Those attending the Social Media Workshop Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM are in for a very special treat. Andy Beal, internet marketing consultant, award-winning blogger, professional speaker and coauthor of the critically-acclaimed book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online will be the special guest speaker via Skype.

Riverstone Energy Center team members Kristy Johnson (on screen) and Ben Thompson (standing) make first trial run using the modeling and simulation “Cave” for immersive teleconferencing.

Lisa Kipps-Brown, President of Glerin Business Resources, is working with the Riverstone Energy Center to use the modeling and simulation “Cave” to host an interactive discussion during the workshop. “We couldn’t afford his fee to come and speak to our group, but Mr. Beal graciously offered to attend via Skype. Our next challenge was to figure out a way for those attending the workshop to be able to see and interact with Mr. Beal,” Kipps-Brown said. “Without Riverstone Energy Center's assets and lots of help from Energy Center employees Ben Thompson and Kristy Johnson, we wouldn't have been able to make this happen; they're also enabling us to live stream the entire workshop for those who can't attend,” she added.

The next free social media workshop at Riverstone Technology Park will be next Tuesday, March 20, at 6pm; the topic will be blogging and a special guest will be teleconferencing in. You can register online but space is limited so make sure to register early.

 Noted marketing and online reputation expert Andy Beal will join the group via teleconference for a Q&A session.  Andy will discuss how businesses can use social media monitoring software in market research, PR, online reputation management, risk analysis, and customer service. He is the author of Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online.

Continuing the free Social Media Workshop series that kicked off in December, Glerin Business Resources will present a Facebook workshop on January 23 and 24, 2012 at Riverstone Technology Park in South Boston, Virginia. The popularity of the first workshop prompted Glerin to schedule two nights this month to allow more participants.

This free social media workshop will explore how to use Facebook effectively, including topics such as:

December 6 marked the kick-off of the free social media workshop series that Glerin Business Resources is presenting at Riverstone Technology Park.  For those who weren't able to make it - or those who did come and would just like to review - video of the workshop is now available here.

PDF files of the slides used in the workshop, as well as the social media glossary that was handed out to participants, are also available for free download here.

South Boston - Halifax County Tourism, the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce, and the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County are partnering to sponsor a series of free workshops aimed at helping local businesses and organizations learn how to use social media more effectively.

The series, developed and presented by Glerin Business Resources, will kick off at 6pm Tuesday, December 6, in the conference room at Riverstone Centre.  The first workshop will be an overview of the major social media outlets, explaining what each is, how they differ from each other, what they're used for, and how they can be used together in a coordinated way.