1. Weekend in Antwerpen
One of those many conference summits, but my fiancee tagged along and we stayed for a weekend. There’s something about traveling abroad I think, it makes your life seem eventful and exciting, even though a city weekend might be just as plain and as full of work stuff as any other weekend.

2. Seminars at Berghs School of Communication
It’s an honor to get to share knowledge and experiences at Berghs, and I really enjoyed meeting the students. I gave four classes altogether, two in how to set the agenda using social media, and two on how to leverage social media in internal communications.

3. Communicare 2010
Second time around, and this time even I got to be keynote speaker at Communicare, hosted by Mid Sweden University. Got to meet a couple of interesting talents, but overall the conference got a bit formal, I think. For next year I’m hoping for a more laidback environment with more opportunities for informal conversations. For next year, maybe less table placements, maybe more party?

4. #jourtips
I helped my fiancee get a Twitter hashtag going in order to help journalists find cases and interview persons. I’m very happy about that and it seems to be still in use to this day!

5. KfIB
A small group of friends in the PR business started a sort of a club. When you work all the time in a competetive environment, few people have time to acknowledge your achievments, and there’s a limit on how much you can brag about yourself, right? So we meet regurarily in order to tell each other what a mighty fine job we’ve all been doing lately. It works - I wouldn’t have had the nerve to quit my job if it weren’t for the support of dear friends. And we had a couple of great parties, too.

6. World Public Relations Forum 2010
I think it was cool that Sweden hosted this event. I even pitched myself as a speaker - without success. But, as the pecha kucha format was introduced, I got my few minutes in the spotlight. I talked about the importance of communities and how to find and liberate your brand’s social media naturals. Had a cool dinner that evening as well, but I’m still torned by that fact that I didn’t say anything insightful, I was just starstruck.

7. Sociala medier: Paul Ronge
I got to be part of a proper book by Paul Ronge, one of the most visible spokespersons of our business. I got a whole chapter revolving around my thoughts on social media. I love books and since I was a little boy I’ve dreamt of being a published author. Having my thoughts in a book like this is exciting.

8. Weekend At Smådalarö Gård
Me and me fiancee took off on a weekend in the Stockholm archipelago. We played some tennis, ate and drank, and talked about life. Most memorable though, was that I posted some pictures of my fiancee in a bikini on Flickr - which resulted in some reactions and my judgement regarding social media etiquette was questioned. Whatever.

9. Politics 2.0 In Almedalen
This year’s Almedalen was really the place to be - if you want to meet influencial political bloggers. We bloggers sort of created our own universe at Bloggplats H12, courtesy of Martina Lind and Almega. Great fun, great weather, great people - I really enjoyed my stay at Gotland this year. Oh man, the weather was great! And I had a great ventral villa almost for myself. And TEDx Almedalen was magical.

10. Sweden Social Web Camp
Inspiring, just as last year. My fiancee stole the show and made a great report for TV4. I got the be the secret speaker of the year’s camp, an honor I wasn’t quite ready for to be honest. Anders Mildner’s talk last year was impossible to top, and I think most people there were expecting a more known person. But still, I went up there, and I did the best I could.

11. Quitting My Job At Springtime PR
I think this is something that I’ll be proud of in the years to come. I loved my job, I loved my position. I was respected and I actually bought an expensive watch for the first time in my life when I got promoted to senior consultant at 30 years of age. Despite all of those great people, I had the courage to quit when a challenge arrived at my doorstep. It was one of the toughest decisions of my life, but I just had to goo see about that job.

12. “The Night Of Lights” In Ripsandsviken
Lysnatten, The Night Of Lights, is a tradition at Alnö, the island where I’m from. My dear friend Johan Lipecki Westin drove me up back home from Stockholm for my birthday. On the beach old and new friends ate and drank under blankets by a huge fire, we listened to music, we talked about life, and we marvelled at the beauty of all the fires burning everywhere, mirroring in the pitch black sea. Pure late summer magic.

13. PR Event In Basel
I got thrown into a project where I didn’t felt that I belong, my focus was elsewhere altogether, and so many things went wrong from the very beginning of the project, and well in Basel, the event crashed. This is still a highlight of my year, because I think I learned more during these two days than during the whole year. And the way we managed to put the event back on track in spite of everything going wrong initially, was a true learning opportunity when it comes to leadership and the importance of working as a team.

14. Becoming A Part Of Whispr Group, Inc.
A young company, started in New York not that long ago. New colleagues, new clients. Full-time focus on digital PR. I started working before coming over to New York; such a peculiar feeling working for a company before ever having visited their HQ. Exciting doesn’t even begin to describe how it felt!

15. Weekend At Utö
Leaving my fiancee to do stuff in another part of the world, temporarily but still, we decided to go off-grid for a weekend before I took off. We had already planned a wedding when I proposed in 2009, and instead we focused on each other and on what we thought the future should keep in store for us. In fall, the place where we stayed was almost empty and we had all the amenities for ourself. Strong memory.

