Time Flies

Wow, does time fly when you are having fun or what?? It seems just like yesterday I wrote my first blog and yet almost two months have flown by since my inaugural post. Life has thrown some curve balls these past 7 weeks that have allowed me to experience an array of emotions, learning and ultimately growth. This blog has become a friend to me in this journey and has helped me to stay energized, focused and confident that my next step will lead me towards achieving my ambition. Quite a bit has happened since I last wrote so lets get busy on what has changed in the technology and smart grid world since we last met.....

Smart Grid
The chatter on Smart Grid is getting louder as President-elect, Barack Obama and his transition team work to formulate agenda and policy details. Kathleen Hart wrote an article this week highlighting the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners meeting on November 16 in New Orleans. Given the President-elect's support for energy efficiency, hybrids, and smart grid develoment, FERC commissioner, Sudden Kelly stated there is an increasing interest among state and federal regulators in smart grid efforts. The US Dept. of Energy has agreed to fund a project that will act as a clearinghouse for analysis of lessons learned from smart grid pilot programs conducted in the US and Canada, with the intention of identifying barriers to cost-effective smart grid implementations helping regulators to make decisions on utility applications.

Mr. Kelly stated the key challenge to deployment is interoperability that will require additional push above and beyond FERC influence. Telecom and the Internet have experienced similar interoperability challenges presenting an opportunity for utilities and regulators to engage experts from those industries to help move forward with next generation infrastructure. Check out http://www.naruc.org/ and the http://www.oe.energy.gov/ sites for the latest smart grid information.

Next Generation Media
Exciting action this week in the world of next generation media, aka social media. Motrin launched an ad targeting "mama bloggers" and unfortunately the effort backlashed to the point that Motrin pulled the ad. The situation is unfortunate but is a great example of how important it is to understand how to use social media. The first rule when attempting to leverage the social media space is to understand it is a two way communication vehicle. A company must be willing to engage in conversation and not simply push their message. We are in an age where controlling your message is done through conversation, building a relationship with your customers, listening to their concerns and offering to address them.

Motrin missed out on turning this negative to a positive as they shut down the ad vs. opening themselves up to the conversation. I wonder what the result would have been if they had been actively monitoring feedback and engaging in conversations through the various social media channels such as Twitter. If asked, I would have suggested they open up a forum for conversation on their website so they could understand concerns, offer explanation for their ad selection and share what they were learning and how they might do it different next time. Instead, they shut down the ad, issued a day late dollar short press release and turned off mommies everywhere from using their product in the future.

The good news is there is a new company launching soon called LightThread right here in KC who will offer expertise to businesses to help them avoid a Motrin experience and instead utilize next generation media in a way that makes money vs. losing it. You can follow @LightThread on Twitter for upcoming launch announcements and contact information.

Enjoy your Wednesday and take care til we meet again soon!

Be who you are and learn to be better,
Lisa

Love Is In The Air

My husband and I celebrated our 14th anniversary on election day this week with a great dinner and a fun time at a local casino. We are very lucky to still be together considering we married so young with a family already in tow but we had amazing role models that kept quitting from being an option. Both of our parents were married in 1967 and are still going strong today. They taught us that marriage isn't something that is supposed to be easy but is a commitment that requires persistence, friendship and above all else loving the other person even when you don't feel like it. I often tell people that being a single parent was easier than being married as marriage requires discussion, compromise, and a selflessness that for me isn't always a natural way of behaving. However, the part I don't tell people and probably should, is even thought it isn't easy, my husband Jackie inspires me to be a better wife every day and my life would be empty without him. (all at once now....awwwwwww)

Technology Election Impact
Many are claiming that a critical factor in Obama's selection as President-Elect was his ability to leverage cyberspace and create a grass-roots effort using social media. He generated significant buzz and interest in this election by using online tools such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/barackobama?ref=s) and Twitter (@barackobama). The question now becomes will he make technology a priority once he takes office? So far, the answer seems to be a resounding yes...Contactless News (http://www.contactlessnews.com/2008/11/06/obamas-impact-on-federal-it-projects) reports that Mr. Obama plans to select a Chief Technology Officer to oversee government technology efforts including cyber security and improving the IT budget process. This will be the first time in history the USA will have a CTO. In addition, two technology experts, Google.org's Sonal Shah and former IAC exec Julius Genachowski have already been appointed to Barack Obama's transition team. You can read about the President-Elect's technology plan in depth at http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/.

Energy Election Impact
A big thank you to those who voted for the Missouri Clean Energy proposition I wrote about a few weeks ago. The initiative passed 66% to 34% and will require our utility companies to get 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. The initiative was one of 7 in the nation that was recognized as one of the best statewide initiatives in the country according to www.ProgressiveFuture.org/progress-or-peril. Credit to the initiative author's who had the foresight to write a proposition that was solid and realistic vs. the two California energy initiatives that both were defeated on Tuesday. At the national level, having a democrat majority in both the house and senate along with a democrat president is speculated to have a favorable impact in accelerating the transition to hybrid vehicles, smart grids, and alternative energy sources. Given our current economic and budget deficit situation, I am cautiously optimistic on just how much push Obama and congress will be able to afford.

A great post by my friend, Banky for President this week regarding the election and how we as a people have the greatest impact on this country moving forward vs. any one man. Check it out if you get time at http://www.bankyforpresident.com/2008/11/05/yes-we-can. As always thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at lqualls4444@yahoo.com.

Be who you are and learn to be better,
Lisa