This coming year will be my third at SXSW so this time I partnered with Aaron Brazell (@technosailor) to submit a Core Conversation proposal called "Shattering Secrets with Social Media". Here it is:

What are they building? Did he quit or get fired? Who is she dating now?

As helpful as Facebook can be in knowing who is dating who.. does that really help anyone? Is that even interesting? Wouldn't you like to know about the things that *aren't* being talked about? Professionally, how can you look at a "stealth startup" and figure out what they're doing and how they're doing it? How can you learn about their investors, products, and even potential customers? How can you scare the hell out of them for fun and profit? Who are the Connectors? Where are the Mavens flocking? How can the CIA put two and two together to equal terrorist?

This is incredibly late since tek·X starts in four days, but it's definitely worth noting here. After a headed battle of Rock-Paper-Scissors against Cal Evans and Marco Tabini, I finally lost. While I thought we were deciding who was going to pay for dinner, it turns out the stakes were a bit lot higher.

It turns out that I will be Live Coding for two back to back sessions at tek.

You don't believe me? Well, here's the description:

If you were paying attention a few months ago, you know that for php|tek 2009, MTA put together a free webcast series. We had great turnout, feedback, and success with them, so we're doing it again:

We have the FREE CodeWorks 2009 Webcast Series!

It works basically the same as last time around.  About every other Friday over the next three months, we'll have a ~30 presentation starting at 1pm Eastern Time.  We tend to start on time, so don't be late.  But if you have to miss it or are running late, the video and slides will be posted afterwards.  Where?  We're not sure yet, stay tuned.

This coming week - on Wednesday 14 January, to be specific - I'm presenting at the DCPHP Users' Group giving a one hour session on the ins and outs of web2project.  Here's the synposis:

Although web2project is a fork of dotProject, simply calling it the next version ignores how far its come in the last year. The system has undergone massive improvements in permissions, system performance, User Interface, and numerous things not visible until you get under the hood. We'll take some time to review the most obvious changes and then get down to the aspects that will make the system fun and useful for you.

What!?  You don't live in/around DC but you're still interested in the session?  No problem!

In fact, there's something even bigger and better coming...