I’m starting the series with a look at Bel Lago Bistro, the stellar new restaurant in the gorgeous waterfront location previously occupied by the Hoover Grill. Disclaimer: I know the executive chef, Jeff Heisler, and he’s a great guy. I promise that’s not why I’m raving about this place, nor am I the only one; Columbus Alive’s G.A. Benton and City Scene’s reviewer also enthused about it.

The first thing that strikes you about Bel Lago is definitely the location and the view. Perched alongside the beautiful Hoover Reservoir in Westerville, Bel Lago makes you forget you’re in landlocked Columbus, Ohio – especially if you time your meal for a sunset view. It’s simply gorgeous and idyllic.

A terrific view alone does not a great meal make, however. The prior incarnation of the restaurant was mediocre to good, but not exceptional. I’m happy to say the changes made by the new Bel Lago have all been wise ones. The menu features a great variety with a decidedly Italian flair.

We started with the risotto balls at the recommendation of our server, and it was quite possibly the best appetizer I’ve ever had. When I was a kid on Long Island, pizza joints used to serve rice balls – a fabulous breaded and fried orb of cooked rice and mozzarella cheese. Bel Lago’s risotto balls took me back to those delicious childhood memories but surpassed them by a mile. Served hot with three dipping sauces – pesto, red sauce and alfredo – these were crisp on the outside, chewy and parmesan-melty on the inside, and utterly delicious. My husband and I agreed we could eat about a dozen more each and then die happy.

Several of the salads on Bel Lago’s menu sounded wonderful, but a glance at the tables around us told us they were huge, so we skipped the salads and went right to dinner. My husband raved about his molasses-barbecue baby back ribs and fresh asparagus, while I devoured my plate of home-made spaghetti topped by a large and tasty meatball. As noted by ThisWeek newspapers recently, fresh pasta is hard to come by in Columbus and Bel Lago is one of a handful of places making their own.

You might think that after our delicious appetizer and entrees, not to mention the wonderful hot, cheesy rolls and garlic butter we plowed through, that we’d be content to skip dessert and simply gaze at the water. You’d be wrong. We each felt called by a particular dessert on the menu and I’m happy to report that both the chocolate cake (husband’s weakness) and cannolli (my all-time favorite dessert) were excellent. The cannolli shells were chocolate-dipped and I’m a bit of a purist, preferring them plain with a bit of powdered sugar, but other than that they were terrific.

The best part of dining at this location always used to be the dreamy waterfront view. While that’s as gorgeous as ever, the food at Bel Lago is now just as sublime. The combination adds up to a simply spectacular date night, celebratory group outing or special occasion. Better yet, you can either dress up or go in wearing nice but casual attire – your choice.

Bel Lago Bistro can’t be beat - I’ve not found its equal. While Confluence Park downtown does have spectacular riverfront city views, Bel Lago is the only place in Columbus where the view of the water goes on for miles. Bel Lago’s food is superb, service is great and the decor inside is very attractive – but sit outside if you can. There’s just no getting over that view.

How Could Social Media Help Bel Lago?

My CTO, otherwise known as my blog technical advisor, also known as my better half, just let me know that this blog post does not belong here. He said that my personal brand has to do with PR and social media, not restaurant reviews, so he didn’t like this post. I do not want to start yet another blog (two blogs and multiple social networking sites is plenty), so I’m going to enhance this post by adding some thoughts about how social media could help Bel Lago Bistro.

If this were my restaurant, I’d probably start a Twitter account to start engaging with my local community. I’d follow anyone in Columbus but especially media, food bloggers and anyone who Tweets often about restaurants dining out. I’d hook up with the Tastecasting folks and invite them in for a special VIP tasting event. I’d also host a Tweetup for all local Twitterfolk to come in and enjoy a sampling of small portions at a reduced cost or possibly even free with a cash bar.

I’d probably also start a blog to share recipes, guest posts from customers with great stories (engagements and other special occasions at Bel Lago), and tips or news from the restaurant. I’d create a presence on Facebook with a branded URL and put a profile on Majelly, the Columbus social networking site. On all of these sites, I’d engage with other members in a very human, non-commercial way to build relationships. I’d also start encouraging guests to post reviews on Yelp.com and other local and national restaurant review sites.

