You may have heard there was an SMB road crew heading to SXSW this year, and making stops in 4 Midwest cities.  That team is Albert Maruggi and myself.  I’m glad to finally be able to post a bit about our experience on the drive down.  The two and a half day trip allowed us to stop and meet with folks in some great places and learn new things about the social media community around the country.

On our trip to Austin, we stopped in the following cities:

• Des Moines, IA – March 10th at the Raccoon River Brewing Company (RSVP)
• Omaha, NE – March 10th at the Caffeine Dream (RSVP)
• Kansas City, MO – March 11th at the Kansas City Cafe (RSVP)
• Wichita, KS – March 12th at The Donut Hole (RSVP)

Along the way we’ve had some great conversations with folks who’ve faced the same challenges and opportunities that everyone has with social media, and learned a bit about how they approach them.  The meetups in Kansas City and Wichita were especially great with the entire group engaged in the conversation.  Kind of reminds me of the early days of the Minneapolis/St. Paul meetups where 30-40 folks would be engaged in a round table discussion. Very fun.

We happened to capture the Kansas City meetup on video, which you can find at http://www.twitterface.com/sxswroadtrip.

Here’s a few more pics from the road.

So that’s the first couple days. We’re deep into SXSW at the moment and are currently prepping the SMB SXSW Breakfast as I write this.  More info, pics, vids and such from that tomorrow.  Thanks everyone, and thank you Bryan Person for creating something so unique that we keep coming back – and keep growing!

Regards – Rick Mahn

Our first batch of tickets will be released at 2:00pm Eastern on Friday, February 26. Additional tickets will be made available throughout the week of March 1.

Event overview

• Date and time: Sunday, March 14, 2010, from 10:00am-noon
• Location: Hyatt Regency Austin
• SMB SXSW is free to attend, but you must RSVP in advance to reserve a spot and gain entry. You do not need an official SXSW badge.
• We’ll provide the food and drink for the first 150 people. To get your hands on the grub, make sure to arrive early!

Follow us on Facebook!

Information about our speakers and other surprises will be shared on our Social Media Breakfast Facebook Page. Connect with us there, and Become a Fan!

Sponsorship by Tungle.me

Our venue, food, and drink costs are being coverd by Tungle.me, “your personal scheduling page.” Here is more about Tungle.me:

Embed:

[You may need to click through to the original post to see video]

Event tag: SMBSXSW

Making online media or tweeting about the breakfast? Please use the #SMBSXSW hashtag on Twitter and SMBSXSW on Flickr and other sites.

About the Social Media Breakfast

The Social Media Breakfast series was founded by Bryan Person in August 2007 and brings together social media practitioners and enthusiasts for mornings of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning. SMBs are now held in some 40 cities around the world.

Questions?

Please e-mail SXSW – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT com

• SMB Austin 13: “5 Videos Social Media Marketers Can Make in Under an Hour.”
• Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
• Time: 7:35-9:30am
• Location: Mandola’s Market , 4700 West Guadalupe, Suite 12, Austin, TX 78751. [Map] | [Google Map]
• Cost: The event itself is free to attend, but attendees pay for the cost of their own drink and/or food. See the Mandonla’s Market offerings for coffee and pastries.

Here is a video teaser:

Social Media Breakfast | February 23 from Reel Social Media on Vimeo.

Agenda for SMB Austin 13

* 7:35-8:15am
Event begins. Food, drink, and mingling.
* 8:15-9:10am
Announcements and presentation from Talmadge Boyd and Weston Norton
* 9:10-9:30am
More mingling and wrap-up

About the presenters

Talmadge Boyd (@Talmadge) and Weston Norton (@BigManWeston) are the principals of Austin-based Reel Social Media, a company that offers video production, marketing, distribution, and SEO services.

Talmadge and Weston are also part of the crew behind the first-ever VideoCamp Austin, scheduled for Saturday, February 27.

