It all started with a tweet one year ago...Bakespace.com, a social networking site for food people, was hosting a meetup for Boston bloggers. Being a hobbyist food blogger, I signed up, thinking that this would be a fun way to meet some new like-minded people.

Little did I know that attending this event would lead to new friendships, speaking opportunities and the ability to bring a great food blogger and media conference to Boston -- which illustrates, on a small scale, the power of social media.

When I met Babette Pepaj, founder of Bakespace, I was impressed by the fact that this down-to-earth, genuinely warm person left her life as a television producer to start her company along with a series of food blogger conferences called Techmunch.

Since that night, I've spoken on a couple of Techmunch panels in other cities, met some great people, and have become so enthusiastic about the event that I asked Babette if we could bring it to Boston.

We're producing it on July 24 at the Boston University School of Hospitality. (For more information, click here.) It will be a great meeting of the minds of food media, bloggers and marketers, sharing best practices, opportunities and having fun.

The evolution from responding to a single tweet to bringing Techmunch to Boston illustrates the most important points about social media:

• There is unseen opportunity for everyone by participating in social media. Dive in, be yourself, find your tribes and good things will happen.
• You have to take online relationships offline, and vice versa. Social media is about connecting. Whether you are meeting new people on Twitter or you are engaging with your old friends on Facebook, it's about building and sustaining those relationships.
• Social media isn't something you do -- it's something that becomes a regular part of your daily professional and personal lives. Just as we all adapted to fervently checking email, engaging through social channels should be a part of your daily life.
• Setting up your social media channels isn't a thing that you do and "complete" -- there is something new to learn every day, a new question to answer, a new friend to make.

If you'd like to check out tweets on the Techmunch event, search #Techmunch.

Hilary Allard

Vice President

The Castle Group

Are you still thinking about setting up a Twitter account? No Facebook page yet? Feel free to get in touch with Hilary to talk about it. 

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By Malli Gero, Executive Director, 2020 Women on Boards

 
Diversity in the boardroom is not only best practice, it's smart business. The best boards encourage the expression of different views to arrive at good business decisions. Board diversity promotes this conversation, allowing companies to improve their ability to identify, address and resolve problems and opportunities.

There is increasing evidence to support that women on boards directly correlates to the success of a company. In a Catalyst Bottom Line Series published in March of 2011, Fortune 500 companies with high-sustained representation of women on their boards outperform boards with zero women by a staggering 84% in return on sales (ROS) and a 60%in return on invested capital (ROIC).

Women represent half of the U.S. workforce and over half of all management positions. They own one third of businesses in the U.S. Yet, despite these accomplishments, women do not have a voice in corporate leadership at the most senior levels.

In its 2010 Census of Fortune 500 companies Catalyst reported that women account for just 15.7 percent of board seats, a number that reflects little growth over the last six years. ION, a network of business organizations in 14 U.S. regions reports that women account for 11% of the board seats in the companies it researches, many included in the Fortune 1000.

2020 Women on Boards, is a national campaign to create awareness about board diversity and raise the percentage of women who serve on corporate boards in the U.S. to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020, we believe it's a reasonable measure for companies to embrace. Register your support for the campaign and learn more about the issues at: www.2020WOB.com.