I’ll be pitching (and hopefully) building the Beta version during HackNashville. For one intense weekend, Friday through Sunday, April 20-22, it’s all about simply taking a few good ideas and making them come to life. HackNashville gives you the chance to get in a cool place, commiserate, and build your brains out. Wish me luck!

Courtenay did it again. She found a cause that pulled at my heartstrings and invited me to give my time, energy and willpower. On April 6th-8th, Courtenay and I are helping raise donations to purchase adaptive vehicles for veterans who have suffered multiple amputations during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Courtenay’s ROTC friends Mark and Sean are hiking all 2180 miles of the Appalachian Trail to increase awareness and raise donations for wounded veterans. The Warrior Hike has brought Mark & Sean to Erwin, Tennessee and invited Courtenay and I to join them in their cause. We’ll be driving out there on Friday April 6th and throwing a fundraiser event at the new offices of the ever-talented Kelly Spalding from Kelly Spalding Designs on Thursday March, 29th. If you’re in the area and want to support the cause, you can view the Facebook invite here.

If you’d like to donate to the Warrior Hike, they can take donations electronically on their donate page. 100% of all donations collected will be used as grants to purchase adapted vehicles for wounded veterans.  Donations are tax exempt under Federal EIN 56-2656711.

Wish me luck on our survival hike. Not only will I be slugging around a 35 pound pack in the middle of nowhere, I’ll be camping out in a tent with my sister. I hope she doesn’t snore. Pray for me.

It’s really easy to use, allows for stunning visuals, has a whole lot of analytics and it’s friendly to non-techies. You can customize your background image, fonts, colors and links with ease and have your own little space on the world wide web.

You can enhance your about.me page by linking it to all of your social profiles. It links to your:
Twitter
Facebook profile
Facebook page
LinkedIn
Google+
Tumblr
Wordpress
Blogger
Instagram
Flickr
TypePad
Foursquare
Formspring
YouTube
Vimeo
Last.fm
Dailybooth
Posterous
Behance
Fitbit
Github
or your businesses website

Here’s mine. Who’s that handsome devil?

You tell it what your “work” hours are, and then it syncs with your Outlook, Google Cal, iCal/Entourage, MobileMe, Lotus Notes, BlackBerry, Windows Live, Yahoo, Plancast, TripIt, Facebook or other calendar and gives you a public web-based calendar that shows when you are free and busy. Clients can then see when you are available and even try to schedule an appointment directly through tungle.me.

The calendar you’re currently using is fine if you only schedule with people on compatible calendar types or within your companies intranet. All the hassle I came across was when I started trying to get together with people using something other than iCal or Outlook and clients in different time zones.

It’s pretty easy to signup and get started, but as long as you’re slightly computer proficient, this shouldn’t take you more then a few minutes.

Some key benefits I like are:

• you can brand your profile to look like your own
• add social profiles
• customize your contact info (email, website, phone)
• favorite meeting locations
• add logo
• customize availability

You can even add your public calendar to your email signature so your contacts, leads and current customers can easily see your availability. I’ve added my own signature below as an example.

Matthew Rogers
Brand Experience
PRIMARILY RYE
O | 615-379-8737
Tw | @primarilyrye
http://primarilyrye.com/the-rye/
Tw | @primarily_rye

Want to meet? Check my availability here: http://tungle.me/matthew.rogers

Facebook has finally updated Timeline for Pages and all Fan Pages will be moved to this format March 30. One of my favorite business pages really using Timeline well is Coke. You can view Coke’s Timeline way before facebook even existed. There’s testimonials from 1892 that are handwritten and scanned in, vintage graphics from the 60′s & 70′s and scores of video and nostalgia.

The opportunity to engage your fans in a deeper and more fluid way is a huge opportunity for your Brand Experience (Bx). Showing them pictures from when you first started in a dinky closet office, when you hired your first employee, when you made your first big sale- those can now all be added to your Facebook Fan Page. Facebook is handing you a free, dynamic and interactive platform to tell your story in a much more meaningful and human way. And you need to take advantage of it.

In order to prep for the new layout, you need to know a few very important things.

NEW GRAPHIC DIMENSIONS
Cover image: 851 x 315px
Profile picture: 180 x 180px
Custom apps: 810px wide
Custom app icons: 111 x 74px

Facebook has announced some strict rules & restrictions with what can be promoted/presented in the cover image. You cannot feature pricing and purchase information, contact information, website URL, QR Codes, arrow graphics, prices,  references to “Liking” your Page, or calls to action (think “Get it now!” or “Tell your Friends!”)

TAB SPECIFIC CHANGES

Tabs are now referred to as apps.

Existing tabs are still at 520px by default.

All existing tabs can be switched to 810px with an app setting.

You can no longer have a default landing tab, but you can feature up to 3 tabs on the cover and you can pin posts to draw attention to apps.

Visible tabs are now called “Favorites”. When you remove a tab from Favorites, it becomes invisible. You can click the plus button when in tab edit mode to add it back to Favorites.

You can change the cover icon for a tab by going to Edit Page > Apps > Edit Settings > Custom Tab Image.

OTHER CHANGES

Fans can now message their favorite brands directly through the message feature.

You can pin posts which will remain on your page for up to 7 days.

New “admin” panel at the top of the page allows admins to see their notifications, messages, insights etc. all in one place when they log into their page.

An activity log lets you view all posts (even hidden ones), star them, change the date, etc.

You can select your top posts and choose to “pin” that post. Pinning a post will move it to the top left of your timeline feed for up to seven days at a time. Pinning can be used to promote custom apps, showcase a photo or video, offer a coupon or feature a timely post.

Of course, Primarily Rye is here to help you get setup and ready for the big changes. We’re excited for all of our clients that have some really great stories to share! Feel free to email or call and set up an appointment to review your Facebook Fan Page needs. (615) 379-8737

HELPFUL RESOURCES
http://www.facebook.com/about/pages
http://www.facebook.com/help/whats-new-on-facebook

Great article by Inc.

Then, like the evangelist healing the desperate on a trampoline,
you bounce back with acceptance and the belief that you deserve it.

A ping pong game between pride and humility, all within a few seconds.

ATTENTION YOUNG DESIGNERS!
If you’re in college, you don’t have experience.
If you don’t have experience, you’re the first round of rejections in the hiring process.

SCREW THAT.

Apply to be a Coasty and break the shackles of coffee run internships. Oh, you’ll get coffee, just on the way to a client brief, press check or new client meeting.

You can join a team, work solo or earn lead on a project. Here, you’ll learn the reality of what it takes to own your own shop, freelance or be a productive team member in a creative agency.

JR & SR level college designers need this the most. But if you’re good, you’re good- so it doesn’t matter if you’re even attending college. The hours earned (and we mean earned) at Primarily Rye’s Third Coast Creatives program are eligible for most design program internship hours. The work days are flexible, but the responsibility is not.

APPLY BY EMAIL TO
coasty@primarilyrye.com

Please include the following in your email:

Subject Line: Coasty Wanted
1) Your name
2) What is your current year/level in school?
3) When is your availability?
4) When could you start and when would you have to end?
5) #1 skill & skill that needs improving?
6) Favorite prime number?
7) Favorite typeface?

THEN- we would need a digital preview of:

1) Your single best piece of work during JR or SR year and,
2) Your single worst piece or work during JR or SR year. Be honest about the worst.

Once that is taken care of, we’ll setup an interview.