Ustream coverage

Can’t attend the breakfast in person? With assistance from Brent Annear and Steve Levine from the Texas Medical Assocation, we’ll be Ustreaming the event beginning at 8:15 on Tuesday, February 23. Here’s where you can follow the live stream: SMB Austin Ustream Channel

About the Austin Social Media Breakfast

The Austin Social Media Breakfast series is organized by Maura Thomas and SMB founder Bryan Person; it brings together social media veterans and newcomers alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning.

Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, business communicators, bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters, students, new-media enthusiasts, Twitterers, community managers, recruiters, online social networkers, etc. are all welcome!

Making online media?

Please use the #SMBAustin hashtag on Twitter and SMBAustin tag on Flickr.

Questions?

Please contact:
Bryan Person: Bryan – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT – com

Here’s the event overview:

• Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010
• Time: 7:30-9:30am
• Location: Mandola’s Market , 4700 West Guadalupe, Suite 12, Austin, TX 78751. [Map] | [Google Map]
• Cost: The event itself is free to attend, but attendees pay for the cost of their own drink and/or food. See the Mandonla’s Market offerings for coffee and pastries.

Event program: Getting social with PetRelocation.com

Join Kevin O’Brien and Rachel Farris from PetRelocation.com for a look into their furry, four-legged online world of social media.  For tail-wagging evangelists, social platforms are quickly becoming the fastest-growing dog parks out there.  Kevin and Rachel will speak from two very different perspectives: 1) the CEO’s overview of why social media is important to the company 2) how a social-media employee manages the day-to-day reality of keeping the online conversation going.

Kevin and Rachel will also discuss how C-level executives and managers can work together to take new-media ideas and turn them into results.

Check out PetRelocation.com’s social-media content:

Blog | Facebook Page | Twitter: @PetRelocation |  YouTube | Online community

About the presenters

Kevin O’Brien (@_OB_) is the CEO and co-founder of PetRelocation.com.  Prior to starting PetRelocation.com with his wife Angie O’Brien, Kevin was an early employee of HotJobs.com, from its startup days in 1998 to going public and then being acquired by Yahoo! in 2001.  This move allowed Kevin to self-fund a doggie daycare and pet taxi service that became PetRelocation.com.  Although it began as a local business, PetRelocation.com has evolved into a worldwide door-to-door pet travel service, in no small part due to its large online presence.  Kevin, never one to shy away from new-media trends, has continued to push the pet-industry envelope by fostering the company’s social culture online as a way of bringing together communities of pet lovers on microsites like MyPetMove.com and TwitPets.com.

Rachel Farris (@MeanRachel) is the director of PR and new media for PetRelocation.com.  She was hired as the second employee at PetRelocation.com in 2006 and while working in sales and customer service, she offered to start the company blog.  As social media became more important to the PetRelocation.com brand, Rachel was promoted to a full-time online evangelist, authoring the PetRelocation blog and managing the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages.  Since then, she has continued to collaborate with Kevin to grow PetRelocation.com’s online presence through social media by securing partnerships and building relationships with other pet, travel, and relocation websites.

Agenda for Austin’s SMB12

* 7:30-8:15am
Event begins. Food, drink, and mingling.
* 8:15-9:00am
Presentation from Kevin and Rachel and Q&A/discussion
* 9:00-9:30am
More mingling and wrap-up

About the Austin Social Media Breakfast

The Austin Social Media Breakfast series is organized by Amie Throndson, Maura Thomas, and SMB founder Bryan Person; it brings together social media veterans and newcomers alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning.

Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, business communicators, bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters, students, new-media enthusiasts, Twitterers, community managers, recruiters, online social networkers, etc. are all welcome!

Making online media?

Please use the #SMBAustin hashtag on Twitter and SMBAustin tag on Flickr.

Questions?

Please contact:

Bryan Person: Bryan – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT – com

Those predictions are being shared here in the embedded document below (RSS and e-mail subscribers: You may need to click through to the original blog post to see the embedded document). I invite you to read the predictions, debate them, and share them with your co-workers and colleagues!

