I feel terrible that it’s taken this long to get up a new Red Shoe Project video.  Despite the lull in video activity, RSP has remained busy!

• RSP Atlanta -- Red Shoe Project TweetUp thrown by Stephanie Lloyd and hosted by Fuego Mundo
• Trip to Chicago for TweetCamp Chicago… resulting in a couple of fun photos!
• RecruitFest! in Toronto, Canada -- photos of Maren Hogan of RecruitingBlogs.com, Eric Winegardner of Monster.com and Karla Porter of karlaporter.com
• HREvolution in Louisville, KY.  Photos of Trish McFarlane of hrringleader.com, Kelly Mitton of tHRyving.com, Jessica Miller-Merrill of Blogging4Jobs.com and Stephen Geraghty-Harrison of HRGumbo.com

In addition to the above events, Liz Moody from San Antonio, TX threw a fun red paint party and Collin Corrington, Marketing Director for Gruene, TX sent in some excellent photos!  Thank you both!

Without further ado, enjoy the video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFK-wZnWmnc

Be sure to submit your photos to pictures@redshoeproject.org in the near future!

Special thanks to Sean Fournier for contributing his music to this month’s video!

August has past and Red Shoe Project is catching up!

Last month was a big deal for RSP!  For starters, we had our first official Red Shoe Project social hour… we called it Red Shoe TweetUp (also #rspchicago for you Twitter users).  With a few days notice, over 35 people showed up for the event!  The very talented Veronica Ludwig of Chicago, IL went the extra mile to gather up the group -- Thank you Veronica!

Long story short… the gathering was fantastic!  Lots of red shoes, lots of laughs and a unique opportunity to celebrate!  For those of you that made it out, I thank you!

With some additional wandering around Chicago, I managed to get a few more pictures for the project.  Good times!

In addition to the events, we also had a pretty good submission rate for photos this month.  As a result, you will notice that the clip of the video has sped up.  I also gave it a bit of a classical spin… enjoy!

The next few months look exciting for RSP!  Details are still in the works, but there are talks about additional social events in Florida, Illinois, Mass., Texas and New York.  Do you want to throw a social hour?

Here are a few important updates:

• The Facebook Group just passed 1,000 members… yay!
• The new Red Shoe Project website was launched this month -- http://redshoeproject.org
• We are raising funds to establish the 501c3… we are about halfway there.

So, join in!  We’d love to have you!

A new city has entered my top 5.  I had been to Chicago before, but only for about 6 hours to meet with a company… enough to see the cool buildings, have a conversation and find a cab back to the airport.  Not enough time really.

This time around was different.

Last Monday, after finishing up with Disney Institute, I flew out to Chicago to be a part of two Red Shoe Project events.  On Monday night, Veronica Ludwig from Hire Power Solutions threw the first ever Red Shoe TweetUp at the Dragonfly Mandarin.  With only a few days notice, Veronica managed to draw in over 35 people for the event… over half of them were wearing red shoes.  Awesome job Veronica!

Here are some photos from the TweetUp!

On Tuesday, it was time for the Skilled Recruiters Network of Chicago event.  I had the honor of presenting to a large group of recruiters on Red Shoe Project.  We also briefly touched on overall recruiting strategy through the use of social media… but, time was short to get into any real detail.  Special thanks to PCRecruiter and Out of Work Chicago for sponsoring the event!

The group of recruiters that I met were fantastic!  They love their trade, they are passionate about learning and they definitely know how to have fun!  For those of you from SRNC that read this… I want you to know that I really appreciate your hospitality!

Wednesday rolled around and I finally had a chance to check out the city in more detail.  Veronica made sure that I tried the Chicago pizza and afterward brought me over to Millennium Park for a tour.  Talk about an amazing place!

We snapped a few more pictures for Red Shoe Project, including my “Michael & The Nuns” photo from above, before it was time for me to head back to San Antonio.  Here are a few “keepers” for the monthly roll.

The Crown Fountain

Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean")

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Married With Children Fountain

I think Chicago is top-notch and I had a fantastic time meeting all the great people there.  I would have to imagine that most people have good memories of the city considering how much there is to do.

What’s your favorite Chicago memory?

It’s been an amazing past week!  Having my first experience at Walt Disney World and going through Disney Institute created more than a few ideas for posts.  In particular, I’m planning to dive deeper in the areas of branding process, user experience and perhaps the way in which Disney built their employee culture.  If you would like for me to discuss one particular aspect of their training, feel free to drop me a note or comment below.  I’d be happy to create the content around your curiosity.

