FRIDAY NIGHT
7PM – Until: Friday Night Kick-Off Meet & Greet with MB Scene

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SATURDAY
9AM – 10 AM CHECKIN
10AM – 10:15AM CREATE South Overview: Welcome, hashtags, twitter, facebook, flickr group, recycling, CREATE Lounge etc
10:15AM – 10:20AM Volunteer & Sponsor Thanks. Kick-off Party recap with MB Scene. After party promotion with ListenUp Myrtle Beach.
10:20AM – 10:25AM Grand Strand Arts Council departs. What does that mean?
10:25AM – 10:30AM Grand Strand Tech Council Membership Drive
10:30AM – 10:45AM One Minute Pitch Sessions
10:45AM – 10:50AM Specific Need vs. Specific Talent partnership in the CREATE Lounge
10:50AM – 10:55AM CREATE South needs you! Volunteer for next year.
10:55AM – 11:05AM SPECIAL Announcement

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11:15AM – 12:00PM KEYNOTE – Success is in Your Hands: Claiming your passion, Finding your purpose. Tracy Swinton Bailey, Freedom Readers

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12:00PM – 1:00PM LUNCH – Provided by Proud Purveyors of Pork

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AFTERNOON SESSIONS

Blast Off Room
1:00PM – 1:45PM: The Layperson’s Guide to Reading Code
2:00PM – 2:45PM: Building Mobile Apps for iOS & Android
3:00PM – 3:45PM: Design your own Paper Gift Box
4:00PM – 4:45PM

Concept Cache Room
1:00PM – 1:45PM: Supply & Demand: Product Licensing
2:00PM – 2:45PM: Promotion for Free via Social Media
3:00PM – 3:45PM: Service Learning and Technology Tools For Education
4:00PM – 4:45PM: Newsgathering, Reporting, and Production — All on the iPhone

Fuel Interactive Room
1:00PM – 1:45PM: Photography Hacks
2:00PM – 2:45PM: Life in the Cloud
3:00PM – 3:45PM: Greenscreen for Visual Effects and Compositing
4:00PM – 4:45PM: WordPress: Backup and Security

Midnite Express Room
1:00PM – 1:45PM: Knitting Time with Vera
2:00PM – 2:45PM: Understand Your Environment Around You
3:00PM – 3:45PM: Homebrewing 101
4:00PM – 4:45PM: Be More than a Commodity

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4:45PM – 5:00 Closing Remarks

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6:00PM – UNTIL – After party Sponsored By ListenUp Myrtle Beach at The Boathouse

You can download it here:
CREATE South Press Release 2011

Take Cover, a punk cover band from Myrtle Beach, Planet Rock an alt-hiphop group from Atlanta and Treehouse a reggae/rock troop from Myrtle Beach will grace the stage at The Boathouse next to the intercoastal waterway.

Make sure you make plans to attend CREATE South by registering and then come on over for the after party!

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Conference seeks to CREATE buzz about Strand’s growing online community
By Chris Mowder

It seems everywhere you go these days, there are people buzzing about social media.

This weekend, a group in Myrtle Beach plans to do more than just buzz. The Carolina Regional Exposition of Art, Technology and Education will meet Saturday {April 9, 2011} at Horry Georgetown College Conference center to get seriously social about media with a day of creation, education and conversation known as CREATE South. The conference, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., brings people together to learn about the many tools available for creating online. It will feature about 20 sessions by authors, photographers, podcasters and other media mavens speaking on one of four main topics: audio and video, art and photography, social media and online community.

And despite all the knowledge being tossed around, organizers say the event is about a lot more than just talking.

“I had been going to a similar conference in Greensboro called Converge South and what I took out of it was that they were high on talk, and I felt like they were not actually doing things,” says Dave Slusher, a Conway-based software engineer. “We wanted to take the energy that comes from getting a lot of people together in the same spot, and combine that with a hands-on educational experience.”

This do-something approach is a key component of what Slusher and his fellow organizers, including 803 Labs Creative Director Andre Pope, based the conference on when it started in 2007.

“Our first year was really a good experience at hands-on learning. We had a bunch of teachers and some people from churches to come and learn about how to craft an online prescene,” said Pope who notes that CREATE has always been as much for beginners — those who want to create but don’t know how — as it is for those already involved in the online community.

“When we started, it was a mix of people who were on the edge of experimenting with all these new technologies and then other folks who were still learning how to use e-mail,” said Paul Reynolds, a local entrepreneur and software engineer who has been involved in both CREATE events. “Twitter wasn’t really big then, but most of us were Tweeting even then.”

