At a time when most, if not all of us, are facing challenges in their life and work it was an incredible feeling to watch a room fill with complete strangers who had a thirst for knowledge and the belief and faith to come and be an active part of something new and exciting. They really created what became a very special day.

What amazed me about the Like Minds event in Exeter on Friday wasn’t so much the great content from the speakers and the seamless event hosting and management from Scott Gould and the Exeter Conference Centre but the people who came to share it all with us.

Trey Pennington, one of our keynote speakers, mentioned the words ‘trust’ and ‘faith’ to me over breakfast the next day in Exeter city centre. He was spot on. Both Trey and Olivier Blanchard took a huge leap of faith to get on a plane and fly over from Greenville, South Carolina to be with us and prepare such incisive presentations.

Daren Forsyth and Maz Madjm, despite only knowing me from various London Tweetups, had the trust and faith to take the time out of their schedules and home lives, prepare presentations and travel down to help create such a valuable and magical day. Thanks also must go to all our panelists; Vanessa Warwick, Rick Waghorn, Matt Waring, James Barasic, Carl Haggerty, Laura Whithead, and Andrew Davies who provided such a stimulating discussion after each keynote. If you couldn’t make it down, do take the time to watch them all here.

Also take a moment to check out the feedback at the hashtag #LikeMinds on Twitter as well. The outpouring of love (and man love!) has been inspiring. It was also a great moment to see Stephen Fry say hello on the Twitterfall behind the stage – thank you Stephen! You can read my blog on his London Applestore event here.

Our sponsors, both local and national, also had the faith and trust to buy into our vision, at a point when even WE didn’t know exactly what the day was going to bring! For that we are deeply grateful because without that financial support the idea could have just as easily dissolved. I hope they all feel that they too have got a return on their investment and we look forward to inviting them back to our next event in February.

So it’s seems to me that the fundamentals of social media are about faith and trust. We increasingly ‘meet’ people through social networks, blogs and online communities long before we get to know them in real life and we have to take a leap of faith and trust that they are, who and what they say they are.

Scott Gould and I connected on Twitter around six months before we actually met. In the ensuing two months or so we discussed the idea of creating a brand and holding an inaugural event in Exeter that aimed to bring the level of quality you would expect for an event in a capital city like London but brought to more local communities. I spend my working week between the two cities and can see the parallels and the disparities and feel very passionately that Exeter needs stronger creative ties with other cities like London. I hope that Like Minds, through the use of social media, can start to beak the barriers down even further and bring us all closer together.

Exeter has an enormous amount of talent to offer, evidenced by many of the local participants at Like Minds. I hope that what Scott and I have created, with you and for you, helps you all in your chosen profession and life path.

After all YOU made it happen. To quote Scott on the day; we’re nobody.

PS: Check out what Christina Warren at Mashable had to say about Olivier Banchard, one of our keynote speakers here.

The conference will focus on sustainable social media and social media ROI, answering such questions as:

• How to measure social media ROI
• How to carry out online campaigns to compliment offline marketing mix
• How to target online audiences, and best engage current customers and new customers
• How to turn customers into brand advocates through social media

Come and meet some of the most informed social media experts from Exeter, London, and the USA. Discover how to get a positive return on investment by using social media to grow your brand and your business. It will be a fun, informative afternoon and give you the chance to increase your network and meet some Like Minds.

Follow the link here for more information.

What we experienced was an amazing, creative and stimulating visit. From the gate we walked down a long tree lined drive with a wide grass verge on the left had side mown into a continuous snaking pattern for its whole length. The house had a display studio on the side of it with a stunning view through some floor to ceiling doors into the wooded valley below. Outside there was a separate studio / workshop opposite where some more of her work was on display.

If you haven’t seen it before take a look here. The reclaimed wood that Heather works in was dotted around the entire site leaning up against the workshop walls, stacked in a lean to – all open to the elements to help it bleach and take on the weathered patina that is such a strong feature in her work.

Aside from the horses, stags, piglets (!) and other sculptures in the garden she’d created the most amazing arches, linking hand built wooden walls of stacked logs to the wild hedges. Worn, weathered, twisted branches retrived from local rivers and the sea were bound in with hazel and oak from the garden arching over each other to form very natural looking fluid shapes.

As we wandered down the hill into the valley we came across little sitting areas created by a circle of mulched leaves and wood chippings with old wooden benches and seats set onto them, found from the local re-claimation centre. We sat here for a while as each seat had it’s own particular view across the valley through the branches and watched the mist come down through the trees.

After the circular walk through this magical landscape, which took us past the stream in the bottom of the valley and back up through more woods sprinkled with smaller sculptures (including a bear), we sat in the gazebo with a hot mug of tea watching the windfalls from the apple trees and the fish darting around the pond below us.

A glorious and unexpected gem. So much so we’re going back again for the open studio this weekend with our youngest before she starts her A level art on Thursday. If you’re in the area it’s open from 10am – 5pm from September 5th – 20th 2009.

“Remember going barefoot as a child? It’s the way you first discovered and conquered your world—without the constraint of shoes. Or the sense of duty you acquired later on.

Now you can experience that same physical and visceral sensation in Vibram FiveFingers—the footwear to offer the exhilarating joy of going barefoot with the protection and sure-footed grip of a Vibram® sole. FiveFingers footwear connects you to the earth and your surroundings in a way that is simply not possible in conventional shoes.

They put you in touch with the earth beneath your feet and liberates you to move in a more natural, healthy way. FiveFingers stimulate the muscles in your feet and lower legs to build strength and improve range of motion.”

I’m looking forward to testing them out!

Beware of using words that are too general otherwise your follower count will go through the roof and Twitter is likely to ban you as a potential spammer. However it’s a useful tool for brand owners who want to build followers who are talking about their company or product.

Mr Tweet

TweetSheep

Friend or Follow

TwitterKarma

TwitterHolic

TweetLater

Twitoria

Twerpscan

PeopleBrowsr

TwitterGrader

DoesFollow

The Wiki Apps page is here. Plus some great resources can also be found here.

Many thanks to Bill Gash for his support on this one and to Sorosh Tavakoli CEO of our drinks sponsors Videoplaza.com. They showed off their online video monetisation system on the in house plasma to much interest. We all enjoyed the Swedish themed lucky business card dip (which I suspect was envisaged in the duty free shop at Stokholm departures lounge when they got snowed in and we had to cancel this the first time!) Congratulations to the winner of the limited edition red sequined bottle of Vodka and the other Swedish goodies in the draw.

Thanks also go to the staff at One Alfred Place who ensured everyone didn’t go without a drink and provided tours and answered questions on the club.

The next one will be in May and if you haven’t joined the group yet click here and you’ll get an invite as soon as we’ve set it all up. Many thanks to everyone who came along and I look forward to welcoming more new faces at the next one.

The event is held at the very wonderful One Alfred Place and drinks are sponsored by our friends at Videoplaza.com. They are also giving away a bottle of Swedish Vodka to the winner of the business card draw. So bring lots of cards and look out for the goldfish bowl on your way in.

It’s an informal format – there will be a short introduction from Sorosh Tavakoli the Videoplaza CEO and some screens available for you to experience their system. The rest of the evening is for networking and making new friends. Feel free to Tweet this to your friends and colleagues who would like to attend.

A resounding “Cheers” also goes to Bill Gash from Partners in TV who secured us our sponsor.

Enjoy!