Kaiscapes Media

Following Up On #BBTB2012

February 4, 2012 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Old Lahaina Luau performers

Last weekend, I had the privilege of being on the social media team for the 11th Annual Buy Back The Beach benefit by the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust for the second year in a row at Old Lāhaina Lū‘au. Hoaloha Na ‘Eha provided fabulous tasting menus from their restaurants, Star Noodle, Old Lāhaina Lū‘au, Aloha Mixed Plate and Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop. We were treated to an evening of Polynesian music and dance by the the Old Lāhaina Lū‘au staff, a live auction and a special performance by HAPA to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their premiere release.

HAPA performing at Old Lahaina Luau

Preliminary figures showed the event raised more than $125,000, and a Hashtracking snapshot taken shortly after the event showed our hashtag got 1,769,417 impressions and reached 159,407 followers. See our tweets at Tweetdoc. ->

View the photos on Flickr ->

Filed Under: Events, Featured Tagged With: aloha mixed plate, buy back the beach, hapa, hawaiian islands land trust, hoaloha na eha, hula, leoda's kitchen and pie shop, old lahaina luau, star noodle

Help Buy Back The Beach In Hawaii

January 25, 2012 By Peter Liu 3 Comments

As a photographer living in Hawai‘i, I do a lot of work on the beach. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a portfolio of images that could only have been made on a Hawaiian beach. It really is everything people fantasize about when they consider taking a vacation to Hawai‘i, and those of us who live here are thankful every time we get sand between our toes.

As beautiful and idyllic as they are, a little known fact is our beaches and open spaces require stewardship and protection against everything from natural erosion to encroaching development. To that end, the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust holds their Buy Back The Beach benefit every year to raise funds for this very worthy cause.

Graciously hosted by Old Lāhaina Lū‘au, and sponsored by Mana Foods, Boeing, Skyline EcoAdventures and Sempra Generation, the 11th annual Buy Back The Beach benefit takes place on Saturday, January 28, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Mistresses of ceremony Joni DeMello and Liz Morales of Ahumanu will take us through a magical evening of Hawaiian food, music and dance. Hoaloha Na ‘Eha is providing special tasting menus from Star Noodle, Old Lāhaina Lū‘au, Aloha Mixed Plate and their newest restaurant, Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop. HAPA will give a special performance to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their premiere release.

The popular “Adventures for the ‘Aina” auction returns with packages including:
Afternoon with W.S. Merwin (Click for video)
Ancient Days in Wailea (Click for video)
edible Hawaiian Islands’ “Sentenced to Feast”: Dinner Party Exclusive (Click for video)
Great Scope! Haleakala (Click for video)
Guided Kaupo Hunt & Private Dinner with Chef Brian Etheredge (Click for video)
Hawai‘i By Air, Land & Sea (Click for video)
Hike the Cloud Forest of Waikamoi (Click for video)
Kauai Family Fun (Click for video)
Ku‘uipo Makena
Ole Longboard
One Wild Week in Wyoming (Click for video)
Vintner Vonderland Napa Valley (Click for video)
Waihee by Moonlight: Guided Hike & Dinner
Wailea Shutterbug Workshop with Randy Jay Braun

In addition, a passionate conservation donor is pledging a matching gift of $5000 if we raise $5000 by January 28! Help us by making a donation now!

I have the honor of being part of the social media team for this event. Follow and tweet with my colleagues and me:
Sarah Burns: @TheOhanaMama
Melissa Chang: @Melissa808
Roxanne Darling: @roxannedarling
Peter Liu: @PeterLiu47
Liza Pierce: @AMauiBlog
Sara Tekula: @spectekula

Read our blogs about the event:
A Maui Blog: My Favorite Beaches on Maui Part 1
A Maui Blog: Buy Back the Beach Benefit: Five Things
The Ohana Mama: Calling All Hawaii Lovers – Let’s Buy Back the Beach!
Nonstop Honolulu: Let’s Buy Back the Beach
Can Social Media Save Hawaii’s Beaches and Land?

Share our shortlinks in your blogs and tweets:
Link to the main event page: http://bit.ly/BBTB2012
Link to the $5K Challenge Details: http://www.hilt/org/bbtb-5k
Link to the PayPal Donate Page: http://bit.ly/bbtb5000

And be sure to use our hashtag: #BBTB2012

This promises to be a very special evening. Buy your tickets online and come join us!