How about you – where’s your favorite place to dine out in Columbus? And what other ideas do you have for Bel Lago or other local restaurants?

Once we had learned to manage Jack’s condition,  I created an online community for other families and caregivers of dogs with this disease. I wanted to make it even easier for the next person whose dog was diagnosed with Megaesophagus (ME). On the new Ning site, I tried to consolidate all the other great ME resources I could find online. It was my way of giving back to the folks who had helped us find hope in Jack’s diagnosis – the people who said do NOT euthanize him, despite what the vets may say about his condition being hard to manage.

Little did we know, Jack’s health struggles were just beginning. We had a few good, relatively symptom-free months over the winter, but then this spring things got really tough. Jack’s ME symptoms returned with a vengeance in late April, accompanied by even more disturbing neuromuscular signs. We knew there were specialists in our area, but we didn’t know where to turn for a definitive diagnosis.

On May 5, I sent out a desperate cry to the Twittersphere and was rewarded with dozens of responses recommending the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Our search for the best vet care was over. Jack spent the next day having many tests and a neurology consult,  and by evening we had our answers. It wasn’t good news, but at least we knew: his ME was caused by an underlying neuromuscular disorder known as Myasthenia Gravis or MG. That, in turn, was caused by a rare form of cancer called thymoma.

Reading a brochure about an illness is one thing, but conversing and chatting with other people going through the same struggle can be literally life-saving. How many dogs’ lives can be saved through their caregivers having the right information – including access to other families who have traveled that rough path before them? The thymoma diagnosis was not an easy one. We thought seriously about euthanasia – but after talking to the surgeon at OSU and several families on the ME Yahoogroup whose dogs had come through the surgery and recovered well, we decided to forge ahead.

On May 13, Jack had radical thymoma removal surgery known as thymectomy or thoracotomy. About as hardcore as it gets, this surgery involved sawing through his sternum and cracking his ribs wide open. Despite the potential for many risks due to Jack’s ME, it all went well. His cancer was encapsulated (had not metastasized) and Jack made it through anesthesia without any problems. Within a day we were able to visit Jack at OSU, and within another day he was well enough to come home – wicked twelve inch incision, 36 surgical staples and all. We spent the next 10 days monitoring him closely, giving him four different medications plus pain pills, and watching his every move. After that we went back to work but I continued to visit Jack at lunch to be sure he was okay. As we neared the two-week mark, Jack seemed to get stronger and healthier every day. We were thrilled!

But then, literally two weeks and a day from his surgery, Jack regurgitated and aspirated saliva or stomach contents during the day while we were at work. When we returned home, he was severely ill and gasping for breath. We rushed him back down to OSU where he received a diagnosis of Aspiration Pneumonia (AP). We could not believe Jack had come so far only to fight for his life once more. The vets told us he may not make it through the night; his blood oxygen level was down to 50% which is considered critical. We went home feeling devastated but holding out hope that our boy Jack would rally once again.

Sure enough, Jack once again amazed the vets, staff and students at OSU when he responded like a champ to nasal oxygen, IV antibiotics and fluids. Within just a few days in OSU’s critical care unit, Jack was ready to come home again. We’ve been nursing him back to health ever since and he continues to blow our minds with his strong spirit, positive attitude and joyful nature despite all the hardships he’s had to face.

Clearly, it’s not just social media that saved my dog’s life – it’s also the surgeons, specialists, veterinarians and students at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. However, it was social media that led us there, and it was through connections we made via social media that we gained the knowledge and hope we needed to keep fighting along with Jack. I have to say that the kind words and positive thoughts we received through Twitter and Facebook also made this long process more bearable for me, as well.

Jack’s journey’s not over yet. This is one tough dog! He’s also quite the social media hound these days. Here’s a link to Jack’s Facebook fan page, plus here’s a video I made to celebrate his victory over ME, MG, cancer and pneumonia.

