CONVENOR

Elliott Bledsoe  

Social Media Club Brisbane

Background

For information on Social Media Club see the website http://www.socialmediaclub.org For background on Social Media Club Brisbane's origins, see the file smcbrisbaneorigin.doc in the files section on this wiki http://socialmediaclub.pbwiki.com/browse/#view=ViewAllFiles

(Update:The following notes are of possible historical interest and this page needs a re-write, which hopefully will be coming soon, with some important announcements due in the next couple of weeks (DW. Jan 24, 2010) ) For more up to date info about SMCB - see the Facebook page.

Briefly, Social Media Club Brisbane (Twitter hashtag #smcb) was set up following a coffee shop meeting on June 5, 2008 and had its first official meetup on July 11, hosted by SJK Consulting.

We were encouraged from the outset by the offer of support, via Elliott Bledsoe, from the Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation

We have since met a couple more times, including on Dec 4, 2008, in the Board Room of the Faculty of Law at QUT - thanks to Peter Black and QUT - and at the Melbourne Hotel on January 20, 2008 - a very successful event sponsored generously by Nuffnang 

Back in June 08 we had talked about the group's purpose and aims. The list of possibilities included:

· social networking – as in meeting with people with some common interests

· technology presentation/discussion, including evangelism for social media in government, education, business...

· imparting knowledge to the novice user (the actual word used was "naive" but my feeling is that, taken out of context, the word would need some explaining)

· surfacing clever ideas which could become business opportunities

· highlighting/demonstrating the potential of social media tools

· providing examples of how people can be genuinely engaged with these tools

· encouraging local developer talent and also providing some wise advice

There was general agreement on a goal of attracting non-geeks, people interested in how they can use social media in practical ways. De-geekify social media.

Interest also in helping with understanding of legal and other constraints. What are the hazards and how do you protect yourself? As in, not being fired or sued for what you put on MySpace or Facebook on in a blog post.

We took account of the risk of duplicating what other groups/gatherings provide? Examples are BarCamp (Brisbane and Gold Coast), Media & Communication Scholars (MACS) and First Tuesday. It was decided that SMC Brisbane would be complementary to other, existing groups.

Time and Frequency of Meetings Monthly meetings, on weekdays, agreed. No simple solution on whether to meet during the day or evening. Some people have so many commitments at night they will want gatherings during the regular working day, late afternoon, say 4 pm start. Others in regular jobs will not be able to get to those sessions and need something from 6 pm on. Proposed we have an alternating system to accommodate both: assuming monthly gatherings, that would be one month daytime, one month evening. The new committee is looking at drawing up a program

Communication platform There is this wiki for the group and now a Facebook site - http://tinyurl.com/5sw28a.

Venues Several possibilities:

· SJK Consulting (Stephen Kelly) have offered meeting premises

· Peter Black has indicated it should be possible to provide space at QUT.

· State Library has spaces that can be booked

· Coffee shops such as Coffee Club, Toowong

· Hotel foyers – Sofitel, Stamford Plaza, Hilton

Style of event

Some thought if there were formal presentations they should be very brief.

Update 24 January 2009

Some new developments in the wings. Committee is meeting 28th January - expect announcements, new program etc.

Gold Coast

A separate SMC has been established for the Gold Coast, convenor is Associate Professor Michael Rees from Bond University.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 

Current committee members

Elliott Bledsoe (Convenor)

Peter Black

Nicole Jensen

Stephen Kelly

Spread the word to everyone you know who is interested in social media.

Des Walsh

www.deswalsh.com

Business coach & social media strategist

deswalsh(at)gmail(dot)com

This is the home page for all things related to the Social Media Club in Brisbane. Please tag all blogs, podcasts, vlogs, and photos with smcbrisbane.

If you upload photos to Flickr, please add them into the Social Media Club pool at http://www.flickr.com/groups/socialmediaclub/. Thank you!