I've been to way too many events and conferences over the past year. Actually, it was a little over a year ago that I first flew out to see San Francisco! Since then, I've been a frequent at many meetups and dozens of tech/business related conferences. Here's my list of the top events I've been to and why they were so great:

1) South by Southwest 2008: Best Overall Conference

Words cannot describe how amazing the South by Southwest conference was. So many of you readers and friends of readers contacted me in order to convince me to go. I was skeptical, but after speaking to dozens of you, I was convinced to go. I only made it for the last three days, but I feel drained mentally and physically from the amazing experience. What made it so great?

First and foremost, the people were smart, courteous, and fun. They came to SxSW with an enthusiastic attitude. There were plenty of fun geeks and few "marketing" people. At the web 2.0 conference, there were way too many self serving biz dev people who were out to pitch and promote their companies. At SxSW, the geeks were there to have fun. Some people call SxSW the spring break for geeks. I'll have to agree.

Even when the day's conference is over, the day has just begun! There are sooo many parties to choose from. Each night, there were at least ten events to choose from. If the popular events had long lines, just start your own party! I'm definitely planning on returning next year. In a few months, maybe I'll gather a few friends and reserve the Presidential Suite in the Hilton. We'll throw our own parties :)

2) GeekSessions 1.1: Best Tech Meetup

This was definitely the best informal cocktail event I've been to for many reasons. Before going, I had envisioned it as being a high-caliber meet-up for super smart and super cool techies. My guess was completely spot on. Firstly, it was invite only. Like all good conferences, you primarily go for the people. If the people are good, the experience is good. Since then, Geeksessions has opened up registration for all and I've met fewer people since. Maybe it's just the fact that I know so many people who go there already!

Secondly, the conference organizers were able to manage the work-play balance that all events need. There's usually both an educational and a networking component to these events. The trick is not having too little or too much of either, and GeekSessions did that amazingly well. Strict 5-10 minute deadlines per speaker helps the situation.

3) Supernova 2007: Best Professional Cocktail Gathering:

The Supernova cocktail party, like every other event I endorse, had high caliber people socializing with each other. The conference was open to all. That is, to anyone who could afford the $2800 price tag. What's better than being in a room filled with free drinks, great appetizers, and seasoned entrepreneurs? The event attracted an older crowd, but most people knew what they were talking about.

Worst Event: PowerShift

I felt reserved about writing about the worst event I've been to, but I decided that it would be ok given that I remained objective with my reasoning.

PowerShift was basically a conference to combat global climate change. I'm all for fixing this problem, but the conference itself was despicable in relation to the dozens I've been to. I can probably predict why: The attendees were of low caliber. There were 6,000 attendees, none of them paid more than $25 for their conference badge, and most had very little background in global climate change and activism. I know this because I asked many attendees the following questions:

- how do you know global climate change is happening?

- what do we do to fix it?

- why should conservative money-obsessed republicans worry about this issue?

Most people came off as being ignorant and self-absorbed "activists." And yes, there is a negative stereotype for activists, and yes, most people at this conference fit into that stereotype. If anything, I left that conference learning why politicians feel reserved when dealing with teenage activists. I'm a liberal democrat, I believe that we need to fix global climate change, and I believe that rallying against the "rich republican capitalists" is the wrong route to take.

One may counter-argue my reasoning by saying, "isn't the point of a conference for people to learn?" Sure, but half of the learning happens in the networking with your knowledgeable peers! And if most of them aren't, you're at a loss.

But to the people who organized my top three rated events: Good job! I've since decided to cut back on my event-going to do REAL work, but I'll forever be loyal to the select few events that are able to attract brilliant minds. I'm quite confident that we can already add the TED conference to the 2009 list. :)

Plenty more to come!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com.

I'm reporting live from a congressional hearing on Energy Independence and Global Warming! The first two speakers were amazing at presenting a case to fight off global warming and energy dependency. Unfortunately, I was pretty unsatisfied with our third speaker. Throughout the conference, we were taught about public speaking. We were taught the art of persuasion. We were taught about choosing good representatives to present our case to political leaders. Yet somehow, a school girl from Alaska came to the Capitol steps unprepared. Everybody in the room felt so nervous as she spoke. Simply put, her arguement was mostly compromised of words such as "like" and "ummm" and "uhhh..." After a few minutes of terrible and unmotivating speaking, she broke down in tears. She couldn't get her grip together and there was an utter silence for a good 15 seconds before everybody applauded her in support. Then another 15 seconds go by, and she's back to her terrible public speaking.

LIVE from today's rally at the Capitol - Credit to SRManitou

When trying to convince government (or business) to take action, it's important to concentrate on what THEY want. This third speaker made the issue limited to her small town in Alaska. If I remember correctly, the speaker was referring to a town with a population of under 400 people. Sure, I sympathize with her. But for her to come to a congressional hearing unprepared? That just makes EVERYBODY look bad. Fine. She's just a college student trying to act on an issue important to her. To silence the criticisms I see coming, I'll give her an A for effort. More to come...

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.

It's 8AM, and my colleagues and I are preparing to head to our nation's capitol to lobby for the Warner-Lieberman Bill, The Energy Bill, and/or the Waxman and Sanders-Boxer Bill. Our friends from PowerShift set up appointments with Senators so that fellow PowerShift attendees can lobby for change. Funny enough, I ran into an organizer who just so happened to go to my high school!

