Sam Michel's blog

Sam Michel

Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.

Digital Mission UK Tour Dates Announced

Digital MissionPRESS RELEASE: London, UK, Wednesday 24th June 2009.

Following last year’s successful series of Digital Missions to New York and South by South West interactive (SXSWi), a series of workshops are planned across the UK to help digital companies understand the opportunities for export and expansion.

The free workshops organised by Chinwag and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) are designed to help companies prepare for three exciting Digital Missions are planned to the United States for Autumn 2009 and Spring 2010.

The dates of the workshops are:

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24 June 2009 by Sam Michel

Five days of Digital Mission at SXSW

digialmission-unionjack-120.gifSix months of planning, 100+ applications, 35 companies and heaps of logistics. The merry band of Brits that make up the Digital Mission is heading SXSWard. For live info, follow @digitalmission on Twitter.

So, if you're lucky enough to be in Austin, what's happening? Funny you should ask, here's a quick run-down. Swing by, we'd love to say 'hello' and there's a bunch of interesting people to meet and some ground-breaking products launched...

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12 March 2009 by Sam Michel

30+ Handy Resources for SXSW interactive

Visit our stand at SXSW 2009 Digital Mission

The first time I went to South by South West interactive, the sheer volume of events was over-whelming. A predictably hurried decision to go left little time for any proper planning and the show whizzed by.

sxswi parties - sunday night by Liz HenryAccording to Aaron Brazell, second time out, the event should be an endless round of conference sessions, meetings and partying networking. As part of the Digital Mission, featuring 35 of the UK's hottest digital companies, our group will number nearly 100. For more Brit-related shenanigans, keep an eye out for Rebecca Caroe's cunning plan.

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9 March 2009 by Sam Michel

Techfluff.tv to track Digital Mission to SXSWi

techflufftv.pngThe momentum is building as the final preparations are made by the 35 companies travelling to South by South West interactive as part of the first Digital Mission of 2009. We're excited to announce that Techfluff.tv have joined the Digital Mission as our video partners and will be joining the Digital Mission gang on the journey to Texas.

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8 March 2009 by Sam Michel

Texas Calling: the Brits are coming

35 digital companies head out to SXSWi in Austin this March on the next Digital Mission. Their presence at the event is highlighted in this new ad featured in SXSW World, the official conference mag.

Here's the ad which is also available to download in various sizes from the Digital Mission press page.

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9 January 2009 by Sam Michel

UK digital firms combat credit crunch with Texas trade tour

Jake Stride from Tactile CRM on the Digital Mission to NYCPRESS RELEASE: London, UK, Thursday 8th January 2009

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8 January 2009 by Sam Michel

50+ lists of digital predictions for 2009

2843731730_bb6f325081_m.jpgIt started out with a quick gander of // more

5 January 2009 by Sam Michel

Digital industry confidence bottoms out

1443926963_5a8fdcb03f_m.jpgEach month, the slightly gloomy chore of publishing the Digital Pulse result hits the top of my to do list. Or more accurately, I finally get hassled to the point where I actually manage to get the results on the website.

Since we began compiling this data from a monthly user survey (why not take it now - for each completed survey a donation gets made to WWF) the trend has been a fall in confidence which seemed to accelerate with all the bad financial news.

Despite rosy predictions from the blogosphere and beyond of the digital sector's immunity from the economic traumas, the scale of recession looks like the whole economy is in for quite a kicking.

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22 December 2008 by Sam Michel

Market confidence falls again but doesn't plummet

September was a pretty painful month for the Digital Pulse, Chinwag's confidence index for the digital sector. Industry confidence took an almighty whack, so with baited breath and more than a little trepidation, the numbers were crunched for October’s Digital Pulse.

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26 November 2008 by Sam Michel

Digital Mission success for Slicethepie

SlicethepieCongratulations to David and the guys from Slicethepie, a financing engine and market insight business for the music industry. As a result of contacts made during the Digital Mission to New York in September, they have been selected to appear at the next Hatchery event in New York on 5th November.

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23 October 2008 by Sam Michel

Digital gets the jitters: market and employment confidence shakey

Confidence across the digital sector plunged in September. Chinwag's Digital Pulse, a monthly confidence index for the digital industry, experienced the biggest single month fall (since its inception) of 7.5%. The Digital Pulse has been falling gradually over the last few months, with a slight uplift during the Summer, but this is the first sign of the chills affecting the wider economy may hit Internet businesses hard.

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10 October 2008 by Sam Michel

Is digital confidence set to plunge?

2857718837_cd74d07dd6_m.jpg Freshly back from Digital Mission to Web 2.0 Expo in NYC, the members of the team who went are still battling the twin evils of jetlag and mountainous inboxes.

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25 September 2008 by Sam Michel

Want cash to exhibit at overseas tradeshows?

368281633_4cb5e6e83c_m.jpgThought that might get your attention.

Please leave a comment with any overseas tradeshows your company would like to exhibit at., or that you think should be included on the list. This assistance only applies to exhibiting in the Expo part of tradeshows or conferences, it doesn't include conference passes.

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24 September 2008 by Sam Michel

New Media Sector Champion Joins Digital Mission

digialmission-unionjack-120.gifAs the Digital Mission to New York gathers pace, the agendas are printed, the bags are packed and some of the UK's top digital businesses head to the airport, there's a new addition to the party.

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12 September 2008 by Sam Michel