sfBIG'ers,

A lot of great things going on and wanted to share with everyone here. First up...

SAVE THE DATE - SEPTEMBER 16TH - THE BIG DEBATE

sfBIG's next event will be tackling a heated discussion - buying audience or buying content? Join us for The BIG Debate: Audience vs. Content Buying breakfast panel, sponsored by ValueClick, to be held on Thursday, September 16th at the Grand Hyatt in Union Square from 8 to 10 am. Witness a battle royale as both sides of the discussion get the chance to convince you — the marketplace — which is better. For more information on the event, please visit here.

Speakers
Representing the audience-buying POV: Quentin George, Chief Digital Officer, MediaBrands
Representing the content-buying POV: Christine Cook, SVP Digital Sales, Martha Stewart Living
Moderator: Scot McLernon, EVP/ CRO, YuMe

To register, please visit our Eventbrite page here. There are a limited number of seats so don't delay with signing up. As a reminder, this event is free to all paid sfBIG members. Membership will be verified before the actual day of the event. We will allow for outside guests to attend this event at a cost of $70. Guests will also need to register through Eventbrite and payment will be collected at the door. Cash or checks will be the only accepted form of payment.

BACK TO SCHOOL MEANS GIVING BIG

September usually marks the beginning of the school year. Freshly sharpened #2 Ticonderoga pencils. Unmarked composition notebooks open to a world of imagination. And scuff-free backpacks to hold all the essentials. It's the beginning of a fresh start — a time to start off on the right foot and make a big leap in progress. The good news is that this type of motivation can be invigorated here at sfBIG too.

Get involved with the back-to-school season with Give BIG! and remember to donate all of your old computers and accessories. Give BIG! is our community program that brings low-cost refurbished computers and computer accessories to the San Francisco Unified School District's public schools. Your donation has the potential to supply our local schools with the proper tools for our kids to start the school year off right. "Be the change you want to see in this world."

To make giving as easy as possible, sfBIG has set up a form at www.sfbig.org/give_big for all your donations.

SFBIG TO HOST ADDY® AWARDS IN FEBRUARY 2011

I'm particularly excited to share this piece of news with everyone. We recently announced that we are the new hosts of the ADDY Awards come February 26! This is a first for us and we couldn't be more thrilled. The ADDYs, presented annually by the American Advertising Federation, are the industry's premier awards competition, conducted through 200 member ad clubs in 15 U.S. districts and attracts more than 60,000 entries. More details about the event will be announced soon. For more information about the ADDY Awards or to sign up for email updates, visit www.sfaddys.com. We hope to see you there!

Thanks for reading this far and make it a great big week.

John Durham
2010 SFBIG President