If you’re one of the dog lovers who helped Jack and his family through this incredible journey so far, thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

At our house, however, long weekends usually involve some sort of hardcore DIY project undertaken by my husband, the king of home improvement. (Don’t believe me? Check out this video I shot of him two stories up, hanging off a ladder, last 4th of July weekend. And don’t get me started talking about the time he moved our shed single-handedly on his Columbus Day holiday a few years back.)

This weekend’s project had multiple parts. First, Eric rented a sod cutter to carve out some of our front and side lawn so that he can replace the grass with flowerbeds. Then, we rolled up the sod strips into manageable pieces and moved them in a wheelbarrow to our back yard where Eric used some of the pieces to sod over our former garden. I made a video about the sad demise of said garden (short version: it’s my fault). I also did a little sod modeling, as you can see from the picture above. Don’t ask – you simply had to be there.

The Great Twitter Sod Giveaway

Wondering how Twitter factors into this story? Well, at this point in our day, we realized we had way more sod on our hands than we needed. This grass is super healthy, well cared for, fertilized, weed-free and a gorgeous dark green. We hated to waste it, but we had absolutely no use for it – so I had the bright idea to give it away on Twitter. At this idea, my beloved snorted – a sound which spoke volumes. Eric’s not a fan of social media in general, and is especially peeved by the idea of Twitter. He can’t imagine who would find it useful or why. I figured this little sod story would make a nice Twitter case study if it worked. I also hoped that someone in my local Twitter network would need or want some sod.

And so, at about 2 p.m. on a beautiful sunny Saturday, I made my offer to the Twitterverse:

 Columbus Tweeps, does anyone need some sod? We have good, clean, healthy grass/sod up for grabs – hate to waste it and we don’t need it.

Within a minute, my offer was re-Tweeted and then about ten minutes after that, I had a taker. She was thrilled because she had planned to buy grass seed or sod sometime this weekend – and now she gets all the sod she wants for free. Score!

I love it when social media can help real people in real-life situations like this. This particular social media experiment may not be saving the world or improving lives, but it’s still a cool, green, local, friendly example of how to use Twitter. It saves us the trouble of disposing of the sod, saves my sod recipient the cost of buying it or the trouble of coaxing grass seed to grow, and who knows – maybe this will even start to make a Twitter believer out of my hard-working husband.

So, what did you do with your Memorial Day weekend – and would you like some leftover sod?

It was exciting to be in a room with such smart people sharing ideas about how we can use our blogs and social media networks – aka our “powers” – for good to help nonprofits, support charitable causes and affect real change. We learned that Geoff and the folks at the Columbus Foundation have  been working together on a study about social media for social causes, with full results being released later this spring.

Fellow blogger Shane Haggerty did a great job summing up the afternoon. Many of us also Tweeted as the discussion progressed, so you can find some key insights at the Tweetstream for hashtag #TCF. In fact, the Columbus Foundation was the number three trending topic among Twitter users in Columbus yesterday, as tracked by Happn.in, a Twitter trend aggregator that shows you what people are buzzing about in your particular city.

I can’t lie that in the days leading up to this event, I felt a great amount of pride for our fair city. Forget the coasts – our own little Columbus, Ohio is really making its mark as a social media epicenter with top national bloggers and social media pros coming to visit us. First Central Ohio PRSA brought Brian Solis to town, now the Columbus Foundation reveals it has a terrific partnership with Geoff Livingston, and next month the Ohio Growth Summit event brings Chris Brogan to Columbus as keynote speaker. There’s lots going on in social media in this town, and I’m happy to be part of it. 

While we’re thinking about using social media for social good, here are a couple of good resources:

• Ten ways to change the world through social media
• Beth’s Blog: how nonprofits can use social media
• The 59 smartest nonprofit organizations online today

So you tell me – what’s your favorite cause, social media related or not? Have you thought about how you can use social media to affect change?

