Call it my blogging Spring Break. For my own sanity and to be able to keep up with my analog work and personal obligations, I had to take a hiatus. But I’m ready to get back into the blogging groove.
Social Marketing University, which I led last week in DC, was a great success. The participants were amazing and ended up being a wonderful resource for each other. I was able to meet several people in person whom I only knew via their blogs or through ongoing correspondence, which was a treat. We were lucky to have as guest speakers Ed Maibach, the director of George Washington University’s Public Health Communication and Marketing Program, and Rachel Greenberg, a veteran social marketer who shared a case study from the National Diabetes Education Program. Each time I offer this training, I learn more about how to improve it for the future. This time, the evaluations made it clear that the participants fell into two groups — beginning social marketers who wanted the basics on up, and established marketers who were looking for more advanced training on applying their knowledge to the unique needs of health and social issues. While I thought I had made it clear on the information page that this is a more basic introductory level training (e.g., with quotes from past participants like “This would be a GREAT intro course.” and “I think it is a great training for people who are new to social marketing.”), it’s clear that I will need to make that more explicit and consider offering a more advanced track.
Being in Washington DC last week was wonderful and it was great to be back where I had started my social marketing career. My family was with me because we were also there for a family event the following weekend, and we had a great time in the balmy weather on Tuesday paddleboating in the Tidal Basin. We were there in the pause of the cherry blossom buds just before they exploded a couple of days later (which I sadly only had a chance to see in pictures online). There’s no place like DC — I miss feeling like I’m living in the center of the world. But I do not miss feeling like my toes are so cold that they are going to fall off, so I have to keep reminding myself why I came back to Los Angeles.
Speaking of living in Los Angeles, today I had a film crew at my house shooting a TV show (NOT “Social Marketers Gone Wild!” as Michael Gibbons suggested to me earlier). More about that in the next post.
Photo Credit: •pet
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
Nedra, I am so disappointed — NO SMGW?? I could just see you, Pam Slim and Penelope Trunk — and maybe Seth or Guy as your “Charlie” — all out there making the world safe for web 2.0! Now I’ve digressed to Charlie’s Angels — oh well it’s Friday! Have a great sunny weekend!