The idea of Twestival (Twitter Festival) is to use social media for social good by connecting communities both online and offline on a single day to highlight a great cause and have a fun event. Twestival is the largest global grassroots social media fundraising initiative to date. Since 2009, volunteers have raised close to $1.2 million for 137 nonprofits. All local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.

San Diego Twestival proceeds will benefit San Diego After-School All-Stars. The mission of San Diego After-School All-Stars is to provide comprehensive out-of-school programs that keep kids safe and help them achieve in school and life. This charity was selected for their positive impact and our San Diego youth, enthusiasm in the Social Media space and their overall passion for ensuring their kids are provided with the best after school programs and resources.

How do you get involved in Twestival? Simple!

1. Come to the event on Thursday March 24th at Sway nightclub in downtown San Diego from 7-10pm. RSVP for the event online with a small $10 donation. Your donation gets you your 1st drink FREE! Donations are suggested at the door but you won’t receive a FREE drink unless you RSVP online.

2. Can’t make the event? You can still DONATE. There are 2 simple ways:

- Make a donation via Twitter using @RainMakerApp, link your PayPal via http://RainMakeApp.com/ and then just send a tweet: include #SDAllStars, a $ amount to donate, and @RainMakerApp
- Make a donation online using: http://www.firstgiving.com/twestivalsd

3. Donate a prize to our raffle! To raise additional funds for San Diego After-School All-Stars we’re also selling raffle tickets and raffling off some great prizes! Please email me: melodie at marketingmelodie dot com if you’d like to contribute to the raffle. So far I’d like to thank Dining Out San Diego for donating $250 in San Diego restaurant gift certificates and PopChips for donating a month’s supply of PopChips!

I hope to see you there!

Rob

Happy New Year!

We’d like to ring in 2011 with you – and share complimentary tastings of three great Italian wines, appetizer platters, and offering half-off all bottles of wine, from our friends @BarAtLaStrada!

Hope to see you there – I haven’t seen you since last year!

RSVP: http://bit.ly/eQZcWq

RT to Win an Andaz Staycation!

If you haven’t RSVP’d for Saturday’s tWineUp at the Andaz Hotel, here’s a little incentive – one lucky tWineUp attendee will win an awesome luxury “staycation” with a free room for one night. To enter for a chance to win just retweet any (or all!) of the following:

• I’m attending this Saturday’s Dressed Up #AndaztWineUp at @IvyNightClub – enter me to win the staycation! http://ow.ly/1MQuw
• Heading to @IvyNightClub this weekend for #AndaztWineUp – they’re giving away a free night of stay! RT to enter! http://ow.ly/1MQuw
• I just entered to win a free staycation at Andaz Hotel! RT for your chance to win. @IvyNightClub #AndaztWineUp http://ow.ly/1MQuw

To win, you must:

• Be following @IvyNightClub
• RSVP Yes for the May 22nd tWineUp
• Be present at the Andaz tWineUp to win!

RSVP today, and spread the word! -> http://ow.ly/1MQuw

Stay tuned for a chance to win free bottle service at @IvyNightClub as well… details coming soon!



Last Wednesday I had the privilege of hosting an exclusive wine tasting and book signing event with the energetic and passionate Gary Vaynerchuk at Vin De Syrah Wine Parlor in Downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp district. Gary was in San Diego as part of his multi-city book tour, including 6 airport signings in just 2 days, for his just released book, “Crush It!”, which in a few short chapters covers his entrepreneurial spirit since childhood, how he grew and built upon his passion for wine, and how anyone that has a passion for something in their life can build a following and make money doing what they love.

Syrah Wine Parlor was the perfect venue for someone like Gary, who is not the norm regarding wine connoisseurs, the same way Syrah is not the norm regarding wine bars. Syrah is a unique venue, styling itself after Alice in Wonderland, with a somewhat secret entrance, wine roots on the ceiling, and captivating decor. It’s become one of Downtown’s hot spots, and later in the night has guest DJs playing great music until 2am.

The event was the 1 year anniversary party of the “tWineUp” (Twitter Wine Meetup) group, and brought together many of Gary’s fans to taste wine in his very unique and enthusiastic manner, to meet him in person, and have him personalize and sign a copy of his book. The venue was filled to capacity, and while pouring wine that fast for everyone to be able to taste along was challenging, Syrah had extra servers on hand and did a wonderful job. After the wine tasting, Gary was busy signing books and talking with people one-on-one.

Everyone left with smiles, from not only the wine being tasted, but from meeting Gary and experiencing in person his passion for wine, people, social media, and life.

Gary Vaynerchuk doing some wine tasting

Gary and I fighting over Melonie