Another big part of what drives CREATE are the successes that have come out of it.

One such story is Home Ec 101 (www.Home-Ec101.com) and founder Heather Solos, of Moncks Corner. Solos, a former Charleston Post and Courier writer, started blogging professionally for the paper in 2006 before launching her own site designed to teach real skills to real people such as how to cook, clean, wash or fix just about anything in their house.

Through utilizing skills learned at CREATE and networking with some of the authors at the event, Solos has turned her sassy blogging style into a novel called “Home Ec 101” which is set to be published in spring 2011.

“The collective knowledge of the presenters and attendees is inspiring,” says Solos. “I’ve grown a lot in the past three years and no small part due to an annual renewal of enthusiasm and optimism [at CREATE].”

“It’s great to see [people like Heather] being a part of what we’re trying to do,” said Pope. “She didn’t set out to say ‘How can I make money off of this?’ She did it more as a passion turned around and became something of financial benefit.”

Pope hopes that because social media is now such a buzz word, CREATE will draw more aspiring entreprenuers like Solos as well as more people from the business sector. However, he warns that the conference is not about building business opportunities.

“We don’t go into exact details as to how you’re gonna use this social media stuff to make you money. We don’t look at it from that point of view,” Pope said. “It’s more like: do something that makes you happy and who knows, if you’re good at it, you might make it work for you financially.”

Starting out with a crowd of about 65 people and little outside awareness, support for CREATE has built steadily over the past two years.

“I’ve been so impressed with the way CREATE has evolved,” said Tee Morris, a Virginia-based author and social media expert who is this year’s keynote speaker. “It’s a different kind of crowd, people there are not just into tech, but they’re also writers and poets and community enablers.”

With sponsors such as HGTC, who provides meeting space, and the Grand Strand Technology Council coming on board, the conference now has a foundation on which to build.

“It’s been a great blessing for us because HGTC is teaching students the same thing we want to get more and more people involved in,” said Pope.

In addition to corporate sponsorship, another key to CREATE’s growth lies in word of mouth support.

An example of this evolution is the MBGeekOut (www.mbgeekout.com). The recently started group is an informal community of local tech enthusiats who meet once a month to network.

“Through MBGeekout we really feel like we’re now able to give back by bringing in local people to speak,” says Paul Reynolds. “Word of mouth is real powerful around here, and now I think we’ve finally got enough of a core group to get the word out [about CREATE].”

Pope sees MBGeekOut as just another avenue to showcase that Myrtle Beach is a growing tech community.

“We’ve got a lot of really talented people here with these great skills, but before social media started it was alot harder for these folks to work together,” Pope said. “With these tools we are able to connect with a lot of people who are interested in helping make [CREATE] happen.”

Regardless of participants motives for coming out, it seems the most common shared experience of CREATE is finding inspiration from fellow attendees.

“It is just a pleasure to be around like minded people. Everyone is willing to share thoughts and ideas and for those looking to get started blogging or diving into social media, its a win win,” said Kreg Steppe, a Charlotte-based podcast producer and web developer who has spoken at CREATE each of the past two years.

Slusher agrees, saying organizers always had social interaction in mind when planning the event.

“It looks like a tech conference, but really it’s a people conference,” He said. “We try to provide value to get all these great minds to come out, but really it’s just an excuse to get people talking to each other around a barbecue plate.”

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Interested in the idea, but not sure if you want to attend?

“If for some reason you can’t make it out to CREATE, follow us.” Say CREATE organizer Andre Pope. “Whether its on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, you will see what’s going on in real time and at least have more chances to become a part of the community.”

In addition to using their social media feeds to promote the event, organizers also plan to make an effort to do plenty of post-conference updates to keep members of the community abreast of creative events going on in the area and to keep people updated on the various projects that spawn from the conference.

CREATE South is proud to welcome Al & Tara McWhite of Island Jive to this years lineup of creative expression at CREATE South!

Al McWhite is a popular and widely recognized contemporary artist known for his Surf/Beach Culture infused themes and ever changing, always evolving artistic style. The ocean has been a source of inspiration for Al since childhood. His first doodles were of sharks and other toothy sea creatures and eventually incorporated ocean waves after he discovered the art of surfing at the age of nine. When asked if he knew art would be his livelihood he says, “I had no plans of being an artist. I thought I was going to be an ocean exploring marine biologist, searching the deep blue sea for new discoveries!”.

