Just as I finished backing the fully-packed, 14-foot moving truck into my parents’ rural Missouri driveway on Sunday afternoon, I received an email on the iPhone in my lap from Becky McCray, the subject line of which read, “Your speaker proposal is approved”.

Practically bouncing out of the moving truck in my excitement, I shared my good news with my boyfriend. He was just getting out of my car, which he had driven from the cabin I was moving out of to my parents’ house, where I’d be spending my final days of Missouri residency before moving to Colorado this Sunday.

Good things were happening in my world. Sad goodbyes in Small Town Missouri were leading to exciting new beginnings in Colorado Springs, personally and professionally. After 2.5 years living in a one room cabin in the woods and working for a nonprofit in a very rural part of Missouri, I had been offered a great new position working in a strategic marketing agency in a medium-sized city. And after a series of questionable attempts at the dating game, I’d finally found a man who treated me like my friends and family had always told me I deserved to be treated.

My boyfriend’s eyes lit up and a smile grew across his face as my excitement about my email from Becky became contagious. Just as we were venturing into new beginnings in my career and our relationship, I got good news about a national speaking engagement. Life was good.

The speaker proposal I received confirmation about was for the #140Conf Small Town, an “ideas conference” focused on immediate media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and its affect on business, education, agriculture, media, celebrity, music, politics, public safety, and our culture. The conference will be held in Hutchinson, Kansas on September 20th, 2011.

I was thrilled that my proposal was accepted, and now I’m becoming increasingly excited to compare notes and ideas with other bloggers and social media mavens at the conference who reside and/or work in smaller towns. The conference drew more than 200 attendees last year, and this year they received speaker proposals from people in 18 U.S. states and Alberta, Canada.

The statistic that really got my attention was that in the first 30 minutes of the 2010 conference, 7GB of data was generated on the conference’s wifi network. 7GB in 30 minutes by 214 attendees. That’s a lot of buzz. And this year I’m going to be part of it. On September 20th, 2011, I’ll have my second national-level speaking engagement at #140Conf Small Town (my first was for Concerns of Police Survivors in July of 2011).

Thanks to Becky and to Jeff Pulver for allowing me to share  my story about how I used social media not only to remain connected personally, but to promote the  nonprofit where I was employed, YMCA Trout Lodge & Camp Lakewood, when I moved from a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York to a cabin in the woods of rural Missouri in 2009. Also, thanks to my new employer, The CSK Group, for supporting me in speaking at the #140Conf Small Town.

Are you speaking at or attending #140Conf Small Town? Let’s connect!

My friends here in St. Louis have come to know me as the funky Southeast Missouri girl who shows up at Social Media Club events or conferences in St. Louis in my rad cowboy boots.

In fact, many of the great friends I’ve made in St. Louis have helped open doors for me to speak at great conferences like Show Me the Blog, Market St. Louis Interactive Marketing Conference, and the Association for Fundraising Professionals’ Biennial Conference, helping me achieve one of my professional goals of 2010; to improve my public speaking skills.

Recently, Girls Guide to the Galaxy founder Melody Meiners even invited me – the non-mommy blogger – to sit on a panel with leading mommy bloggers Danielle Smith, Ria Sharon, Suzanne Tucker, and Kelli Stuart at the St. Louis Women in Media November luncheon.

I was the youngest of the panelists, and when I realized just how young I am as a blogger in comparison to these women, I discovered a new fire in the pit of my belly. Namely, I want to turn A Small Town Girl’s Guide into something more directed, more substantial, and more inspiring. I want to expand my audience and develop good relationships with potential product sponsors.

Here’s the catch: I’m not quite sure how to take A Small Town Girl’s Guide from where it is today to the place I know it can reach.. That’s why I want to attend BlissDom, “the premiere conference for women who find and express their bliss by publishing online.” BlissDom will be held January 26-28, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Conference fees will be approximately $450. Add travel, food and hotel costs to that, and BlissDom will quickly become more expensive than my non-profit salary can support. I know that what I provide here at A Small Town Girl’s Guide is unique and insightful. I know that there’s an audience for my writing here and my posts on twitter as @milligfunk.

