Invitation to the Tecnifícate conference on June 4th, 2011. (In Spanish) from Ariel Coro on Vimeo.

Three major conference within the next month will either be completely produced by a Latino organization or have a major Latino component – BlogWorld 2011 in New York, Tecníficate in Santa Clarita, CA, and the Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) Latino2 conference in Silicon Valley.

The word is out, Latinos are connecting online in high numbers, which is important for advertisers like Google. Mark Lopez from Google will be presenting at the #LATISM Latino 2 Conference.

Also, the myth of Latinos as pure consumers will be debunked at BlogWorld New York when #LATISM announces the results of its massive Latino bloggers survey.

En Español

The Tecnifícate conference in Santa Clarita on June 4th will be one of the largest tech conference in the US that is completely held in Spanish. I spoke at the last Tecnfícate event at LA Mission College in January and there were over 150 attendees. The Santa Clarita conference will be at College of the Canyons and 500 attendees are expected. I’ll be presenting at the June 4th Tecnifícate conference as well.

Technologist Ariel Coro, head of TuTecnologia, is the primary organizer and driving force. he is widely know for his morning appearances on Spanish language technology segments on Univision TV and on Despierta America. His Tu Tecnologia online network has 6900 members.

I was extremely impressed by the Tecníficate attendees and their commitment to technology. When was asked, more than a third of the attendees indicated that they were small business owners. The June 4th event will focus on technology, economic development, and job growth in technology. I look forward to meeting you!

Register

BlogWorld New York – Register May 24-26, 2011

Tecnifícate – Register – June 4th 2011, College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA

LATISM’s Latino2 in Silicon Valley – June 11th


The following video is a quick look at the last Latino2 conference held in Los Angeles.

An historic blizzard in blasting the Northeast and is shutting down air travel, affecting emergency vehicle response rates, and forcing many to stay indoors.

In classic social media style, Twitter users respond by tagging blizzard related tweets with #Snowpacalyse and #Snomageddon hashtags.

Some tweets are light-hearted:

Other tweets are serious requests for assistance:

Two Twitter Superstars, Cory Booker and 50 Cent have very different approaches to dealing with the resulting blizzard crisis.

CORY BOOKER – Public Service
Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker (@corybooker), is using Twitter as a sort of radio dispatch system to connect Newark citizens with updates on snow plow activity and to help with emergency services. With over 1 Million Twitter followers, much of the Twittersphere is seeing him in action and the media is taking notes.

Mayor Booker actually rolled up his sleeves and went out to dig people out.

50 CENT – A Lesson on Hustling
In a smaller scale shoveling endeavor, multi platinum rapper 50 Cent (@50Cent) shoveled his way out of his Connecticut home then said he intended to go into the shoveling business.

50 Cent later told his 3.7 Million Twitter followers that he was scaling up his shoveling operation and had hired 3 kids to help with door to door sales.

Whether or not 50 Cent was really charging and hiring people for his ad hoc business or just having some fun with his followers remains to be seen. But his tweet stream does provide a lesson on how to flex one’s hustle muscle.

Final Thoughts

I can personally relate to both Snowmageddon approaches. On the one hand, I’m all about public service and helping others in times of need. Cory Booker is definitely one of my role models. On the other hand, as a someone building my own consulting business, I appreciate 50 Cent’s startup hustle mentality.

I think that the snow fall and our response to it is a larger metaphor for strategies on how we’ll approach the new year. Will we work collaboratively and negotiate our way through the recession, job loss, and home price collapse or will we focus on our own personal islands?

Related Articles
* Mayor Hacks Snowmageddon With Epic Tweets- Wired Magazine
* 50 Cent Shovels Snow for Money After Northeast Blizzard – Billboard.com

Photo credits
* 50 Cent on Plixi
* @douglasingram on Twitpic
* @AgingBackwards on Twitpic
* @hijofrizbe on Twitpic

Due to a number of factors, a great number of people (friends, supporters, participants) cannot make it this weekend to San Luis Obispo. But we still expect a very good group, so we have decided to hold a big meetup in town and postpone the formal event for early 2011 when more people can make it.

Come join the Latino2 speakers and organizers and Central Coast leaders to discuss the formal launch of LATISM 2012 and help us plan the Spring event.

Lunch is on us at the Native Lounge in San Luis Obispo — a truly unique dining experience — and the conversation will be good. We’ll meet at 2PM and stay as late as we have a crowd.

I’d like to personally thank everyone who has been so supportive of the Latino2 conference and the LATISM 2012 Initiative. I look forward to meeting with you at the tweetup and discussing how we can build this into a bigger event.

Tweet-up information

Native Lounge – San Luis Obispo
1023 Chorro Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3222

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010 – from 2pm to 4pm (or later, as long as we have a crowd)

Lunch is on us!