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: #BBTB2012, aloha mixed plate, boeing, buy back the beach, hapa, leoda's kitchen and pie shop, mana foods, old lahaina luau, sempra generation, skyline edoadventures, star noodle

TEDxMaui 2012

January 25, 2012 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

I had the great privilege of being the Social Media Manager for the first ever TEDxMaui last Sunday. I spent the day being inspired by our speakers and performers, sharing them with followers around the globe and working with an amazing and talented team of people.

See the TEDxMaui 2012 set on Flickr ->

Filed Under: Events, Featured Tagged With: macc, maui arts and cultural center, tedxmaui

#FSWine 2011 at @FSMaui

November 10, 2011 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Last night, my fellow tweeters and I were treated to a lovely event at the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. Led by four top sommeliers including James Tidwell of Four Seasons Dallas, Mark Sayre at Four Seasons Austin, Dana Farner at Beverly Wilshire and Brick Loomis at Four Seasons Los Angeles, we got to taste and tweet the Lunetta Prosecco, the Domaine Chandon Brut Classic and the Louis Roederer Brut Premier, served alongside such delightful hors d’oeuvres as a Black Sesame Basket with Fig & Pear Compote and a Ginger Bread Crostini, Red Beet & Marscapone Slaw with Alaina Farm Honey.

The event was part of a simultaneous worldwide virtual sparkling wine tasting under the hashtag #FSWine. Social media doesn’t get much better than a pairing of fine wines and Twitter, and sharing the experience with tweeters around the world at the same time. A big thank you to Crissa Hiranaga of the Four Seasons Resort Maui for inviting us.

See some of the tweets from the worldwide #FSWine 2011 event.

@DJSMOOK, @AlohaKathy and @DaniaEdibleHI tweeting

@AlohaKathy, @shane, @FSMaui and @DaniaEdibleHI

@maui_concierge, @katiemac and @yvonnebiegel

@DJSMOOK, @MauiFreshChef, @venusbravo, @TheOhanaMama and @spectekula

Louis Roederer Brut Premier with Ginger Bread Crostini, Red Beet & Marscapone Slaw, Alaina Farm Honey

Filed Under: Events, Twitter Tagged With: #fswine, @fsmaui, four seasons resort maui at wailea, live tweet, sparkling wine

New Social Media Boot Camp on June 25 at High Tech Maui

June 9, 2011 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

Lately, the surveys coming back from our workshops at High Tech Maui have shown a demand for more “advanced” social media training. For an island that was barely aware of social media a year-and-a-half ago, that shows good progress. The demand for the creation of our Maui Social Media Users Group (MauiSMUG) in January is also a good indication.

After much discussion and planning, we have revamped our social media series to include more advanced workshops on strategies and tools for businesses.

To ensure everyone has the prerequisite knowledge to participate in these advanced workshops (to be announced) in the next few weeks, I am kicking off the new series with our first ever Social Media Boot Camp on Saturday, June 25.

This six-hour intensive walkthrough of the social media landscape replaces all our previous 101 workshops, and includes:

Getting started in social media for your business:
- General principles, mindsets, strategies, do’s and don’t's and etiquette.
Introduction to blogging for your business:
- Find out why the blog is the new website, and why your website basically amounts to an overpriced online business card if it doesn’t include a blog.
- Things to think about before starting a blog.
- How blogs are hosted on the Web and how to start one.
- How to come up with good content for your blog.
- Best practices in blogging for maximum effect.
- Blogging etiquette.
- Connecting and autoposting your blogs to your social networks
- Using services like Posterous to live blog.
Introduction to the current popular social networks—setting up accounts, profile management and basic best practices in:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn

If you’re new to social media and need to learn the basics to get started, or if your staff needs training in social media for your business, this is the workshop for you. Sign up and learn what social media is all about, and how to jump in.

Date: Saturday, June 25, 2011

Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Malcolm Center, 1305 Holopono St., Suite 1, Kihei

Cost: $65

Seating limited to 30

Register Online!

