This year, Twestival is aiming to highlight eight areas which are preventing some of our poorest youth around the world from going to school and getting the education they need and deserve. Events hosted on the same night around the world will be selecting a specific area to donate to, and Phoenix has put its best foot forward to aid in the building of schools to help those less fortunate.

As part of our sponsorship, we whipped up a couple new snazzy t-shirt designs that Brand X will be printing and delivering to the event. Big thanks to Charles for setting up the online shopping cart so attendees can “pimp” out their shirts with a custom Twitter handle.

Along with the shirt designs, we’ll also be hooking up some signage for the event to show the sponsors some love, and a large and in charge step and repeat banner to capture the moment for attendees.

Twestival is a 100% volunteer organized event, and wouldn’t be possible without great folks like Chris Lee, Wesley Novak, Heather Lee, Jenny Carnie and many more. Everyone has really chipped in once again to help with the logistics of the event as well as raising donations. We’re slowly inching our way towards the goal of $7,500, and hope to beat out Twestival San Francisco after the night of the event. It’s going to be a close one, so all the help we can get is greatly appreciated!

I mean, could you think of a better way to use social media for social good? I sure can’t

Phoenix Design Week – It’s the inaugural event and it’s happening October 21^st – 25^th. The week will be filled with exhibits and galleries featuring the work of local graphic artists, interactive and motion designers. Phoenix Design Week kicks off on Friday with the Typophile Film Fest at MadCap Theatres and then moves to the weekend conference at the downtown convention center. The lineup of guest speakers looks amazing and it is sure to be the start of something great. Visit the PhxDW website to purchase tickets and get all the details. The folks here at Splinter are looking forward to checking out the exhibits and taking in some knowledge from the speakers. Should be a great one!

Ignite Phoenix #5 – This pile of awesome was brought to life by a group of folks passionate about lighting a fire under the Phoenix creative community. Gearing up for the 5^th installment of Ignite, Splinter is eager to jump in and help out again by providing killer design services along with a few other juicy items. In fact, we’ll be donating enough goods and services that we’ve been offered the opportunity to put together a 30 second spot showcasing who we are and what we do. Hopefully it turns out as awesome as this video by @bwilley and @krysvs from Ignite Phoenix #4.

PodCamp AZ 2009 – Originating in Boston, Massachusetts and heading into its 3^rd year, this event takes the original concept of PodCamp and changes it up a bit to meet the needs of Phoenix. Contrary to its name, this event isn’t just about podcasting, it’s about the creation and delivery of new media and how people use the information. Taking place November 14^th and 15^th at the University of Advancing Technology, this unconference has been coming together over the past several months and is sure to be the different event you’re looking for. And hey, it’s FREE. If you’re interested in sponsoring or attending this new-media focused event, make sure to check out the website for more info. While the event is new media based, we’ll be assisting the crew with some printing and graphic needs as the date nears.

The only question I have… Who’s coming with me?

Several months later, Chris contacted me to see if we’d be interested in helping out with other Phoenix events including Twestival Local. Without hesitation, we jumped on board and look forward to making a difference by providing support to Twestival Local and the St. Mary’s Food Bank. To get started, Chris wanted us to give the logo a little Phoenix love… So I fired it over to our lead designer, Patricia, and turned her loose.  Switching out the tree with some traditional Phoenix attire (cacti) and rearranging a few elements, our first mission was complete. As we get closer to the event and get more sponsors locked down, we’ll be providing design and printing for signage along with other materials that will be on display and distributed at the event.

Event Info – Save the Date!

Twestival Local (Phoenix) will be held the evening of Friday, September 11^th 2009.

According to the Twestival Phoenix website, the hosts of various Phoenix Friday Night events have graciously offered to combine efforts and make this event one to remember.

Twestival Phoenix Local will be a tweetup for everyone complete with food, drinks, raffle and silent auction. This will be a great opportunity to meet new people from all over the Phoenix valley and have some fun, all while supporting a local charity.

Sounds like a win-win situation if you ask me. If you agree, show your support by adding a “twibbon” to your avatar. You can do so here.

While the event location is still up in the air, you can follow Twestival Phoenix for updates, or check the website for more information as it becomes available.

If you’ve visited our key players page, you know that I rocked one mean tuxedo during my childhood days.  What can I say, I was a born lady killer.  While many of you have gotten a kick out of our childhood portraits (as you should), humor was only a small factor in why we chose to display ourselves in such a manner.  In our minds, it was important to show current and potential clients our youthful imaginations, and demonstrate that while we’ve grown up, we still like to think big and achieve things others only dream about.  I mean, that’s what being a kid is all about, right?

Albeit the childhood pictures are great (thanks everyone for your feedback) we felt it was time for a mini photo shoot.  Sure, we’ll need a serious corporate head shot for this, that or the other thing, but most importantly, we needed to have some sharp looking avatars for our social networking accounts (I’ve almost got everyone at the office on the facebook, twitter and linkedin bandwagons woot!)  So we got with our creative director, Steve Clark, and asked him to dig up some lighting and other goodies from his old photog days.

It turned out to be a super rad time Tuesday morning at the office.  Not only did we have a blast putting everyone on the spot to come up with an “O” face (or in my case, the People’s eyebrow) we were able to capture more of the personality that is Splinter Creative.  So while the childhood portraits aren’t coming down anytime soon, we figured it was time to supplement them with some current day goodness.  After all, a picture can tell you an awful lot about someone…

To see all the pics, check out our facebook fan page here.