1. WordCamp Columbus – May 16. Hosted at Columbus State Community College, WordCamp is a full day of keynotes, breakout sessions and networking focused around the popular blogging platform. I’m really looking forward to this event as I’m a Wordpress girl myself.
2. PodCamp Ohio - June 20. I attended this day-long “UnConference” last year and learned a ton about blogging, social networks, podcasting and new media from local and national social media pros. This year it will be at the Ohio State University’s Mendenhall Laboratory and it’s sure to be another stellar event attracting attendees from all across Ohio and beyond.
3. Ohio Growth Summit 2009 – June 10.  Longtime readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of Chris Brogan’s work in the social media space. In the immortal words of Lewis Howes, Chris Brogan is a social media mutant! Now he’s coming to Columbus to speak thanks to the Ohio SBDC. I’ll be the one in the front row with a huge grin on my face.
4. Spring Informal at MoJoe Lounge – March 25. Last night I got a nice email invitation to an event that’s being billed as the “Who’s Who in Columbus Social Media” – an exclusive gathering of our city’s brightest and most influential people in the social media arena. The email gushed “Needless to say, your name was on the short list of bloggers that are making an impact in the vibrantly growing tech scene in the Midwest!” And honestly, what blogger could resist that kind of flattery? I sure can’t, so I’ll be there. You nailed it, MoJoe Lounge.
5. Katie Paine at PRSA Central Ohio - date TBD. This one’s not final or official yet, and I honestly can’t remember if I heard about it at a PRSA board meeting or in the hallowed halls of the midwest’s top PR firm. Either way, I may be in big trouble for scooping it here – but it’s exciting news. Katie Paine is huge – she’s considered THE authority on social media and PR measurement. Watch this space and Central Ohio PRSA for more.

With all these great social media happenings flowing our way this spring and summer, why would anyone leave Columbus? Happy Friday – and be sure to catch up on the rest of my Friday Five series on social media and PR.

But then I realized what a cool resource this is. In these uncertain economic times, now more than ever we should be networking and building relationships with other local practitioners and PR bloggers. Remember that list Alvin made a few years ago about how none of the PR agencies in town blogged at the time? Ouch. Think of my list as the exact opposite of that one.

Alvin, Cheryl, Experience Columbus and my own agency Fahlgren Mortine have put together great lists of local Twitterers. Dawn has started a wonderful list of Columbus bloggers. Now, with a hat tip to Arik and my aforementioned Tweeps, I’m setting out to create a master list of local PR pros online - and give a little link love to my fellow PR peeps while I’m at it.

To get on the list of blogging and Tweeting PR pros in Columbus, please send me a note on Twitter, email me or leave a comment below with your name, blog (your own, your company/firm’s blog or any other blog you write for), and your Twitter @. I’ll update this post regularly with the entries I receive, and soon we’ll all have a great resource next time we want to throw a party and invite every online PR person in town.

Columbus PR Pros
Lara Kretler, Fahlgren Mortine PR, @LaraK

Amy Johnson, OSCPA, @alillyjohnson

Bill Balderaz, Webbed Marketing, @bbalderaz

Beth Watkins, @bethwatkins

Gary Moneysmith, Conrad | Phillips | Vutech, @garymoneysmith

Ashley Sanders, SBC Advertising, @ashsands

Mary Krouse Garrick, SBC Advertising, @maryg_pr

Craig Simpson, @crsimp01

Shane Haggerty, @shanehaggerty

Michelle Savoldi, Columbus Impressions, @cbusimpressions

John Rhind, @JohnRhind

Lora Deeds, Quest Software, @LoraDeeds

Ashley Moyer, Fahlgren Mortine, @AshleyM_

Amber Gallihar, Durable Slate, @agallihar

Jamie Grove, @hownottowrite

Cheryl Harrison, @cherylharrison

Gary Hunt, @Gary_Hunt

Emily Garvey, @EmilyGarvey

Jessica Hamlin, @jhamlin

J. Martin Poston, @jmposton

April A. Hayes, @Ahayes24

Krista Holloway, SBC Advertising, @kholloway

Kelli Nowinsky, COSI, @knowinsky

Irene Alvarez, Experience Columbus, @Irene_ExpCols

Courtney Cooper, Webbed Marketing, @courtcoop

Dave Culbertson, @daveculbertson

your name here…and so on

What do you think – useful idea? Please send me your info and help make this a great organic directory for PR in Columbus. And while you’re at it, please join my Wired PR Pros group on Majelly, the central Ohio social media community.

