We’re not about to get political here, and tell you what you should think of any proposed federal bailout of the Big 3 American carmakers.  Instead, we’d like to shed light on how one of those companies is using social media to spread the word about their POSITIVES — which is a side of the story that the mainstream media isn’t covering very much these days.

Scott Monty (a May 2009 Business Smart Tools speaker) is currently a one-man social media team employed by Ford.  One of his biggest challenges is overcoming the wave of negativity directed at the auto industry during this time of economic uncertainty.  So Scott has been striving to make sure you, the people, have access to some positive facts about Ford that are otherwise getting lost in the shuffle.

That’s because Scott believes it’s in the public’s best interest to know as many sides of the story as possible. If the mainstream media are tilting in one direction, Ford can utilize Scott to help share another perspective, and make sure the public has access to some balanced facts.

How could YOUR company use social media to help the world learn more about YOUR positives?

(Don’t forget to follow Scott on Twitter.)

For all of you looking for promised presentations from the conference, link here to find Ron Stevenson’s information about GE and new media.

For those of you looking for information about the first presentation on Trends, Past and Future from PQ Media, you will need to contact them directly.  Contact information is on their website.

Enjoy!

What a day, May 15th, at the Stamford Marriott!  Demos, speakers, food, networking and cocktails were all in the mix for the Business Smart Tools conference which is an event geared towards the business person who is trying to make their way through the new internet terrain.  New Media, New Rules, New Ideas….stories shared by experienced and passionate speakers and entrepreneurs!

Let me take you on a tour of the day.  Attendees walked in and grabbed some delicious wrap sandwiches only to be greeted by very cool demo companies: Confabb, Digicash, GoodConscience, iBakesale, Simulearn, Vivapop, and Totus and by our sponsor tables, The Feedroom and Marketwire.

Next on the agenda were the speakers and panels.  Patrick Quinn of PQ Media, spoke about Trends, Past and Future.  Very informative…people loved it.  Next up was a panel on New Media Business Basics featuring Scott McRae, Creative Change, Albert Maruggi, Provident Partners, Andrew DiFiore, answerYesInteractive, with David Vinjamuri as moderator, Thirdway Brand Marketers.  This was a very informative overview section on new media and how business is using social media tools to market themselves and connect with their audience.

Following was Rahul Sonnad, thePlatform, and Matt DeLoca, The Feedroom, talking about corporate video which is an area that is expanding quickly.  The Feedroom has very cool technology that allows search engines to pick up the videos….very important for any business.

Next up was the very exciting announcement of the Business Smart Tools Angel Award for the one demo company that showed the most promise.  Each demo company presented their answers to 3 questions:  what is your vision? what is your business strategy? where do you see yourself in 3 years? in addition to judges looking at their websites. 

A big thank you to the judges who came from Pepperidge Farm, Pitney Bowes, United States Tennis Association, Feedburner, and The Advocate/Greenwich Time.

And the winner was…..Confabb!!  Very exciting!!

The award was 2 hours of consulting time with amazing contacts from Hearst Interactive, Spencer Stuart, Cohen and Wolf P.C., U.S. Trust N.A., Agistix, Digitas, and Creative Concepts.

To finish up the program, we had Greg Verdino, Digitas, talking about Second Life for business…this fired up the audience….they got it or they didn’t…Greg’s presentation was very interesting and necessary to stay up to date with what is out there.

And finally we had last panel who spoke on The Real Story, Does New Media Work for Business.  Ron Stevenson, GE, Duane Schulz, Xerox, Ben Edwards, Economist.com, and Chris Barger, GM, spoke from their personal and corporate experiences about social media: what is working, what isn’t and what’s next for them and most likely the rest of the corporate arena!

After all the panels and speakers were finished, it was onto a cocktail party where many business cards were passed!

A big success owes a big thank you to many…from the speakers, to the demos, to the Creative Concepts staff, to the attendees, to the Stamford Marriott, thank you so much for teaching, sharing, talking and laughing…for a day well spent in Connecticut!

A quick update, Zack Zeiler of VPI.Net, will not be able to be with us on May 15th.  Due to a pretty serious back injury, Zack won’t be able to join the Business Smart Tools speakers list.  His topic was advergaming which is how to use online games to attract new and old customers….cool stuff…look for him next year when he is healed and ready to go.

Get better Zack!

What can I say about the amazing speakers who are coming to the Business Smart Tools Conference!  Can you get anymore impressive that this list:

Chris Barger, GM

Duane Shultz, Xerox,

Ron Stevenson, GE

Ben Edwards, Economist.com

Zack Zeiller, VPI.Net

Greg Verdino, Digitas

Patrick Quinn, PQ Media

Rahul Sonnad, thePlatform

Marshall Kirkpatrick, Splashcast

Scott McRae, Creative Change

Andrew Difiore, AnswerYes

Albert Maruggi, Provident Partners

David Vinjamuri, Thirdway Inc.

I am proud and grateful to have all of them on board.  We will be discussing topics like trends, advice from the Fortune 500, advergaming, viral marketing, video, corporate blogging and podcasting, and more.

For $75.00 per person, you can’t afford to miss this opportunity to learn, network and learn some more.

Sign up on this website and join us in Stamford, Connecticut, May 15th!  And yes, you saw it correctly, hours are 12-6…you can still go to the office and make it over!!

This conference is moving so quickly…I am trying to keep up.  People are moving and changing direction faster than the weather that is going from 6 below to 62 today!

Take a look at the speaker update:

Chris Barger has moved from IBM to General Motors and is taking on the role of Global Director of Communications, Technology.  Good luck, we look forward to hearing about all of the new media news from GM!

Go to the site for more news.  We have Xerox, GE, Digitas, VPI.net, Creative Change, Answer YES, Splashcast, and thePlatform with a couple of great surprised pulling up the rear…more on the final speakers coming.

To register for the conference, go to the website, www.BusinessSmartTools.com

Today was a good day for the Business Smart Tools Conference!  It began with a great call with Greg Verdino.  The call was great because he always has something to say, something good to add and he does it in a very understated kind way!  Greg is not only on the advisory board of this BST Conference, but he will be speaking this year too.  He has a lot to say about trends (check out his blog) and a lot of contacts and great ideas.  Thanks Greg for speaking this year.  We all look forward to seeing you!

Stay tuned for more…this was a big day…I am just waiting for confirmation on all of the other good news!

Every year a conference should only get better which starts with listening and ends with acting on what you have heard!  Last year after our first conference, I contacted each and every person involved in the Business Smart Tools Conference.  Speakers, demos, press, invitees…I called them all and said, “hey, what did you think?  What did you like?  What would you do differently?”  The answer across the board was it was great!  “Effective networking”, “short and sweet,” “can’t wait for next year” and “oh, could you throw in more examples of what companies are doing with the new technologies and social media.”

We heard everthing.  Networking will continue to be strong, short and sweet stays and more examples of what companies are doing will be the highlight.  Chris Barger, Chief Blogging Officer of IBM and Duane Schulz, VP Corporate Internet Marketing of Xerox will have quite a few lessons to teach us as will the many others who are speaking and educating us at the Business Smart Tools Conference!

Stay tuned for more!