Social Media Breakfast Austin: Predictions for Social Media in 2010

This work by Bryan Person and Social Media Breakfast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

SMB Austin’s year-end breakfast at Mandola’s Italian Market this past Monday featured predictions on where social media is headed in 2010.

Ten Austin-area practitioners (including Tim Hayden, pictured above) had three minutes each to share their visions on how social media will shape and impact their respective industries in the year ahead. Among them: the view from Deirdre Walsh that we’re moving toward a state of Social Media Pangea.

Looking back at SMB Austin 11–through photos and tweets

What were people tweeting during the breakfast presentations? Check out this collection of memorable tweets, complemented by photos from Callie Richmond (RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to visit the original blog post to see the embedded presentation)

Archived video from SMB Austin 11

Thanks to a helping hand from Brent Annear and Steve Levine from the Texas Medical Association, SMB Austin was streamed live on Ustream. The video archive can be found on our new SMB Austin Ustream channel, and the second of two segments is also embedded just below (RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to visit the original blog post to see and stream the video).

What’s next for SMB Austin?

Our Austin breakfasts will return again in early 2010. Video content creation, mobile, and social media for small business are some of the topics we’re considering for upcoming events. If you have additional suggestions, please drop me a line: bryan | AT | SocialMediaBreakfast | com.

Photo credit: Callie Richmond Photography

Here are the particulars:

• Date: Monday, December 14, 2009
• Time: 7:30-9:30am
• Location: Mandola’s Market , 4700 West Guadalupe, Suite 12, Austin, TX 78751. [Map] | [Google Map]
• Cost: The event itself is free to attend, but attendees pay for the cost of their own drink and/or food. See the Mandonla’s Market offerings for coffee and pastries.

Event program: Social Media in 2010

With 2010 beckoning, we’ve tapped 10 smart Austinites to predict how social media will change and evolve in their respective industries in the year ahead. Each presenter has just three minutes, so we’ll cut to the chase of the meaty content!

2010 presenters

1. Mike Chapman | @MikeChapman – public policy/politics
2. Wesley Faulkner | @Wesley83 – fundraising
3. Lisa Goddard | @Lisa_Goddard – nonprofit
4. Tim Hayden | @GamePlanHayden – media & events
5. Kathy Mandelstein | @KatMandelstein – B2B marketing
6. Dara Quackenbush | @DQuack – education
7. Aaron Strout | @AaronStrout – brands
8. Sheila Scarborough | @SheilaS – travel & tourism
9. Deirdre Walsh | @DeirdreWalsh – B2B marketing/community
10. Jen Wojcik | @TheJenATX – recruiting

Agenda for Austin’s SMB11

* 7:30-8:15am
Event begins. Food, drink, and mingling.
* 8:15-9:00am
Rapid-fire 2010 predictions from our 10 presenters
* 9:00-9:30am
More mingling and wrap-up

About the Austin Social Media Breakfast

The Austin Social Media Breakfast series is organized by Amie Throndson, Maura Thomas, and SMB founder Bryan Person; it brings together social media veterans and newcomers alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning.

Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, business communicators, bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters, students, new-media enthusiasts, Twitterers, community managers, recruiters, online social networkers, etc. are all welcome!

Making online media?

Please use the #SMBAustin hashtag on Twitter and SMBAustin tag on Flickr.

Questions?

Please contact:

Bryan Person: Bryan – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT – com

• Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
• Time: 7:30-9:30am
• Location: 360 Uno Espresso and Vino, 3801 Capitol of Texas Highway N. #G-100, Austin, Texas 78746. [Google Map] Inside Davenport Village Shopping Center. Parking is available.
• Cost: The event itself is free to attend; attendees pay for their own food and drinks. See 360 Uno’s coffee and breakfast menus.

