Last year, I got involved in organizing this event with Brandon Chesnutt (@bchesnutt) and Sarah Worsham. (@sazbean) It was held at the Magic Stick and there were three hundred in attendance. This year’s projected audience is five hundred or more. The venue can comfortably fit up to one thousand.

The Sound Board at Motor City Casino Hotel is a top notch facility, with all the latest in technology, lighting, video and audio. I recently attended Fashion in Detroit there and was absolutely amazed. This is truly going to be a time the speakers and attendees will never forget.There will also be music provided by local Detroit artists, and possibly more surprises as we obtain more sponsors and get approval for some of the great ideas we have.

Here is my presentation from last year on ethanol:

If you’re interested in speaking at this year’s event, come up with a good pitch and submit your topic with our speaker submission form. I am looking forward to seeing what this event brings to Detroit’s technology community.

The madness begins! Follow along at: http://highfivesxsw.com/

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 presented somewhat of a challenge for the fast-growing community. Metro Detroit was preparing for what is projected to be the biggest Midwest Winter snowstorm in recorded history. On Twitter, the pending storm had been given all kinds of names, like Thundersnow, Snowmageddon, SNOMG, Snowtorious B.I.G., Snow Schembechler and Snowpocalypse. So far, the mayhem happening outside of my house is living up to expectations.

The Tweetea community rose to the challenge, in the first edition of the weekly tweetup that was conducted entirely through the #tweetea hashtag on Twitter. No one really knew what to expect. The discussion moved rapidly, and probably annoyed some of our out-of-state friends, but ultimately turned out to be a great success.

The topic of discussion was, “Why do you think many artists struggle so much to create full-time?” The topic veered off in a lot of directions, just like in real life, but the core topic was discussed at length and we were all enlightened from many perspectives.

This is just another example of our resilience in a mutual struggle to make Detroit a better city. If New York is the city that doesn’t sleep, we have to hustle harder to compete in the global market. More importantly, this shows a sense of urgency among Detroiters. There are so many ideas floating around our heads that we all want to put to action. We want Tweetea to be successful, because it will lead to good things for all of us. Next week, when Tweetea resumes at its normal time and locations, we will pick right up where we left off, and we will continue to build a better Detroit. I hope to see you there!

A lot of great things have happened since then, both for me and the city I love. I hoped that I could not only participate in SXSWi this year, but also participate in the road trip challenge. My dreams came true this week, as Chris Barger (@cbarger) from GM emailed me to let me know that I’ve been selected as a team member. This year’s challenge will be slightly different. There are ten teams this year, and one of those teams will also be from Detroit. My team consists of Shauna Nicholson, (@shaunan) Bobby Mercader, (@rmercader) Joe Minock (@AdrenalineJoe) and me. Detroit’s second team consists of Nikke Stephan, (@NikkiStephan) Jacki Halas, (@Jacki_Halas) Kyle Stuef, (@KyleStuef) and Brian Ambrozy. (@primesuspect)

My initial thoughts are that I’m just really excited for this. I’ve spent the entire day RSVPing for SXSW events and bantering with my teammates and opponents online. My wheels are turning, and I’m brainstorming ideas of fun and creative ways we can make this trip successful, and memorable. I’m looking forward to the banter between my friend Brian Ambrozy and I, as we compete against each other. I’m preparing my brain for the mental Olympics I’m about to put it through, and my liver for the massive consumption of alcohol that is about to go down.

Please follow along with me here on my blog, twitter, facebook and foursquare. I’m planning to record a new mix within the next two months and dedicate it to my road trip team. I’m looking forward to what is undoubtedly going to be the time of my life, the friendships that will be made and made better, and the hard work that is ahead of me. Good luck to all the teams, and may the best one win!

I teamed up with Brian Ambrozy of Icrontic (@primesuspect) to plan a day of fun and adventure! Brian put together an achievement game using the new location-based social media service, SCVNGR. We have teamed up with local businesses for a virtual scavenger hunt that will send teams all across Detroit to have fun. Some of the activities include laser tag, arcade gaming, watching the movie at an IMAX 3D theater and various eating and drinking spots.

At the end of the night, we will all gather at The Old Miami in Detroit for a Daft Punk tribute, performed by my band, Lune Noir. There we will announce the winning team and give out prizes.

If you are interested in participating, please go to Icrontic and read the instructions.

Can’t take the day off? There will be other ways to participate, and you’re welcome to join us at The Old Miami after the movie.

Many of you who read my Twitter feed know that I’ve been very critical of the new show “Detroit 1-8-7″. However critical I may be, I also think there are great lessons to be learned from this television experience. I think these lessons can and should be applied towards the ideas that are considered tonight as Startup Weekend begins.

Most importantly, we have to remember that there is a lot of power in the name, “Detroit”. So much power, in fact, that even with the murder code from another state attached to it, it can sell a crappy, uninspired cop drama to the masses by name recognition alone. The characters don’t have to be realistic, the local references don’t have to be accurate and the acting doesn’t have to be, oh what’s the word I’m looking for… Good… to get 8 million people to watch a network show. The show proves that Detroit has power in the name alone.

The name of Detroit does indeed have a lot of power. In the music industry, many artists from around the world have respect for our music culture, and not just from the Motown and Rock n Roll days. We are also respected for innovating techno music, creating our own style of hip hop and continuing to produce talented pop icons like Jack White and Eminem.