Sincerely,

Latino2 producers and LATISM,
Jose Huitron @josehuitron
Giovanni Rodriguez @giorodriguez
Jesse Luna @jesseluna

Photo Credit: rx_kamakshi on Flickr – License

I’m pleased to announce that I am now a business consultant for the Economic Development Collaboration in Ventura County (EDC-VC). I’ll be helping small businesses in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties formulate and clarify, their marketing, technology, and e-business planning.

This past Monday I did a presentation at the Moorpark Community Center as part of the Small Business Forum entitled “Marketing Your Business for Success.” I presented to almost 30 small business owners plus the Moorpark Mayor Janice Parvin, City Councilwoman Roseann Mikos, Ph. D., and Patrick Ellis, President of the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce. It was a great way to step into the role. I’m glad everyone was awake and energized at 7am! Thank you Daylight Saving Time!

What I love most about this opportunity is that I get to do what I love – working with small businesses and organizations. Additionally, services are free to the businesses. These are your tax dollars hard at work. Strengthening existing businesses and growing new enterprises is an important part of our economy’s engine. I’m proud to be helping with this endeavor.

This is the end of the personal part of the post. If you’re a small business owner, or in the process of starting one up, then you really should read on, no matter where you live in the U.S..

————

Small Business Development Center – SBDC

The EDC-VC also hosts the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The national SBDC program assists more that 1.3 million businesses through over 950 Service Centers. The SBDC is funded by the Small Business Administration. The EDC-SBDC center provides free consultations and low-cost training sessions in these key areas (I highlighted the areas in which I’ll be counseling):

• Business planning
• Start-up assistance
• Capital sourcing
• Government contracting and procurement
• Financing/Loan packaging assistance
• Human Resources
• Legal issues
• Marketing/Sales
• International trade
• Managing a business
• Technology
• E-commerce
• Social Media

Small Business Forum Events – Also Free!

The EDC-VC and SBDC offers a host of small business forum events. There’s an upcoming presentation on Planning & Financial Management Tuesday, November 16, 2010 in Moorpark. Click here for more information.

These are great networking events and extremely informative.

Need business advising?

For businesses and start-ups in Ventura and Santa Barbara County, you can contact the EDC-VC here:

EDC-VC
1601 Carmen Drive, Suite 215
Camarillo, CA 93010
(805) 384-1800
info@edcsbdc.com

Join the EDC-VC email list for updates on business events throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Follow the SBDC LA Twitter account. This covers the Los Angeles SBDC area which includes the Ventura County Center.

Call to make an appointment. It’s not really a drop-in type of center. Tell them what type of support you’re looking for and they will set up an appointment for you to meet with an adviser. If you need support in one of my areas of expertise then they will schedule a time for us to meet, either at the Camarillo center or at your business site. I’ve started working with some of the other advisors and they’re amazing. You will be in good hands. Please tell them you heard about the Center from me, Jesse Luna.

Centers throughout the country



You can find your nearest SBDC center via the Small Business Administration SBDC Locator tool.

Raul Porto is CEO of Porto’s Bakery, the largest retail bakery in the United States. Porto rarely does public speaking engagements so it was a treat to hear his presentation at the Latino Entrepreneur + Social Media Forum.

After listening to Porto, you definitely get the sense that he loves what he does. He talks about growing a business using instinct, observation, and some more “traditional” techniques.

Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) is proud to announce San Luis Obispo as the second stop on the Latino2 California Tour.

Come join us on December 4, 2010, at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo. California’s Central Coast is the birth place of “La Causa”, the Latino civil rights movement. The conference will focus on the theme “Community and Collaboration in Central California: Then and Now.”

• REGISTER for the Latino2 conference (FREE)
• Tune into Latino2 conference details on the official site

Getting Excited?

The video below is a compilation from the first Tour stop in Los Angeles. Many thanks to Gina Ruiz (@ginaruiz on Twitter) and Deldelp Medina (@deldelp) for sharing pictures and videos!

Picture credit: lastorset on Flickr

I won’t be attending Blog World Expo this year, unfortunately. But I still remember the fun I had last year. Part of that fun was going to see the amazing Cirque Du Soleil show, O.

Cirque kindly provided tickets in exchange for mention of the show. I tweeted, posted pictures to my Twitter feed, and captured lots of video and Las Vegas pictures. However, an iPhone gremlin showed up on returning from Las Vegas and all my pictures and videos were lost. Yes, they stayed in Vegas. The two images on this post were stored on TwitPic so I was able to resuscitate them.

I’ve had the opportunity to see some amazing shows in my life but had always wanted to see Cirque. I was a bit of a gymnast/climbing monkey in junior high and have always been fascinated by documentaries on Cirque and its members. The cast’s strength, stamina, and grace is awe inspiring.

