Social Media Club of JoCo

Looking Forward to 2011

SMC JoCo Admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:51:17 +0000

We are planning heavily for 2011 and are excited by the initial growth of the group in 2010.

With a small leadership team, and a few social media sites, we have been able to take our membership from 0 on July 1 2010 to 740 followers on Twitter, 226 fans on Facebook, 383 members on LinkedIn and even more members of our growing community at www.smcjoco.com …

We are rounding out our leadership team and seeking recommendations from our budding community as well as introductions to those of you that would like to get involved.

We are looking for someone to lead the different programs for these areas:

Event Planning & Promotions Program Director – Plans and coordinates major events, such as fundraising, team-building, networking or planning

Education Program Director – Works in concert with the Events Planning Program Director and the Speakers Bureau program director to develop a schedule of educational events throughout the calendar year

Speakers Bureau Program Director – Work with the Event Planning and Promotions Program Director and the Education Program Director to bring relevant speakers to organization events for further education and networking opportunities for the group.

Membership Program Director – Work to educate businesses and individuals about the goals of the organization and create awareness in order to increase membership levels. Welcome new members to the organization and make sure that they are aware of upcoming events, and sites to find out more information to engage, provide feedback and connect.

Communications Program Director – Work with all program directors to disseminate all communications regarding events, speakers, membership goals, community partnerships and share this information online through public relations channels and social networking sites

Ethics Program Director – Develops and applies guidelines for ensuring ethical behavior and resolving ethical conflicts

If you are interested or would like to recommend someone, please email us by December 15, 2010 at getsocial@smcjoco.com.

Additionally, we are booking our calendar for 2011. If you are interested in presenting, speaking or have a topic you’d like to hear more about, please email us at events@smcjoco.com. We will be publicizing a Google Calendar for everyone to access at the end of December, which will contain all of our scheduled events, and any of those that we are aware of for other organizations and clubs that we feel our community will be interested in as well. If you have an event that you are involved in or know of one we should add to the calendar, feel free to email us to get this added to the calendar.

Thanks for all of your support so far this year.

Founding Members of the Social Media Club of Johnson County

National Social Media Club Conference Announced!

SMC JoCo Admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:19:38 +0000

A great message from the National Social Media Club Founders:

It is an exciting time for Social Media Club (SMC) as we prepare for our 1st Annual Conference and professional member meeting. As you have hopefully seen, Social Media University (SMU2010) is being held on November 10-12, 2010 in Orlando, FL.

We have designed a unique program for the conference, intended to enrich your understanding of broad social media concepts, so that you may apply some very deep insights from industry leaders such as John Hagel III, David Meerman Scott, KD Paine, Jason Falls, Tom Foremski, Tara Hunt and several others.

Participants will be joining us from Social Media Club chapters around the world, and we hope that you will be there too! Not only is this going to be an important conversation to discuss the future of the organization, but we will also be taking nominations for the 2011 global SMC board of directors and other executive leadership positions. In essence, we will also seek to ratify our key missions, finalize the bylaws and establish a code for professional conduct.

As if that wasn’t enough of a reason, Wednesday November 10th is not only the meeting day, but also our SMC Local Leadership Training Day. During the pre-conference workshop for local leaders within our official chapter program, we will enable you all to learn from each other’s experiences, with an emphasis on:

Sharing best practices in event promotion and management;
Honing your presentation skills;
Discussing possible ways to align the local chapter with the global missions of Social Media Club;
Sharing your local experiences and leading sessions to help other chapters ensure the health of their community;
And so much more…

The leadership training sessions will be over by about 4pm, at which time we will move to have a general assembly with all the professional members in attendance. While co-founder Chris Heuer and I both hope to continue to serve on the board into 2011, and perhaps beyond, we are looking to step back somewhat from the day to day operations and engage a new set of leaders to help take Social Media Club to the next level. Now, more then ever, it is important that we work together to raise the professional standards of Social Media as an industry.

So…

Please put forth your best effort to join us in Orlando. We realize you may not be able to travel to many conferences each year, but this one is particularly important – especially if you are a professional with Social Media in your title, or in your scope of responsibilities.

Professional members naturally receive reduced pricing. If you are not yet a Professional or business member, please do consider joining today;
Early bird tickets are being offered until August 30th (for professional members with the leader discount it is just under $245). The conference pass is normally $595;
We also have a room block on hold for the discounted price of $125/night and encourage you to book early to ensure you have a place to lay your head.

