer and works to use online tools as organizing resources. He is a graduate of American University. To learn more about asher: http://newpartners.com/about-us/asher-huey.php

• Sarah Kessler, Reporter, Mashable (@sarahfkessler) - Sarah Kessler is a reporter at Mashable, a top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture. Before joining Mashable in 2010, she was the editor-in-chief of global education magazine Abroad View. Her articles have appeared in Sierra Magazine, Inc. Magazine, CNN.com, and USAToday.com.
• Josh Koster, Managing Partner, Chong and Koster (@JoshKoster)
• Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director for Online Advocacy, Center for American Progress Action Fund (@drdigipol) - Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. develops and implements Social Advocacy strategy at the Centerfor American Progress and CAP Action Fund. He founded and convenes the InternetAdvocacy Roundtable; teaches course on internet politics at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown,and American Universities; blogs at TechPresident.com, HuffingtonPost.com, and KStreetCafe.com; serves on the boards of directors for E-Democracy.org and EnlightenedCitizenry; and serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Information Technology& Politics and the Journal of Political Marketing. He taught the world’s first internetpolitics course at George Mason University in 1995. Find him on Twitter, Sledeshare.net,YouTube, Facebook, and across the web at DrDigipol.

• Megan Yarbrough, Online Campaigns Associate, M+R Strategic Services (@misshealth) - Megan Yarbrough, public health advocate, is an Online Campaigns Associate and Social Media Guru at M+R Strategic Services, where she works with nonprofits to develop effective online advocacy campaigns. Prior to joining M+R, she helped manage the youth advocacy program at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. She is a graduate of American University.

Breakfast will be available and registration will be open from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Running for office is one thing, but governing is a whole different story. This panel takes a look at today's Gov2.0 and how social media is changing the way our politicians actually try to get things done. From open data to today's "transparency", this panel will cover the broad spectrum of issues at the heart of governing in a new media world.

Featuring: 

• Moderator: Sam Tift, Student, American University (@USMiddleClass) - Sam Tift has a young background in social media communication. As a political science major, Sam saw new media as an emerging component of grassroots campaigns. Sam spent much of his junior year at American University researching the impact of social media on issue campaigns, political campaigns and government transparency. Since November 2010 he has independently operated social media accounts targeting union members and progressives. He hopes to see greater democratic participation through social media in the future.
  
• Wayne Moses Burke, Executive Director of the Open Forum Foundation (@wmburke) - Wayne Moses Burke founded the Open Forum Foundation here in DC to establish a meaningful connection between citizens and their government. Among other things, this means that I work with federal agencies, technology developers, and Congressional staff to help them grasp the fundamental culture change that is necessary to leverage the power of social media. I've done a lot of other things before I got into this, but you'll have to track me down on Twitter or LinkedIn to learn about that!
  
• Rory Cooper, Director of Communications, The Heritage Foundation (@rorycooper) - Rory Cooper coordinates The Heritage Foundation’s external messaging and internal communications, manages its entire digital communications and social media portfolios, and develops partnerships with new media. Cooper also serves as executive editor for The Foundry, Heritage’s blog of public policy news and commentary. Among its features is Morning Bell, one of Washington’s most widely read and influential morning e-newsletters. Before joining Heritage in 2008, Cooper served for more than seven years in the administration of George W. Bush as a senior policy adviser at the Department of Energy. Between 2001 and 2004, Cooper was an aide in the Bush White House, first as associate director of policy and plans in the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, then as associate director of intergovernmental affairs for the Homeland Security Council. Cooper was instrumental in formation of the Department of Homeland Security and production of the first National Strategy for Homeland Security. Cooper also served at NASA as the first director of the space agency's newly created Division of Outreach and Intergovernmental Affairs, following an assignment with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission. Before his government service, Cooper worked for the political division of the National Republican Congressional Committee and for the Republican Governors Association and two Presidential Inaugural Committees. He also participated in countless political and grassroots campaigns. 

• Justin Herman, Phase One Consulting Group (@justinherman)- Justin Herman is a Government Innovation and Strategic Engagement advisor for U.S. Federal agencies, with diverse experience as a military officer, Congressional aide & health information technology wonk. He also plays horn in local DC funk band Bonjour Ganesh!
• Natalie Grantham Jennings (@capiappe) - Natalie is cultivating a community of political junkies on the wiki site WhoRunsGov.comby The Washington Post, as well as spreading the word about the site’s 2000+ in-depth profiles of lawmakers, federal government officials, Hill staff and political strategists among Beltway insiders. She joined WhoRunsGov in August after working as a Capitol Hill aide and in government affairs.
  
