#IDzineChat – Thursday, October 7th, 8pm EST – Consumers, Join Us! – Our Final Chat!

Topic?  - Interior Designers Seek The Best Sources!  An Evening of “High Style” on Twitter!

Interior Designers are constantly sourcing for unique, functional, exciting, and the most current solutions for our interior projects!  Sourcing is a little different than shopping, although we may be making purchases along the way on our various market trips.  Designers do love the opportunity to make great finds, but an important part of our market and design center venture is that we continue be immersed in the collective process of design.  We spend hours/days in seminars as we: earn CEU’s, (continuing education units), attend industry networking events, participate in product education forums, and examine new product introductions, in order to offer the-best-of-the-best to our clients!

(Showplace is just one of the many High Point Market buildings.  It, alone, has over 67,000 sq. ft. of showroom space.  The market, in total, covers 11.5 million square feet (1 km²) of showroom venues, encompassed in about 190 buildings throughout the High Point area.  That’s a lot of pavement to travel, in just one week!)

The High Point Market, originating in 1921, will officially open the doors, again, for it’s biannual show, October 16th – 21st.  Interior designers, retailers, reps, manufacturers, and industry leaders, (from all over the world), will bring a sense of excitement and activity to this small, southern town.  (Which, by the way, is home to the only Bentley dealership in North Carolina!) 

(Cutting edge design is always found at Maison et Objet!)

Of course, the High Point Market is only one of the many venues for the design trade . . . it just happens to be on our current radar, as the Las Vegas Furniture Market will not be until January, 2011, as well as the pièce de résistance, the Maison et Objet, in Paris!

If you are a consumer, and would love to live vicariously through an interior designer’s journey, as they:

- Share their favorite design market venues.

- Post about their most memorable or exciting finds.

- Their favorite furniture manufacturers and design styles.

- Describe or show photos of their favorite showrooms.

- And ~ Share the gift of their time and expertise, please join us on Thursday, October 7th, at 8pm EST, for an evening of High Style!

One of our special hosts will be Anishka Clarke, a New York-based interior designer.  We are so excited to have her with us and will share more about her, in an update to this post.

Save the date!  It will be an evening of elegance!

PS – To learn more about how to participate, read this previous post.

A Side Note:  Thank you to everyone who have supported our #IDZineChat on Twitter.  It’s time to let this chat go the way of the crowd and we’ve had more designers interested in different types of chats.  If you are a consumer, please still watch what interior designers have to say as they impart a lot of great information about how to make your homes a most special place!  Most will use the hashtag, #interiordesign, when they post relevant comments.  You can watch for those hashtags to read more.

#IDzinechat Recap from 6/24/10 ~ Also Announcing Shay Geyer as the Next Host!

Wow!  What another great #IDzinechat on Twitter!  The next one will be coming, within the month of July.  Don’t worry, we understand many of you have the July 4th holiday to celebrate, as well as your breath to catch after all of the activity with this chat.  We want great attendance from designers and consumers, alike!  More info will come from our next host and will be posted on this page.

We are pleased to announce, @designershay – Shay Geyer, will be taking the reigns for July!  The concept has always been to pass #IDzinechat from one designer to the next, to help share in organizing the chat, as well as to be in the driver’s seat of promoting it and asking other design peers to promote the event, too.  During each chat, we’ll take requests for the next host(s) to volunteer.  (We certainly can have more than one, as some of you operate as a team.)  First come, first serve may be the best way to do this.  The criteria will be, a design pro should be the host and have an active Twitter account and some other social media forums, in order to connect others to the event.

We’ve also had lots of conversations about the frequency.  Some would love to have this weekly, and others, monthly.  (And of course, all would be on a regularly scheduled date.)  It seems the consensus, so far, has been monthly.  The idea is to build anticipation and to not dilute the content.  Others, who suggested weekly, feel more momentum will be built this way.  From a promotional point of view, weekly may be a bit challenging for the folks coordinating the promotional activity.  (I’ve taken on keeping up this blog page and the Twub’s page, so I must say, monthly makes my calendar look a bit less hectic with all of my other volunteer work.)  It’s certainly up for discussion and with the consideration of how the task can be managed.  This was our only second event, and in a few months, one can begin to imagine how big it will become!