16. Moving To Manhattan
It was a terrible experience at first, moving to Manhattan. Getting an apartment was hell, even though I got good help eventually. Working double shifts, not knowing how the city worked, not knowing where to stay, moving around. My one week without a home felt like a month. But I kept cool, I worked hard and delivered in my projects, and I got it done. After a little more than a week I landed a great studio in Financial District, Manhattan. Now, I too love New York.

17. PR Conference In Prague
I was keynote speaker at a PR conference in Prague. I was the foreigner, the guy that they flew in to talk about social media for PR. It was great, I loved it, and what a beautiful city! Such great beer!

18. The Subway Scoop
My fiancee, who works as a tv reporter at Swedish TV4, managed to put together a scoop regarding the Stockholm subway. The story had everything and resulted in a lot of follow-ups, critical interviews, and acclaim. Seeing it unfold from the journalist’s side was a real adrenalin rush, even though I saw it all unfold from the sideline.

19. PR of Sweden: The Social Network
My colleague Jens Persson made it possible for the web community PR of Sweden to invite its members to see The Social Network for free, courtesy of Disney. I thought that was a cool thing, giving back a little something to the community. And the film was great and inspiring too, I think. And I also think 2011 will be a good year for the community with some exciting changes coming up.

20. AW10
I arranged, very simply, a couple of PR and social media get-togethers during 2010. I think there were maybe five afterworks? Between 15 to 45 people usually showed up, and I think we had a good time drinking and talking. Not so much social media conversations as one might think, rather talks on a personal level on career and who-knows-who-stuff.

21. Getting Married In The Carribean
Getting married proved to be the happiest day of my life. And proudest. It makes you humble, when you stand there, seeing your wife-to-be in her wedding dress, suddenly understanding so much more of what matters in life. I don’t think relationships is supposed to be a one-time commitment, but we did it our way and it turned out to be maybe the most intense moment of my life.

22. Spending The Holidays In New York
Christmas and New Year’s in Manhattan, that’s not a bad thing. And luckily, it isn’t over yet!

What DIDN’T Happen In 2010?

You live and you learn. Some things I planned to do this year, but for various reasons I didn’t manage to turn them into reality.

1. I Didn’t Start My Own Company
I’ve  been wanting to start my own agency for quite some time, a dream of mine since I started out in PR, but it didn’t happen this year. Still, becoming a partner and setting up a Stockholm office has the potential to be an even more exciting setup, where I can manifest my vision for clients with powerful backup and at the same time help others grow strong in our industry.

2. I Didn’t Write A Book
I thought that 2010 would be the year when I wrote a book about one of my passions - probably digital PR at this point?I’ve always, since even before I could read, wanted to write a book. I actually do have a couple of crap novels laying around on a harddrive somewhere. But still, it didn’t happened this year either. Maybe in 2011? Probably not, since running a company will come first, but I’ll keep the dream alive for as long as it takes.

3. I Didn’t Launch A Web Service
I’ve got some ideas for a couple of resourceful and free online PR web services. They’re not too complex, either. I talked with some friends in order to make them happen, but we never got around to it. Anyone with database and graphic design skills interested in teaming up in 2011, let me know.

4. I Didn’t Evolve My Social Media Presence
This year went by so fast, it seems. Yes, I blog and I do try a lot of different services. I leverage quite a few of them myself, as well as for clients. I listen and I comment quite persistently. But when it comes to my personal web presence I pretty much kept doing in 2010 exactly what I did in 2009. I should’ve been more innovative, but I wasn’t.

5. I Didn’t Manage My Workload For A Period
Between April and September, I really didn’t manage my workload well. I simply had too many clients and too much responsibility. I didn’t scale. I thought I was a superhero. I did everything from monitoring to strategy to carrying everything out. I also did lots of traditional PR, pitching journalists as well as drafting press releases. The good thing is that I learned a lot about myself and my limitations.

My New Year’s Resolution For 2011

For myself, I’d like to explore the arts more thoroughly in 2011. I love creating and creativity, but I’ve mostly been about data, strategy, and insights. This year, I’d like to see  where I can take things like photography, creative writing, (sober) dancing, electronic music, graphic design, and coding. My job and my blog is great, but I want to learn more ways to express myself next year. And also, I will be better at taking care of my closest friends - they deserve it.

Most Read Posts In 2010

1. 10 lärdomar företagsbloggar kan dra från PR-fenomenet Blondinbella

2. Jerry Silfwer till Whispr Group

3. Hjälp en reporter på Twitter! #jourtips

4. 10 egenskaper hos en bra företagsblogg

5. Causality Is A Bitch: How To Measure Relationships In PR

My personal favorite:

1. Accelerationsteorin