AND, that’s a wrap.

From February 18-22, 2013, iStrategyLabs produced the second annual Social Media Week DC, creating a week-long festival giving thousands of Washingtonians a platform to express their interest and love for social media.

We had a fantastic turnout:

• 115+ entirely community-organized events
• 6000+ registered attendees
• 10,700+ #SMWWDC tweets
• 43,000+ SMWWDC Facebook post views
• 2400+ SMWWDC Facebook page likes
• 70+ trend and event re-cap blog posts from the SMWWDC Editorial Team
• 60+ local and national media mentions

Approaching SMWWDC 2013, our planning team decided that it was most important to put the power in the hands of the people. We thus encouraged members of the community to curate discussions, host panels, throw events, and engage with social media in its established and emerging forms. To make this happen, we:

• Recruited an advisory board of amazingly talented social media and tech people to curate their own events, in addition to promoting others;
• Anchored the week with events such as our opening party and closing party, while putting together an awesome keynote line-up featuring Steve Case, Linda Abraham, and Aneesh Chopra;
• Actively monitored and mentored our community organizers, assembling DC’s events in one cohesive SMWWDC package;
• Constructed a 30+ member editorial team to produce fresh, engaging content during the build-up to and throughout SMWWDC;
• Constantly pushed for more engagement with our social audiences through SMWWDC’s Facebook & Twitter accounts;
• Sourced multiple community venues to provide space for event organizers in need of a place to host;
• And partnered with multiple sponsors to provide an official SMWWDC hub for the week in its entirety, opening its doors to many an community event organizer to use as a canvas for their respective events.

In sum, SMWWDC was truly a social media phenomenon for our Nation’s capital.

Our Presidential Trivia-themed opening party was the place to be on Monday night. Sponsored by Twitter and moderated by iSL’s very own Katie Lancos, this event was full of surprises.

Thanks to a partnership with Onomonomedia at our SMWWDC hub provided by Popularise & Fundrise, we captured some of the quirkier moments in-between sessions.

Some of the members of our advisory board even jumped in on the action.

And with Onomonomedia’s innovative .GIF feature, there was no shortage of fun to be had.

The Closing Party thrown at Malmaison by iSL and No Kings Collective attracted hundreds of people to a sold-out party, where DC’s best and brightest mingled, celebrated the events of SMWWDC, and danced the night away.

Couple our exciting venue and partiers with a live band, and you had one night to remember in our Nation’s capital. #SMWWDC #2013

Admittedly, at first glance, NACS (or the National Association of Convenience Stores) might not sound like the most exciting client, but I assure you, they certainly are. The annual NACS Show is the #1 buying show in the United States and provides the most comprehensive representation of products and services for the convenience and fuel retailing industry (aka any conceivable snack, treat, beverage, or related emerging technology one could ever think of).

You can imagine that this is one hot ticket, and, unfortunately, some people aren’t able to visit this amazing event and left to sit at home wondering about what they are missing out on; that is where iSL came in. We designed and built a Tumblr page for the NACS Show 2012 whose content was comprised of real-time photos, videos, and text garnered by the iStrategyLabs Social Media Team that scoured the floor during the show. We were able to let the show live online so anyone not in attendance could digitally follow along and those that did attend could get a chance to see what they might be missing out on.

The main mission was to capture the sights, sounds, and overall exciting energy of the two day expo while also being sure to emphasize the NACS brand as much as possible. It was imperative that this be incredibly mobile friendly and our clean-cut, easy-to-navigate design made sure that was the case. Easily sorted by content type, and searchable, the Tumblr page became a hub for all NACS Show activity, all happening in real-time.

Once we arrived at the show, it was just a matter of trying to capture all the amazing content. Two days was barely enough time to experience everything at the NACS Show!

We interviewed reps from some of our favorite brands…

And got a first-look at some of the mind-blowing new products we can expect to see in stores soon…

Luckily, there were plenty of energy drinks to be found.

So we were able to power through and really get behind the scenes.

Finally, after two incredible days, we made like Elvis and left the building, counting down the days until the NACS Show 2013 in Atlanta!

See you in Atlanta!

I’ve been an avid convention goer since 2007, but nothing could have prepared me for New York Comic Con.

Thanks to an opportunity provided by American Cosplay Paradise - a social network for those who practice cosplay and dress up as fictional characters on days other than Halloween and costume parties - I was asked to be the private escort to English voice actor and Aniplex staff member Bryce Pappenbrook.

(My excitement around this offer could likely only be represented by this gif x4)

Pappenbrook is best known for his voice work in dubbed versions of Japanese Animations such as the new hit Blue Exorcist where he portrays the protagonist, Okumura Rin. He has also done voice-overs in various video-games such as Final Fantasy: Dissidia, where he voices the infamous Zidane Tribal.

Bryce Pappenbrook and EJ from Aniplex

NYCC held a panel and a showing of the newly dubbed series, Blue Exorcist, for the first time in America. For both events, I was asked to escort Bryce Pappenbrook to the stage dressed as his character, Okumura Rin. Having dressed as Okumura before, this was an amazing experience.

Me and Bryce Pappenbrook

Aside from important convention duties, NYCC was full of entertaining things.

Below, Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. This is my poor attempt at trying to get a photo of him without having to pay $40 to do so. I’m pretty sure there were approximately 500+ people lined up to get his autograph.

And don’t forget about the amazing cosplays, that cosplayers work very hard on to achieve the utmost accuracy ;)

Adventure Time

Star Wars

Yes, that's a real human being dressed as Bumble Bee from Transformers

Mass Effect

PSY x2

OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!

Nightmare Before Christmas

Along with amazing costumes, there were plenty of inventive displays and fun merchandise.

Official art prints for Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy and Soul Eater

Final Fantasy XIII Figurines

Playable demo of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney HD for iOS

The Hulk made out of Legos...what's not to love!?

David Lloyd, the mastermind behind V for Vendetta

 So until next year NYCC, it’s been real!