Monthly #IDzineChat Is Back! 9/16/10 8pm EST – Home Entertaining Options

Mark your calendars for Thursday, September 16th at 8pm EST!  The original #IDzineChat is back on Twitter!   The summer break is just about over and the high season of interior design will soon be upon us.  Fabulous indoor entertaining and parties will be first and foremost, on the minds of many, and the holidays will be right around the corner! 

Here are this month’s questions:

1.  What are your biggest design challenges in trying to create the best entertaining areas for your guests? 

2.  Do you feel your kitchen is working for you? 

3.  Do you have comfortable seating in your living areas? 

4.  Are the dining spaces offering ambience and style? 

We’ll also welcome any other questions!  Be sure to click on to this previous post for details on how to participate:  #IDzineChat

(Entertaining is about the total experience – from food, to table, to the surroundings.  Need help?  Tweet us!)

We are also pleased to announce, Olivia Millwood, one of our favorite tweeters, better known as @swaygrl, will be our guest host! Olivia is a team member of a lovely home furnishings’ boutique, Niche by Design, located in Roswell, Georgia. 

More about Olivia Millwood – Our Next Guest Host!

Olivia, who also tweets at @ Nichebydesign ,was mentored by two interior design pros:  Award-winning designer Nancy Chalmers and color specialist Kathleen Toner.  Olivia is a treasure hunter who finds the perfect wallpaper,fabric, and unique items for clients. Mid-century-modern design is her absolute favorite style, while being well aware that the client should leave their mark on their home and not just their designer.

Olivia is also partnering with Suzanne Chace in a new business, GotoGrls.com , for the purpose of empowering local communities thru social media marketing.

Save this date for a fabulous gathering of #interiordesign industry experts!  As always, this is a special gift offered to you.  We are sponsor-free as our interest is in creating an open-forum, in order to engage with consumers and to educate about all things related to the world of design.  It keeps us unburdened with being beholding to any manufacturer or product.   Why do we do this?  We are interested in what you want to know about us, about products, about design problems to be solved, and to offer you great decision-making tools, regarding your projects.

Let’s Chat about #InteriorDesign, on Twitter, With The Experts!

(Concept Credit, for #IDzineChat, goes to Leslie Carothers - @tkpleslie on Twitter.)

#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.)