May Gathering Focuses On The Conversation

Image via WikipediaThe May gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville will take place on Tuesday, May 20, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. at ArtSpace on the second floor at 323 West Broadway, between the Brown Hotel and Brown Theatre. The format will be a round table/group discussion about issues in social media, feedback and dialog about SMC Louisville to date and ongoing and any other relevant topics YOU bring to the table.

The format was inspired by a Social Media Breakfast Shawn Morton and I attended earlier this month in Cincinnati. With no constraints on the topic and just some general steering from Albert Maruggi, the group talked at length about several different topics and on several different levels. It was good discussion for those just starting in social media understanding and those who have been doing it a while. And don’t worry, we’ll not spend the whole time in formal discussion. There will be plenty of time for informal networking and socializing.

We are now tentatively planning on providing food and drinks at this particular event, as opposed to what was in the group email. We’ll update the blog and send another note out once we have that solidified. Until then, plan on coming fed or perhaps joining a few of us for dining afterwards somewhere nearby. The original plan was a matter of budget, not facility. You’re more than welcome to bring refreshments to the meeting.

We would like to thank the Fund for the Arts for use of ArtSpace. They have generously provided the meeting space for us. I’d anticipate a few folks from the Fund will attend, so be sure to not only thank them, but help them learn what we’re doing. Social media can be a powerful mechanism for connecting them to new audiences, young and old. And a special thanks to Heather O’Mara from Kentucky Opera for facilitating the arrangements with the Fund. She came to her first SMC Louisville event last month and immediately jumped in to help. Thanks, Heather!

For questions, feel free to email us at smclouisville — at — gmail — dot — com.

Expert Blogging Panel: The Videos

Image by @bdthomas via FlickrTuesday night’s expert blogging panel was yet another resounding success for the Social Media Club Louisville. An unofficial count of 55 people attended to hear Chris Pearson, Rob May, Michelle Jones and me share thoughts and experiences on blogging. Our co-founder, Todd Earwood, saved the day for those of you either not in attendance or in the back of the room (I promise we’re trying to find a more suitable venue for meetings).

Here are the videos, chopped up for ease and distribution of time commitment. Come back often to see them all if you can’t squeeze them all in now. And do scroll down for some great photos and links to other posts talking about our panel.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

Give it up for Earwood!

Photos can be had from Ben Thomas here.

And here’s some reaction from others:

1. Social Media Club Louisville: Meeting 3 Review - Roger Bauer’s recap from Zing
2. SMC Louisville April ‘08 Event Recap - Smortilicious offering from Shawn Morton
3. Social Media Club Louisville Videos - Scott Clark beat me to posting these … damn him.
4. Where I’ve Been - From Todd Earwood (and boy, have we been wondering)
5. SMC Louisville, See Me Being Dorktastic - From Michelle, who either isn’t or isn’t the only one.

Technorati Tags: smclouisville, social media club Louisville, social media, blogging, expert blogging, blogs, bloggers

Socialized!

What a blast we had at the March gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville. Rock Band, Wii Sports and cold beer … what else do you need? Oh yeah, there was networking, too.

We had a blast and met some new folks tonight. I’d list them all, but I think Shawn Morton will do us the honors over at Smorty71.com, so we’ll just link to him. (He fulfilled the promise. Gratuitous linkage here.) Here’s Smorty’s photo set from the event. (How do you like this Flickr plugin?)

Michelle Jones has some more images under her “smclouisville” tag.

Special Thanks to CNET for not only hosting us, but providing the food and beverage for the evening. Go there, sign up, check out all their cool content. We love CNET!

Technorati Tags: smclouisville, smc louisville, social media club, Louisville, networking, CNET

The Thirst For Learning Social Media

NOTE: This is a combination post for Social Media Explorer and smclouisville.wordpress.com.

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 pictures WebProNews 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!):

1. “New Shows, Brands and Bands” A pop from Rick Redding at TheVilleVoice
2. “Social Media Club Louisville A Success” Actually my Utterz posted on new digital friend tojosan’s blog, The Broad Brush, out of St. Louis.
3. “Inaugural Gathering Wrap-Up; Thanks To All” My post last night before finally getting sleep.

As others roll in, we’ll refresh.

To anyone in the group, tag posts, images and videos “smclouisville” and thank you, so much, for the enthusiasm and interest.

IMAGE: The backs of everyone’s heads but a good shot of one half the room from WebProNews on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: smclouisville, Social Media Club Louisville, Social Media Club, events