If you ever needed a Social Media Club event that really produced payoff on the “social” part, Tuesday’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 Marshall 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.

With each meeting and conversation, Louisville’s social media community is growing and seemingly more excited about learning more. We’d like, however, to reach out to other chapters around the country and world and ask for your help. While our group consists of various disciplines (from entrepreneurs to software engineers to marketers and beyond) and different levels of social media understanding (beginner to expert), we are looking for outside input on future topics of discussion. Please offer suggestions here or by emailing us at smclouisville — at — gmail.com.

We thank you for your thoughts and are thrilled to add to our growing community of enthusiasts.