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!

Life has been a bit hectic lately.  Between travel, projects and a few life adjustments, it’s been challenging to blog.

With that said, there have been a few noteworthy events of late that I’ve neglected.

Dream Job Radio

In my last post, I shared a video of Stephanie Lloyd’s new radio show Dream Job Radio.  She invited me to visit her in Atlanta to be a part of her first official episode.  Needless to say, we had a great time!

The topic for the program was to brainstorm with a job seeker on how he could branch out further in his search.

What’s the best job search tip you’ve come up with in the past year?  Care to share?

Red Shoe Project Atlanta – TweetUp

After the radio show, we headed over to Fuego Mundo to have the first Red Shoe Project TweetUp in Atlanta.  Excellent food, lots of friendly red-shoe-wearing social media friends… and, YES, I broke out the guitar for a few songs

Red Shoe Project continues to gain momentum – soon we will have to put together a TweetUp in San Antonio!

TweetCamp Chicago

After Atlanta, it was time to take on the cold weather in Chicago!  I must admit, my blood is much thinner than it used to be.

TweetCamp Chicago was organized by Maura Hernandez after she visited TweetCamp San Antonio earlier this year.  The aim of TweetCamp is to educate a diverse group of business professionals on how Twitter can be used to improve their networks, increase exposure and connect with targeted clients.

Excellent job Maura!  Special thanks to Rackspace for sponsoring my trip!

In the next couple of months, I will be getting involved with more than a few events!  I’ll do my best to keep you updated with the fun!

Any particular events you want to see covered in the next few months?

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!

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?

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?

The greatest advances I’ve ever heard of were more than an epiphany.  Yes, any amazing things have come in to our lives because of one great moment of inspiration – but, if you think about major shifts in the way we live, think or operate as human beings, they usually came to be through a process of dedication and vision.

Let’s think about some of the big changes I’m referring to…

Things that changed our lives

The Internet

It didn’t start with Facebook, blogging, instantly streaming news and everything else that we have come to rely on.  Nope, it started with people having good ideas and building on them.  One failed experiment after the next, the Internet slowly (that’s relative) grew to what it is today.  Can you imagine not having it now?

Electricity

Life without electricity.  Beyond going on a brief camping trip, I’m afraid to say that a life without power would be terribly difficult for me to conceive of.  The ability to build, grow, communicate and everything else that electricity gives us would be gone… totally different world!  Our now massive power grids were not the result of the original discovery – they are the result of a long-term vision and the world change it could create.

Cars

Have you looked at a Model-T?  Yes, introducing a car into society was a big deal!  It has changed the way we go to work and the distances we can travel.  Coupled with the use of electricity, we are in store for a whole new era of transportation in the very near future.  It’s really very exciting!  Cars, like the above examples, did not start out as a massively adopted invention.  Slowly, over time and as the vision was shared, we bought in to how a vehicle could change our lives.  Blood, sweat and tears went in to making the automobile in your driveway a possibility.

Red Shoe Project

So, I have a vision for the future too.  I want to see businesses around the country and globe get more involved with non-profit work.  It’s really great when a company writes a non-profit a check, but my vision has something more to it.  I’d like to see businesses move past writing checks in exchange for a logo to prove their commitment to good deeds.

Yes, there are some great companies out there that do amazing work for the community.  They commit to more than just writing checks… and to those companies, I salute your dedication.  I’m referring to the organizations (small/medium/large) who pretend to be involved… those companies who can’t quite see why helping others helps them.  I could dedicate an entire post to this specific topic, but I’ll leave the “Givers Gain” conversation for another time.

Red Shoe Project is about proving a point…  To prove that businesses can get involved – skin in the game – without having to write a big fat check in exchange for a logo.  That through the use of social media and fun exercises in engagement, a company can spur great awareness for a worthy cause of their choosing.  The Red Shoe Project has chosen a non-profit to support for the 2009-2010 year… it’s called My New Red Shoes.  They do wonderful work for children in San Francisco… check out their website!  Red Shoe Project requests participation simply by asking participants to take a picture of themselves in red shoes.

It’s really pretty simple… assuming you have red shoes of course.  If not, it’s a great excuse to go get some.  Tell your friends, have a photo shoot afternoon – anything you want!

So, what’s the point?

The point is this… Whether your unemployed, you work for yourself or for a multi-national massive company, you can do something for the better good.  It doesn’t matter what political beliefs you have, religious affiliations, personality conflicts – it’s all about breaking down those walls between people and participating in something simple that spurs positive change.

Can you imagine the global impact social media would have on increasing non-profit awareness if more projects like this started popping up?

The Future of Red Shoe Project

Time will ultimately tell where this all goes.  I knew when I started wearing red shoes every day that this idea would require much more than my feet to plant itself in reality.  The great news is that our Facebook page has grown to 190 members after just one week and pictures are starting to come in.  People are planning their participation, being creative and having fun in the process.  Red shoe social hours are on the horizon in cities from Chicago to Seattle.

So, how do you participate in making a positive change for society?  Do you own a pair of red shoes?