Twestival takes place on March 25^th a mere 2 days away. Here in Wilmington, we are excited to participate for a second year (which means we have been a part every year). The exciting news this week is that Twestival and Concern have been awarded a $100k matching grant from The Entrepreneurship Foundation/Austin Ventures Help Haiti Fund (EF/AVHHF). Which means that for EVERY ticket sold, the amount of money donated will be doubled?

Where else could you donate $20 receive a t-shirt, food, beer or wine, have a party, AND have $40.00 donated to a great cause? That’s right, 100% of your donation (times two) to attend goes straight to Concern Worldwide to build schools and provide education to some of our poorest youth around the world.

The River Room

You still have time to get your ticket to Twestival! We will look forward to seeing you in the River Room on the 25^th!

Twestivals are held in cities across the globe to raise money for an international charity. This year the Wilmington Twestival will be held in The River Room on March 25.

You will not want to miss out on all the fun. Get your tickets NOW

On March 25, 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will gather. Together they will celebrate Twestival (Twitter + Festival). The events will be fun. The camaraderie of being brought together via twitter will be amazing. However, the most exciting part of Twestival will be the global impact.

On 12 February 2009, the first Twestival Global was held in 202 international cities to support @charitywater, who we saw doing incredible work to help the almost 1 billion or 1 in 6 people in the world that don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water.  Over 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors fundraised $250k+, which resulted in more than 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India having a direct impact for over 17,000 people. Watch the videos of the first Twestival well drilled in the village of Mai Nabri, Ethiopia.

In 2010, we turn our focus to education and 72 million children in the world who don’t have the opportunity to go to school. @Concern Worldwide has been selected by the Twestival global team and local organizers to be the recipient because of their comprehensive and well-respected approach to education.

What is better than attending Twestival 2010? Being a sponsor of Twestival 2010. Our Wilmington Twestival will be held March 25, 2010 in the River Room.

Sponsorship levels are as follows: (DOWNLOAD PDF HERE)

· Platinum Level ($750 or higher) o Logo on T-shirt o Radio Mentions o Logo on website o  Link to Business on website o  4 Tickets to Event

· Gold Level ($400 - $750) o Name on T-shirt  o Logo on website o Link to Business on website o 2 Tickets to Event

· Silver Level ($250 -$400) o Logo on website o 1 Ticket to Event

· Bronze Level (up to $100 ) o Day of Mention & 1 Ticket to Event

Retail offerings or gifts ‘in kind’ will be valued one level below their retail value. For Example: A $00 donation of products or services will be counted as a Sliver level rather than Gold.

Not able be a sponsor? You can still enjoy the fun! Tickets are on sale now.

Hello everyone! We just wanted to update everyone on details of a meeting we held February 11th, 2010. Ty Downing & Lori Lorusso of Perspective Internet Marketing, Shannan Bowen of Star News, Greg Tumolo & David Nye of Frank Deals, Sarah Barbee of FussBudget and last but not least, Bruce Brown from Quantum Results Coaching met to discuss preliminary plans for Wilmington’s part in the global charity event called Twestival. For great photos of this intense (fun) meeting, check out Bruce Brown’s post.

Here are the details as of today:

• Held on Thursday March 25th, 2010
• Venue: The River Room
• 100% donations go to ‘Concern Worldwide‘ an .ORG helping build schools in other lands (Haiti)
• $20 donation for entry. Includes t-shirt, raffle ticket
• Live Music from alternating bands
• Several door prize give-a ways to be announced
• We need sponsors! Corporate too. We’ll have a couple levels of sponsorships
• We need volunteers (please leave comment if you can help)
• Worldwide, simultaneous event held in almost 200 cities globally
• Si Cantwell from the StarNews will be Emcee

We are sure more details will come soon such as how to purchase your tickets, so please check back often, but for up to date information please follow us on:

Twitter (Make sure you use #ilmtwestival & or #ilm #twestival in your tweets!)

Facebook

We all heard some exciting news this week from the Twestival committee in London (Amanda Rose), the decision on the charity this year will be “Concern Worldwide.”!! Please get familiar with this organization (video below), follow them on Twitter too - @concern

The date for Twestival global this year has also been finalized, Thursday March 25th, 2010 here in Wilmington, North Carolina, as well as the entire planet.

