SMC of SLC

Presenting the Utah Social Media Awards on Nov. 6 was a labor of love for a handful of people. I hope the USMA planning committee and members of the SMC of SLC leadership team who contributed to the awards realize how much their contributions mean to the social media community.

Since there’s just over a month left in my tenure as the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City program director, or chapter president, I thought I’d provide some observations about the USMAs and the past year.

We helped legitimize social media in Utah

Presenting the Utah Social Media Awards provided a forum for individuals and companies that are early adopters of social media tools and strategies in which to be recognized.

Our efforts helped provide deserved recognition and support to people using new media in creative and engaging ways who have an impact in our community.

Not only have we helped legitimize the efforts of the USMA recipients, but we have called attention to the use of social media for individuals, organizations and businesses (see this week’s Salt Lake Tribune article).

We recognized “pioneers” in communication and have taken our place as pioneers for the Social Media Club. In case you haven’t heard, the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City is the world’s first Social Media Club chapter to present an awards program. Right here in Utah we’re leading the way for social media practitioners worldwide.

As a well-known public relations practitioner in Salt Lake put it:

You’ve really legitimized new media in Salt Lake and that makes it so much easier for people like me (in PR) to get my clients onboard. Award competitions are challenging to organize. The details, the event planning, sometimes the clashes…are all high-stress tasks. Those who worked quietly behind the scenes so that others could have the limelight are such genuine people. I hope you’ll do this again next year. (FYI – I was not able to attend…but the community buzz is incredible.)

Just by organizing the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City last fall, with our first official meeting occurring in January 2009, we provided a vehicle through which local social media practitioners could speak to industry trends, best practices and ethics. And our monthly third Thursday meetings provided knowledge sharing and some networking face time for those of us who took the opportunity.

SMC of SLC welcomed Utah Valley and Cache Valley

The launch of Social Media Club of Salt Lake City was so successful it spawned two additional northern Utah Social Media Clubs this year: in Utah Valley and Cache Valley. We are probably one of the least populated geographic areas in the world with three Social Media Clubs within a couple hours driving distance.

We’re a nonprofit

Because of the way the worldwide Social Media Club is currently structured, membership dues are paid to the worldwide organization but not to local chapters. In fact, I just may be one of a handful of actual official members of the Social Media Club in Utah. Your support of the worldwide organization by way of membership dues is always welcome and appreciated.

Instead of paying dues to the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City, we only ask that people sign-up on our online membership directory to be part of the chapter.

We have been fortunate this year to have leadership team members who have worked diligently to get venues and refreshments donated by gracious sponsors. It’s impossible to overstate how challenging it has been to secure these resources for our group free of charge. But we’ve done it.

We did hold a luncheon at The Melting Pot this spring, and we did charge for the meal there – which was well worth it, I might add. But other than that, our monthly events have been free of charge and have delivered educational and networking value, not to mention the possibility of receiving one of dozens and dozens of outstanding door prizes (again thanks to the efforts of chapter volunteers who reached out to corporate supporters).

We also charged for attendance at the Utah Social Media Awards. We had to do so in order to cover the financial obligations associated with a first class event like the USMAs. You can read more here about the rationale for charging for the USMAs. But remember, nominating an individual or company for the USMAs was free, and that’s not the case with most awards programs.

We partnered with Ragan Communications for some professional development training offerings and with Real Player to present a video blogging workshop. Both of those partnerships produced revenue to be used for future Social Media Club of Salt Lake City events.

So, even though we haven’t collected a dime in dues, the 2009 leadership team is leaving a solid financial legacy for the 2010 chapter leaders.

Any net proceeds from the Utah Social Media Awards will be applied to producing the 2010 awards program. Other sponsorship revenues will be used to support programming in future months.

Current thinking is that the SMC of SLC leaders want our programming to be free and available to all. Additionally, we set a policy early on that no SMC of SLC event would lose money. We have adhered completely to that policy so far in 2009.

Volunteers at the helm

Hundreds of hours of work have gone into Social Media Club of Salt Lake City programs and events in 2009. We tried our best as a leadership team to establish committees to do the heavy lifting. But most of the work, for good or bad (depending on your perspective), has been done by the leadership team and the USMA planning committee.

We most sincerely want to be an open, all-inclusive organization. We need volunteers who will step up and do what they say they’ll do.

You can fill almost any role. There’s even one position still open on the 2010 leadership team (talk with @seethaler). We’d wholeheartedly welcome your contributions.

Thank you, again, to the 2009 leadership team, their committees and the USMA planning committee.

Sponsorships available

I also have to once again express thanks to the many sponsors of Social Media Club of Salt Lake City events this year. This includes companies that have hosted our events, provided refreshments and supplies, and those that contributed in remarkable ways to the success of the 2009 Utah Social Media Awards.

There’s tremendous opportunity for businesses to be associated with the Social Media Club by supporting SMC of SLC through various initiatives.

Get in touch

As always, you can contact us through this site’s online contact form.

Thank you again to each and every person who supported Social Media Club of Salt Lake City this year. It has been an amazing ride!