It wasn’t until his high school art teacher recognized his talent and helped him develop as a young artist that he realized his path was in the arts. This guidance and encouragement led to a scholarship at The Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, where he double majored in Graphic Design and Illustration.

He has since combined his passion for the ocean with his artistic abilities and has been a prolific professional artist for nearly sixteen years. Al continues to push ahead with new ways of exploring his creativity. “That’s the thing about art – it’s all about the creative process, no matter how you choose to express it!” says Al. “Forget about working with just one medium or one style! It’s about growth and self discovery.”

Founded in 2003 by Al and his wife Tara, Island Jive is the parent company and art studio for Al McWhite Properties , specializing in licensing Island & Surf Lifestyle art, Beach Culture art,  as well as mid-century modern pattern/surface design.  We are excited to work with all of our licensees in delivering art that lights up their products and puts a smile on the consumer’s face!  The studio’s website iswww.islandjive.com.  Island Jive – Just Fun Art!

Here are some links relating to CREATE South 2010:

• Eugene Mah posted his wrapup as well as a gallery of his photos.
• Chris Mowder kept a live blog of the event down to the minute!
• Alsatia also kept a very thorough live blog, with one post per session. Here is her first one, and keep hitting “Newer Post” to navigate through the whole day.
• Susan aka BrightEyedDyer posted a photoset from the event and her blog wrapup of her experience.
• WBTW (Channel 13 in Myrtle Beach) covered us this year and here is that news story.
• Heather aka NotDIYHeather blogged her experience of the day.
• Michael Carnell made the road trip from Charleston and wrote it up here.
• James Moffit was in that same car and has used CREATE South to rekindle his enthusiasm for a project that has been shelved for eight years. This makes us very happy!
• James Sturgeon posted his photoset from the event.

Here are some links relating to CREATE South 2009:

• CREATE South 2009 group on Flickr
• Tiffany Trent blogs her reactions from her viewpoint of the keynote podium
• Heather Solos explains her conversion from organizer to fangirl during the day
• Eugene blogs his recap and also has his own photo gallery of the day
• Vera and Patrick drove from Charleston to Myrtle Beach by way of yarn stores, and she shares her journey at her blog
• A different Heather blogs her view of Twitter filtered through the day and later did another recap because it’s too much fun to just do one!
• The Lowcountry Bloggers had a number of reactions on their roundup the day after
• James shares his thoughts on the event
• J Wynia drove from Minneapolis and back to attend and has a page about this epic journey
• CREATE South presenter Jared W. Smith talked about his experience on his show Serious Business
• Robert and Ava Ann kept a photo blog of their trip down and back
• Whoops, missed the recap by my fellow co-chair, Mr. Andre Pope.com!

Here’s some of the reactions around the blogosphere for CREATE South 2008:

• Dan Conover posts video of Ed Cone’s keynote presentation
• GeekyCyberMom (Naomi) has video of Tee Morris’ presentation on podcasting
• Vera posts her thoughts on the conference and her trip
• Presenter Ivy tells her story of the weekend (Ivy is the one who called the conference “full of awesome and win”) and also approves of the chicken bogthat Andre cooked
• Presenter Heather gives her thoughts on the day
• Lowcountry Blogs has a recap post
• Musical guest Chris weighs in
• Joan has a number of photos of the event
• Keynote speaker Ed Cone writes several posts, about the food, about the conference itself, about his stay at the beach and his session
• Tee Morris mentions the conference in his podcast
• Paul notes the prevalence of Twitter at the conference
• Judy had a good time and notes most of us are too pudgy

Tracy Swinton Bailey is the Founder and Executive Director of Freedom Readers, Inc., a nonprofit organization that exists to provide academic enrichment to families in low wealth areas. Freedom Readers Afterschool Literacy Program is currently working with young scholars in the Darden Terrace and Huckabee Heights communities of Conway. Find out more about Freedom Readers at www.freedomreaders.org.

Ms. Bailey is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Language and Literacy at the University of South Carolina. Tracy seeks to instill in teachers, students, and the community at large the belief that every student can learn and every learner has the responsibility to pass on new knowledge to another.

Tracy Bailey, M. Ed. began her career in education as a high school English instructor. After realizing the impact of professional development on her personal and professional growth, she decided to take her work to the streets. Since then her passion for teaching and learning has taken her around the country, and she has had the opportunity to be a part of the success of hundreds of students and teachers.

Ms. Bailey earned her BA from College of Charleston- majoring in English Education and a Master in Education from Coastal Carolina University. She is married to The Sun News featured columnist, Issac J. Bailey and is the mother of two wonderful children, Kyle and Lyric.