We are planning several social activities throughout the conference that will be great for individuals as well as families, so make a weekend of it and stay with us through Sunday! We will be providing information on the packages available within the next couple of weeks, just keep this in the back of your mind when making plans. For those of you who are foodies like us, you will be happy to know that these dates are also the last weekend for the annual Epcot Food & Wine Festival. If you haven’t heard about this great event, Google it. It’s an awesome coincidence, and its likely where Heuer and I will be on Saturday.

And an added bit of good news….

This past Monday we finally received the official 501c6 (member owned trade association) designation from the IRS and can now provide you with documentation needed to secure reduced (or waived) fees for venue rentals and other needs. This also opens the doors to additional sponsorships opportunities for us all. It took almost two years of red tape and the dyeing of quite a few extra gray hairs to get this done, but we are finally legally recognized as a non-profit organization.

With all this happening, and the fall tour that Chris Heuer is embarking upon to discuss Social Media + Family thanks to the sponsorship of Chevy Cruze, Social Media Club is positioned to do so amazing programs. We hope you are planning to join us for this next phase of our journey together.

Cheers,

Kristie Wells

President and Founder

Social Media Club, Inc.

PS – We could really use your support in getting the word out about the conference and all this great news. In particular, we would ask that you let your local community know about the conference via any appropriate social channels :

Twitter

Facebook

Blog

Carrier pigeon, whatever

As you may know, we have never really done any marketing for SMC beyond the stickers, our events and word of mouth. This has made it possible to get to this point. We hope, with your support to keep our social advertising spends to a minimum (perhaps you saw our first ad for Social Media University on Facebook? If you do, please don’t click so we can save the money – ha), we can put more money back into Social Media Club so we may hire the much needed staff to support the organization (and you) from this day on.

We are also looking for sponsors of this conference, Social Media University. We kept the prices low to ensure more people could attend, which makes the reliance of sponsors – critical. If you work within a company who would like to support or efforts or have a client who might be interested, or have a money tree in your backyard that produces year round (lucky you!) – please contact me at kristie@socialmediaclub.org and I would be happy to discuss the sponsorship options.

Social Media Day Event Photos

SMC JoCo Admin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:46:50 +0000

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Photos from the Launch Party

Sara Paxton — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:29:22 +0000

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The Countdown Has Begun!

Sara Paxton — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:43:18 +0000

The day has arrived! Our official launch party is in less than 12 hours at the Aloft Hotel in Leawood. Everyone is welcome, and here are a few tips to help make your experience a success! We have a lot of stuff going on! If you plan to attend the event, here are some things to do before arriving:

RSVP through Eventbrite. Once you have registered, there will be an option to print a paper ticket. You canforgo this as you will be checked into the event through the Eventbrite mobile app for efficiency and environmental friendliness.

There will be over $16,00 in prizes prizes given away approximately every 15 minutes between 6 and 8 pm at the event. In order to win, you must have signed up for free membership at www.smcjoco.com and opted in to mobile alerts from SMC JoCo by texting SMCJOCO to 63636. Why? All winners will be notified via text message through randomly selected numbers. You can also sign up on the widget on the home page of the SMC JoCo website.

Dress for the event is business casual, though Booker T Brown Photography will be on site snapping portraits free for all attendees. So dress your best if you want to walk away with a new professional portrait to promote your business.

Be sure to check in on Foursquare and let’s try for the swarm badge, or even the super swarm badge (150+) people. The venue to check in on foursquare can be found by checking at this venue. [Hint] There might be an award out there for the first 50 people to check in.

Don’t forget to bring your iPhone, iPod or MP3 player to contribute to the music selection for theevening. All music will be crowdsourced from attendees that bring their music and present it to our DJ from Wolo Events, Austin Berke.

Bring your appetite as the event will be catered by RA Sushi located downstairs. They will be open for dinner following the event if you just can’t get enough of their signature sushi dishes.

Stop by W XYZ bar and ask for one of the signature social media cocktails. The cocktail darling of the evening is the Twittertini, blue in color and fully twitpic worthy!

Be sure to snap some pictures and 12 second videos and share them on Twitter tagged with #smcjoco, post them to our Facebook page, share them on our website and send them to us if you want us to post anything on our YouTube channel.

Most of all, enjoy the party!

Social Media Club of Johnson County Official Launch Party

SMC JoCo Admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:08:04 +0000

Overland Park, KS (Evans Media Group) 8 July 2010 – Mark your calendars for the official launch party for the Social Media Club of Johnson County (SMC JoCo). The kickoff event and official launch celebration will be held on July 15th at 6:00pm at the beautiful Aloft Hotel at Park Place in Leawood (11620 Ash Street, Leawood, KS 66211). Come network and engage with Johnson County’s best and brightest digital socialites in the modern WXYZ Bar and spacious patio overlooking Park Place.