• Aaron Keyak, Director of Communications for Congressman Steve Rothman (@akeyak) - Aaron Keyak is the Director of Communications at the U.S. House of Representatives for Congressman Steve R. Rothman. Previously, he was the press secretary at the National Jewish Democratic Council. Keyak was also an associate at Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, a media consulting and public affairs firm. He graduated with a B.A. in political science with honors from the Washington University in St. Louis.
• Daniel Morgan, Phase One Consulting Group (@dsmorgan77) - Dan Morgan is a consultant supporting clients in the Federal sector on Open Government and Innovation. His current client is the US Department of Transportation, where he focuses on driving the culture change and building the supporting processes that meet the President's Open Government Directive. Prior to this work, he supported the US Navy as a program analyst in the fields of human capital planning, IT governance, and logistics optimization. Transportation's an interesting field for studying the "right mix" of federal, state, and local government interactions in support of openness and the "new transparency."

• Rachel Van Dongen, Editor, WhoRunsGov (@whorunsgov) - Rachel is the editor of WhoRunsGov.com and a 17-year journalism veteran who served as political and web editor of the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call before joining the Washington Post in September 2009. A native of the nation’s capital, Rachel also spent five years covering the drug war and Latin American politics based in Bogota as the Colombian correspondent for The Economist and The Christian Science Monitor.

Today's world is all about new media and social media, but how does this impact the old media? This panel takes a look at how social media is--and has already--revolutionized the journalistic landscape.

Featuring:

• Nicole Pulley, Student, American University (@nicolepulley) - Nicole Pulley is is the Marketing Program Associate at the Fair Trade Federation. She is studying international marketing and public relations at American University, and loves social media! View here LinkedIn profile hereand follow her at @nicolepulley.
  
• Paul Brandus, West Wing Report (@westwingreport) - Paul Brandus is an accredited member of the White House press corps and the White House Correspondents Association and provides reports for a variety of media outlets. Prior to working as a White House reporter, he spent many years on Wall Street and in network television with NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, and as a reporter for WTOP in Washington. He began his career as a U.S. Senate staffer.

• Glenna DeRoy, Social Media Analyst, USA TODAY (@ghderoy) - Glenna DeRoy is a social media analyst for USA TODAY's Digital Marketing team. She measures the success of USA TODAY’s social efforts and uses data to shape social media strategy and best practices. The rare journalist who isn't scared of math, Glenna is also working toward an MBA at American University. Follow her at @ghderoy.
• Hemal Jhaveri, Assistant Managing Editor of Digital and Social Media, POLITICO (@hemjhaveri) - Hemal Jhaveri is the Assistant Managing Editor of Digital and Social Media at POLITICO. Hemal is in charge of overseeing POLITICO’s social networking initiatives, SEO efforts and mobile strategy. She spent the last 4 years at AOL, where she was an editor and senior producer for AOL.com. There she covered news, politics, sports and entertainment. Before her time at AOL, Hemal served as the online managing editor of the now defunct D.C. Style magazine. She got her start in digital journalism as one of the early editors of the popular blog DCist.com and eventually went on to serve as managing editor there. Hemal graduated from James Madison University with a double degree in Media Arts and English. She has an MA in English Lit and Cultural Studies from George Mason University. When not working, Hemal spends her free time running and tackling DIY projects around her new home.
• David Johnson, Assistant Professor of Communication, American University (@darthcheeta) - Professor David Johnson is an American University professor specializing in digital journalism, interactive storytelling and convergence media. Before coming to AU, Johnson was chief technology officer of Scripps Media Center in Washington DC. He is also a founding member of the Media Bloggers Association. Johnson currently sits on the New Media Committee and Broadcasting Task Force at the National Press Club and consults frequently on niche and community site development. Follow him at @darthcheeta.

• Andrew Pergam, J-LAB (@pergam) - Andrew Pergam is an award-winning journalist and is now editorial director at J-Lab. A former television reporter and digital newsroom leader, has taken a keen interest in local online news and the future of journalism as a whole. He has won numerous awards for his broadcast reporting and recognition for his involvement in community organizations. At J-Lab, Pergam works with J-Lab grantees, commissions and edits training modules for the Knight Citizen News Network, helps reward innovations in journalism, and builds more resources for professional and citizen journalists who are launching news initiatives in their communities.
• Frank Torres, Digital Media Leader, NBC