Today marks the first entry in my new series, the Friday Five – a weekly collection of my favorite new or cool web2.0 tools, tips and tricks. It’s named after one of the best times of the week – 5 p.m. every Friday.

It’s bitterly cold outside and the economy is still tanking, but there are always things to get excited about in the wonderful world of social media. Here’s this week’s round-up.

1. The hashtag #SolisOH. This week, Silicon Valley PR2.0 guru Brian Solis visited chilly Columbus, Ohio to share insights from his latest book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR. It was great to meet Brian, hear him speak and join a room full of my friends, colleagues and fellow Central Ohio PRSA members live-Tweeting the highlights from his presentation. You can read the collective notes via the Tweetstream. There were some great nuggets of info and I’m looking forward to diving into my new (and autographed, I might add) book. Big thanks to Brian for sharing his expertise with Columbus and taking some great photos of our town while he was here.

2. HootSuite. Formerly known as BrightKit, HootSuite is my favorite Twitter tool for managing and measuring multiple accounts simultaneously. The dashboard is simple to use and it even allows you to queue up Tweets to be sent at a later time or date specified by you. This would be great for anyone planning a vacation but still wanting to keep a Twitter account active and interesting. Plus, with a name like HootSuite, it’s got to be good, right?

3. Popular Delicious bookmarks. At any moment in time, people are saving articles, links and sites to Delicious and tagging them for easy recall and reference later. But how do you find what’s most popular in your niche? Visit http://delicious.com/popular/socialmedia only instead of social media, that last word should be whatever keyword floats your boat. For me, it’s either socialmedia or PR or some combination thereof - like PR2.0. Experiment with different keywords and you’ll be amazed at what you may find. Recently a visiting PR student asked me how I stay on top of what’s new in the world of social media and web2.0. This little Delicious “what’s popular” trick is one of my secret weapons – so Callie, now you know too.

4. Backtype. If you’re active as a blog commenter and conversator (and I hope you are), it can be hard to remember everywhere you’ve traveled and commented in the blogosphere. Now, there’s a tool that allows you to keep track of all your comments – or even the blog comments of other bloggers whose thoughts and insights you value. Backtype allows you to “claim” your comments so that they can be discovered, followed and shared. It also allows you to subscribe to the blog comments of other Backtype users, which can be a great way to find out which blogs your favorite bloggers read. You can use the service to monitor blog comments for a particular keyword. And, as someone who manages a team of bloggers, it helps me keep track of who is out there commenting and promoting our Fahlgren Mortine blog.

5. The phenomenon known as #Journchat. If you’re in PR or the media business, you should know about the Monday night Twitter events known as #Journchat. You can follow the Tweetstream here, visit the blog for recaps here or check out the Facebook group here. The brainchild of PR rockstar Sarah Evans, #Journchat has to be experienced to be believed – it’s a fantastic ongoing weekly conversation between PR pros and journalists with the goal of making all our jobs just a little easier. It’s a great way to find smart people to follow on Twitter, learn how to work better with “the dark side” (which side that is varies according to your perspective, of course) and maybe even pitch a story or find a great new source. If you’re not doing anything Monday nights at 8 p.m. EST, I highly recommend you head to Twitter and join the conversation.

So, that’s my first edition of the Friday Five. What do you think? Let me know if you found this useful. In the meantime, I’ll start collecting more shiny new tools and toys to share with you next week.

In November, the central Ohio chapter of PRSA (the Public Relations Society of America) is hosting two blogger-centric events. On Thursday, November 13 over the lunch hour, meet the biggest local influencers you don’t know yet – top Columbus-based bloggers – at a panel moderated by yours truly. I’m very excited by the line-up of bloggers for this event – Walker Evans, Advergirl and Ms. Single Mama. Get ready to find out how bloggers and PR folks can work together. This is a very hot topic, considering the most valuable tip I heard on today’s HARO “how to pitch a reporter” teleseminar was to pitch bloggers as a way to reach top mainstream journalists.

Then, on Wednesday, November 19, local bloggers and PR pros will meet and mingle over free appetizers and happy hour drink specials at Gordon Biersch in the Arena District. This event is free - and so fresh it’s not even posted to the site yet, but you can RSVP here by leaving a comment. It’s our first official PR pros & bloggers mixer, and hopefully the first of many.

