Kate O’Neill and I left the panel chatting about the communication conundrum. We agreed that someone should create a calendar to aggregate all of the events, so that there is one calendar that we can all subscribe to. Using Google Calendar I created the calendar and called it Nashville Technology Calendar (yes, I’ve used the word “calendar” far too many times in this post).

I explained here that anybody who wanted to have admin access to the calendar, so they could add their events, would be granted access. No big deal, right? The thing is, not everybody agreed or were able to find a simple way to add their events.

Yesterday, I learned that Nashcocktail, an event I organize each month, was conflicting with Scott McIntosh‘s Nashville Tech Meetup Group, which I would have loved to attend, especially since Mitch Canter was leading it. I had no idea the event was taking place until John Ellis pointed it out to me.

Managing a calendar is not something I want to be responsible for

I only made the calendar to make it easier for our community to know what’s going on, so that we don’t conflict with each other. There’s nothing I want more than Nashville to be recognized across the world as the technology hub that it is. Visiting and local geeks should be able to easily find something fun to do.

I’m open to other options to create and manage a calendar. Any takers? Any advice on how we can all be on the same page for once? I’m open to your ideas.

Photo from Flickr by: Foto_di_Signorina

Tonight we held the first Tool Talk, a monthly round table discussion on tech tools.

Tool Talk is based on a first come first serve basis, so watch this space for news on how to RSVP for the next one in August.

The discussion tonight included some of Nashville’s brightest minds on (and off) the web.

The file is available below to listen to, but please note that this is not a professional recording.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who were kind enough to participate tonight.

I’ve included each person and their favorite tools below. Enjoy the conversation.

*** Kate O’Neill – [meta]marketer

- Remember The Milk – online to do list and task management.
- Evernote – remember everything.

*** Rex Hammock – Hammock Inc. / Small Business . COM

- Eye-Fi – wireless photo and video uploads from your camera to your computer and to the web
- Skitch – fast and fun screen capture and image sharing
- ecto – blog editor for Mac OS X
- Posterours – The place to post everything. Just email us. Dead simple blog by email
- Zemanta – We suggest tags, links, photos, and related articles. You save time and aspirin.

*** Chris Ennis – Function Interactive / Nashmash

- TokBox – free video chat and messaging
- Google Wave -  a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year.

*** Mitch Canter – Studio Nashvegas

Windows Live Writer – Windows Live Writer team blog
Freshbooks – online invoicing, time tracking and expense service

WordPress:
All In One SEO – optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization).
WordPress Database Backup – WP-DB-Backup allows you easily to backup your core WordPress database tables.
CForms II – a powerful and feature rich form plugin for WordPress, offering convenient deployment of multiple Ajax driven contact forms throughout your blog or even on the same page.
Twitter Tools – Twitter Tools is a plugin that creates a complete integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account.
Super Cache – generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog.
Exec PHP – The Exec-PHP plugin executes PHP code in posts, pages and text widgets.
Front Page Excluded Categories – a basic plugin that excludes posts in one or more categories from appearing on the front page.

*** Dave Delaney – that’s me. :-)

- Disqus – a powerful comment system that easily enhances the discussion on websites.
- Tumblr – the easiest way to blog.

*** Allison Groves – Sitening / SheWrites

Twitter:
- TweetDeck – your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more
- Seesmic Desktop – build your community
- Tweetie Desktop – Twitter client for Mac

- Ning – lets you create and join new social networks for your interests and passions.

Ning bashing ensues…. you’ll need to listen to learn more.

*** Chuck Bryant – Border Jump

- TripIt.com – online travel itinerary and trip planner
- HootSuite – the ultimate Twitter toolbox. With HootSuite, you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure your success.
- Fluid – Free Site Specific Browser for Mac OS X Leopard

*** Eric Schuff – Tennessean

- CoTweet – CoTweet is a platform that helps companies reach and engage customers using Twitter.
- Publish2 – The Web’s largest newsroom: Journalists collaborate to curate the news.
- Coda – Text editor + file transfer + svn + CSS + Terminal + Books + More = Whoah.
- Espresso – PHP tool
- Yammer – Enterprise microblogging
- Feedly – weaves your favorite content into a fun, magazine-like start page.

Thanks again to everyone who participated. I’ll be posting details on the next Tool Talk.

Listen to episode one of Tool Talk here.

Tommy Vallier by Michael Mistretta

Those who know Tommy Vallier know that he rocks. I’m about to tell you why he is such a rocking dude.

