Today I was fortunate enough to get to address the entire Hoonah middle and highschool student body. I talked to them a bit about Online Success.

My main effort was to impress upon them that this stuff known as Web 2.0 can actually be more than just fun and games. And that they have a choice… they can choose to spend their time learning how to use it for academic gain, or they can just fritter it away. Indeed, in a few years many of the businesses they think they may want to work for will be hiring and valuing those employees who understand how to professionally nurture customer relationships and knowledge sharing in social media environment.

We talked about being safe online as well as thinking twice before posting things that might make them look bad.

I also tried to explain just how much of an opportunity they have in front of them. I reminded them just how lucky they are to go to a school where the administration understands the importance of the modern web and makes sure students and teachers have access to it (yes, Facebook is open on their network!).

Here are the slides I used for part of my time with them. The real substance of our talk was in the conversation, but you might be able to use the presentation as a jumping off point in your school or environment.