If all that’s not enough, check out the new Columbus TechLife wiki. What a cool tool for corralling tech and social media folks in one place. Between that, Majelly and The Central Ohio Network, there’s certainly no shortage of excellent resources for new media information and events here in Columbus.

And if you’re just to the north and west of Columbus? Then check out the new Irish is an Attitude blog from the Dublin CVB, where with the luck of the Irish, you can win a gift basket of local sweets by posting a limerick or Irish proverb.

Have I missed any other cool news or happenings in the social media world of central Ohio? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

For now though, my imagination has been captivated by an event taking place tomorrow in Minneapolis. I read about it at Fabulously in the City and I am so in love with the idea that I have to pass it along.

The Minneapolis Art Hunt is the brain child of a young artist, William Hessian, whose goal is to bring “art to the people and people to the parks.” He has hidden 35 tiny original works of art – each a unique little octopus drawn and painted by him – around the public parks of Minneapolis. On Friday, October 17, residents get the fun job of exploring the parks and searching for these miniature artworks hidden in plain sight. William’s story about why he chose octopi, why he creates art hunts and why he chose the number 35 can be seen in this video.

I adore everything about this idea. It’s so social – it’s being spread by bloggers and William’s video can be re-mixed, mashed up, personalized and shared. The event itself is social because it encourages octopus seekers to go with friends; only one piece of art can be kept by each family, so if you want to keep hunting and finding more, you need to have a group with you. The idea of any kind of treasure hunt is so simple and wonderful that it appeals to everyone, from kids to the young at heart. At its core, this event is all about art, but it’s also about nature and being active outdoors. Let’s face it, there’s a metaphor here too – there’s already art all around us outside in our parks if we only take the time to walk around, explore and look closely.

I wish I could be in Minneapolis tomorrow to join the art hunt. Since I can’t, I’ll enjoy it virtually by watching for media and blog coverage. I’d also like to hire William Hessian to put on a miniature art hunt here in Columbus. He’s done them in several cities now and I think it’s time for us to have an art hunt of our own. This is a far better idea than those tired old giant street art sculpture installations that have gotten so popular in the last decade or so.

What do you think – could we get local businesses interested in sponsoring William to hide some tiny paintings in our wonderful central Ohio Metro Parks?

And in the meantime, what wonderful miniature art or hidden treasures have you found lately, right here at home?

The Ohio 2.0 event has just kicked off and one thing is clear: this is not your father’s tech crowd. This is a hot event with nary a pocket protector in sight. The cool kids are definitely here – and some of them are actually making fun of me for live-Tweeting the event!

(Sidenote: it was odd checking in at an event’s media/press table instead of being the PR flack sitting behind the table, checking guests off a list. I am enjoying this unique perspective of being both a PR person and a citizen journalist.)

Organizers Ben Blanquera and Angela Siefer opened tonight’s session by saying that this event came to fruition within the last four weeks and that its success can be attributed entirely to volunteers and to the power of social media. Pretty impressive considering I’m sitting in a major hotel ballroom right now with several hundred people who all fought Polaris rush-hour traffic on a Friday to get here. Nice job, Ben and Angela and team!

Ben just called attention to a college student in the audience who drove eight hours to be at this event (I later met him – his name is Ben, too). I feel so fortunate right now to live and work in Columbus so I can experience this top-notch tech event, with first-rate national speakers, not only close to home but also free. Ben just said it himself - Columbus is pretty cool!

Nancy Kramer from Resource Interactive is up now and she echoed Ben’s words about Columbus, offering stats about how tech savvy we are, the fact that we’re still hiring and adding jobs – and something I didn’t know, that we have the second highest percent of college students, following right behind Boston. She’s now introducing Judy Estrin, author of Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy, to speak about sustainable innovation.

Judy says the reason we have social media is because of innovation. But innovation doesn’t just happen, it needs to be nurtured. Innovation drives economic growth quality of life and is the only hope of addressing the major challenges that we face as a nation. Innovation means having the capacity for change.