The ticket prices was in the $200 range so it’s definitely an investment. But if you’re in Las Vegas and have seeing Cirque on your Bucket List, I definitely recommend watching O at the Bellagio while it’s still available. You won’t be sorry.

In case you’re wondering, you are not supposed to take photos during the show but the performers encouraged it before the curtains opened so I captured the image of the two performers with the inner tube. And, there is a great art gallery at the entrance to the show where photos are prohibited but I didn’t read the sign until after I took and posted this photo below so enjoy!

Kevin Pollak (@kevinPollak on Twitter) made me bust up laughing at how he played the interviewee in this bit..oh, wait, it was really supposed to be an interview?

Alan Weinkrantz (@alanweinkrantz on Twitter) plays the “straight man” in this interview snippet at the 140 Conference in Hollywood. The 140 Conference is a unique collection of Twitter related presenters (“characters”) who present on an eclectic set of topics – everything from online psychics to personal online stories to global social media campaigns by major networks.

You can catch Kevin Pollak’s Chat Show here.

I had a great time, met tons of online friends, and enjoyed this interview.

Do you have any favorite 140 Conference moments?

Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) is the largest organization of Social Media Professionals of Hispanic Origin. LATISM announced the finalists (see below) for the first annual LATISM California Awards.

The winners will be selected by an online vote, which begins September 9, 2010 at 6PM Pacific Time and ends Friday, September 17th, 6PM Pacific Time.

The award winners will be announced at the Latino 2 Conference in Los Angeles on September 18, 2010.

>>Your vote is your voice – VOTE NOW

>>Register for the Latino 2.0 Conference in Los Angeles (Sept. 18th, 2010)

This is an extraordinary group of people, companies, non-profits and agencies. We look forward to honoring all the finalists in L.A. on September 18th as we kick off an event series aimed at engaging the best minds in Latino communications throughout the entire state.

- Giovanni Rodriguez, vice chair of events and programs for LATISM and co-producer of Latino2

I’m proud to have been nominated for the Best CA Latino Blogger category. – Jesse Luna

LATISM Annual California Award Finalists for 2010

Best CA Latino Blogger
Angel Magaña
Brian Solis
Jesse Luna (jesseluna.com)
Jose Huitron
Jose Villa

Best CA Latina Blogger
Ana L. Flores
Irene Martinez-Audet
Jennifer Vides
Monique Frausto
Nancy Marmolejo

Best CA Latino Tweep
Angel Magaña
Brian Solis
Jorge Amaro
Jose Huitron
Jose Villa

Best CA Latina Tweep
Irene Martinez-Audet
Jennifer Vides
Laura Gomez
Liz Cerezo
Saray Hill

Best Latino(a) Social Network Leader in CA
Ana Lydia Ochoa
Antonio Altamirano
Brian Solis
Monique Frausto
Nancy Marmolejo

Best Company Using Social Media to Reach Latinos in CA
Apple
Kaiser Permanente
La Opinión
LatinEyes.tv
Microsoft

Best CA Not-for-Profit Using Social Media to Engage Latinos
Brave New Foundation
Comunidad Para Baja California
Compton United Soccer Club
Hispanic Scholarship Fund
National Council for La Raza (NCLR)

Best CA Interactive Agency Using Social Media to Reach Latinos
Acento
Axis
Mediatrope
Sensis Agency
Zuno Studios

Best CA Advertising Agency Using Social Media to Reach Latinos
alPunto Advertising
McCann Worldgroup
Sensis Agency
vrtccom
Viva Visibility

Best CA PR Agency Using Social Media to Reach Latinos
Axis
Edelman Digital
Dialogo PR
RLPR
VPE Public Relations

Apple unveiled its new iPhone 4 device today during the WWDC Conference.

The features that made me most giddy as a vlogger and iPhone nut are:

Front Facing Video Camera + LED

The front facing video camera allows for video phone calls, what Apple is calling “FaceTime.” Not the greatest name, but a great feature. Apple also finally added an LED light that works as a flash for photos and as a light for video. Awesome!

Hmm, I have visions of live streaming interviews on the go. Let’s get on it, developers!

Three-Axis Gyroscope

The coupling of the three-axis gyroscope with the accelerometer will lead to amazing new gaming applications. This combination will also help take Augmented Reality to new heights. By combining the two technologies, the iPhone will have six degrees of freedom.

The “Gyroscopes and Accelerometers Compared” video on the InvenSense site does a good job explaining how the gyroscope + accelerometer work together.

These were the two main features that made me swoon.

Which features are you looking forward to? Leave a comment and let’s keep the conversation going.

Related articles:

• Apple Announces iPhone 4 with Retina Display, HD Video Recording, More – MacRumors
• Apple iPhone 4 site, including product highlight video