We will shortly be getting more details of this years local event, but as last year, will begin accepting sponsors and volunteers.  Assisting me this year as project leader will be Greg Tumolo, CFO of a national company based here in Wilmington, FrankDeals.com also on Twitter at @FrankDeals

Stay tuned for exciting deets!

Ty Downing - Wilmington Twestival Global Organizer

Just a quick post to let Wilmington, North Carolina know that Twestival 2010 (And late summer) is planned for:

Twestival Local : Saturday 12 September 2009

Twestival Global : Thursday 4 February 2010

More details here: http://twestival.com/

Since Twestival is over now and we await the exciting news for next year, I thought we could briefly mention how social media, twitter, and other social tools have impacted our town of Wilmington, North Carolina since the Twestival.
I am the organizer for Twestival in Wilmington, and have since really pursued building the social media side of things. Twitter of course is just a tool of social media that we instruct corporations to utilize to engage the influencers, their customers.  Take note of some the content on our newly re-designed web site. For starters, we have expanded our social media marketing services to include location based advertising, custom Facebook fan page advertising, social media monitoring with Radian6 and much more.
Many local businesses will need a corporate strategy and make room for mobile smartphone advertising, location based ads with local search marketing, we are proud to offer these services along with Google Admob, Adwords advertising.

Along with our vast array of services, our bread and butter has always been search engine optimization, Wilmington, NC, any city, (Most websites) :))

We look forward to how this site, and others are doing leading up to Twestival 2010!

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re all getting excited about helping out a wonderful and greatly needed charity!

There are almost 40 people who have purchased tickets online here, but we want you to be able to enjoy all you can with the advanced purchase rate of $15. If you wait to get to the door, it’s $20, but then again, it’s ALL going to the charity, “charity:water.”

If you’re curious, read this New York Times’ article on how the global Twestival event began.

Again, you’re helping out a wonderful cause and I am sure people in developing countries will greatly appreciate having clean drinking water! Wow! Also, you don’t have to stop with the ticket purchase to give to this charity! You can donate as much as you want at the door of the event tonight or online here.

Don’t forget, for your ticket purchase - either online or at the door - you get: free beer, food, water, non-alcoholic drinks, T-shirt for the first 50 in the door, entertainment including kareokee, music and Wii sports, and a chance to win fabulous door prizes like an iPod or gift certificates to local businesses.

Thanks for supporting charity:water. We hope to do this again next year!

-Shannan Bowen

P.S. This Twestival is pure proof of how social media marketing, and setting up a social network can become a powerful tool for a wonderful cause!

Greetings Wilmington! Tonight/Today is the day the world gathers and supports a fabulous charity that brings clean, safe drinking water to developing countries. Who doesn’t deserve clean water?

And Wilmingtonians can help, too, at our very own Twestival.

For starters, you can buy your tickets here.

They are $15 if you buy them before Thursday, but then they are $20 at the door. For that amazing price, which ALL goes to charity:water, here’s what you get:

-T-shirt - First 50 people in the door get one! After that, $5.00 donations. (which will list all the businesses and people who have made this local event possible)

-Beer (included in price, and a cash bar will be available also)

-Non-alcoholic drinks (you don’t have to drink beer if you don’t want to!)

-Food (and we’re still looking for more restaurants willing to donate)

-Door prizes (they include an iPod, gift certificates and other items from local businesses)

-Entertainment: music, kareokee, socializing and even Wii playing!

It’s worth the price to show up for a night of fun and socializing, and it would be great to meet everyone who communicates in the local Twitter community. But the real reason of this event is to support the fabulous charity that will help people in need. It costs $4,000 to build a drinking well in a developing country, and we hope Wilmington can buy a well! If you or your business would like to donate, please ask me for details. 100 percent of all proceeds go to support the charity. No one planning the event keeps it, and all items for the event have been donated.

Our Goal Tonight? To Raise $4,000 To Fund The Building of One Well

Free fundraising thermometer

Thanks for your help!

Shannan Bowen, shannan.bowen@gmail.com