This certainly was one of the most touching and inspiring BMPR meetups yet. A big thank you to @morganswndrlnd and Gordon Hartman for investing the the time to host our group and speak to us about Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first amusement park for special need individuals. As promised (and demanded by some), I give you this month’s tips and tricks. See you in March!

A big thank you to @morganswndrlnd for hosting us yesterday at their new and beautiful facility. Gordon Hartman and his amazing team were kind enough to open their doors, share their vision, mission and provide BMPR with a tour. @ImageFreedom shot some great pictures, which we used to build this video. If you’d like to see @ImageFreedom’s photos and some other great shots, too, hit the links below.

Photos by @imagefreedom – Matthew Egan
Photos by @colleenpence – Colleen Pence
Photos by @nanpalmero – Nan Palmero

If you shot pictures, would you kindly share your link in the comments, please?

Directions coming from 410 or downtown: Take I-35 North toward Austin. Exit Thousand Oaks and turn left, heading under the freeway. You will pass under Wurzbach Parkway. The park is on the right-hand side.

Parking: Guests can park anywhere in the main parking lot and will enter through the Welcome Center. Hosts will direct you to the Event Center.

Lunch: Two cashier stations will be set up and accepting $13 cash only for a box lunch. Please, if you RSVPd, purchase a lunch since the Morgan’s Wonderland folks had to place and pay for an order with the caterer.

Morgan's Wonderland, San Antonio, Texas

Imagine a recreational and amusement park where children in wheelchairs can play in the sand with accessible diggers and climb on and off swings with carefree ease. What about a carousel with specially designed animal seats for guests who cannot sit upright? Off-road jeep adventures with accessible vehicles?

Gordon Hartman did. Today that $30 million, 25-acre special park — called Morgan’s Wonderland — is getting ready to open, right here in San Antonio.

This state-of-the-art park will be the largest of its kind in the world, serving as a blueprint for others across the country and paving the way for ultra-accessible recreation across the globe.

On February 25th, Morgan’s Wonderland is hosting the BMPR (Business, Media and PR Tweetup) and giving members a sneak peek into this high-tech recreational facility. Gordon Hartman will speak about his personal vision and passion for this park, which is named after his daughter.

Jennifer Coker-Hatton, is the official Twitter Tweeter for the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation  and @morganswonderland — she will be talking about using social media to build awareness.

To make this a nationwide event, BlogCatalog.com and BloggersUnite.org will harness the power of their hundreds of thousands of bloggers  to post on Thursday, Feb. 25th  about special needs issues or to share a personal story. A PayPal account will be set up to allow bloggers to raise money to support this special nonprofit.  (This also is a way for San Antonio bloggers to flex their muscles for a good cause.)

Jason Teitelman, blogger/social network community manager at BlogCatalog.com, will share with BMPR how BlogCatalog is using its global platform to harness the power of the people. Find Jason on Twitter here: @jaybetee Find president Angie Alaniz on Twitter here: @AngieAlaniz and CEO Antony Berkman here: @TonyBerkman

Many thanks to Van Williams of envision! for livestreaming the #BMPR event. Livestream will be available at: http://envisionfilmvideo.com/live.html

Special notes: Lunch will be $13 CASH only. Please be sure to genuinely RSVP — Morgan’s Wonderland is bearing responsibility for catering minimum requirements and needs an accurate lunch count. The park is located in the old Longhorn Quarry, just northeast of downtown at Thousand Oaks and Wurzbach Parkway — about one mile west of I-35.

Hashtags: #BMPR #mwpark #bloggersunite

RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/3xursf

BMPR has been making some waves…

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) will hold its Annual Conference in San Antonio this summer. NCLR has reached out to BMPR and they are  extending an invitation to be part of their main event, which

“represents the largest and most important gathering of the nation’s most influential individuals, organizations, institutions, and companies working with the Hispanic community.”

You can read more about the conference here.

In addition, this Friday, January 29, 2010 at 10:00-10:30am, NCLR will brief media about the upcoming event. BMPR and members of the San Antonio social media community are invited to attend.

Twitter recently added local trends to their site. This illustrates just how important local social media groups and community efforts are becoming. We are honored by NCLR’s recognition of the impact BMPR has had in terms of bringing together San Antonian’s who have a common thirst for knowledge and who see social media, as a very viable way to quench that thirst by sharing and collaborating.

The invitation for this Friday’s NCLR media brief is below.

If you are interested in collaborating with other BMPR members to propose a workshop / panel on how the Hispanic community can use social media tools for education, job search, finance… life — please leave a comment and we will facilitate and make that happen.