As you many have noticed my blog broke last week. I had installed the latest version of WordPress when the trouble began. I believe it was all because of a plug-in. Back things up and test your plug-ins before you install a new version people!

I mentioned my issues on Twitter and was happy to hear instantly from friends like Mitch Canter, Chris Ennis, Nicholas Young, Kim Evernham, Susan Murphy, Troy Thompson, Andrew Eidson, Paul Henman and Nicholas Butler, who all offered to help me. Thank you so much guys!

Tommy quickly jumped into rescue mode right away. I pictured him entering a phonebooth and exiting as Super WordPress Man! Can you picture that?

After two days of WordPress ninjitsu, Tommy fixed things. We even installed this rather schwanky new template, do you like it?

Tommy has a great WordPress business called WordPress By The Minute. I highly recommend you contact him if you have any WordPress woes. He’s honest, fast and a great guy. You can also find him tweeting on Twitter as @tommyvallier (go figure).

Thank you Tommy. You’re my hero!

Wow, that title reads a little risky doesn’t it? That’s not what I meant at all, you should get your mind out of the gutter.

Back in July, Seth Godin posted an offer to possibly be included on his upcoming book cover. I rose to the challenge and sent him a copy of my usual head shot. Soon after I was emailed and tweeted by friends who spotted me on his blog. Sure enough there I was staring out at his readers. It was an honor and amusing at the same time.

Seth’s latest book Tribes has started making it’s way around recently. Stupidly, I forgot to actually register myself for an early copy. Over the last couple of days I’ve been receiving lots of tweets and messages that I’ve been spotted on his book cover.

I am pleased as punch (not sure what that means) that I am indeed on his (inside) cover. I’m also thrilled to see myself surrounded with many other friends including Mitch Canter, Tim Coyne and many more. Now all I need to do is get a copy, so I can scan the cover myself to see who else I find there. It’s a Where’s Waldo of Social Media geeks, I love it!

Thanks for including me Seth. :-)

Photo by: lalunablanca Thanks for sharing it :-)

1. I grew up listening to loads of punk rock music. My first concert was Circle Jerks and 7 Seconds at the Siboney Club in Kensington Market, Toronto. I think it was around 1986.

2. I was a huge horror movie fan when I was a kid. I attended Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors where my friend and I met Bruce Campbell, Tom Savini and H.G. Lewis, the god father of gore. My buddy and I use to have fishing tackle boxes filled with horror makeup. We would get together and create really nasty wounds and freak out our friends, parents and strangers.

3. I met Blues legend Albert Collins, who invited me backstage with my friends at a show. After the show we all hung out and he invited me on the road to his next gig as a roadie. I almost dropped out of college to become a permanent roadie for him. Leave me a comment if you want to “hear” that story.

4. I climbed Europe’s most active volcano, Stromboli. My wife and I made the six hour hike during dusk, so we would be at the top in time for night fall to watch it erupt into the Aeolian Sea below.

5. I rubbed shoulders with Francis Ford Coppolla, literally. I was attending a movie premiere at the Toronto Film Festival when I spotted Coppolla sitting a few aisles down. After the movie, as the crowd began to enter the aisles I made my way toward him. Just as he stepped out into the aisle I intentionally, gently, rubbed my right shoulder across his. Why did I do this? So that I can honestly tell people that I rubbed shoulders with Francis Ford Coppolla of course!

6. I was punished for misbehaving in Grade 1 or 2, my role in the school play had been demoted. I was suppose to play the lumberjack in Little Red Riding Hood, but was re-cast to play “the tree”. Dressed in brown cords and a green turtle neck, my job was to stand still with my arms spread out. When Little Red yelled for help, as the lumberjack was chopping me, I was suppose to tilt my arms in one direction. The fantastic effect would make it look as if I had been cut. In the last second I decided to improvise a little.

When the lumberjack swung his axe and hit me, I remained standing tall and still. Then, I slowly fell forward crashing on the stage below. The only person not laughing in the room (including my parents) was my teacher. I stole the show. :-)

Years later I studied improv comedy with Second City in Toronto. When I moved to Galway, Ireland I started a troupe called “Da Ladds”, we performed every Thursday night for a little over a year. I miss performing comedy.

Now it’s time to tag six more people, here goes: Bob Goyetche, Sylvain Grand’Maison, Lizzie Keiper, Jett Loe, Scott Monty and Molly E. Holzschlag. Don’t forget to use the rules below in your posts. Have fun.

Random rules (hat tip to Connie Crosby):
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.