This post is my call for sponsors to help me attend BlissDom. I’ve entered into this contest from the One2One Network, and I’m hoping for the best.

I also think that I’d be a great fit for one of BlissDom’s existing or past sponsors like Land’s End (because I spend so much time outdoors), Cover Girl (because I’m practical, but like to look good), Healthy Choice (because I’m an advocate for healthy living), or Hershey’s Bliss (because who doesn’t love great chocolate?).

Would your company like to help me attend BlissDom so that I can strengthen my blog while you receive advertising, and get in-blog and in-tweet credit for your support? If so, thank you. I’d love to hear from you.

If you’re a business owner who’s interested in maximizing your business’s online presence, using social media to promote your business, or improving your business’s search engine rankings, Market St. Louis is a good place to start.

The conference is small; only 100 tickets are sold. This means that sessions are personal, and that you’ll have the opportunity to talk with the speakers and network with other attendees.

My session, “Great Social Media Isn’t Accidental: Planning for Success” will focus on integrating your overall strategic plans (even your informal ones), your marketing plans (assuming you’ve got them – if not, we’ll talk some about developing them) and your social media strategy (yes, your social media outreach should be strategic).

If you’re looking for one single piece of online magic that’ll send your company’s social media presence soaring, I probably can’t help you. If you’re looking for tangible ways to improve your company’s audience engagement and brand loyalty through ongoing, strategic, online communications, I’m your gal.

Learn more about Market St. Louis and my session at the conference here.

I just left a session on “sustainable, tools-agnostic social media strategy” lead by Jay Baer of ConvinceandConvert.com. Throughout the conference today, there are two sessions at each time slot, meaning that attendees can essentially attend half of the day’s sessions at best. In talking with a colleague who’d attended the opposite session as me at 9 a.m., I decided it may be worth sharing some of my notes today for attendees who miss the sessions I attend.

Jay Baer spoke on a topic I’m passionate about in my professional life; strategy. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat in “social media” workshops and heard “social media experts” spend their time speaking on specific tools and specific applications. With tools that are constantly changing, the value of the content of those sessions has a limited shelf life. I believe that the real social media experts understand marketing, voice, brand management, and how to be social. Apparently Jay Baer does, too.

Jay outlined a 7 step process on being social:

1. Build an Ark

2. Listen – to what your audiences and competitors are saying and pay attention to where they’re saying it

3. What’s the Point? – i.e why is your company using social media; to build awareness, to make sales, or to increase loyalty?

4. Analyze your Audience – Who is your audience and where are they online? What kind of information do they want and are they ready for? Know what kind of content your audience wants and is ready for (based on their level of engagement with your company/product/brand, but also based on their “social technographic“)

5. Find Your “One Thing” – Decide what the thing is that makes people feel the soul of your organization or company, because that’s the thing that people will connect with. Your business should be about more than a logo or product attributes. Find the soul of your business.

6. Select an Outpost – Figure out where your audiences lie and meet them there. Don’t build a presence via a certain social media presence and expect your audience to follow it if they’re not already using that platform.

7. Measure Impact – match your metrics to your goals (see point #3; are you building awareness, making sales, or encouraging loyalty?)

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The next session I’ll be attending is at 11:30 a.m. and is called “Branding within Social Media”. The session description says, “messaging, visual branding, personal brands and more”. Panelists are Matt Browne (Lending Tree), Steve Parker (Levelwing Media), Kelly Doria (Scottrade), Stephen Linn (CMT/MTV Networks), Thesesa Beffa (Conversations.net).

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Finally, if you’re attending #sofresh today, please #sayhitothefunk. I’m on twitter as @milligfunk, and I’m one of the green-shirted volunteers today at the event. Social media is about being social, and real life interactions add real value to the blogosphere, the twitterverse and this small town girl’s guide to life in rural Missouri.