Now it’s time to pack and get ready for another busy week.  I’m off to Chicago in the morning (in a few hours) for the very first Red Shoe Project TweetUp on Monday and to speak at a Skilled Recruiters Network event on Tuesday.  It promises to be a non-stop, red shoe wearing, Chi-Town extravaganza!

If you have yet to visit the new Red Shoe Project website, I encourage you to do so.  While it’s still in the works, your feedback is very helpful in creating a design that is both easy to use and visually appealing.  I appreciate your help!

http://redshoeproject.org

Any recommendations for where I should snap a Red Shoe Project photo in Chicago?  This will be my first time to spend more than 6 hours in the city and I’ve heard great things!

Thank you very much for your participation and support of Red Shoe Project!  I consider it a privilege to have you as a part of this growing cause!  It’s been an exciting adventure thus far!

As the months roll by, more and more opportunities are coming up for Red Shoe Project.  As we pass our 900th member on Facebook, I thought it would be important to share some of those happenings with you.

• BarCamp Recruit – The first BarCamp Recruit was held last month in Newport Beach, CA.  Almost all of the attendees were wearing red shoes… it was a blast.  More photos and a video of the event are coming soon.
• Skilled Recruiters Network Chicago – This month, I will be speaking at SRNC about Red Shoe Project and what the cause intends to do.  This will, once again, be a great chance to engage additional voices and hopefully propel the project forward.
• In The News – A variety of traditional and new media sources are beginning to spread the word about Red Shoe Project.  I have added a Newsroom page on the website to catalog updates.

As you can imagine, spreading the word, editing photos, speaking, traveling and making videos requires both time and effort.  From an evaluation of this commitment, we have decided to organize RSP further by implementing a few plans over the next couple of months.

• 501c3 Status – We will be registering RSP as a 501c3 over the next couple of months.  Once established, all donations to RSP will come with the added tax benefits for our contributors and for the charity.
• Assistance – Once we have the paperwork in line, we are going to be preparing a five-year plan for RSP to include our process for selecting the charities we support, potential hiring plans and annual goals.  That vision will be shared with our members as they are defined.
• Social Hours – RSP Social Hours will become a priority over the next few months.  Having a method for organizing and holding an RSP Social Hour in various cities will become a way for our members to connect and share their mutual passion for giving back and propelling social change.  Not to mention that we will all be wearing red shoes!

As you can see, there are lots of priorities right now for the future of RSP.  With your help, I’m confident that we can build a solid group of passionate individuals who believe in the concept of “access.”  I refer to it as “access” because I firmly believe that people, at their core, want to get involved.  For financial or other reasons, it sometimes becomes difficult.

Membership to Red Shoe Project will continue to be based on the simple act of submitting a photograph of yourself, your friends, your family or others in red shoes.  The financial impact that we make on other charities will only happen when our members or outside contributors find it within their means to assist.  Those financial means, however, should never serve as a barrier to involvement.

So, here are a few ways that you can help now:

1. Send in your picture.
2. Invite your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter or any other avenue available to you.
3. Voice your desire to organize an event if you so choose… they are a lot of fun!
4. Stay tuned for updates on the RSP Facebook group page and on the website.
5. Let us know if you identify a shoe sponsor for the project.  We would like to have one shoe sponsor that can provide a line of red shoes for our members to pick from.  Ideally, a small portion of the proceeds would come back to RSP in order to help execute on the long-term vision of propelling worthy causes forward.

We started in April of this year and RSP is about to pass the 1,000 member mark.  It’s an exciting time to get involved and I want you to know that I sincerely appreciate your help!

Are we having fun yet?

It’s going to be a very busy and exciting next few weeks!

During the week of August 16th – 22th, I will be attending Disney Institute in Orlando, FL to take an up close and personal look at their “Business Excellence” program.  This five-day program is packed with topics ranging from “Training and Career Management” to “Creating Engagement and Commitment.”  If that weren’t enough, a number of friends will be coming along for the journey.  Alicia Arenas, Mark Stelzner, Mike VanDervort and a few others who are in the confirmation process.

On the 17th of August, I will be sitting on a panel at HR Florida with an amazing crew of bloggers for “Blogging and HR: Can the Two Peacefully Coexist?” Kris Dunn, Jessica Lee, Laurie Ruettimann, Sharlyn Lauby and Mike VanDervort will all be a part of this exciting panel!

Back to Disney for class and then out the door again on August 19th for a session that I’ll be giving at HR Florida called “Twitter for HR & Recruiting”.  I’ve put together a packed session for the group about how to do everything from starting up with Twitter to how one goes about attracting a targeted candidate pool.  It ought to be fun!

