As I write this, I can see one of my favorite things in the world, the red rocks of Arizona. Ever since I first visited here many moons ago to speak at a Microsoft event I have loved it out here. I’ve been back a couple of times and unfortunately there will be no time for site seeing or picture taking while here. Not even time for another tattoo like the last time I was here. All business.

I arrived earlier this afternoon to attend and speak at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer.

Fun part was I got a voice mail from Scott Monty letting me know that he was getting in just about the same time as I was.

So I waited and checked my e-mail while he was arriving and then we jumped into a Ford Flex that he got from the company specifically to show off at the event. I’ll be honest that from the commercials and photos I thought these things were pretty damn ugly, but after seeing it in person and riding in one I’ve got a different opinion of them. I did instantly fall in love with the whole integrated navigation and Sync system. That is just plain cool!

This trip is also allowing me to try out an application called AirMe on my iPhone. I didn’t bring a camera with me *gasp* so all pictures will be from the iPhone. This application grabs my location and puts it automatically in the title of the picture with the date when it uploads to my Flickr account. Pretty cool, but I still go in and add descriptions and such since it doesn’t do that yet. I’ve talked to the developers and they are working on a big update which will have more features. I can’t wait.

I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and finally meeting some people I’ve been eager to for a while. Plus, any time I get to see Gary Vaynerchuk keynote it is a good time.

I’m speaking about Making Media as Marketing with a focus on video. It is a topic they asked me to speak about and it is a nice change of pace to be able to focus in on a specific topic area. I’m looking forward to hearing what questions the audience has and helping them get answers for them. After all that is what a conference should be about right? People come to learn and get their questions answered.

If you are in the Scottsdale area we are thinking about having some sort of gathering Thursday night. No details yet, but I know I’ll post something to twitter or others will as well.