Now that social media is hitting the mainstream, suddenly people are finding that it’s cool to be a nerd (To be honest, I think the nerds already knew that they were cool when they started to bring “sexy” into their vernacular–that is, you know, in addition to the millions they were making off of something they built in their dad’s garage.). Dave Hendricks, executive vice president of digital marketing technology company Datran Media, opened his morning presentation at the Direct Marketing Association’s DMDays by talking about how nerds/geeks are reveling in all their tech-savvy glory. At the 140 Character Conference,  also in New York this week,  Sharon Glassman (@sharonglassman), an author, Huffington Post blogger, and speaker, performed a song she wrote about “Nerds, Dorks, & Geeks.” Geeks, she said, are passionate, dorks are charming, and nerds are brilliant. It was entertaining – you can listen to the song on her Web site, but last I checked, the link was broken…

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend a couple sessions at the Direct Marketing Association’s DMDays here in New York. More attendee tweets can be found at here under the hashtag #dmdays. I’ve fleshed out and added links to the original tweet stream below.

“Digital Media: The New Face of Sales and Promotions“ Dave Hendricks, executive vice president of digital marketing technology company Datran Media (Please note: my original tweet stream mistakenly referred to Hendricks as Rob Friedman, chief executive officer of Promotional Technologies International Corp. (PTI), a Web and technology marketing and promotions company.)

- Tue Jun 16 14:00:25 Dave Hendricks, executive vice president of Datran Media, says that today everyone wants to be a nerd in “Nerdistan” where all the cool technology is
- Tue Jun 16 14:01:46 “go onto your own sites and Digg and StumbleUpon them”- Hendricks [uh, isn't that inorganic and thus, inauthentic?-j]
- Tue Jun 16 14:06:23 “Facebook is probably your best sales and promotion [tool] today”
- Tue Jun 16 14:06:46 “digital media: the new face of sales and promotions” feels a bit like social media 101 @ #dmdays. Wonder how #140conf sessions compare
- Tue Jun 16 14:15:19 “everyone know what a hashtag is?”
- Tue Jun 16 14:12:25 “according to Forrester, the future is largely mobile and social”-Hendricks [now about those cordless laptops...-jt]
- Tue Jun 16 14:13:53 Hendricks goes through one smart phone a year. I barely made it 6 months before cracking my iPhone..FML
- Tue Jun 16 14:23:30 10,000 apps on Facebook (“those annoying things your friends send you”-Hendricks), 50,000 apps on iPhone.
- Tue Jun 16 14:28:40 “Lionel Richie, perhaps the best artist of the 20th century, has his [music] on MySpace“-Hendricks [really? the 'best'?haha]
- Tue Jun 16 14:29:07 4900 Google Android applications, 1088 Nokia applications, 1030 BlackBerry applications –”[these applications] will be the next direct marketing platforms [and] your method of engagement..listen now, believe me later”
- Tue Jun 16 14:35:56 Um, did Hendricks just compare the advent of Twitter to that of the steam engine?
- Tue Jun 16 14:35:20 Most people spend 4 sec on an email. People spent 7 mins on “Monk-e-mail”-Hendricks [testament to the ___ of American culture. -j]
- Tue Jun 16 14:40:58 “that’s the deal with all this [social] stuff–it’s a TWO-way [relationship]“-Hendricks
- Tue Jun 16 14:42:14 Wine tv.winelibrary.com with Gary Vaynerchuk  “I don’t want to use too many hyperboles but getting out there and demonstrating by video is super effective”-Hendricks

Keynote: Ivanka Trump, executive vice president, acquisition and development at The Trump Organization

- Tue Jun 16 15:16:45    Ivanka Trump taking the stage at #dmdays
- Tue Jun 16 15:21:06    “the last 18 months have been the best source of education…better than my education at the [The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania]”
- Tue Jun 16 15:23:36    “what’s it like to be the daughter of Donald Trump?…learn the true meaning of meritocracy.”
- Tue Jun 16 15:27:17    Ivanka is only 27! “my father..gave me more than I could handle…to measure my competancy”
- Tue Jun 16 15:28:34    “those with great success fundamentally love what [they're] doing”
- Tue Jun 16 15:30:32    “[Successful people] don’t do it for the money”– can only rich people say that?
- Tue Jun 16 15:33:52    “the people still around after the recession are the people who are relentless…like my father”
- Tue Jun 16 16:17:29    Ivanka suggests making well-informed gut decisions. [I'm tempted to call it an oxymoron - jt]

Unfortunately, the tweets ended there as my iPhone ran out of power and I couldn’t connect to the Internet during the keynote. Ivanka went on to talk about the value of developing and maintaining a good reputation.

It seemed unfitting that they invited her to be the keynote speaking: she didn’t seem to be that highly involved in her own marketing other than knowing how to maintain a good image and schmooze with the right people, which, granted, are important qualities to have. Moreover, she admitted that she does not get involved with social media channels like Twitter and seemed averse to exposing her personal life on social networking sites like Facebook.