What we need now is to continue to restore the integrity behind the powerful name of Detroit. As Startup Weekend participants work their brains overtime this weekend to come up with the ideas that will move this city forward, they should consider the power that is in the name, Detroit, and how they are using and representing it, both individually and as a community.

This goes beyond Startup Weekend, of course. Many of us are giving a lot more than we’re being compensated for, working overtime to come up with our own ideas to shape this city. The executives at network television stations don’t know any better, but we do. Make sure that everything you slap the English D on is worthy of the name. Perhaps we should all consider, when using Detroit’s namesake to craft our ideas, if the name is helping the idea, or if the idea is helping the name.

What turns a good idea into a worthwhile enterprise is creativity and hard work. We are living in an age of nearly complete transparency, where even if you try to hide your intentions, someone is going to recognize your true agenda. Don’t let this city be defined by bad ideas, or let good ideas die because of poor implementation.

Most of all, let’s preserve the power of Detroit by keeping the name sacred. What you attach this name to represents all of us. It represents our resilience, perseverance, innovation and creativity. It inspires other fallen cities to walk in our path. It challenges bigger cities to work harder if they want to stay ahead. As Detroit moves forward, creates, inspires and innovates the name will only get stronger.

Ask not what Detroit can do for you… Ask what you can do for Detroit.

Why am I doing this? It’s not because I think everyone is dying for a Red Lobster cheddar biscuit, even though they are delicious. It’s not an act of narcissism, although I admit i’m just as guilty of that as anyone. I believe that we are all part of a community that shows support for each other when we face adversity. We’ve all seen how the media portrays Detroit. From Chris Hansen’s investigative dribble to the reports on our recent house fires, it seems like the world believes Detroit has lost its edge. They think we’ve gone soft. They think we’ve given up. They want to continue to kick us down.

Perhaps everyone is afraid of what a re-emerging Detroit is going to mean for the rest of the country. I don’t think any city is more hated than us, but as we rebuild, the haters will only get worse. I see Detroit becoming a beacon of hope for every city that has been hit hard by this recession. We will be the example that other struggling cities will use to plan their own recovery. The haters and nay-sayers will only get bolder and louder as we work to achieve the goals for our community.

This is not about me, and it certainly isn’t about a damn biscuit. It’s about showing support for one of your own. I know I would do the same for all of you, even if I don’t always like or agree with what you post online.

We’re all in this together. Please show your support by following @djmeph1. I will announce the time and location for the #freebiscuit tweetup next week. Thanks, and keep representing Mother Detroit!

You may be asking yourself, “What’s the reason for all this bragging?” Well, someone out there is such a big fan, that they actually took the time to create a fake profile of me. I consider this to be a milestone in my ever-expanding list of social media accomplishments, which includes:

1. Joining Twitter

2. Tweeting a lot

And here I thought number 3 would be profit. Damn you underpants gnomes!

Before I found my official fan page on Twitter, my Bio read: “DJ, Blogger, Social Media Black Belt and Seasoned IT Professional.”  But I think my biggest fan nailed it with the updated bio and avatar, so I decided to copy them over to my own Twitter account.

They also did a lovely job with the profile decor:

Pink! How did they know?

I have absolutely no idea who the genius is behind all of this, but I’d really like to meet them. It’s an honor, and I’d like to know what that person was thinking when they created my fake account.

Sarcasm aside, let’s all have fun with this. Clearly someone thought they could bring me down with negativity, but I’d like to turn this into something positive. Currently I see that my fake profile has no followers yet, and that kinda makes me sad.

The first 50 people to follow @djmeph1 will receive from me, a free biscuit from Red Lobster.

The prizes will be given away at a future Tweetup somewhere in the Detroit area. I will announce the date and location on my blog soon, so subscribe now or follow me on Twitter for more information.

If there are any businesses out there that would like to get involved in turning this negativity into something positive for everyone, feel free to contact me.

Update: The official hashtag for this is #FreeBiscuit.

Throwing it down at the Chevy SXSW Epic Tweetup

Here I go again on my own. I have recently moved on from the group, Lune Noir, and I’ve got some big plans for the future. Word to the homey Boof, we had some great times and made four stellar mixtapes. Over the past couple years he has been working on his new project, Cry Wolf. It is excellent and I am looking forward to seeing great things from him in the future as we both go in different directions.

My music,  my life and my blog are all going in a new direction. After spending more than a year getting involved with Detroit’s social media scene, I realized that I have learned so much but have yet to apply these skills to my own career. That is going to change. After working hard to coordinate the entertainment at the Chevy SXSW Epic Tweetup I realized that I’m good at planning and coordinating events. Using what I learned from the days when I used to throw raves, I am going to be working with The Magic Stick in Detroit, and a handful of Detroit’s social media professionals to keep the momentum going from the Epic Tweetup. I’m very excited about all of the ideas that have been thrown around, and everyone’s support for taking our social media events to the next level.

Those who know me, know I’ve been through a lot over the past five years. I have struggled with drug addiction, financial issues and my weight, among all of the other little problems that life likes to throw at us. I have come a long way, and I am grateful for the support that I’ve received from my family and friends, but it’s time to step it up  a notch.

Most of all, I’m looking forward to Detroit’s future. All of my problems really don’t mean a thing when I think about a city that has had it much worse than I have, for much longer than I’ve been alive. I still remain 100% dedicated to the rebuilding and revitalizing of Detroit. What’s good for Mother Detroit will surely benefit me in the end. I hope you will join the revolution.