Greetings everyone! There will be no meeting this month as Tess and I are catching our breath after the intense year of launching the club in 2009. We’d love to get some ideas from you about what all you would like to see, so please leave us some comments here so we have an open discussion.
Our first year was incredibly successful – we averaged over 35 people per meeting, all of which were free thinks in large part the generous space offered by Cleo Brown and the entire staff at ING Direct Cafe. We covered the basic started kit of topics, as we also provided six plus months of training and support for the winner of our nonprofit contest, Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke. You can read a summary of that series over on my company blog. Then visit the new and socialized web home base for Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke at www.hanabuild.org. Tess, Shane, and I made a visit to Hana in October and were blow away by the work they are doing, as well as the love and respect they have earned in the community. I feel so good about their progress – it is a very deserving organization and they have continued to reach up to learn more and more.
In our second year we would like to engage more with the social media practitioners here in Hawaii, and we want to take the show on the road to the neighbor islands as well. We have grass roots support and some great starting connections on Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island; we have some work to do reaching out to Kauai and Lanai. I hope you will help me by telling your friends and colleagues there about the Social Media Club.
We do have some obstacles to be overcome though. Primarily we need a larger committee to run the club. Tess and I have been doing the large majority of the work, and we want help! Most other Social Media Club chapters have 5-10 active directors who help run the club and get the word out in the community. If you have an interest in supporting us and promoting your own business, we welcome you. Please drop an email to socialmediaclubhawaii@gmail.com and let us know a little about you. We’ll be putting together a small planning meeting later in January.
We Have Questions – Do You Have Answers?
What day and time is convenient for you for meetings? We held most of our meetings on Fridays from 6-7:30 – great for socializing but sometimes a conflict with family and Waikiki traffic.
What form would you like the meetings to take? More interactive discussions, continue with presentations, more social – just meet to talk amongst ourselves, etc?
How can the club support you? Be sure and tell us if you are a business wanting to learn about social media or if you are a social media practitioner wanting to grow your business, etc.
What kind of location would you like us to use? Stay at ING, move to a more private meeting room, move to a bar/restaurant? Give us some ideas!
What goals should we have for 2010? How can we as social media peeps make an impact on our community?
I hope to hear your thoughts on these or other topics.
A hui hou,
Roxanne Darling
