Those attending the Social Media Workshop Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM are in for a very special treat. Andy Beal, internet marketing consultant, award-winning blogger, professional speaker and coauthor of the critically-acclaimed book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online will be the special guest speaker via Skype.

Lisa Kipps-Brown, President of Glerin Business Resources, is working with the Riverstone Energy Center to use the modeling and simulation “Cave” to host an interactive discussion during the workshop. “We couldn’t afford his fee to come and speak to our group, but Mr. Beal graciously offered to attend via Skype. Our next challenge was to figure out a way for those attending the workshop to be able to see and interact with Mr. Beal,” Kipps-Brown said. “Without Riverstone Energy Center's assets and lots of help from Energy Center employees Ben Thompson and Kristy Johnson, we wouldn't have been able to make this happen; they're also enabling us to live stream the entire workshop for those who can't attend,” she added.

“We are excited to be participating in these workshops and even more excited to be using the assets of Riverstone Energy Center in ways that we never envisioned to answer the needs of businesses throughout the region,” said Dr. Douglas Corrigan, Executive Director of Riverstone Energy Center. “This will give us the opportunity to showcase one of our assets to a group of business and community leaders that might have never been aware that the asset even existed.”

Beal is considered one of the world’s most respected internet marketing consultants. He has worked with many top companies such as Motorola, GlaxoSmithKline, SAS, Lowes, Quicken Loans and NBC. Highly respected as a source of internet marketing advice, Beal has had articles published around the world, including in Business Week, Forbes, Mashable and Web Pro News. He is also coauthor of the only book on the topic of monitoring and managing online reputations.

Beal constantly keeps up-to-date with search engine news and online marketing developments and has appeared on ABC News, CNBC and NPR and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times , Business Week, Inc. Magazine, Forbes and many other publications, He is considered “the Indiana Jones of reputation management.”

In addition to his publications and on-line expertise, Beal is also an entrepreneur and the founder of Trackur.com, a comprehensive and affordable online reputation monitoring and brand tracking tool. Glerin now offers Trackur in it's product lineup and will give all participants attending the workshop a 30-day free trial to test the software out.

This is the fourth in a series of monthly Social Media Workshops designed to help businesses, organizations and individuals learn how to use social media tools in marketing. The workshops are being sponsored by the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County, the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce and Halifax County Tourism and are developed by Glerin Business Resources, a Halifax-based web and digital media design company that provides custom work for small to medium sized businesses.

If you would like to learn more about blogging and why it is the most important thing you can do to improve your online presence, don't miss this workshop on Tuesday March 20 at 6:00 PM at Riverstone Centre. Space is limited, so register online at http://www.glerin.com/register.html or go to www.glerin.com and click the red “Register for Workshop” button.