Local Chapter News

2009 kicked off as we expected and we have a budding list of 30+ cities looking to launch SMC by Summer. Here is what has been happening and what is being planned. Please note the list below is subject to change, so it is best to check the SMC Event Calendar for real-time  meetings:

JANUARY:

• Chapter Launches: Canberra (Australia) – Gold Coast (Australia) – Greenville, SC (USA) – Hamburg (Germany) – Salt Lake City, UT (USA) – Seattle, WA (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Portland, OR (USA) – Sacramento, CA (USA)

FEBRUARY:

• Chapter Launches: Columbia, SC (USA) – Portland, OR (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Adelaide (Australia) – Indianapolis, IN (USA) – Irvine, CA (USA) – Jacksonville, FL (USA) – Orlando, FL (USA) – Richmond, VA (USA) – Sacramento, CA (USA) – Spartanburg, SC (USA) – Tampa, FL (USA)

MARCH:

• Chapter Launches: Orlando, FL (USA) – Sacramento, CA (USA) – Tampa Bay, FL (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Anderson, SC (USA) – Asheville, NC (USA) – Melbourne (Australia) – New Orleans, LA (USA) – Toronto, ON (Canada) – Tucson, AZ (USA) – Virginia Tech, VA (USA)

To find out information on your city launch and/or planning meetings, please check out our Local Teams page and then click through to the SMC wiki. The great thing we have found is that you too can start an SMC chapter in your town – so just add your city on to the wiki if its not there and review the ideas and insights on the wiki about what you can do to be more successful with your efforts.

We are also hosting a weekly chapter call where we answer questions around what is needed to launch Social Media Club in your local city, how to develop awareness campaigns, discuss topics/conversations that have worked well in other chapters, securing sponsorships, and so much more.

The calls take place every Wednesday, and alternate weekly – at either 8am PST or 5:30pm PST – an updated schedule is available online in the Social Media Club events calendar. The conference call dial-in number is (269) 320-8400, and the access code is 509633#. These calls are recorded and will be posted shortly on the SMC website.

We do ask that you review the SMC Chapter Guidelines before you jump on the call and if you have time, you might check out this 30-minute podcast SMC Founder, Chris Heuer, did with SMC Louisville Chapter Leader, Jason Falls, on organizing a Local Social Media Club. Take a listen.

We are still working to get some stronger organizational tools in place before launching more cities, but found…sometimes…you just need to let it happen and worry about the details later.  If this has been frustrating for you, we would like to apologize, but we only have so much time in the day and have been doing this as a labor of love as opposed to doing it as a paying job.  We appreciate your patience and your continued support of our growth, hopefully in a city near you soon!

Social Media Club: Chapter Launches

Are you interested in launching Social Media Club in your local city?  Need a little help growing your existing chapter? On the hunt for interesting topics?

Join us on our weekly chapter call where we answer questions around what is needed to launch Social Media Club in your local city, how to develop awareness campaigns, discuss topics/conversations that have worked well in other chapters, securing sponsorships, and so much more. The calls take place every Wednesday, and alternate weekly – between 8am PST and 5:30pm PST. An updated schedule is available online in the Social Media Club events calendar. We know these times are not ideal for the International crowd, so feel free to email kristie [at] socialmediaclub.org to schedule an alternate time as needed.

The conference call info is as follows:

Conference Dial-in Number: (269) 320-8400
Access Code: 509633#

We will be recording each call, so if you are not able to join us live – feel free to take a listen when time allows:

Playback Number: (269) 320-8499
Access Code: 509633#

We recently launched an official chapter launch guide, and encourage everyone to review these BEFORE you join the call so we all have a baseline to work from:

• See if your city is already meeting
• SMC Chapter Guidelines
• SMC Founder, Chris Heuer, also interviewed SMC Louisville Chapter Leader, Jason Falls, recently on Organizing a Local Social Media Club. This is a 30-minute podcast, please take a listen.

We have seen a bit of of pick up in requests to launch Social Media Club chapters as of late, and we will start posting a monthly update on what cities are ‘in the works’ to keep everyone posted. To get us current, here is where we are:

OCTOBER:

• Chapter Launches: Chicago, IL (USA) – Indianapolis, IN (USA) – Las Vegas, NV (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Charlotte, NC (USA) – Honolulu/Waikiki, HI (USA) – London (UK)

NOVEMBER:

• Chapter Launches: Atlanta, GA (USA) – San Diego, CA (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Jacksonville, FL (USA)

DECEMBER:

• Chapter Launches: London (UK)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): Detroit/Ann Arbor, MI (USA) – New Orleans, LA (USA) – Orlando, FL (USA) – Portland, OR (USA) – Tampa, FL (USA) – Toronto, ON (Canada) – Tucson, AZ (USA)

JANUARY:

• Chapter Launches: Salt Lake City, UT (USA)
• Planning Meetings (preparing for launch): TBD

To find out information on your city launch and/or planning meetings, please visit the SMC Wiki and click on the city nearest you.

Social Media Club: Weekly Chapter Call

Want to launch Social Media Club in your city, or have you started, but would like some advice on how to growth or manage the group?

We are getting requests daily to launch chapters in cities around the world, so we are scheduling a weekly call series for every Wednesday at 8:00am PST to review what it takes to launch a chapter and how to ensure success when you do.

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, one of the goals of SMC is to encourage the sharing of knowledge between the cities – I want Paris to know what is important to Chicago, London to know what Austin is talking about, New York to keep tabs on Kansas City, etc. – so you should keep in mind we are building infrastructure to help you not only manage the local chapter easily, but also to connect with the other cities and members. It is coming, I promise, but for now – things are done a little manually across various platforms (wiki, Facebook, Ning, the main SMC site). We will also invite local chapter leaders from existing Clubs to join in each week to share their insights of what has worked best and guide you along the way.

The conference call info is as follows:

Conference Dial-in Number: (269) 320-8400
Access Code: 509633#

We will be recording each call, so if you are not able to join us live – feel free to take a listen when time allows:

Playback Number: (641) 715-3445
Access Code: 509633#

We are also working on an official chapter launch guide, and have started to draft some items on the wiki. We encourage everyone to review these BEFORE you join the call so we all have a baseline to work from:

• Wee if your city is already meeting, also some good info if you scroll down to the bottom
• Suggestions from active chapters on how to ensure success in How To Run a Meeting

SMC Founder, Chris Heuer, also interviewed SMC Louisville Chapter Leader, Jason Falls, recently on Organizing a Local Social Media Club. This is a 30-minute podcast, please take a listen.