It's been billed as the Sundance Festival of the Facebook generation for snow sport enthusiasts. And it has descended on Lake Tahoe. The 4th annual Snowcial is taking place now through Jan. 21. Conference sessions and plenty of snowcializing are happening at Harvey's Casino and Resort. And of course no conference for snow sport enthusiasts would be complete without plenty of time on the slopes. Each morning begins on the mountain at Heavenly. Why can't every conference be this way?
When thinking about the perfect place to host a conference designed to make those in the ski and travel industries more influential social networkers, what criteria would you consider?
How about the number 104,095? That's the number of people who "like" Heavenly's page on Facebook. I'd say that's a good place to start.
If I can brag a little more about who I'm rubbing elbows with -- when I'm on the slopes at Heavenly I'll be there with Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts. I plan on leaving him in my powder as I ski my way into fame at the EpicMix Snowcial Scavenger Hunt. I don't know all the details yet, but this digital scavenger hunt combines both EpicMix and Facebook and will have us criss-crossing Heavenly mountain to complete challenges and connect with our friends.As a blogger and social media maven I'm excited about the incredible line-up of speakers. I'll be tweeting updates -- follow me @clarkvand -- but what's really cool is that I'll be doing my social media thing while the people behind these networks are in the room. Maybe I'll give a +1 on Klout while listening to Joe Fernandez, the founder and CEO of Klout. I'll check in on foursquare while sitting across from Jonathan Crowley, the director of business development at foursquare. That's just the beginning. Check out the lineup of Snowcial speakers.
With all that fun on the mountain it's hard to remember a conference is going on back at Harvey's. Actually, if I were a speaker at this conference I'd have one serious concern: losing my audience.
You're speaking to people who are fanatic about skiing and riding. And word on the street is that an epic storm is about to hit Tahoe. Tahoe Weather Discussion -- my favorite site for tracking the weather in Tahoe -- reports that the first flakes should start falling right around the time the first speakers are taking the stage. By Saturday night, we could be looking at up to a few feet above 7,000 feet. Oh, by the way, you do know that almost all of Heavenly's terrain is above 8,000 feet. This is looking good. Maybe as much as 4 feet at the crest. Stay up to date on the conditions at Heavenly with the Heavenly Snow Report.
Yeah, if I'm a speaker at Snowcial speaking to a bunch of ski bums I am very concerned about losing my audience.
You planning to enjoy all the fresh powder at Heavenly? Give me a shout on Twitter or Facebook and I'll give you the Snow Squad treatment.
-- Clark Vandeventer