All are welcome to the party, but you must register for a free membership to the Club at www.smcjoco.com and be present to win any of the prizes, including weekend getaway packages from the Aloft Hotel and more. Register for the event by visiting smcjocolaunch.eventbrite.com.

The Aloft Hotel, one of Johnson County’s premier venues, will play host to the SMCJoCo Launch Party, holding the festivities in the chic WXYZ Bar and suspended patio area overlooking Park Plaza (learn more about the venue here). With music, dancing, prizes, and the chance to meet some of the most influential social media users in Johnson County, this party is not to be missed.

While at the launch party, be sure to take the chance to meet members of the SMCJoCo Executive Board, including:

• Kelly Scanlon – Publisher of Thinking Bigger Business Media/KC Small Business Magazine and Local Radio Host

• Herb Sih – Co-founder of Clickspeed and ClearVox, Founder of Think Big Partners and the Think Big KC event

• Eddie Kennison – Former Kansas City Chiefs WR and owner of several Johnson County businesses

• Kris Ketz – First News Anchor KMBC-TV / KCWE-TV

• Julie Cortes – Founder of the Freelance Exchange, Copy Writer and copy editor of flourish!Magazine

• John Epperson – President of Ruxter Mobile

• Laura Wynn – President of Black Widow Enterprises and Founder of Linking Leawood

• Doug Richards – Social Media Evangelist at Centriq Training

• Kelly O’Hagan – Marketing Manager for The Overland Park Convention Center

• Mike Burns – Marketing Manager, Proposal Development Team at Perceptive Software

Free membership to the Social Media Club can be obtained by visiting www.smcjoco.com. Join the club today, and we’ll see you at the party!

About The Social Media Club of Johnson County: SMCJoCo serves all of Johnson County’s cities and will provide events centered around social media and business education in those communities designed both to inform and inspire members to use the technologies in their businesses. SMCJoCo is the third area chapter of the National Social Media Club that is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with chapters in 35 countries. The two other area chapters are the Kansas City, MO (SMCKC) and the Lawrence, KS (SMCLK) clubs. Free membership to both SMCJoCo and the National Social Media club can be obtained for free by visiting www.smjoco.com.

Social Media Day Success!

Sara Paxton — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:30:43 +0000

Earlier today, we posted information about the Social Media Day event that was taking place around the world. In the spirit of social media day, we changed our background at Tweetgotback, tagged our tweets with #smday, and promoted local meetups that were being hosted by the Social Media Club of Kansas City. There was a lot of buzz about the meetup at the Cashew in downtown Kansas City, and the Johnny’s Tavern location at 119th Street in Overland Park.

About 6 pm, we left the office, and headed out towards the Social Media Day celebration. We were greeted by signs boasting “Happy Social Media Day” and a helpful host that could apparently tell by our geeky appearance that we were there for the “social media stuff.” We headed towards the back of Johnny’s and were immediately greeted with familiar faces, and a number of new ones we weren’t as familiar with.

Individuals came and went, connecting with most of the attendees before doing so. Pictures and videos were snapped among with tweets being sent and foursquare checkins completed. It was a great mix of young and old, newcomers and social media regulars as well as attendees from all over the metro.

$1 pizza slices and beer flowing freely left the social media crowd in high spirits with lots of topics discussed. We had nearly 50 people come and go at our meetup, but most of all, we had a great group, with lots of fun, laughter, and interaction.

A truly fun group to spend social media day with on an otherwise normal day in Kansas.

Here’s a list of everyone that signed in! Let us know if we missed anyone!

@evanevansmedia @ericbobmyers @mkm_designer @dustinj @fawnkey @whereisciao @alexiceule @debdobson

@heistecomm @laura_lake @average_jane @marydpadilla + John @kccopydiva @jennykutz @melaniewoods + Nel

@thisiszacc @angiepedersen @juliejulerson @wordscolliding @cschroeder08 @erichacker @TechGuyTom @Vivid13 @JeffisaGeek

@MrKCMortgage @deesadler @mediaenthusiast @johnepp @angelchrys @jennykutz @ruxtermobi @foodieworld

Happy Social Media Day from the Social Media Club of JoCo!

SMC JoCo Admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:06:13 +0000

Today has been deemed Social Media Day by Mashable, and given that they are leaders in the social media space, we all listened! Mashable has encouraged everyone to celebrate the technological and societal advancements that allowed us to have a dialogue as only Twitter, Facebook, and the like could allow, to connect, to engage in one on one and group conversations.

This is a worldwide event that is being recognized from Miami to Orange County to right here in Kansas City. The Social Media Club of Kansas City has organized a number of local venues to host Social Media Day right here in the metro at 4 locations.

