CES, here I come!

It's hard to believe that after all these years in the tech space, I've never been to Technology and Consumer Electronic's Mecca, CES in Vegas.

Well all of that changes in January 7th-10th of 2009, where - thanks to my Panasonic client, I'll be there with them AND a few very special guests. CES as you can imagine, is one of the year's most important shows for Panasonic. They'll be there in a big way and I'll be playing several different parts (some front office; some back office) in their participation.

I'll fill you in with more details as they are made available and public, but for now I can share the fact that Panasonic have invited several guests to accompany them this time around. Panasonic's focus on "ideas for life" is all about humanity and at the end of the day, technology is nothing more than an enabler; a catalyst that helps us humans express, actualize, create and share our ideas, creativity and imagination.

On a tactical level, you might call it influencer or blogger outreach, but I think it's way more important on a strategic level: it's a demonstration of commitment and a tangible symbol of the value associated with citizen journalism, consumer generated content, "communal marketing" or expressed differently, "joining the conversation."

So who are the guests? (montage courtesy of Greg Verdino)

Chris Brogan
Chris is a well known social media veteran whose blog ranks in Technorati’s Top 100, a co-founder of the PodCamp “unconference” movement and a frequent conference speaker.
Web: http://www.chrisbrogan.com
Twitter: @chrisbrogan

Stacy DeBroff
Stacy is CEO of MomCentral, and a nationally recognized parenting expert, author and television personality.
Web: http://www/momcentral.com
Twitter: @momcentral

Steve Garfield
Steve is a video blogging pioneer and citizen journalist who produces several personal vlogs and contributes to media outlets such as CNN iReport and Rocketboom.
Web: http://stevegarfield.com
Twitter: @stevegarfield

Melissa Pierce
Melissa is a creative coach and documentary filmmaker, currently working on her own independent film Life In Perpetual Beta. Web (Life In Perpetual Beta): http://lifeinperpetualbeta.com
Web (personal blog): http://www.melissapierce.com
Twitter: @melissapierce

Cliff Ravenscraft
Cliff is a full-time podcaster, whose GSPN network produces nearly two dozen podcasts including series devoted to Hanna Montana, LOST, Heroes and other popular television shows.
Web: http://www.gspn.tv
Twitter: @gspn

In addition, 2 crayonistas will be joining: Greg Verdino and myself.

We'll be using Twitter quite a bit on site (using a unqiue hashtag: #LiHD and where possible, the more generic #CES or #CES09), so here's our respective twitter id's as well: @jaffejuice and @gregverdino.

The "why" behind why Chris, Stacy, Steve, Melissa and Cliff have been invited was touched on earlier. In a nutshell, it's part of the growing emphasis being placed on building relationships with a new creative class of idea generators, opinion leaders, influencers and thought leaders. In this age of conversation :) this kind of commitment is part of what I call the many-to-many model: fit into your consumers lives, instead of expecting them to fit into yours.

The "what" includes a variety of activities, including participating in a wide variety of events and activities that Panasonic has planned for CES; first looks and test drives of Panasonic's newest products and opportunities to speak directly with Panasonic executives and interview other special guests.

There's also a private dinner planned (don't worry, we'll take photos), as well as a tweet-up on Thursday night, January 8th (mark your calendars) which may or may not be sponsored ;)

So if you're planning on making the annual pilgrimage to CES, we'll see you there...and if not, we hope to be sharing and connecting with you throughout the event via our blogs, podcasts, streams, tweets and other weird sounding words.