*

I must begin by saying the January 2010’s BMPR was the loudest and most rowdy yet.  Kazoos, explosive poppers, rubber bands, and 12 tweets/minute  tagged with #BMPR defined the event.   BMPR is a great monthly event because of you.  Thank you for investing your time with us.  Of course, another big thank you is in order for our speakers:

• @writeontime – Projects Coordinator at @SABizJournal & BMPR MC (internationally known AND known to rock the microphone)
• @andinarvaez – grad student, TA and social media gangsta
• @lukelibrarian – Director of library technology and historical collections at the UT Health Science Center
• @ollusaints – News and sports information officer at @OLLUnivSATX
• @drkimber – Instructional designer and digital media evangelist at @OLLUnivSATX
• Joyce Stevens – Director of Academic Technology for @NISD

For the technology-lovin’, wifi-enabled, bluetooth-using nerds and geeks in the audience, I present my CES 2010 recap.

We can’t wait to have you join us in February!

This month’s BMPR is Thursday, Jan. 21 at noon, Holiday Inn Airport. Event is free, lunch buffet is $13. RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/3oe2ac

“A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.” ~ Anonymous

Is it me or did college campus libraries of the past have a covert relationships with local bars? When I was a student at Syracuse University in the late 1980s, research projects involved hiking across campus (and scaling a few snow mounds) to reach the library. The steps to actually enter the library, locate the topic in the card catalog (!), retrieve and check out the microfiche tape in the basement, and master the fickle footpedal on the viewing machine added up to a veritable all-day expedition. Flush with victory, I would run to the copy machine… only to find it whimpering, out of order. There was only one thing to do: Order a pitcher of beer at Chuck’s, the poor students’ favorite dank hangout. Could’ve sworn I saw the bartender slipping the librarian a $20.

These days, students don’t have to leave their beds to do research. Universities are not only wireless, they are using Facebook, Twitter, Skype to teach lessons, improve research and collaboration, and to market and advertise all their brainpower. At this month’s BMPR, we pick the brains of local educators. How are San Antonio universities, high schools and middle schools using social media in and out of the classroom? How are those efforts changing the way they do business with students, faculty, parents and the community? Our speakers:

Image from Chicago2016.org

• Andi Narvaez: One of the co-founder’s of The BMPR, Andi is a PR professional with KGBTexas and a graduate student and TA at the University of Maryland. She’s teaching college students all about social media, all while being firmly entrenched in the global digital community.

• Luke Rosenberger: Director of library technology and historical collections at the UT Health Science Center, Rosenberger is helping the city’s medical center Twitter and Facebook about all it has to offer — to both students and the community at large.

• Patricia Constantin and Dr. Kimberley Barnett Gibson: Patricia is the news and sports information officer at Our Lady of the Lake University, which is livestreaming its athletic events so that faraway family members can watch their student athletes. Kimberly is OLLU’s instructional designer and digital media evangelist.

• Joyce Stevens: Director of Academic Technology for the Northside Independent School District, Joyce will school us on all the social media (radio, blogs, vlogs, wikis, and more) today’s students are using in the classroom. The district is running pilot tests on using Twitter to communicate with parents and the community.

As always, BMPR is open to anyone wishing to learn about social media — come with an open mind and a happy heart. Contact me @writontime or any of my BMPR compadres for more information: @andinarvaez @nanpalmero @seanmichaelwood @jessyoung13 @joeruiz

Special Note: In the spirit of the Holidays, don’t forget to bring a stocking stuffer for Child Safe!

The holidays are here again and that means family, holiday parties and time that just seems to disappear. This month’s Business, Media and PR #BMPR tweetup will try and make your holidays less stressful and more enjoyable with tips from people who live for this time of year. RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/gvs4fi

Tanji Patton, @tanjipatton. A former news anchor and investigative reporter for WOAI brings her love of food and wine to this month’s #BMPR. Her highly successful wine and food website, Good Taste with Tanji, uses uses video and direct emails combined with special events to drive traffic to the site. Tanji will talk about her plans to spread holiday food and party ideas through her site.

Dan Decker, @danjdecker, Executive Vice President/General Manager at SeaWorld San Antonio.  Dan, along with some special friends, will talk about SeaWorld’s holiday events and how they’re spreading the word through social media.  SeaWorld has been using social media since 2007 and infuses it in all aspects of marketing and sales.

