Be sure to use the SMC of SLC discount code, SmacSmcDsc, when registering !! To get $100 off the ticket price.

* * *

Date: Wednesday, Feb 25th & 26th, 2010, BetaLoft (357 West 200 South, Suite 201, 84101), downtown Salt Lake City, UT. Price before discount is $447.

Instructor: Josh “Shua” Peters : social media author , active SMCSLC member, and consultant who has worked with Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, single owner companies, and everything in between.

Format: Attendees will learn as a group, building a solid social media foundation for themselves or their company. Workshops will start at 9am and end at 6pm. Breaks as needed and lunch provided at 1pm.

Attendees Benefits:
* 16 hours of intense hands on training and education ($2,000 value)
* Both digital and physical (signed) copies of Josh’s book, TwittFaced ($26.99 value)
* Lunch provided both days ($20 value)
* Solid foundation for which to grow the social presence for you or your company (continually gains value over the years)

Please Bring:
* Laptop, netbook, macbok, or some other form of portable computer (wireless internet access will be provided)
* A good picture of yourself (in jpeg, gif, or ping format)
* A hunger to learn and desire to participate

Outline:
Day 1

* The basics
* The who, what, when,where, why, and how of Social media
* The Big 4: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs
* Audio, video, and other senses
* Creating a story and building your community
* Finding your customers and fans
* How to engage and not spam
* Best practices
* The 4 basic marketing approaches and social media’s application in them

Day 2

* Strategy, measurement, and advanced tactics
* Defining your goals, creating a strategy, and implementing the tactics
* Listening
* Defining goals
* Creating strategy and planning
* Engaging and Implementing your strategy
* Measuring
* Impact vs ROI and other fun stuff
* Twitter, FaceBook, and other platform strategies
* Strategies and tactics for your business
* Social Media for PR, Marketing, sales, communication, and more
* Integrating your efforts to maximize your results
* Social media inside the firewall (a.k.a. how to optimize your work environment)

Parking: Parking is located at 200 S 285 w. Cost is $5.00 for the whole day with no re-entry (hence the delivered food). Beta Loft is west 1/2 a block on the south side of the street (same as parking lot).

For more info on Josh Peters:

Blog: Shuaism
Twitter: JoshSPeters
Facebook: JoshPeters
LinkedIn: JoshSPeters
Email: shua @ shuaism (.) com

Note: The SMC of SLC is not conducting this workshop. But we are helping to promote it as Josh Peters is an active SMC of SLC member in good standing, and because he is offering a discount to SMC of SLC members.The name is the SMAC Social Media Workshop

The Minute should be about 800 words on a social media topic, and deadlines are on Wednesdays at 5:00. (Take a look at UtahPulse to read past Minutes!)

If you’re interested in contributing, please comment on this blog and we’ll get you on to the schedule. Oh, and if you contributed in 2009 we’d love to hear what you have to say in 2010 as well!

Happy Holidays and get writing!

* * *

Date: Wednesday, December 9 & 10, 2009, BetaLoft (357 West 200 South, Suite 201, 84101), downtown Salt Lake City, UT.

Instructor: Josh “Shua” Peters: social media author, active SMCSLC member, and consultant who has worked with Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, single owner companies, and everything in between.

Format: Attendees will learn as a group, building a solid social media foundation for themselves or their company. Workshops will start at 9am and end at 6pm. Twenty-minute breaks every two hours, provided lunch at 1pm.