I'll try to get my meetings on film - will keep you updated!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.

Yay, after many long hours of driving, I'm finally at Power Shift - a conference on combating global climate change.

I'm sitting in a panel that discusses fighting global change in local communities, and here are a few things I got out of it:

1) When making an argument for creating a sustainable world, make it relevant to the group of people you're talking to. How does it benefit them?

For example, this girl from Sugarland, Texas had a discussion with her mayor on how to create a sustainable city. Ended up that the mayor had many of the ideas she offered, but didn't want to make them public because it could possibly upset the large and powerful oil industry. To make it work, keep in mind how it may or may not benefit the individuals you're talking to.

2) Connections, connections, connections. Find allies and don't be afraid to ask them questions. Students always seem so freaking hostile towards business executives and government officials. There is some truth behind their thinking, but hostility doesn't solve problems. Once again, look at everything from THEIR perspective. Suck out as much info as you can and use it for your mutual benefit.

When I meet with founders and management at companies, I ask them about their business. I ask them about their ideas and why they do what they do. I ask them why they don't do X, and more often than not, they've thought of the idea and found a reason as to why it wouldn't work. (or they're in the process of implementing that X) At the end of the day, I give them good or bad press via my blog. :)

3) It's important to be able to measure everything. Set goals and measure your improvement by solid numbers. This way, you know what's most effective, what's best to invest more time and money into, etc...

For example, in regards to advertising, it's important to have necessary data: who's visiting your business, where are they coming from, etc… this is why TV advertising doesn't work. You have no way of distinguishing if your customer is coming from a TV ad or from word of mouth. Google AdWords, on the other hand, offers you control over everything. You can cap your spending to any amount of money, you can specify the physical location your visitors are from, you can specify certain keywords, etc…

4) Garnering support is all about targeting communities. Get huge groups of people excited about a common cause. I'll write tomorrow about their conference marketing… but I must say, it is borderline manipulative.

In a nutshell, the conference would recruit "campus coordinators" who would take charge of organizing the conference trip to Power Shift. Basically, the conference organizers made these campus coordinators feel super important and gave them the noble responsibility of bringing as many people as they could to this conference. Brilliant.

The bottom line? Everything about this conference has SO much to do with business, whether it be related to marketing, communications, etc… If you want to combat global climate change, be a doctor, be a fashion designer, or whatever - you're going to be using business related skills. If you want to help stop global climate change, look at the source: big and powerful corporations.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.

In the next few weeks, I'll be reviewing some pretty cool technologies and events:

1) Samsung's BlackJack - A hip mobile smartphone that I've seen way too many advertisements for. I considered buying this, but then the iPhone came out. How could I resist? Their BlackJack is sitting on my desk and will be reviewed in the next few days.

2) Tmobile's Sidekick - This was the first phone I saw that had a built in keyboard. Looks super cool and must be reviewed! I'll compare this side by side with the BlackJack and iPhone. Does Tmobile really have a chance with the newest sidekick? I'll give you my thoughts when it arrives.

3) Sleeptracker Pro Watch - I couldn't wake up for my early 9AM classes if my life depended on it. I searched google for "alarm clock sleep cycle" or something among those stupid words and came across the Sleeptracker. Looks cool. Does it really work? I'll let you know. And if it does, I'll make sure all of my friends, colleagues, and even PARENTS buy one of these.

And plenty, plenty more products to come... depending on how many companies want me to give them my blunt and honest opinion on their products. If I think the product is going to suck, I won't even bother asking for it. Have a cool website or product or service or event you want me to check out? Email me. Events coming up this month:

1) Power Shift - Kiddie Conference set out to educate college kids how to save our world from global warming. I'll be reporting live from the conference from November 2-5. My peers are having trouble finding transportation, but I plan on going with or without them. Thank you, Toyota, for your awesome hybrid!

2) Techcrunch Party - I'll be going to the Techcrunch meetup on the evening of November 17th. The event back at August Capital in Silicon Valley this summer was amazing! I really look forward to covering this event.

Unfortunately, the guys from Fly CLEAR didn't want to offer me their service, even for review. Guess they haven't caught up with the 21st century's idea of social marketing. I'll blog about that story later. Point being, send me your products, I'll give you an objective review, and I'll blog about it.

Will keep you posted!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.

From November 2-5, I'll be down in College Park, Maryland for a kiddie conference on global warming called Power Shift!

The basic idea is, thousands of college students will waste thousands of dollars worth of gas to attend a conference targeted at fixing global warming. Absolutely brilliant! I wonder how many kids will actually buy carbon offsets for their transportation. I doubt many will.

OK. Fine... I'm being slightly cruel for no good reason. I have a gut feeling that many college students will come and feel empowered with their newfound smarts on how to fix all of our world's problems. On the last day of the conference, students will be lobbying to congress. Will the kids argue for what will magically solve all of our problems, or will they understand the complexities involved with bringing about any change?

What amuses me most is the list of invited speakers. Names include Michael Bloomberg, Al Gore, Ariana Huffington, etc... Only that in tiny print, it reads, "These speakers are not yet confirmed."

I'll be sure to write about the event day by day. I'm sure the conference will be fun! It'll be a nice change hanging out with college students only a few years older than me. (in comparison to the conferences I've been to where the average attendee age was 50+) Plan on going? Do let me know!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.