{"id":1490,"date":"2010-10-04T15:34:33","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T20:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/?p=1490"},"modified":"2010-10-04T15:34:33","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T20:34:33","slug":"aarp-and-social-media-my-trip-to-the-aarp-orlando50-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/2010\/10\/04\/aarp-and-social-media-my-trip-to-the-aarp-orlando50-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"AARP and social media – my trip to the AARP Orlando@50+ Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I attended the AARP Orlando@50+ Conference. Snide remarks from friends on Facebook aside, I was not in Orlando as an attendee to plan my post-retirement life, although had I been, there was plenty of information on the show floor and in the sessions to help me. I\u2019m still a couple years shy of the calendar milestone, and as for retirement, that\u2019s at least 20 years off.<\/p>\n

I was at the conference to present two workshops<\/a> on Connecting and Communicating with Social Media<\/strong> as part of Kaplan University\u2019s educational track within the conference. The room was full both times \u2013 about 280 capacity \u2013 even though the room was as far from the front door as you could possibly get and on Saturday it was one of the last sessions, competing with all the entertainment Orlando offers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to introduce folks to \u201ceverything\u201d social media has to offer in an hour session, so I focus largely on blogs and Facebook. Even then, people \u2013 especially in beginner audiences \u2013 tend to have very specific \u201chow do I do this\u2026\u201d questions, and there is no way to get to all of them. That\u2019s why I am particularly glad that as part of its deliverables for the AARP attendees, Kaplan has created reinventyourself.kaplan.edu, a site dedicated to expanding on the topics presented at the conference with self-paced in-depth courses on each topic. The site launches October 7. I\u2019ll add a link here once it is live.<\/p>\n

I helped develop a course based on my workshop, and got a sneak peek Saturday. The online course developers did a great job translating my concepts to the online interactive format. It is a great start for anyone dipping their toe into social media for the first time, at any age. It\u2019s also free!<\/p>\n

Of course, if you want to delve more deeply into blogging, and especially making money on your blog, my book Professional Blogging For Dummies<\/strong> is also a good choice! Links in the sidebar to your online bookseller of choice.<\/p>\n

The workshops I am doing for the Conferences for Women in Pittsburgh, Houston and Boston use a similar outline, with a slight shift on focus to women and how these tools can help them personally and professionally. I\u2019m giving away tickets to Houston and Boston; all you have to do is leave a comment on my post Using Social Media to Build Your Brand<\/a> for a chance to win.<\/p>\n

For more on technology use by older Americans, check out this post <\/a>on the AARP blog ShAARP. I was honored that they included the story about my mom that I use in my workshops to make two important points about technology and the Internet. First, there is no age requirement or limit. Second, \u00a0don\u2019t think \u2013 or let anyone tell you, that you can\u2019t do something. We learn how to do the things that let us accomplish our goals. Even if it seems \u2013 or even is \u2013 hard.<\/p>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I attended the AARP Orlando@50+ Conference. Snide remarks from friends on Facebook aside, I was not in Orlando as an attendee to plan my post-retirement life, although had I been, there was plenty of information on the show floor and in the sessions to help me. I\u2019m still a couple years shy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[40,53],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t