Social Media Club’s Breakfast Event: Great Crowds, Ideas, and Community

Guest post by Jill Foster (@JillFoster on Twitter), a social media fan and founder of Live Your Talk.

What a blast it was meeting recently with great folks and conversation at Social Media Club’s breakfast hosted in DC.  It was great presenting there on an addictive topic:  DC’s regional community.  What area events bring together people offline and/or through social media? …when, why, and how?  These questions were explored (and then some!) by the fun, interactive crowd and the other presenters: TECH Cocktail’s founder Frank Gruber and SMC’s Education Connection guru Yong Lee (and I shared on DC Media Makers and the blogger community Women Grow Business).

Social media love and diversity
It was early a.m. but despite that, a robust crowd was ready to engage! The breakfast attracted many parts of the social media lovin’ community — small business owners, freelancers, educators, content creators, marketers, and more. The diversity stood out and I learned a lot.

Community and social tech
The breakfast underscored a key point:  DC provides so many ways to get involved with and learn from different parts of the area (in and beyond digital technology).  A snapshot of those discussed:

• DC Media Makers or #DCMM on Twitter (next event/media mashup: April 28th) – a volunteer group of those who want to learn, create, and talk about digital technology. The goal is to just have fun while sharing digital projects — whether its videoblogging, filmmaking, podcasting, blogging, screencasting, or other ways to create stories and community through digital media.

• TECH Cocktail or @Techcocktail on Twitter (next event: May 5th) – a dynamic networking event series that features local startups.  These events can really pack a room! It’s fantastic and gives selected startups the chance to introduce their business to many plus meet tons of tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and potential funders.

• Digital Capital Week or @DCWeek on Twitter (next event: June 11th – June 20th) – a huge, inclusive festival celebrating “technology, innovation, and all things digital in Washington, DC.”  A ton of events accessible to the public will take place those 10 days. No matter your experience with technology — if you’re curious, enthusiastic (or both) there’s a place for you to have fun.  Folks can collaborate on digital projects, host happy hours or panelist events, donate computers to schools or organizations in need and more…

• Social Media Club’s Education Connection or #SMCedu on Twitter (next event: June 16th) – a dedicated, growing community sharing great resources about the field and asking strong questions, like: How are teachers and students improving education through social media? How can social tech change the future of education itself?

• Women Grow Business or @wgBiz on Twitter (next event to be posted on the blog) – a diverse, resourceful, and flat out fun troupe of volunteer bloggers dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs and those in small biz succeed (RMC’s Mayra is a steady fan and blogger there too!).

Want more on the breakfast and Social Media Club in general?
Thanks big time to Andi Narvaez and Rachel Rule for making the breakfast possible. There’s content galore about the event, including complete video coverage per the archived web stream with more fun video interviews by Ananda Leeke (and you’re welcome to follow SMC’s breakfast Twitter feed for ongoing chats aka #SMBdc).  P.S. The Club’s blog regularly updates with social media news and events.

Pictured above are myself with Yong and Frank – image by Catherine S. Read.