(Sidenote: Right now I’m trying to live Tweet, live blog, and also simultaneously read the Tweetstream for #2ohio. It’s challenging but fun!)

Judy says the fundamentals of innovation are trying and testing, assessing and learning. It’s a messy, iterative process. You need to be willing to invest without knowing the outcome. And talent matters – a combination of skill, aptitude, passion and drive. Diverse perspectives are critical to innovation.

Innovation builds on innovation. Sustainable innovation requires a healthy, well-balanced innovation ecosystem. Three communities – research, development and application – intersect to make innovation happen. You must have all three.

Our core values determine our capacity for change. Questioning, risk, openness, patience and trust need to be values we have in balance. You can’t have just a few, must have all five. Innovation is a lot like gardening and requires a green thumb. It needs instinct - you need to nurture the plants, have the right soil and be able to transplant those seedlings into your mainstream business.

Everything Judy is talking about applies on small and large scales – to people, businesses, to the country. She says our innovation ecosystem as a country has been in decline since the 70s. We need next generation business leadership and country leadership. One key is leading through inspiration rather than leading through fear. Instead of leading through threats, competition – turn it into a challenge to motivate. Fear creates helplessness. Instead, inspire involvement and engagement, collaboration.

Next generation innovators need a different education system and culture. These are currently working against innovation. 21st century talent needs to embody core values – collaborative, adaptive, interdisciplinary, best of both the baby boomers and gen x/y, scientific and technologic literacy. We each have a role to play – courage, commitment, collaboration, core values. She closed by stating that before she wrote her book, she did not have strong feelings for any one candidate or party. Since researching and writing her book, she is now a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama.

The next speaker is being introduced and Reid Hoffman’s bio is unbelievable – this guy is connected to just about every social network site you can name in some way, either as a contributor, developer or investor. Most notably, he’s founder of LinkedIn. Not surprisingly, he’s talking about the importance of powerful networks to innovation – as well as to good leadership.

Three things come together for innovation. First, the germ of an idea - which must then be refined through other people. This is why networks are so important – the application of expertise of those around you. The other two elements are capital and execution. The process of how you execute your ideas has to continually improve and adapt.

(Sidenote: Reid had some great things to say but he was a bit more soft-spoken and less high-energy than Judy and the other speakers, so I may not have captured as many of his key points. Definitely check the Tweetstream for more from him.)

Mike Nelson is up next – he is, among other things, Sen. Obama’s chief tech advisor, a PhD in microphysics from MIT and a visiting professor of Internet Studies at Georgetown. He also served Sen. Al Gore and helped create the Internet. Seriously people, I’m not kidding, he really did. Also, he recently participated in a Twebate (debate over Twitter). He’s here to talk about the Obama campaign’s technology policies and says he’s bilingual in technology and policy.

Mike tells us he’s here from Washington to listen to us. He wants to hear what we think about how technology can help create jobs and innovation for this country. He gave us his email address so we can contact him with ideas (email me if you want it) and says he will gladly share our suggestions with the Obama campaign.

He says he’s with Sen. Obama because he’s “an incredibly smart dude with vision, commitment and the ability to synthesize really great ideas into action.” He also says Obama has surrounded himself with brilliant people, and judging from this guy I’d have to agree. He then gives the best quote of the night:

“First rate people surround themselves with first rate people – second rate people surround themselves with third rate people.”

Mike Nelson believes the Obama administration can harness the power of cloud computing in ever more powerful ways – and that cloud computing will be as big as the Internet was during the Clinton administration. He recommended that we read an article that just came out in an MIT publication called Technology Review – the article is “How Obama really did it.”

(Sidenote: Mike Nelson is so brilliant there is literally electricity crackling around this room at this point – I am too excited to take good notes right now as I am literally riveted, like everyone else - sorry folks! Will have to check out the notes from my Tweeps who are still live Tweeting. My fingers are shaking!)

Nelson began to talk more specifically about Barack, calling him by his first name. Up until now, this evening has not been overtly political in nature, but now we’re getting a very cool inside look at his campaign and priorities. Nelson says Barack is committed to science and technology, and to filling those offices with the right, smart people. He compared this to the Bush administration and how long it took to fill key scientific advisor positions. Nelson says again, with a wry grin, that the quality of the advisor is directly proportional to the ability of the advisee to listen.

