Entries Tagged 'SMB Bellingham' ↓
March 3rd, 2010 — SMB Bellingham, Upcoming breakfasts
We are quite fortunate to be able to take advantage of some really fantastic social media folks who are going to be in town for the Social Media Conference NW on March 25th, and we’ve invited entrepreneur James Burnes, CEO/Founder of Mobiltopia, to speak to our group the day before. James will be discussing the role of social media in your career – not as a career path. He will explore how social media is an integral skill set in the work force of tomorrow and how you can use your social media skills to advance yourself. We’re looking forward to some great discussion and insightful information, as James has a ton of experience in this area…
James brings a unique mix of talents interfacing Internet solutions with a business minded, entrepreneurial background. For more than 10 years, he has been a leader in Internet consulting, web strategy and new business ventures. He founded Project Brilliant in December 2009 as an idea factory, business consultancy, creative agency and business incubator to launch and develop new digital business ventures. The firm is launching several new enterprises in 2010 including a mobile-web and social media company. His leadership and vision help organizations embrace new and emerging technologies like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and other Web 2.0 platforms to transform their organization to succeed in our highly connected, 24/7 economy. His expertise in business development, sales, innovation, product ideation, and revenue-centric thinking makes him a regular resource to corporate executives around the country to conduct business online. James is a board member of the advisory board of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s Small Business Development Centers. He is a contributing editor to The Social Media Bible (J.W. Wiley Publishing, May 2009). He is a guest lecturer to several university programs and speaks regularly for corporations, associations and seminars on how to transform your business for the Digital Age.
This month, we’re experimenting with having our ‘breakfast’ in the evening, and our event is going to be hosted by The Nightlight Lounge, known as Bellingham’s hottest nightspot and concert venue. Located in the basement of a historic building in downtown Bellingham, the Lounge quite often books nationally-known bands, talking them in to stopping by Bellingham on their way to or from Vancouver or Seattle. It’s also a great place to get to know some up-and-coming bands as well as check out some local artists.
If you’re within driving distance, we hope you’ll join us on March 24th at 6pm!
Follow Bellingham Social Media:
February 19th, 2010 — SMB Bellingham
This past Wednesday, Bellingham Washington had its first Social Media Breakfast meeting. Never heard of us? Well, we have a beautiful community of approximately 80,000 residents, about 1 1/2 hours north of Seattle and an hour south of Vancouver BC. We’ve got gorgeous Bellingham Bay, beautiful scenic mountains great for skiing and snowboarding, bountiful parks and hiking trails strewn across the city, and a very close-knit community that fiercely supports its local businesses.
Being in between two major cities has both advantages and disadvantages. We have quick access to two very different, very tech-laden communities. However, because of that we often get forgotten when conferences and speakers come to this part of the country. Well – we’re looking to change that!
Just within our city, we have many special interest groups that utilize and embrace social technologies: groups like the Bellingham .NET Users Group, Refresh Bellingham, and TAG – which is putting on a Social Media Conference on March 25th that I highly encourage you to attend if you live within a reasonable driving distance. Bellingham has a lot of very talented social media enthusiasts, as was demonstrated by our inaugural presenters, John Raasch and Maya Belka from Mindfly Website Design Studio. John and Maya presented on a great kick-off topic: finding your voice in social media. John discussed marketing and promotion concepts pre-social technology, while Maya discussed thoughts and best practices for being authentic through social channels both personally and professionally. Their presentation is available here – we certainly appreciate John and Maya taking the time to speak to our group and get the ball rolling for us. An attendee shared, “Loved the topic. Thought this was a great way to kick off the group and a great topic to get us talking about social media and our place in it.”
We had 35 attendees for our first meeting which was graciously hosted by Boundary Bay Brewery. Our morning was not without its glitches though, like any meeting! We had arranged for a continental breakfast of pastries, fruit, juice, and coffee to be brought in, but by 7:15am our caterer was nowhere to be seen. Our lovely Boundary Bay host Amy Jones left to try to find some last-minute solutions for this, and while she was out getting food some of the employees were kind enough to brew and put out some coffee and tea options. While it wasn’t exactly what had been planned, we are most appreciative of Amy and the Boundary Bay crew for doing what they could to ensure we at least had something to eat and drink. Thanks you guys! Lessons learned for future get-togethers for sure!
We have a special (surprise) guest presenter lined up for March and are really looking forward to pressing on with our meetings, whether they’re early in the morning or after-hours. Our community is excited about these learning opportunities and we hope to see even more folks at the next one!
February 9th, 2010 — SMB Bellingham, Upcoming breakfasts
The Bellingham Social Media group is having its inaugural breakfast meetup on Wednesday, February 17th! Our venue is being provided by the Boundary Bay Brewery.
Our guest speakers are John Raasch, Owner/Partner, and Maya Belka, Content Strategist, from Mindfly Web Design Studio. They will be discussing Finding Your Voice: the balance between personal and professional communication. In today’s world of social media, thousands of consumers/companies/users are involved in communication via the web. As a result, the conflict between being too personal or too professional is raging. How you communicate effectively, retain followers/listeners while still staying within company policy is a hot debate.
Meeting timeline:
- 7:30am – 8:00am: arrival, network, get breakfast, grab a seat
- 8:00am – 8:05am: introductions – hosts & speakers
- 8:05am – 8:35am: speaker presentation
- 8:35am – 8:45am: Q&A
- 8:45am – 9:00am: wrap-up & more networking
Follow Bellingham Social Media:
About Mindfly:
Mindfly Web Design specializes in W3C web standards and ADA compliant websites, ASP.Net framework and beautiful, usable website designs. Mindfly also released Boogaloo, an open source site creation framework and CMS in October and they also sponsor Refresh Bellingham and Neighborhood-Kids. Check out some of their work:
About Boundary Bay Brewery:
A no smoking, all ages establishment, The Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro has been in business since 1995, catering to locals and out-of-towners alike. While our beer has won award after award, it is balanced by a selection of food that will bring you back all on its own. All presented to you in a unique atmosphere of energy, artistry, community and hospitality. Boundary Bay was recently featured in the Bellingham Herald for their social media presence on Facebook.