Stay tuned to High Tech Maui to learn about the exciting new advanced workshops we’ll be offering in the coming months.

Filed Under: Events, Workshops Tagged With: facebook class, high tech maui, medb, social media 101, social media bootcamp, social media class, social media on maui, social media training, social media workshop, twitter class

Live Tweeting Buy Back The Beach

January 30, 2011 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

@jenrusso by iPhone light at @oldlahainaluau #BBTB

Last night, I was invited to be a part of something very special, live tweeting the 10th Annual Buy Back The Beach benefit at the Old Lahaina Luau for the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. I was part of a small team assembled by Dania Katz including Melissa Chang, Liza Pierce, Sarah Burns and Sara Tekula, and we had Jen Russo from Maui Time join us for a while. We were gathered at a table with a great view of the stage as well as Lahaina harbor, and we spent the evening sharing the event on Twitter and other networks.

If you’ve never been among live tweeters while they’re doing their thing, you’d think we were a little odd. Things are going on all around us and we have our eyes on our computers or mobile devices with thumbs and fingers flying away, occasionally looking up to get some food, ask a quick question or grab a photo. To an outsider, we probably look like an antisocial bunch, but in reality, we’re sharing images and video, retweeting each other and bringing the event to a world of friends and followers who can’t be there.

We had samplings of fabulous cuisine by several top chefs in Hawai‘i, as well as performances by Joel Katz, Barry Flanagan and Eric Gilliom, and the Old Lahaina Luau staff. There was a live auction and everyone, including the wait staff worked for free. All the proceeds went to the cause.

I’ve gathered all the tweets with our hashtag, #BBTB, here. I’m always amazed when I see these after an event.

Our equipment ranged anywhere from a simple smartphone with a camera to a full blown laptop. Being a photographer, I like having a DSLR capable of high ISO’s with a fast lens, and these days, I use an iPad to get my media out. My current method:

Get the photos onto the iPad with the Apple Camera Connection Kit or an Eye-Fi card (depending on the network connectivity available).
Edit the photos as needed with Photogene, then downsize them to around 800 pixels for posting.
Send them by email to my Posterous.
Posterous is set up to autopost to my blog.
My blog is registered with Networked Blogs on Facebook, which posts to my wall (and pages as appropriate), and to my Twitter accounts.

What’s your favorite live tweeting routine?

Filed Under: Campaign, Events, Twitter Tagged With: buy back the beach, hawaii land trust, live tweet, old lahaina luau

Technocracy or Democracy?

November 9, 2010 By Peter Liu Leave a Comment

I’ve been invited to participate in a philosophical forum to explore the cultural impact of the technological revolution on the ethos in which we live. This discussion is part of the “First Wednesday” series held by the philosophy club of Seabury Hall.

The event runs from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 10. It’s free and open to the public. RSVP at Facebook ->

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: cultural impact, philosophy, technological revolution

Live Tweeting An Event: #Focus2010

October 7, 2010 By Peter Liu 1 Comment

We’re in the middle of election season and I led a small team of live tweeters during a gubernatorial debate between candidates Lt. Governor James “Duke” Aiona and U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie last night, hosted by the Maui Economic Development Board in connection with their Focus Maui Nui program.

We were seated in a designated “tweetbox” in the back row of the McCoy Theater at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, where we could see everything. The event was invitation-only, and it was a veritable who’s who of Maui. Kayla Rosenfeld (@radiogal777) did a wonderful job moderating the event.

The purpose of live tweeting is to give your Twitter followers a window into the event and give them an opportunity to participate and be a part of it even though they can’t attend. The event was aired on local radio and television stations as well, but sometimes, the social media channel can the most convenient.

@raatz and @AMauiBlog live tweeting the #Focus2010 event.

I only had @raatz and @AMauiBlog with me in our little “tweetbox” section, but the beauty of doing something like this with an existing social graph is others start joining in after a while with retweets.

I took a little time out and posted the link to the blog post where everyone could find the live channels to tune into on Facebook and Twitter, and pretty soon, others were listening in and live tweeting as well, so our little team of three grew by several virtual members. This is one of those instances where old and new media can work well together.

For a blow by blow of the evening, here’s a collection of the tweets with our #focus2010 hashtag, via Tweetdoc.