September reviewed - Part 1

September was undoubtedly my busiest month this year and I want to capture a record of it just in case my memory fades on me.

A lot of them deserve their own blog posts really, and I'd like to think I'll go back and cover some of them in more detail but hey, it's October already. A brand new month to fill!

There were lots of highlights and here are a few of them.

Wateraid Charity Ambassador

I've already blogged this (whew!). This involved a short weekend in Wales walking 6.2 miles and doing some social media reporting on the day.

Tired but happy at the end of the walk!

I also managed to meet up with my Tweety Friends before the big walk.

I met up with @getgood and we went to a cool bar that had beds!

And of course I was drawn to this Tweety Friend cushion. Twitter mad? Me? ;)

And I finally got to meet a long time twitter friend Elizabeth @realityminus3 We enjoyed a hearty Wagamam's dinner, drinks and a great chat! A lovely evening.

Birmingham Canal Trip with Birmingham City University

I got an invite for a trip along Birmingham's canals from BCU's Press Office. It was like a net working event, only on a canal boat, with drinkies and nibbles. Despite living in Birmingham for quite a while now, I'd only ever been on one canal boat trip many years ago, so I thought it time for another one. It was a lovely evening, with lots of new and interesting people to meet such a media peeps and lecturers.

Social Reporting for the Indigo Trust

I had a full day in That London with the talk about local team at Indigo Trust's “The Power of Information: New Technologies for Philanthropy and Development” Conference. This involved using a mixture of social media platforms throughout the day for live reporting, such as youtube (for interviews), flickr, audioboo and of course twitter.

It was a huge conference with a lot of key note talks to cover and speakers to interview. It was interesting to see how much output, as a team, we were able to deliver across all the mediums.

A post conference glass of wine with @getgood (she pops up everywhere!) and @clarewhite. Belles of social media reporting ;)

Long weekend in Palma with my mum

Three nights away with my mum @createdineire and taking on the Palma Live Challenge set by bmibaby. I love these types of social media and travel collaborations. bmibaby asked their friends and followers what I should see in Palma and set my itinerary. I reported live on my adventure. I've gathered all my updates in one handy blog post here, and my Palma review is live on bmibaby's blog too!

Bed Jumping in the bloggers room at @horizonte24 hotel. It's a must! ;)

Metapod Kaleidoscope Course - Day 1 of 5 days

This is a course run by Fierce Earth and Helga Henry is my mentor! It's a bit of a change to have a mentor (I like it!) as it's normally me doing mini mentoring sessions with folks that ask for my help.

It’s aimed at senior leaders in selected businesses to focus on commercial skills and business growth in a way that is congruent with your artistic and cultural development.

It's named Kaleidoscope as it helps to change your perception/view of y our business. I think that's right. Anyway, it's certainly worked after only 1 day of the 5 day course (there's 2 x 2 days coming up in November). It's not very often I talk 'business' and plans with anyone. I have an idea, figure out what I want, make a plan, and go for it, very generally speaking.

Already I can feel my perspective changing, and I must admit, it feels a little unsettling. It's thrown me a little. Before the course I had a set road ahead, and now I'm questioning it (which isn't a bad thing at all); Am I
on the right road? Am I working as efficiently towards my goals as I thought? Is there another way, a better way? What can I remove from my life/business? What's superfluous? What can I add? And although I do feel a little unsettled, I'm going with it, accepting these new feelings, being open to change and getting excited about what will happen next!

We got crafy on the course. Always a winner!

Whoops, I've run out of blogging steam tonight! I think I'm going to have to break this post up in to a few parts. There's a lot of pack in! :)

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks