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:
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 April gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville is set for tax day, Tuesday, April 15, so file your returns early and come joint us for a panel discussion sure to inform and entertain.
“I’m Totally Blogging This!” — An expert panel discussion on blogs and blogging will be the focus of the SMC Louisville April gathering. Join us as several successful local bloggers discuss everything from content generation to link building to monetization. The gathering will be at Fox & Hound Pub & Grille, 302 Bullitt Lane (Behind Kohl’s next to Oxmoor Mall) (Google Map It), in Louisville, Tuesday, April 15, from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Panelists Include:
Chris Pearson - Personified.com (Best Damn Blog On The Planet)
Whether your interest is in personal, group, business or other blogs, you’ll learn best practices, successes and failures, tips and tricks and more from Louisville’s finest.
Food and drink will be on your own. The panel will begin around 7 p.m. and last 30-45 minutes. The rest of the time will be reserved for networking.
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?)
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!
If you ever needed a Social Media Club event that really produced payoff on the “social” part, tonight’s February gathering — and first working meeting — of the Social Media Club Louisville was it. Our room at Ramsi’s Cafe featured a bar where patrons waiting for tables ate, drank and were merry and the normal front door where folks would step in off the street right onto what amounted to our stage.
We were social, alright.
In all seriousness, Ramsi’s was a fabulous location with great food, helpful staff and the kind of atmosphere you want for a loosely-formal gathering. We learned, however, we need a quieter room with more privacy. But we also learned something else: We need more space!
No fewer than 42 folks showed up for our gathering, solidifying our belief that the market is thirsty for a conversation about social media. Several folks had to stand during the presentations and our presenters — Brian Wallace, Aaron Marshall (pictured from @bdthomas on Flickr) and Nick Huhn — had to battle the distractions of a busy restaurant and not-quite-semi-private space to share our “Selling Social Media” topic.
Still, everyone seemed to come away with valuable information, new contacts and an enthusiasm for what we are doing. Brian presented a nice overview of social media and how to sell it to clients. Aaron lead a nice discussion of selling social media to C-level folks and bosses. Nick offered some well-thought analogies for selling and explaining social media to friends, family and folks. Kudos to our trio for their insights, their leadership and, yes, their perseverance.
What can we do to top our first real meeting? (Okay, besides get rid of the Barflies and the pedestrian traffic?) March awaits and (thank you Clay) we need to know what is next on the agenda. Tell us in the comments A) Shall we do a breakfast meeting, luncheon or post-dinner gathering; B) Where you might suggest we have it and C) What is next on the topic front?
Just a quick post to give everyone the link to our COVER STORY in today’s Business First. They want you to subscribe online to read the whole thing. The issues hit news stands today. Todd and I will try to summarize it and our thoughts as soon as we can get hold of the full copy!
Click here for the teaser on Business First’s website.
(LOOK! Our blog is on the front flippin’ page! How cool is that?)
The article was written by Terry Boyd. I can’t wait to read it! In fact, I’m going to go buy a copy right now.
And sometimes, you just have to write a little extra to ensure the graphic hanging off the bottom of the post doesn’t mess with your layout. Okay, now I’m going to buy my copy.
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)
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?
The April gathering of the Social Media Club Louisville is set for tax day, Tuesday, April 15, so file your returns early and come joint us for a panel discussion sure to inform and entertain.
If you ever needed a Social Media Club event that really produced payoff on the “social” part, tonight’s February gathering — and first working meeting — of the Social Media Club Louisville was it. Our room at Ramsi’s Cafe featured a bar where patrons waiting for tables ate, drank and were merry and the normal front door where folks would step in off the street right onto what amounted to our stage.
Just a quick post to give everyone the link to our COVER STORY in today’s 