Today is a day to celebrate the changes in media and technology that have enabled us to be connected to each other, and the world. Social media has become a tool for those that felt they didn’t have a voice, a blessing to unite the world in times of crisis, such as the Haiti earthquake and the BP Oil spill. It has connected fellow sports enthusiasts during the Super Bowl and during the World Cup. According to Mashable, and we share the sentiment as well, it’s a revolution worth celebrating.

Check out the message from Mashable’s Founder and CEO Pete Cashmore:

Click here to view the embedded video.

How can you get involved? Get social, of course! You can track the updates through these online channels:

Watch the live streams worldwide
Tweet using the Social Media Day hashtag #smday and let’s see if it becomes a trending topic. Mashable is going to announce a prize for those that tweet or post to Facebook.
Add the Social Media Day Twitter theme from TweetyGotBack to your account in support of the day
Follow @MashSMDay on Twitter for updates and developments on the celebration
Comment via Facebook by going to smday.com and leave a comment either promoting your meetup or tell Mashable what you’re doing for your event
Upload photos to Flickr and tag them with #smday.

Or better yet, get out and get social at one of these events that SMCKC is hosting in the greater Kansas City area:

Local events start between 5 & 6 pm and locations include:

The Cashew, 2000 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. hosted by Katy Ryan
Johnny’s, 6765 W. 119th St., Overland Park, Kan. hosted by Alexis Cuele and Dustin Jacobsen
Flamingo Lounge, 13520 E. Highway 40, Independence, Mo. hosted by Lisa Qualls, SMCKC President

Blanc Burgers and Bottles, located on the Plaza and in Leawood, is also recognizing social media day by giving specials for those that check in on the location based service, Foursquare.

Be sure to show up with your fully charged smartphones for 12 second videos, twitpics, and more. Be sure to check in on Foursquare for those of you that have been coveting the ever popular swarm badge!

And … We’re Off!

Sara Paxton — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:26:48 +0000

Overland Park, KS (Evans Media Group) June 24, 2010 – Today the executive board of the new Social Media Club of Johnson County was announced. The Social Media Club of Johnson County (SMCJoCo) is the third local chapter of the National club that is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with chapters in 35 countries. The two other local chapters are the Kansas City, MO (SMCKC) and the Lawrence, KS (SMCLK) clubs.

The intent is for the three chapters to work in concert with each other co-promoting events and ensuring that all members and businesses are provided with social media education. Membership in all clubs is free and members are encouraged to join more than one if they feel the need. The new SMCJoCo serves all of Johnson County’s towns and will provide events centered around social media and business education in those communities specifically.

The Executive Board members include:

Herb Sih – Co-founder of Clickspeed and ClearVox, Founder of Think Big Partners and the Think Big KC event

Kathy Boos – Publisher of 435South Magazine

Eddie Kennison – Former Kansas City Chiefs player and owner of several Johnson County businesses

Kelly Scanlon – Publisher of Thinking Bigger Business Media/KC Small Business Magazine and Radio Host

Kris Ketz – First News Anchor KMBC-TV / KCWE-TV

Julie Cortes – Founder of the Freelance Exchange, Copy Writer and copy editor of flourish! Magazine

John Epperson – President of Ruxter Mobile

Laura Wynn – President of Black Widow Enterprises and Founder of Linking Leawood

Doug Richards – Social Business Evangelist at Centriq Training

Kelly O’Hagan – Marketing Manager for The Overland Park Convention Center

Michael Burns - Manager of Proposal Development at Perceptive Software

The goal of the Social Media Club of Johnson County and that of the national organization is to provide business centric social media education. Johnson Countians will now have the option of attending meetings at various venues and times of day that may be more convenient to them. The SMCJoCo speakers bureau will provide national and local speakers on social media, emerging technologies and how they can impact business.

The founding principle behind the decision to request a sister chapter of the Social Media Club was simple. To provide a convenient venue, foster a desire to learn, build the need for fellowship with like-minded business professionals and do it all under the binding tie that is social media.

Free membership to the Social Media Club can be obtained by visiting the National Chapter Website and scrolling to the Register Now button. Once one has joined the national club, you may then join the Social Media Club of Johnson County by clicking local chapters and scrolling to Johnson County.

Welcome!

SMC JoCo Admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:32:21 +0000

Welcome to the Social Media Club of Johnson County. Our club is in its infancy, and we welcome all new members.

We are launching our social media club website, setting up our chapter at the national level, and most of all, developing our social media presence. We are looking for those members in the community that want to learn more about social media as well as those that want to help educate, connect, and share their successes in social media.

Feel free to sign up for an account, follow us on Twitter, find us on Facebook, and stay tuned for more updates as they become available.

Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the Social Media Club of Johnson County.