Event details: Word-of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Sexy

The original social media is, was, and will continue to be old-school word of mouth. Yes, online conversations are cool, but the truth is that face-to-face and voice-to-voice conversations about products/services happening in the offline world still have significant sway. Join John Moore for a discussion about stats, strategies, and tactics that will help make your brand–or one that you follow–more talkable by using word of mouth.

About the presenter

John Moore was formerly in marketing at Starbucks Coffee and Whole Foods Market. Today, through his Brand Autopsy Marketing Practice, John shares marketing advice with businesses aspiring to earn unwavering devotion from customers and employees. He is also the author of the Brand Autopsy blog and the business-managment book, Tribal Knowledge.

Agenda for Austin’s SMB10

* 7:30-8:15am
Event begins. Food, drink, and mingling.
* 8:15-9:05am
Interactive presentation and questions
* 9:05-9:30am
More mingling and wrap-up

About the Austin Social Media Breakfast

The Austin Social Media Breakfast series is organized by Amie Throndson and SMB founder Bryan Person; it brings together social media veterans and newcomers alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning.

Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, business communicators, bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters, students, new-media enthusiasts, Twitterers, community managers, recruiters, online social networkers, etc. are all welcome!

Making online media?

Please use the #SMBAustin hashtag on Twitter and SMBAustin tag on Flickr.

Questions?

Please contact:

Bryan Person: Bryan – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT – com
Amie Throndson: AmieThrondson – AT gmail – DOT – com

Event details: Mainstream media goes social

Statesman social media editor Rob Quigley (Twitter handle: @RobQuig) leads a panel discussion on how local mainstream media professionals and organizations are making the transition to social media.

Panelists:

• John Bridges, former sports editor and current senior editor for metro and state news at the Statesman. Twitter handle: @JohnBridges
• Elise Hu, former KVUE-TV (ABC) political reporter and now a reporter for the Texas Tribune, a new Austin Ventures startup nonprofit news site. Twitter handle: @EliseWho
• Chelsea Stark, web producer for KEYE-TV (CBS) who has spearheaded her station’s social media efforts. Twitter handle: @ChelseaBot

Agenda for Austin’s SMB9

• 7:30-8:15am: Event begins. Food, drink, and mingling.
• 8:15-9:05am: Panel presentation and questions
• 9:05-9:30am: More mingling and wrap-up

Sponsorship from INK PR

We’re grateful to Austin-based INK Public Relations for its sponsorship of SMB Austin 9.

Arrival instructions and parking

• Use the Riverside entrance (across from Thundercloud Subs, one block east of Congress) to the Statesman headquarters, located at 305 S. Congress Ave. (Google Map)
• Park in any spot marked “visitor” – there should be plenty.
• Enter through the main lobby and look for the “First Floor Conference Room” on the 1st floor.
• Questions? Send Twitter @ message or DM to Rob Quigley (@RobQuig).

About the Austin Social Media Breakfast

The Austin Social Media Breakfast series is organized by Amie Throndson and SMB founder Bryan Person; it brings together social media veterans and newcomers alike for a morning of eating, meeting, sharing, and learning.

Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, videobloggers, podcasters, students, new-media enthusiasts, Twitterers, community managers, recruiters, online social networkers, etc. are all welcome!

Making online media?

Please use the #SMBAustin hashtag on Twitter and SMBAustin tag on Flickr.

Questions?

Please contact:

Bryan Person: Bryan – AT – SocialMediaBreakfast – DOT – com
Amie Throndson: AmieThrondson@gmail.com

• Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009
• Time: 7:30-9:30am
• Location: la Madeline Country French Cafe, 3418 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78705 [Google Map]; parking available
• Cost: The event itself is free to attend; attendees pay for their own food and drinks

Event details: Goals and tools for your online community

SolarWinds’ Dawn Lacallade will present on how to lead a company or group through the formation of goals for an online community, and, ultimately, choose the appropriate  tools to begin that community.

Here are the slides from a similar presentation Dawn led at the 2009 Community 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.