He goes on to say this isn’t just about Web 2.0, cloud computing or leading edge information technology. It’s about using the technology tools we have to make our country better – make healthcare more efficient, make government more open and better, make taxi cab companies more fuel-efficient and productive. He is not just clearly a genius (have I already said that too many times? Clearly, I have a serious brain crush at this point), but he’s a tremendous speaker too. Mike was my favorite presenter of the evening.

Angela came back up and said we’re out of time so Craig Newmark, founder of Craiglist, will ask one question. Craig asked the panel how we can use social networking to improve the lot of midwestern states like Ohio and Michigan.

Reid says online personal branding and blogging, can help everyone – he said people should be using the Internet to find information, discuss with others, deliver business solutions online, find customers, develop better practices, and above all market and brand yourself.

Judy says it’s not just about using social networking to make Columbus talent available to Silicon Valley, but also about creating clusters around the country – regions of innovation excellence. Universities, businesses, entrepreneurs and local school system working together for technology, green technology, community and to become an innovation cluster.

Mike Nelson mentioned again the “brain trust” of the Obama campaign – LinkedIn is a great way to surround yourself with exceptional people as well. Mike searched his network for “Internet…Ohio…” prior to this trip to see who he knows. Mike also plugged Dopplr as a way to get in touch with others while traveling (at which point Reid said he’s an investor in Dopplr – no big surprise there!).

Mike says government needs to lead by example – the Clinton administration broke through cultural boundaries to using new technologies. He said social networking opens up government, makes it more transparent and more open to a real two-way dialogue.

At that point, the public event concluded. People mingled and networked for a while – I chatted with and met several Twitter peeps including @cclaypoole, @michaelbowers, @nickseguin, @selicker, @timjeby and @cherylharrison – and then @GaryMoneysmith and I went into the small, private VIP event with fewer than 40 others. 

It’s worth noting that I was unable to Tweet or blog from the VIP event because G-Money hijacked my laptop for his own blogging purposes (Fahlgren folks will be amused to know that our crusty old floater laptop worked just fine, while Gary’s sleek Macbook Pro couldn’t pick up a wireless signal to save his life).

Fortunately, I was also packing an old school notepad so the rest of this is from my handwritten notes. Craig Newmark is a very personable speaker who describes himself rather humbly as a customer service representative for Craig’s List. He said he’s been doing customer service for 14 years and is committed to doing it as long as he lives, though no longer full-time. He said aside from customer service, he sees his job as one of community organizer. He joked that as a geek, he prefers to do his community organizing online so “he doesn’t have to get off his backside.” 

Craig talked about using his community organizing skills to help Iraq and Iran veterans and the grassroots organizations dedicated to getting them the educational and medical benefits they deserve. He said it sounds mundane, but it’s things like that which make a big difference. He also does a lot of work in voter registration and getting young people, especially college students, out to vote. Craig said he does a lot of this on a non-partisan basis, because this year it’s simply too important to American history and to “human history.”

Craig noted that the Internet allows for networked grassroots democracy - what he called true or direct democracy. He said it’s making the dreams of our country’s founders a reality that we’ve moved to direct democracy from representative democracy. In addition, he talked about spending time in Israel and seeing the importance of green technology and innovation, not just for their own sake but also because they create jobs. He said sometimes the most important thing you can do for someone who is suffering is just to give them a job.

After Craig’s brief talk, there was a bit more networking and mingling. I had the opportunity to shake hands with and meet my new hero, Mike Nelson. G-Money was smirking and saying I had a tech crush, but as we both walked away after speaking with Mike, he reluctantly admitted he had one too. The other very cool person I got to meet was Craig Newmark’s PR rep, Mike Smith, who runs a firm out of the DC area. It was nice meeting a fellow PR person in the sea of techsperts at the VIP soiree.

All in all, it was a fabulous night - one that left me feeling really good about Columbus, the future of technology and innovation, and even our country. And now you’ll have to go over to G Money’s blog to read the work of wonder he whipped up on the laptop he whisked away from me earlier this evening!