Back to Disney for the remainder of the class and then home to San Antonio, TX the following Sunday.

On Monday the 24th, I leave for Chicago, IL to speak at the Skilled Recruiters Network event about Red Shoe Project.  RSP is a huge passion of mine and I’m really excited to have the opportunity to share more about the project.  Special thanks to Veronica Ludwig for making it happen!

So, why am I telling you all this?  There is a method to my madness, I promise.

At Disney, HR Florida and during the Skilled Recruiters Network event, I’m going to be blogging and live-tweeting (the act of sending out messages on Twitter while events are occurring… for the record).  That’s right… you may even see pictures of Mickey in real time!  So, if you have questions that you’d like me to be on the lookout for, let me know.  If you just want to see what kind of shenanigans I’m getting into, that’s okay as well!

My Twitter account can be found at http://twitter.com/theredrecruiter – Feel free to send me a message by starting your “Tweet” with @theredrecruiter.  I will get your message and do my best to respond to your questions.

So, what would you like to get out of my next few weeks?  I’m attaching the brochure for the Disney Institute program that we’ll be attending.  Lots of topics to ponder… that’s for sure!

Disney Institute – “Business Excellence”

Photo Credit, lrargerich

This has been a fantastic month for Red Shoe Project!  The Facebook group has more than doubled in size and it seems that momentum is building.  In case you have yet to explore the project… it’s really quite simple.  We ask for you to send in one picture of yourself in red shoes.  That’s it!

Every month, we take your pictures and put together a video that is in turn released on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and here on The Red Recruiter blog.  Simple, yet fun!  RSP was developed to spread awareness for one worthy non-profit every year.  This year we chose My New Red Shoes.  So, if you haven’t sent in your picture yet, I encourage you to do so.  Having you as a part of the project would be great!

I hope that you enjoyed the video!  Special thanks to Emma Wallace for contributing her music to the project!

I have been running behind lately with Red Shoe Project. Fortunately, I’m finally getting caught up again.  Here is the video for June, 2009.  The Facebook group has almost doubled over the past week!  Come join us there if you haven’t already.

Have you sent in your picture yet?

It really started with questions…

What would happen if helping non-profits raise awareness became fun, inexpensive, far-reaching… did I say fun?

What if it wasn’t based around simply writing a check?

What if participation was based on involvement instead of just money?

What if anyone could participate because the show of support was simple and achievable?

Red Shoe Project aims to spread awareness for one worthy non-profit on an annual basis.  Participation is simple:

1. Connect with our group on Facebook
2. Take a picture of yourself in red shoes (your friends, colleagues or family will work too!)
3. Submit your picture to the project via email or on the Facebook page
4. Tell your friends… spread the word!

This year, Red Shoe Project has chosen My New Red Shoes out of San Francisco, CA.  Their purpose is to give a child in need a new pair of clothes for their first day of school.  They aim to raise $125,000 a year in order to accomplish this goal.  That’s a new pair of clothes for over 2,000 children.  Do you think we can help?

Imagine Red Shoe Project as a hit-squad… but, in a good way.  With enough momentum, we could drastically impact a worthy non-profit every single year… and have a lot of fun in the process!

PCRecruiter -- Main Sequence Technologies, Inc.

The team at PCRecruiter recently threw a company party for Red Shoe Project.  They brought in their old shoes, gathered up some red spray paint and had a blast!  The resulting pictures… well, I was smiling from ear to ear!

Many thanks to the PCRecruiter team for joining the cause and being a part of the fun!  Your participation is much appreciated!  A very special thanks to Mike Owcarz for planting the seed and getting the ball rolling!

Here is the result of their fun day with red shoes!  Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6045Pl021c

The song in this video is called “Broken Stereo” by Sean Fournier.  He is great!  Check out his music on his website.

Red Shoe Project has been a blast from the beginning!  Pictures from all corners of the country and from as far away as Australia have landed in my inbox.  Every person, every picture… a small show of support for an idea.  The idea that micro-contribution can ultimately make a difference in a big way!  The cause is still growing, but the journey thus far has been amazing!

Two months ago, I got a call from a good friend named Sushma.  Sush had decided to pursue her dream of making films by entering an intensive film school program in New York.  She caught wind of the Red Shoe Project and decided to use the theme for a music film assignment.  Needless to say, it was a great gesture on her part and it was very exciting to see how her project turned out!  Sush is now embarking on the next chapter in her story by starting her own video production company -- Cutting Chai Productions.

Here is the final result!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCmDySja1FM

Thank you so much for your help Sushma!  The Red Shoe Project salutes you!

Do you have a favorite Red Shoe Project picture?  Have you turned in your picture yet?