Host of GeekBeat.TV
My passion is technology. I host GeekBeat.TV, a show all about technology, gadgets and exciting research that's shaping our future.
I speak a lot about social media, technology and the future of tech at corporate events and conferences around the country. For more information on having me speak at your event, click here.
What the…???
Woohoo!! I’m going to be jumping out of an airplane with the Golden Knights!!!
I can’t tell you how excited I am about this! It’s an opportunity that came my way because of OpenCamp, the conference I’m helping to organize in Dallas. You can find out more about the conference at www.openca.mp. You WON’T want to miss it!
Who are the Golden Knights?
You’ve seen the US Army Golden Knights parachute team. They’re THE experts – the best of the best!!! They’re the ones who fly into events like the Indy 500 and football games…and soon, the Rangers Game, and take our Presidents on jumps. They present and demonstrate the US Army ideals, and their mission is to help increase awareness and inspire others to be “Army Strong”.
What I’m most impressed with is the team’s desire to embrace new media and social aspects of the Internet. They’re on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, and have recently launched the brand new ArmyGK.com site on an open source platform designed to take their outreach into the next decade. OpenCamp afforded the opportunity to step up their game by learning from some of the brightest minds in the space.
These are the guys you want to jump out of an airplane with if you’re ever going to do it! Believe me, I had no interest…I mean ZERO interest in ever jumping out of a plane. That is, until they asked me. There is no fear in doing it because they know what they’re doing, and I’ll be in good hands!
Jumping at OpenCamp
OpenCamp is being held August 27-29, 2010. The Golden Knights are coming into Dallas to do an exhibition jump at the Rangers Game, then on August 26th, they’re kicking off OpenCamp by taking a bunch of our speakers and tossing them out of an airplane! Here’s who we have on that list of jumpers so far:
- Me! (Cali Lewis)
- Trey Ratcliff
- Giovanni Gallucci
- George Ruiz
- Frederick Van Johnson
- …and more!
There will be lots of video, both of me jumping and from cameras attached to me on the way down. You can see an example from John P.’s recent jump below. There will be one like it of me!
Although there will be video, I promise…you WON’T want to miss out on being there as we make our way down and land to kick off OpenCamp! But remember…you’ll need to be registered for OpenCamp to participate!
Pyrotechnics Demonstration
Not only are they tossing our speakers out of the plane, on Friday night, August 27th, there will be an incredible evening of skydiving demonstrations – complete with pyrotechnics!
Help the Army Embrace Social Media!
They don’t do this for anyone. I am incredibly honored that they’re doing this with us! Please show your appreciation by:
- Following the Golden Knights on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube and read the US Army Golden Knights Website!
- Help spread the word EVERYWHERE that the Golden Knights will be at OpenCamp!
- Blog it like you mean it! While you’re spreading the word, how about putting your thoughts in a blog post and letting the Golden Knights know how much you appreciate their service (and all of our Soldiers). Drop a link in the comments here to your blog post and we’ll be letting them know about every single blog post. Who knows, maybe you’ll capture their attention…
I’ll be adding more people to the list soon. Get more information on our OpenCamp blog post about the jump, and make sure you register and book your hotel room now so you can join in on the fun!
I’ll be speaking at the DFW WordPress Group on Saturday, July 24th at 4:00 PM. My topic will be Extending WordPress Functionality, where we’ll take a look at great, useful and fun plugins to allow you to take full advantage of your website!
Join me there, and don’t forget to register!
8080 Park Lane
Dallas, TX 75231
214-692-8080
Sometimes you just have to come right out and support an issue when you feel it’s a good cause, and that’s what I’m going to do.
There are some people who just don’t get or like Twitter, and I can understand why. I didn’t “get it” when it first came out. I actually publicly refused to join because I didn’t understand what good could come out of it. Eventually, I signed up, quickly became a Twitter disciple and wrote a whole series of posts on the subject. But there is just no denying the usefulness of Twitter once you’ve seen this video!
Now that we’re all in agreement on the usefulness of Twitter, I stand up and say…
Tweet! Tweet about popcorn, people! And let’s all make this robotic Twitter-powered machine do what it’s meant to do…make popcorn!