Attendees Benefits:
* 16 hours of intense hands on training and education ($2,000 value)
* Both digital and physical (signed) copies of Josh’s book, TwittFaced ($26.99 value)
* Lunch provided both days ($20 value)
* Solid foundation for which to grow the social presence for you or your company (continually gains value over the years)

Please Bring:
* Laptop, netbook, macbok, or some other form of portable computer (wireless internet access will be provided)
* A good picture of yourself (in jpeg, gif, or ping format)
* A hunger to learn and desire to participate

Outline:
Day 1

* The basics
* The who, what, when,where, why, and how of Social media
* The Big 4: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs
* Audio, video, and other senses
* Creating a story and building your community
* Finding your customers and fans
* How to engage and not spam
* Best practices
* The 4 basic marketing approaches and social media’s application in them

Day 2

* Strategy, measurement, and advanced tactics
* Defining your goals, creating a strategy, and implementing the tactics
* Listening
* Defining goals
* Creating strategy and planning
* Engaging and Implementing your strategy
* Measuring
* Impact vs ROI and other fun stuff
* Twitter, FaceBook, and other platform strategies
* Strategies and tactics for your business
* Social Media for PR, Marketing, sales, communication, and more
* Integrating your efforts to maximize your results
* Social media inside the firewall (a.k.a. how to optimize your work environment)

Parking: available on the corner of 300 West & 200 South. Cost is $5.00 per day with no re-entry (hence the delivered lunch). Beta Loft is half a block west on the south side (same as parking lot).

For more info on Josh Peters:

Blog: Shuaism
Twitter: JoshSPeters
Facebook: JoshPeters
LinkedIn: JoshSPeters
Email: shua @ shuaism (.) com

Note: The SMC of SLC is not conducting this workshop. But we are helping to promote it as Josh Peters is an active SMC of SLC member in good standing, and because he is offering a discount to SMC of SLC members.

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!

The world’s *first* Social Media Club awards event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 6, 2009. The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City began efforts to present the Utah Social Media Awards earlier this spring. Those efforts culminated in presenting 20 Utah Social Media Awards to individuals and companies in Utah accomplishing great things in the social media space.

The Utah Social Media Awards, affectionately known as the USMAs (#usma on Twitter), recognized 18 people with awards for the best use of a particular new media platform and provided two overall awards, the People’s Choice and Best of Show Utah Social Media Awards.

“More than 140 people gathered at Noah’s in South Jordan for the awards networking, dinner, keynote address and program,” said Pete Codella, program director for the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and chair of the Utah Social Media Awards. “We couldn’t be happier with the support we received and the outcome of the first annual Utah Social Media Awards. Congratulations to each and every recipient.”

The evening’s keynote address was provided by a man known as “the human Internet,” Utah’s own David Bradford, CEO of Fusion-io. The presentation of the awards was made by Codella and Angie Larsen, anchor of Good Things Utah on ABC Channel 4. The catering was by Culinary Crafts.

Best of Show was awarded to XanGo for its “impressive online and social media presence, from Web sites to blogs and podcasts,” according to the USMA judges, comprised of members of the awards planning committee with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix. XanGo also received an USMA for XanGo.tv for Best Video Blog.

The People’s Choice recipient received an impressive 15 percent of the overall vote. It was clearly a crowd favorite. Comments included: “Tons of new content — podcasts, stuff to read, recommendations, Tweet stream and tips,” “A crisp layout, great navigation, right column showcase of ads, links to iTunes feed, RSS, Twitter, etc.,” “This is the cream of this crop,” and “I absolutely love this site.” The People’s Choice USMA was awarded to The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Utah Social Media Awards recipients received a custom-made acrylic trophy etched with the USMA logo, a printed certificate, an electronic Web banner to display online of their win, and a rose imprinted with the USMA logo, courtesy of Speaking Roses.

The complete list of 2009 Utah Social Media Awards recipients:

Best Blog (four recipients) — CraziBeautiful Women, Fat Cyclist, Today’s Mama, and World’s Strongest Librarian.

Best Video Blog (two recipients) — Provo Acoustic, XanGo TV.

Greatest Impact on Podcasting — PodCampSLC by Thom Allen.

Best Use of Twitter (three recipients) — @BigBags by Nate Bagley, @mozy by Nate Kartchner, and @sltrib by The Salt Lake Tribune.

Best Use of YouTube — Mormon Messages by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Best Facebook Fan Page (three recipients) — BabySteals.com, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, and PC Laptops.

Best Social Media Content Guru (two recipients) — Jordan Kasteler, and Janet Meiners Thaeler.