In the coming week, the participant’s list will grow, as names are collected from the tweets.  We’ll do our best to honor everyone who took the time to share their time and expertise.  You are all rock stars in the world of design!

If you have feedback, be sure to tweet it to:  @IDzinechat4U and use the hashtag, #IDzinechat.  Please consider following that page, too.

Thank you for the gift you have given to consumers and to the world of interior design!

All my best! ~ @WandaSHorton on Twitter.  (With special thanks to the concept’s creator of #IDzinechat, Leslie Carothers, also known as @tkpleslie on Twitter!  This was made possible through your fab idea!)

#IDzinechat – Back by Popular Demand! – Date and Time? Help us to decide! Looking for Guest Hosts, Too!

1. – What is #IDzinechat?  It’s a forum, on Twitter, where consumers can ask question about their interior design projects/needs, and a team of industry experts will share the answers.  No gimmicks, no solicitations, no charge!  We’ll answer in the 140 characters or less – the length of a Twitter post.

2. - What’s the purpose for arranging this tweeting of tips?  We, the interior design experts, aren’t just going to begin randomly spouting out ideas in effort to promote our businesses or services.  We are really interested in engaging with the you, the consumer, by finding out what you want to know.  How about that?  Free design advice, based on your needs.  Can you believe it?  We really want to hear your questions so we can provide better and more pertinent information.  As mentioned, earlier, we’ll have interior design experts who are well-versed in everything from: eco friendly-design, color science, kitchen & bath design, remodeling, new home construction, universal design, furniture & product design, aging-in-place, organization, space planning, home accents, permanent finishes, to window treatment experts, and the list goes on.  What a unique opportunity to share this experience with the design trade and your friends!

3. – How to follow the tweets.  While pulling this off might seem complicated, it’s actually quite simple.  In Twitter, there is a little tool we refer to as a hashtag.  A hashtag means there is a #sign in front of a phrase or word which makes it easier for readers to track conversations, topics, communities, and other events.  In order for consumers and designers to be able to follow our timeline, we created the hashtag, #IDzinechat.  Some helpful places to follow the conversations would be either on TweetChat:  http://tweetchat.com/room/idzinechat or Twubs:  http://twubs.com/idzinechat  Remember, in each tweet, whether it’s a question or a response, please be sure to use the hashtag so everyone can follow the conversations.

4. – How will this be hosted/moderated and announced?  For each chat, there will be a group of design experts, who will have a predetermined regular date and time for the chat.  We’ll take turns being the host/moderator for the event.  If an expert agrees to host/moderate the chat, they will also be responsible for promoting the date and time.  Other experts will help to retweet – aka – repeat their announcements so more followers will be made aware of the information.  A specific topic can be set or it can be a totally open forum.  The consumers will ultimately decide on topics, via their questions.  The designated #Idzinechat host will promote the day and time, prior to the event, using the hashtag in twitter posts.  The design chat date and time will continue to be announced, so everyone, both designers and consumers, can plan to be on Twitter, at the same time.  About thirty minutes before the magic hour, the chat host will begin announcing for folks to prepare to join in.  (A little tip for all – use #IDzinechat in each of your tweets.  Everyone can follow the questions and answers, more readily.  We may miss you if you don’t use this.)

I’m @WandaSHorton on Twitter.  Interior Designers – come join in!  Consumers – come share with us! 

Watch for an announcement on Sunday, June 13, 2010 for the schedule and more info.

Tweetfully yours!  Wanda - #IDzinechat first host – Creator of #IDzinechat:  Leslie Carothers - @tkpleslie on Twitter

(Please note, the occurrence or promotion of this event provides for no financial compensation for any of the participants.)