With over 1 million users and 3 million tweets per day, twitter alone is the perfect little tool to market your product or service, meet new people, gain a few leads, or land that next big job. They key is beefing up the profile information with intriguing content that gets others to engage in conversations and learn more about you. Just make sure you have that oh-so-important link to either your Linkedin profile (an online resume for you job-seekers), personal or corporate blog, or directly to your company’s website. Not only can this drive traffic to your business or free lance expertise, it helps educate those starving to obtain more information about you online. No point in making those juicy details hard to find, now is there?

Once you’ve got the content locked down, and you’re keeping pace by actively participating in the ever changing conversations that are happening online (tweets, blog comments, status updates, etc) it’s time to give your profile a professional look and feel. However, for reasons unknown, I see more and more users and businesses that aren’t taking advantage of the impact a custom designed twitter background provides. With some basic contact information, a rad color scheme and a couple cool photos or illustrations, you or your company can have a stronger presence in your social network and stand out from the crowd. Just get creative (or hire a creative, cough-cough) and make the most out of your online wardrobe.

The ultimate goal for any type of networking is to get out there and make more connections in the business world, but until Obama changes the length of a day to 36 hours, many of just don’t have time to hit every networking event we would like. Thus why having a unique online appearance, sharing your story, connecting with others, and engaging in the conversation gains trust and credibility from others (which is what building a brand is all about). So while you may have ¾ on lock down, keep in mind that an interesting look conveying your personality traits and/or a little bit about your business, can gain more qualified followers and friends then you ever imagined (click on image to see a custom background we did for @charshaff). Who knows, maybe you’ll even become the next big twitter star!

Just remember to stick to the basics – whether you’re marketing online, in person or through print, a cohesive look is the key to “great success!”

After only its thrid gathering, Ignite Phoenix has officially taken the valley by storm.  As I pulled in at 5 mintues to 6, I was overwhelmed with the amount of cars in the parking lot, and even more blown away by the number of people inside at the Tempe Center for the Arts (Awesome venue btw!)  Surprisingly, I was able to snag a last minute seat amidst the sea of people, and after a few brief minutes of technical difficulties, the show began.

With about 300+ peeps in the room, it was no shock the fire marshall had to put the smack down.  I guess the room technically only held 220 (which we all know gets fudged here and there) but luckily the TCA stepped up their game and made it happen.  As I walked backed in after intermission, a mysterious TV and chairs had been setup outside the hall with a live feed to accommodate the overflow… Ahhh technology, gotta love it!

While all the preso’s rocked, these made my list for “Gnarliest of the Night”

• - Austin Baker’s “20 Answers to 20 Unanswerable Questions” – Entertaining way to end the night as well as enlighten us on the mythical question of whether a tree makes a sound in the woods if no one is there.  In the words of Austin Baker, “Why’s the damn tree falling anyway?” @austinmiles

• - Chanelle Richardson’s “The Art of Enjoying Food” also intrigued me… For being a tiny woman, she knew a lot about how to enjoy food and make the best out of every meal.  Considering I hadn’t eaten dinner, her presentation had me running for the nearest food joint as soon as Ignite ended @iamchanelle

• - Dan Messer’s “Toilet Training – A Study in Connective History” was a great way to start the night.  I mean… anytime you can talk about the history of toilets and work in bacon is just flat out rad.  I give him major props for this @SonoranDragon

• - And last but certainly not least, Derek Neighbors took over the stage with, “Nothing Defines Humans Better Than Their Willingness to do Irrational Things in the Pursuit of Phenomenally Unlikely Payoffs.”  Not only did he make us all realize we are all suckers, he had the crowd hooting and hollering like he was on stage at the improv.  His energy level really took the evening to a whole new level. @dneighbors

A huge thanks goes out to the Ignite Phoenix crew for getting a hold of Splinter to help out with the event.  We look forward to helping out however we can at the next event in June.  Can’t believe we just happened to meet the Ignite guys at Twestival Phoenix, and it turned into an awesome sponsorship opportunity.  Crazy huh?  Twitter rocks!

If you just read this and are asking yourself, “What the hell is Ignite Phoenix?” Take a peak at their website here

Last but not least, if you want to check out some pics (not from a camera phone like the one above) from all the Ignite Phoenix events to date, visit their Flickr Group page here – I saw some people with pretty hardcore cameras in there, so my guess is there are some great shots floating around.

Were you there?  Did you follow the protocol – Tweet, Meet and Give?  If you didn’t, you missed out on a great tweetup and the support of an even better cause.  Over 100 tweeps and 40 companies from across the valley joined forces with the goal of raising enough money to fund one well for Charity Water.

Now some of you may be thinking… Only one well?  That’s it?  Well little do you know, it cost a cool $4,000 to fund one of these puppies, which in our economic state, is no easy task.  Luckily, the folks of  @twestivalphx put their best foot forward, and although they’re still waiting for the final numbers, early estimates put #phx over its goal raising at least $,4600+ when tallying event ticket sales, raffle tickets, silent auction items and more!

In the words of @chrislee, “Awesome Job Phoenix!”

The folks here at Splinter Creative were happy to help, and chipped in by designing the Twestival Phoenix logo (pictured above), printing some oversize posters, and making a few contributions (both donations and purchases) to the silent auction.

All in all, it was awesome to see everyone come together to tweet, meet and give… And it was great to finally meet a lot of the cool tweeps in person that I’m following on Twitter.  Needless to say, I can’t wait for the next Tweetup… Guess Ignite Phoenix on February 25th in Tempe will have to hold me over in the meantime   Hope to see everyone there!

And if you’re not already, hit me up on Twitter @BlairHatz

Image above courtesy of @templestark