Best Integrated Social Media Campaign (two recipients) — Goldsmith Co. Jewelers Mother’s Day Campaign by Sprout Marketing, and Standard-Examiner.

People’s Choice USMA — The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Best of Show USMA — XanGo.

The call for nominations for the Utah Social Media Awards occurred this summer. More than 225 nominations were received by members of the three Utah-based Social Media Clubs — Salt Lake City, Utah Valley, and Cache Valley.

Members of the awards planning committee selected finalists, then with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix, determined the 2009 USMA recipients.

To preserve the integrity of the awards, no members of the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City leadership team or USMA planning committee were eligible to receive awards.


About the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City

The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City is Utah’s first chapter of the worldwide Social Media Club organization which was founded in 2006. SMC of SLC launched in January 2009 and quickly amassed a membership of several hundred people. While membership in the local chapter is free, members may choose whether or not they join the worldwide organization with varying levels of membership. The nonprofit club holds monthly meetings, usually on the third Thursday in the evening, to foster camaraderie among local social media practitioners. SMC of SLC sponsors professional development seminars and workshops to teach social media skills and provide up-to-date information about happenings in the social media space. Attendance at most meetings is free with meeting facilities and refreshments provided by sponsors.

About the Utah Social Media Awards

The Utah Social Media Awards were presented by the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City, with support from the Social Media Club of Utah Valley and Cache Valley, to recognize excellence in social media practitioners and practices throughout Utah. SMC of SLC plans to build upon the success of this year’s event when it presents the second annual Utah Social Media Awards in 2010. This year’s awards were sponsored by Advanced Brain Technologies, eBay, Merrell Remington, Park City Mountain Resort, SelectHealth, Think Tank Creative Consortium, and UtahPulse.com. Members of the 2009 USMA planning committee include Pete Codella (chair; @codella), Roxy Cross (co-chair; @roxycross), Sarah Buhr (@sarahbuhr), Jack Hadley (@Jack_Hadley), Christopher Katis, Allen Parkinson and Marcus Perry (@marcusperry).

#   #   #

Notes:

The awards program script, which includes judges’ comments, is available. To request the script, complete the online contact form at UtahSocialMediaAwards.info on the Contact page.

This release was written by SMC of SLC Program Director Pete Codella. Please contact him at 801/294-7188 with additional questions.

Photos of the event, courtesy of Cary Snowden, are available here.

Just *some* of the prizes for which those of you joining us on Friday night are eligible:

*$100 Amazon gift cards via Bungee Labs!
Bungee Labs is a local startup building a Cloud-based development platform to help companies move applications and data to the Cloud.

*Four $50 gift cards from eBay!

*Copy of I Need a Killer Press Release. $20 value!
This handy guide to online PR is by our own Janet Meiners Thaeler.

*Gift basket from Whimsy Clothing!

*BrainBuilder® from Advanced Brain Technologies and our sponsors and friends, Alex and Mandy Doman. $200 value!

*Thanksgiving Point gift box/membership. $275 value!
Thanksgiving Point’s mission is to inspire the minds and renew the spirits of young and old by providing unique learning experiences, family-friendly entertainment, and opportunities for discovery in a safe and beautiful environment. Its offerings include Thanksgiving Point Gardens, the Museum of Ancient Life, Farm Country, Harvest Restaurant, and the Emporium boutique.

*From PC Laptops: FULL version of Windows 7 Ultimate. $319 value!

More than 80 participants honed up on their skills in the Oct. 22 Advanced Writing & Editing workshop and Social Media Boot Camp for Corporate Communicators seminar on Oct. 23. Participants came from as far away as Oregon and California.

Thank you to the team at Ragan Communications for their efforts, to the University of Phoenix in Salt Lake City for hosting us, and especially to SMC of SLC member, Jeri Cartwright of Cartwright Communications, for chairing the event coordination for the chapter.

Below is an interview of Mark Ragan by SMC of SLC program director, Pete Codella, which is also posted on the chapter’s YouTube channel.

