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It started with a phone call to our offices in Chicago.

The next step involved several meetings in New York and Montvale, New Jersey.

From there, it sent me to Tampa for a team training session and send off party.

And finally Tampa to Dallas, culminating in 4 cars, 4 starting points, and 3 days of cross country travel.

The denouement happened last week at the Chicago Auto Show where I stood, still exhausted from the journey, and answered questions during their inaugural Social Media Day.

One of the questions that continually came up is “How did you get people so engaged in this?”

My travels were half the answer.  Ultimately it was a digital experience that was rooted in humanity and the physical world.

Last week, we had the pleasure of helping run the world’s first Tweet Race for Mercedes-Benz. Along with our colleagues at Razorfish, we took four teams across the country in Mercedes-Benz vehicles that were “fueled by Twitter,” meaning the teams had to generate social media activity to keep their engines running. We designed a game around this that involved the teams competing in challenges, stoking their supporters for extra Tweet Fuel, and various tasks to accomplish both online and offline, all building up to a winner based on the strength of their social network and their skill behind the wheel.

Over a frenzied three days of racing, we learned a lot about games, digital marketing, competitive spirit, blizzards, Dallas ice treatment controversies, live event management, and when to let go and enjoy the ride. Join us, won’t you?

Starting this year, I’ll be cheating on Denuology and posting monthly insights for ClickZ’s new Community Management column. This month, I take pleasure in covering everyone’s favorite ’80s collectibles: trolls.

A peek at what’s covered in “Trolls are inevitable. Here’s how to deal with them.”:

• Don’t let them see you cry.
• Separate the genuine complaints from the rage.
• Kill ‘em with kindness.
• Feed your advocates, starve the trolls.
• Relish the troll fight.
• Avoid deleting.
• Prepare for a troll avalanche.

Confused? Then dive into the article here, and if you’re feeling generous and very community-managementy, check out my previous article on building a community management team.

As this was my first trip to CES, I was overwhelmed by many of the advancements and products displayed: GE’s Nucleus is an innovative tool that gives consumers the power to control their electricity consumption, Samsung’s newest refrigerator includes a screen where families can plan meals and calendars, and Sony’s glasses-free 3D TV is a step in the right direction to making 3D TV a more applicable part of everyday life. As intriguing as all of the displays were, I couldn’t help being under-whelmed by the lack of mobile opportunities to further connect with brands and products during the show.

Over the course of this week, a few Denuologists will be posting their impressions from CES. Here is the next take on the show:

As I recovered from the sensory overload that is CES, I was surprised by my conclusion from this year’s exhibition. Unlike past years where I left with glossed over eyes from some amazing innovation that I didn’t understand or know how my life ever existed without, I found myself spending more time with those displays that were simple and actually practical thanks to my familiarity with an pre-existing concept.