User profile: Chris Brogan, social media expert and frequent flier

Tips and Stories | 01 Jul 201001 Jul 10 | By Lisa Picasso

25 comments

Name: Chris Brogan
Location: Boston, MA
Profession: President, New Marketing Labs
Blog: www.chrisbrogan.com
Twitter: @chrisbrogan

Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs, is a highly respected and sought-after social media evangelist, well known for his expertise and advice on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value. An Evernote user since day one, Chris has been “Evernoting” and remembering all the details of his life since uncovering the app on TechCrunch two years ago. Since then, Chris’s Evernote account on both Mac and Android platforms has proven to be an invaluable tool in his hectic and non-traditional career…and life.

As a bestselling author and sought-after speaker, much of his time is spent traveling nearly 200 days of the year for some 110 speaking engagements. To say Chris Brogan is a busy man is an understatement and without Evernote, and his multiple “remember” files, there would be virtually no way for him to make sense of work commitments and travel details—and keep his sanity.

Evernote as Chris’s ultimate travel companion

With Evernote, Chris has a way to find his most valuable speaking notes and information, but perhaps most importantly, it keeps his chaotic “travel life” in check. He can organize and remember everything ranging from his various airport and hotel reservations and loyalty program numbers, to locations of restaurants and landmarks within each city to revisit or check out, to websites and bookmarked research to catch up on before speaking at a scheduled conference. Features like Evernote’s text-recognition come in especially handy for Chris’s travel notes, and, on rare and multi-sensory occasions, the audio notes. The app helps him access everything at a moment’s notice whether it’s via his laptop on the plane or his phone in a cab.

Chris Brogan’s Evernote tips

Here are the types of things that Chris saves into Evernote:

Travel details: plane tickets, lodging, membership programs and passwords
City’s points of interests: restaurants, landmarks, offices, hotels
Client research: both current and potential and bookmarking of sites to read up on
Contacts: keeping track of the high volume of people (both current and new) Chris encounters

Joseph Schneider

Another person who uses Evernote for passwords? Evernote is perfect for so many things (I’m one of your biggest fans and a premium user to boot), but using it for passwords is foolish. Just sayin’.
- Ugur
  
  Joseph, why is it foolish and what do you use alternatively?
  - http://www.sydneyfreelance.com Cemil
    
    I think Joseph has a good point. I think it just comes down to personal preference. Now I am not saying that Evernote is not secure just that each to their own.
  - http://Sayhi.dk Casper Jensen
    
    I find 1Password to fill this very nicely
  - http://www.thejon.org/ Jon Keating
    
    Yes, it is not very secure. An alternative is Keepass, which works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Not sure about iOS though. You can keep them synced across all your devices with Dropbox, and is a much more secure way. Take a look at Keepass for more details: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/KeePass
http://corettajackson.com @CorettaJackson

This is good to know! I’ve used evernote mainly for client and doctoral research. This post shows evernote is a flexible planning tool!

I also like the idea of the “remember” file. Going to start a few today ; )
http://www.newwest.com/StateofTechnology sharon fisher

Is there an Evernote for Dummies? I haven’t quite figured out how to use it.
- Alisha
  
  The best way to learn how to use Evernote is to just start using it. Start out saving web pages. I save news articles, shopping wish lists, receipts from online purchases, etc. The more you use it, the more ways you will find to use it. I use Evernote daily for web clips, notes, address and phone numbers (especially one’s clipped from web pages), scanned docs, pictures, menus, manuals, etc. The possibilities are endless.
- http://writingitrightforyou.com Writing It Right For You
  
  Just start using it! You will find that you will use it more and more. When you think of something that you’d put on a sticky note, write a quick note in Evernote instead. My tip: TAG EVERYTHING! My other tip: just start out with a few notebooks. It’s better to “go crazy” with tags than with notebooks. Every browser has an Evernote Clipper–use it! Then, if you also have more than one computer and/or smart phones/iPad, get those apps, too. What I think I love best is that I can access everything I’ve ever saved (well, in the past couple of years, anyway) from all of my computers, phones, and iPad! Kiss, kiss; hug, hug for Evernote!
http://itoph.com Toph

What is foolish about using it for passwords? I do that, and encrypt the important ones.
- hamish
  
  I would love to use evernote for passwords but how do i encrypt ??
http://blogs.computerworld.com/machlis Sharon Machlis

@Joseph Schneider: I understand it’s possible to encrypt data on the Windows and Mac Evernote client software, although I’ve never tried it. Hopefully Chris is storing his passwords using the encryption and not unencrypted on a mobile device!
@mbe1is1e

Joseph, there is an encryption feature in Evernote. You should check it out. I use Keepass for passwords but you can keep them in an encrypted note in Evernote…
http://www.tradergav.com Gav

I am a currency trader, and I would say Evernote is a great tool to create and maintain trading journals. I highly recommend it to retail traders.
http://twitter.com/darylgriffiths Daryl (Premium User)

What I would find much more interesting it *how* he organised his info in Evernote. I love the idea, but I still find it really useful and informative to find out how people who use EN to this degree organise their data successfully.

Cheers!
- Colleen
  
  Agree wholeheartedly, Daryl. Would be great to see *how* not so much as *what.*
  - http://www.aqualinemarine.co.uk Kaz
    
    Exactly! I use Evernote for almost a year now and I am always hungry of new tips!
    Regards!
http://www.JoeTourist.ca JoeTourist

I would never use Evernote for passwords. I realize the Premium Evernote offers encryption, but I would personally never send passwords through “cloud” technology. There are simply too many ways to expose my confidential info to the world.

I use Ewallet, for passwords, which runs on various platforms, but does not sync its data files outside of private networks. As an aside, Ewallet also offers better features for using passwords than Evernote.

Don’t get me wrong, Evernote is a terrific product, and I use it in similar ways which Chris Brogan describes in his article. Evernote makes a great travel companion.
Gui

I use Evernote to store passwords as well (encrypted). Not sure I would without the secure connection for premium accounts.

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