by Sarah
So, yesterday the idea that Tim, Paul and I had to start a social media cafe in Derby (and indeed around the county) became a reality.
The first meeting of was held, informally, in the cafe bar at Quad Derby yesterday (1 October 2009)- and a big thanks must go to them for hosting us and supporting this idea.
The conversation was flowing, just as we hoped it would, and we’ve had a great response so far – there will definitely be more meets!
Some of the things I talked about with people and found really useful / interesting included: Google Sidewiki and Wave; promoting and getting organisations to move forward online; monitoring social media both from a ‘knowing your audience’ and a ROI point of view; managing reputation online; being and managing online workers and of course, how the social media cafe is going to continue.
How is the cafe going to continue?
Well, it will definitely meet again in Derby and at the moment I am thinking it might be nice to meet in early December.
I’d propose we meet in a dedicated space this time and have something more formal to head up the session – a case study or debate for example – with an informal networking event afterwards.
What I’d like people to let me know (either comment here, tweet me or through the Facebook group) is:
- What day of the week and time is best for you? A few people have said evening would be better – how do people feel about this?
- Do you have any suggestions for the ‘formal’ part? Would you like to volunteer to run a session on something?
- Is there anything else you would like to do to be involved with the cafe?
I’ll set up some sort of event listing where people can register their interest and then we can look at a suitable venue and get the date and time organised.
The Derby meet will be alongside taking the cafe out around the county. There will be a meet in Matlock on 3 December and I’d really, really appreciate hearing from anyone who would be interested in coming along or help organise this one!
Who came yesterday?
I said I’d post the attendance list up so people could follow each other and continue conversations online. If I’ve missed anyone please forgive me and give me a nudge to add you on! Most people seem to be using Twitter as their main online identity at the moment but if you have another space you’d rather use (or think we should look at) then let me know. Here’s the list:
- Sarah Lay
- Paul Cole
- Tim Cooper
- Alistair Smith
- Russell Tanner
- Ben Spiller
- Nik Hewitt
- Darren Holden
- Nigel Brunsdon
- Sophie Ballinger
- Lee Flanaghan
- Dan White
- Neil Cauldwell
- Emily Robe
- Graham Pyman
- Richard Mackney
- Simon Mackney
- Robin Morley
- Sian Hoyle
- Ruth Myring
- Jessica from Quad
I’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who came and turned our idea into a reality. I look forward to continuing the conversations online and seeing you all (and more people too!) at the next meet.
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I was talking to someone yesterday who I think would be interested in attending, but said they would prefer an evening meet. It would be better for me as well as I’m on a shift pattern.
I would be very interested in seeing practical demonstrations of how people are using social media in different ways and the problems and benefits they encounter.
A few people have said that evenings work better for them – I’m happy to go with whatever suits the group!
Practical demonstrations sound good too – Ben from 1623 Theatre Company suggested case studies so seems he was thinking along similar lines.
Look forward to hearing other people’s thoughts on what would make a good session and time for the next meet.
Thanks again, Sarah, for organising yesterday. It was good to meet people from other sectors and hear about their experiences of social media. It seems that we all had something in common, and that was that we all want to communicate messages clearly to people in an accessible way. Perhaps, if we go down the route of having a case study at each future meeting, when it’s our turn to deliver a case study we could select a project we’ve worked on recently that required us to deliver a message and how we used the various forms of social media to deliver that message. Also, something that might be interesting and useful to talk about in the discussion/debate that follows the case study is how social media relates to more traditional forms of communicating messages, how they can work together to deliver the message as widely and/or effectively as possible.
I’m annoyed with myself for not coming along to your first meeting. I’d love to lurk and learn more about what people are doing in the region. For me, day is generally better than evening. But if people do miss something, it is nice to be able to read or follow links through to stuff afterwards. BTW: I think the social media map of Derby is full of really interesting things.
Brilliant, Sarah! Well done and welcome to the Hall of Fame for Social Media Cafe Founders
Keep up the good work and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
ll
Ben – glad you enjoyed it and I think a case study or presentation by someone in the group to start future sessions is an excellent idea. Following this with group discussions and Q&A is also great and will hopefully help people widen their knowledge and share experiences.
I like the idea of looking at online as part of the communication mix and I’m sure lots of people have valuable contributions to make this discussion. Thanks for your suggestions and for being involved!
Nick – shame you missed this meet. The next one is in planning now so keep an eye out here or on my or the cafe’s Twitter streams. I’ll keep nudging you about it nearer the time
Glad you found the map useful – would be great if we can find a way to expand and keep it updated collaboratively as a group.
Lloyd – I am honoured to join the Hall of Fame but must drag my co-founders Tim and Paul in with me! It would be great if you wanted to come along to a future meet and I’m sure I’ll be picking your brains and asking for help at some point on this journey
Anyone else got suggestions for structuring future meets or input into best times / venue etc?
I’ve just added another Twitter plugin so that updates to the blog are automatically tweeted to @smcderbyshire