— [ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ] —

Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
Co-Promotions Director, Social Media Club of Salt Lake City
Sheri@Bell-Rehwoldt.com
716/946-7308

Pete Codella
Program Director, Social Media Club of Salt Lake City
Pete@CodellaMarketing.com
801/294-7188

Utah Social Media Awards

The world’s first-ever Social Media Club-sponsored awards program is now underway!

On November 6, 2009, the inaugural Utah Social Media Awards (USMA) will recognize Utah companies and individuals that have effectively and creatively used social media initiatives to build community connections and further company reach.

The USMA event invitation is found here: http://www.utahsocialmediaawards.info/invite-email

USMA’s Web site contains information about the awards, the awards program and its sponsors: http://www.utahsocialmediaawards.info

During the nominations period, the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City (SMC of SLC) received more than 200 submissions for the various award categories — including best blog, best use of YouTube and Facebook, and best Twitter user.

Of those nominated, nearly two dozen have been selected to receive awards. Based on this interest, we believe the USMAs will become a premier awards event in Utah.

At the USMA dinner on November 6, the keynote speaker will be David Bradford, chief executive officer of Fusion-io, located in Salt Lake City. Bradford is widely known as a pioneer of Social Entrepreneurism. And Fusion-io, considered the world leader in high performance storage, has developed what many are hailing as the “World’s Fastest Storage Device.”

Also on hand at the USMA event will be Good Things Utah (ABC4) co-host Angie Larsen, who will emcee the awards presentation.

Corporate sponsors of the USMAs include: eBay, Park City Mountain Resort, Advanced Brain Technologies, SelectHealth, Merrell Remington, Think Tank Creative Consortium and UtahPulse.com.

Tickets for this first-of-its-kind event are $50. Tickets may be purchased online: http://www.utahsocialmediaawards.info/event-tickets

Note: Although we are unable to provide complimentary meals for journalists during the November 6 awards event, we invite you to be on hand for the award presentations, and/or write about the awards. Of course, you’re welcome to purchase an event ticket and enjoy a meal with us as well. A post-awards press release which will contain complete information on the award recipients, including the judge’s Best of Show selection and the People’s Choice USMA, will be distributed following the event.

About the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City

The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City is the Salt Lake Valley’s chapter of the worldwide Social Media Club organization based in San Francisco, California. SMC of SLC is the voice of social media — whether for business or personal use — in the Salt Lake area. The organization aims to expand social media literacy, provide educational opportunities and promote ethical social media standards within our community. SMC of SLC was launched in January 2009 with the help of six founding members (see: http://www.smcslc.org/bios2). Today hundreds of people are part of our Facebook group and participate in chapter activities. We meet monthly on the third Thursday.

Utah Social Media Awards: http://www.utahsocialmediaawards.info
Social Media Club of Salt Lake City: http://www.smcslc.org
Fusion-io: http://www.fusionio.com
Angie Larsen bio: http://www.utahsocialmediaawards.info/utah-social-media-awards-emcee-angie-larsen-1000286.htm

Case in point: did you know that two of our members have new books available? Please join SMC of SLC in congratulating them!!

* Josh Shua Peters (@JoshSPeters) has co-authored Twittfaced: Your Toolkit for Understanding and Maximizing Social Media with Jacob Morgan, who resides in San Francisco. Amazon details: http://bit.ly/1ZPpRX

* Pete Codella (@Codella) has co-authored the e-book Integrated Marketing in the Digital World with Duane (”DJ”) Sprague, a partner at Vortex Integrated Marketing here in Salt Lake. The e-book shares how companies can use integrated marketing to build a power brand in today’s digital world. Download info: http://www.vortexplan.com/integrated-marketing-in-the-digital-world

C’mon! What’s your good news??

Deadlines are on Wednesdays at 5:00.

This is a great opportunity to have your voice “heard” on social media topics by the movers and shakers in the business world.

If you’re interested in contributing, please comment on the blog and we’ll get in touch!