Thanks to Social Media Club San Diego for the great event! Also big thanks to Richie Edquid for recording the awesome panels to save and share with the world. Check out the Panel Spotlight page for more info on the panelists.

This year at Blog World, I had a chance to talk to the folks from ReelSEO about video and how easy it is to add it to your blog. ReelSEO is a great resource to learn about trends, tools and tips for video and marketing. Check out the interview above and then go read the full article on their blog. Yes, video is important, it gives your readers a whole new dimension to know you or see the things you are talking about, not to mention it keeps people on your blog longer too.

You know I add video where ever I can and with the tools available today, it’s so easy. Do you use video when you blog? How have you found video to be a useful tool? If you’re not using video on your blog, what’s the hold up? Here’s your chance to ask questions and (hopefully) get some answers from me or my community of bloggers who continue to push the limits with web video.

How do you do it? How do you do all the things you need to do in a day? How do you work your heart out and then still have time for yourself? Do you have balance in your life? If so, I want to know your secret. How do you do it!? I posted this question on Facebook a couple weeks ago. It’s been on my mind. There were some good bits of advice but as you can probably tell.. I’m still a little lost.

I can’t get over the shock that I haven’t posted anything to this blog in nearly 2 months. Where have I been? We’ll, the honest to God truth is… I’ve been working at Sony Electronics. It’s not an excuse, I know.. but it is a fact. As blogging and social media have become my full time career, I’m finding myself online  most of my waking hours – but as any of you who are connected to me on Facebook or twitter may have noticed, I’m not in any of those places as much as I use to be and I’m certainly not posting on my own blog here.

I have found great wisdom from friends here so I’m going to try something unusual today. A typical blog post from me is about sharing something I’ve seen or learned, but today I was hoping you guys might share with me. I’d like to bring some balance back into my life.  Many of you have families and full time careers. You are deep into the world of social media but you’re able to maintain, life, work, love and in some cases more than one blog! How do you balance it all? What are some tips you can share with me especially for getting all the things demanded of you done? I have to tell you, I’m having the time of my life…I am having so much fun! But I know I can do better and I want to find time to be present here again. Any advice?

This weekend I was tasked with recording some video for my nephew, Conner, who is applying for university music programs. Some of of them requested a live taped performance as part of their requirements. As his video blogging auntie it was my job to help him figure out how to capture what he needed to deliver it to the schools. I recorded his audition on a Sony Handycam and when we were done with that I decided also to stream it live too. This video and audio is from my Sony VAIO laptop computer. I broadcast the audio and video you are watching above live to friends who tuned in after I sent out a few notes on twitter and facebook pointing them to the URL.

I’m astounded by the technology both on my computer but also of the website I used to stream live called Ustream. I recorded a similar video back in 2008 and it was almost unwatchable. This time, I’m proudly sharing the link over and over again both because the quality is so good and because my nephew is a star. BTW- some of the pieces he performs are his original compositions.

Enjoy the concert and if you have any questions about the live stream, or about the music leave me a note!

I got a very well wrapped box from my friend Adam Smith this week. It contained a book written by a man who  has made a huge impact in the Social Media space by being his awesome self. His name is Gary Vaynerchuk.  Gary is a social media phenomenon. What does that mean? It means that Gary has found success, in part, by  being himself and authentically connecting with people via his show Wine Library TV, Twitter, Facebook and  other social media sites.

If you get a chance to see Gary in person, I recommend it. I’ve seen him a couple times and he just makes you  feel like “crushing it”. Follow him for a little bit and you’ll know what I mean by that.

Thank you Adam Smith, for the book and the wristband. You are cool.

PS I know the video image is backward, sorry about that everyone. I’ll try and fix and reupload if I get a chance this week.