In January, Todd Earwood and I officially founded the Social Media Club’s Louisville chapter. We had about 35 people show up for our first meeting. Since then, we’ve met monthly and had a great time learning and growing our networks together.
Last night was our May gathering and the format was an open discussion. I started the group of 25 folks off with a general topic: What do you want to get out of the Social Media Club?
What ensued was a vibrant and involved discussion from some amazing people, some new to social media wanting to learn, others deeply nested in the web social computing can tangle you in. I told them the informal steering committee I’d put together for the club was challenged with coming up with programs for a wide net of folks. Our audience ranges from complete noobs who would struggle to even define social media, to experts in the field; and from developers, programmers and software engineers to marketers, PR folks, to small business owners and venture capitalists. Bottom line: It’s hard to figure out what’s best to cover.
But last night opened our eyes to a great deal of clarity. We have a mission. We have a purpose. And our group, I think, defined it.
The Social Media Club Louisville’s mission is to educate the community about social media and social media tools to improve and enhance its member’s productivity, connectivity and online experience. In doing so, we also evangelize the use of social media for both business and personal success.
That is what I heard last night. Those in attendance (below) can certainly chime in via the comments to ensure we all contribute to that definition, but evangelizing social media seemed to be the consensus. And, even if you are trying to look at SMC involvement as a business opportunity, it makes sense. If more people adopt social media, there’s more of an audience to reach, more potential clients to recruit and the like.
And what a convenient time to get this message from the members! Social media enthusiasts in Indianapolis and Charlotte have contacted me recently wanting to know what I did to start SMC Louisville. Andre Natta, Ike Pigott and my former peeps in Birmingham are dreaming up un-conferences and WordCamps and the discipline is growing elsewhere also.
As we sit here today, we are all on the forefront of what I believe will be an explosion for the social web in the next five years. More and more case studies are going to come down the pike to give even the most fearful and conservative of businesses the value proposition they need to say, “yes,” to what we are recommending. As social media thinkers, enthusiasts or even just interested parties, the time is now. But that time is what we make of it.
Today you should show someone how to use RSS feeds. You should explain the usefulness of Twitter. You should illustrate the value in sharing bookmarks socially to someone who still uses browser favorites. You should help someone find their ideal blog topic.
Teaching social media benefits you. It gives you a broader network of individuals to choose from, brings expertise in areas outside the bounds of our own to our friends lists, our communities. It provides greater depth and breadth to conversations. It might even connect or reconnect you to old friends, classmates and even family members.
And for those of you in the social media business, it puts you in the position of expert to people who might one day be in need of more experienced thinking or strategic planning for social media programs.
Part of our discussion led us to wonder what nursing homes would be like if we could teach all those patients who go through life with a sense of loneliness how to use social media to connect with each other or their families. Imagine how impactful we could be!
But we only can be if we stop talking to each other and start showing the rest of the world what social media is. Get out of the echo chamber and show your mother how to find you using tweets and “@” signs. Find a friend and show them how to cut down on surf time by subscribing to RSS feeds.
More importantly, join the Social Media Club in your area. If there isn’t one, start one. If you want to know how, ask. Or check out the national organization’s blog or wiki.
Educate + Evangelize
It’s going to take an army of us to push this ball up the hill. But there is a summit and the other side is going to be fun to see.
Those in attendance in Louisville last night included:
The second in what we are certain is a long list of videos WebProNews shot at our inaugural gathering last week is live. Co-Founder Todd Earwood and Mike McDonald chat about web video on this one. Thanks again to WebProNews for the visit and the publicity.
WebProNews was one of the participants and media outlets at our first meeting. They’ve posted their interview with Jason Falls. Several other members of the SMC Louisville group were interviewed as well. We hope to bring you those interviews once posted as well.
The precedent for inaugural gatherings of local Social Media Club chapters, at least from my anecdotal gatherings, is to invite a bunch of people, open the doors and see who shows up. Last night, my friend Todd Earwood and I did that in Louisville. We emailed several folks in the market we thought might be interested, started a Facebook group, posted a few blog entries talking about it and crossed our fingers.
To our delight and despite the imposing potential winter weather, 33 folks joined us at Greater Louisville, Inc., to attend the first social media gathering ever in Louisville. (Unless you count our friend Ben Thomas’s Louisville Geek Dinner, which while very cool, isn’t quite the same thing. And yes, Ben was there last night.)
Keep in mind a lot of the folks in the room (10 or so raised their hands when we asked who was there to learn and didn’t really feel like they were actively using or promoting social media programs) had no earthly idea what we would say or what we would get into. Frankly, neither did we. In addition to the 33, we have several others who couldn’t make it but want to be involved. We have 59 people on the list and I’ve only forced five of them there!
What we discovered was our suspicions were correct: Louisville has a vibrant and healthy community of digital talent thirsting to discuss, learn and share the world of social media.
A variety of topics and directions were thrown out as suggestions for what we want to learn (dare I say, “explore”) and how we’d like to do it. The popular need on everyone’s mind seemed to be just knowing who the others were and their specialties so we could perhaps develop a pool of resources from which to pull when we need web talents.
The dumb guy in the room (read: me) sent around a note pad of paper for folks to jot down contact info and specialties. Then a couple people much smarter than me (read: that’s not altogether that hard) suggested we go around the room and introduce ourselves. Despite the sometimes corny nature of that approach, it seemed to be just what everyone wanted.