Rachel Keller, @therkgroup, @rachelkellar. The RK Group, the premier catering company in San Antonio, tweets and blogs about the great food, event setup and special tips and tools. Rachel will talk about how The RK Group has used social media in catering and events and how they reach out to their customers with special tips and tools.

John Griffin, @savorsa. John, a former food writer for San Antonio Express News, has always had a love for food and travel. In August of 2009, John along with Nick Mistry and Bonnie Walker founded the increasingly popular food website known as SavorSA.com. John will talk about the great holiday plans for the website and how they have been able to grow the site using social media.

Sean Wood, @seanmichaelwood. A #BMPR executive team member will give us tips on fun holiday websites. You are sure to find something here that will make the workday go just a tid bit quicker.

As always, Tips and Tools, put together by BMPR co-founder @andinarvaez will tackle the latest and greatest social media gadgets.

Don’t forget to bring your party hat (and shoes) to celebrate the special samples and giveaways from our speakers.

The meeting is free. If you would like to eat lunch, the cost is $13 cash or credit at the Holiday Inn San Antonio Airport.

It seems that each month, BMPR gets better thanks to the amazing people that attend and speak. We’ve gotten an amazing number of requests for the presentations from the speakers and we’ve listened. Below you’ll find the presentations from @voxaeterno regarding Staying on Balance with Social Media, @seanmichaelwood’s Kindle vs Nook Smackdown and the November Tips and Tools, created by @andinarvaez. Of course, we can’t thank John Taylor (@jbtaylor) of Sprint for coming down from Reston, VA and bringing his 4G van!  He got us caught up on Sprint’s latest initiatives in 4G and how it is going to change the way we think of wireless internet.  He also gave away 3 Sprint 4G cards to the winners – @paul_berry, @norafrost and @dannycharbel. We also have to thank Bernice Kearney, @bkearney, for sharing her heartfelt story about her angel, Abby.  BMPR, be proud, we accumulated over 500 books for donation to Abby’s Book Corner.  Finally, please don’t miss out on @alanweinkrantz’s amazing video from Dr. Wave inviting us to join Google Wave. Be sure you head over and sign up!

As I had mentioned during BMPR, there are some great sites available for you to check out Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals ahead of the wild days. Here are some of my favorites. You can put your strategy together on Thanksgiving Day after your fill of turkey and stuffing.

Fatwallet
Slickdeals
BlackFriday
RetailMeNot – for additional coupons

For those of you BlackBerry diehards, here are the applications I talked about during my presentation.

Urban Spoon – find a restaurant in your price range
Vlingo – voice activated controls for your BlackBerry
Clap n’ Seek – clap for your phone and it’ll send out a beacon sound letting you know where it is (I think @natalietejeda was most excited about this)

Enjoy your holidays and join us again for the December 10th BMRP!

Twitter Cupcakes by Clever Cupcakes for the Montreal Twestival

Special Note: Don’t forget to bring a children’s book or two for Methodist Children’s Hospital book drive.

Never mind that Thanksgiving stress. This month’s Business, Media and PR Tweetup #BMPR is kicking off the holidays with techie treats.

John B. Taylor,   @jbtaylor, Sprint Nextel’s spokesperson, is visiting BMPR from Reston, Va. with the Sprint marketing team to talk all about 4G. Even better? They’re bringing Sprint toys to play with. You won’t want to miss this:

Check out these videos for a sneak peek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ESlaFkY4UQ

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv8-WIBpZcc

Davis Staedler @voxaeterno — the Senior Manager for the Apple Store at The Shops at La Cantera, will talk about making the most of your iPhone. Sure, it can keep you connected to the world, but are you letting it take over your real-life relationships? Davis will share some of his favorite, but less well known, iPhone apps.

Nan Palmero @nanpalmero A BMPR executive team member, BlackBerry Cool blogger and all-around BlackBerry wizard will fill us in on what’s coming next for BlackBerry lovers.

Sean Wood @seanmichaelwood A BMPR executive team member will give us the 4-1-1 on e-readers. In a Kindle versus Nook smackdown, Wood will fill us in on the pros and cons of each.

As always, Tips and Tools, put together by BMPR co-founder @andinarvaez will tackle the latest and greatest social media gadgets.

Special guest Bernice Kearney @bkearney executive producer at KSAT 12 News and super-cool chica will talk briefly about @abbysbookcorner — which is collecting children’s books to create a library at Methodist Children’s Hospital here in San Antonio.

The meeting is free. If you would like to eat lunch, the cost is $13 cash or credit at the Holiday Inn San Antonio Airport.