The gang from CNet (yes, that CNet with main offices in the Bay area and … oh, yeah … Louisville) suggested we develop a Basecamp project management site. By the time I got home, Shawn Morton had it set up and ready to roll. (Members: We’ve turned off the auto email function due to the volume of emails you’d get if we didn’t. Subscribe to the RSS feed or just keep coming to the blog.)
WebProNews was there to cover the event. We can’t wait to see the videos as they also took the time to interview several individuals about their businesses and projects including Shawn and the Profilactic gang, Aaron Marshall from ChurchSMO and Brian Wallace of NowSourcing.com. (If they interviewed you, too, I’m sorry. Those are who I saw.) Earwood and I pimped a bit. He more so since he talked about Daily Idea while I talked about Social Media Club mostly.
WebProNews also snapped some pictures. As did Michelle Jones from Consuming Louisville, which is one of the best city interest blogs I’ve ever seen, Louisville or not. I tried to get Flickr’s tag badge based on our universal “smclouisville” tag, but it says there aren’t any with that tag, despite the fact it also shows this page, containing the 13 picturesWebProNews and Michelle tagged with it. (Come on Flickr. You’re better than that.)
I know, Photrade, I know. You were going to come, then give me hell for using Flickr and this is my penance. Everyone go check out Photrade. They’re up the road in Cincinnati and have promised to show up at a future meeting.
As you can tell, I’m excited. Several of the folks I talked to, some of which into the wee hours while staring down the barrel of a frothy lager, are as well. We have a start. Now let’s see where it takes us.
Other Postgame Posts From The Evening (If I miss any, please let me know!):
Despite the weather, we had 33 folks by Todd Earwood’s informal count tonight and couldn’t be more thrilled for those of you who came. We know there were several others with previous obligations so we’re satisfied that the thirst for social media knowledge in Louisville is apparent.
Lots of great discussion and ideas were shared tonight. We have an idea of topics we want to try and cover, a general feel for what we’ll talk about and more. I’ll post a more lengthy recap with links to others’ blogs tomorrow.
Keep your eyes on our RSS Feed in the coming days. We’ll watch WebProNews for our upcoming features and post a round up of links to blog posts. If you don’t mind, tag anything from the meeting “smclouisville” and it’ll be easier for us to find.
In order to better manage our contact lists, prevent scrapers from pulling any information we might post in the comments (DON’T POST CONTACT INFO IN THE COMMENTS), we’ve decided to set up a BaseCamp project management site. This way we can plan, track, communicate, discuss and share all in one place behind a password protected safety net and everyone’s information can be safe.
To get a log in, if you don’t already have one, just email Jason at smclouisville — at — gmail.com. If you’re on the SMC Louisville email list, you’ll be receiving a login invitation shortly.
Greetings all. We hope you’re calendars are full next Tuesday night. We promise to have appropriate signage and even some ushers in the lobby at 614 West Main (enter the same door as The Bristol) from 5:30 p.m. on to ensure everyone gets in. The lobby doors and elevators lock at 5:30, but we’ll take care of making sure everyone gets to the gathering.
Below is our proposed agenda. We’re trying to keep it useful, but loose and not too awfully long. Our hope is to meet for an hour or less (6 p.m. until 7 p.m.), then gather at The Bristol for informal networking, dinner, drinks, etc. The Bristol will be on your own. We’ll have light snacks and beverages at the meeting.
If you have anything you want to add to the agenda, just come ready to dive in. We hope to have an open discussion where everyone’s voice has an opportunity to contribute.
See you next Tuesday!
Social Media Club Louisville
Inaugural Gathering
Greater Louisville, Inc.
January 22, 2008
AGENDA
Welcome and Introductions
Jason Falls
Todd Earwood
Others
Our Tools
Social Media Club Louisville Blog
Facebook Group
Social Media Club Blog
Social Media Club Wiki
YouTube/Other Video and Flickr tags (socialmediaclub, smclouisville)
Hey all. I’ve posted a discussion on our Facebook group to help formalize our topics for the first meeting on Jan. 22. Please login, join the group and the discussion.
My intent is to let this group truly be defined by its own direction and desire to share, learn and grow. I’m happy to provide suggestions, but let me know what you want the Social Media Club Louisville to be!
The first-ever gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville is set to take place Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008 at 6 p.m. in the main conference room at Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI), 614 West Main Street, 5th Floor. (Google Map It)
Since this is our first meeting and it would be impossible to predict who is interested in joining us, please tell friends, co-workers, colleagues and others who might have an interest in social media, even it it’s just to learn.
We anticipate a broad spectrum of professional interests as the make up of our group, including public relations practitioners, marketers, programmers, developers, entrepreneurs, information technology professionals, database management specialists, journalists, gamers, bloggers and more. If you know someone who fits the bill, pass this on.
We hope to meet for approximately one hour (snacks and beverages will be served), then gather at The Bristol (same building) for a more informal time for networking, food and beverage (on your own).
We want you to join us. Please RSVP your attendance (so we have a rough idea of how many are coming) by emailing us at smclouisville — at — gmail.com.
The Social Media Club is a national organization that bills itself as a community for the champions of social media and those seeking to learn. We want to begin a local conversation about the practice of social media that will foster discussion, sharing and learning for all involved.
If you did not receive an email invitation and want to be on our email list, please email your contact information to us at smclouisville — at — gmail.com
Last night was our May gathering and the format was an open discussion. I started the group of 25 folks off with a general topic: What do you want to get out of the Social Media Club?
