(Happy Hour Speed Learning)

When: June 7, 2010, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Oasis Restaurant, Holiday Inn Airport at Gulf Coast Town Center
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.

For the next Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event, learn the nuts and bolts of online networking. If you don’t know a tweet from a blog – or if you’re looking to fine tune skills you already have – you’re sure to learn many helpful tips and tricks.

The format is going to be a little different. Instead of the usual lecture and panel Q&A, expect to engage in lively interactive “speed learning” roundtable sessions, each facilitated by a different SMCSWFL steering committee member. You may bring a laptop if you wish, and feel free to roam from session to session to get the most out of this dynamic educational event. Be ready to ask plenty of questions. It’s all about you and your specific needs.

Each 20 – 30 min session will focus on a particular online platform. Each is listed below, along with its facilitator:

LinkedIn – Gail Lamarche, Director of Marketing at Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt, P.A.
Twitter – Michelle Hudson, Social Media Editor at the News Press
Foursquare – Chris Silk, Social Media Editor and Theater Critic at Naples Daily News
Facebook (advanced) – Michele Lorito Chase, Owner of Ghost Executive Group
Facebook (basic) – Susanna Wohlpart, Creative Director at WGCU Media
Posterous (microblogging) – Dean Piccirillo, Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC
Hootsuite/Seesmic/Tweetdeck – Kerri Goldsmith, Administrative Assistant at HBK Sorce Financial LLC
WordPress (blogging) – Sara Fitzpatrick Comito, Communications Director at Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.
Online branding – Brian Yerkes, Owner & Creative Director of Brian Joseph Studios.
Email Marketing – Brad Dohack, Realtor at the Dohack Group of Absync Realty

To further our mission to advance media literacy and because of the generosity of our sponsor, it’s all offered free of charge. However, space is limited and we expect a high demand for this informative event, so please register early.

The sessions will be held in the restaurant lounge area of the hotel and appetizers will be served, including Oasis wings, crispy calamari, chips and dips, and pretzel dough sticks. Happy hour drink specials will also be offered throughout the event.

Register at http://socialmediatoolbox.eventbrite.com/

When: 6 pm: Registration and networking, appetizers, cash bar
6.30 pm: Opening remarks by Michelle Hudson of the News-Press
6.45 pm: Keynote address: Turning Social Media Contacts into Actionable Relationships
7.30 pm:  Executive panel
8.15 pm : Closing Remarks

Where: Holiday Inn Airport at Gulf Coast Town Center

Cost: Free, registration required

Featured speaker: Deborah Shane

Panelists:

Suzanne Boy, Attorney at Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt, P.A.
Sarah Owen, CEO at Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc.
Dean Piccirillo, Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC

Moderator:

Pason Gaddis, President and Publisher, Florida Weekly

Event description

Is there room for social media in the boardroom? At the next Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event, discover the opportunities social media provides for professional people in leadership roles.

A recent study by UberCEO found that in the Fortune 100 companies:

* Only 2 CEOs have Twitter accounts
* A mere 13 have LinkedIn profiles
* 81 percent do not have a Facebook profile
* Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog

The surprising lack of tweets in the C suite offers enterprising leaders a chance to differentiate their company by becoming the face of it, even — maybe even especially — if it’s not part of the Fortune elite. However, social media does present that “yet one more thing” to learn and manage, and many executives may have to break down long-existing silos in their corporate culture in the process.

Enjoy an in-depth overview of the time management and implementation issues that face busy professionals who decide to become the public face of their business, as well as the brand loyalty and corporate goodwill social media can facilitate. Explore the objections professional-level employees may have when embarking on a social media campaign, along with best practices and the opportunities for timely customer service intervention.

Keynote address:

Deborah Shane will present “Turning Social Media Contacts into Actionable Relationships”

Social media makes it easy to meet lots of like-minded people. Once you’ve harnessed the power of the social networks to gain all those followers, then what? The point isn’t simply to gain a huge list of online friends. However, many users haven’t learned the all-important next step: bridging the gap between online networking and real-world results. So, how do you turn those contacts into actionable relationships?

Deborah Shane will help us discover the fine art of social media contact conversion. She is a dynamic speaker and professional trainer who devotes her energy to helping professionals realize their full potential. Explore how and why “to put yourself out there, bring value to someone’s day, and get personal!”

Following Deborah’s presentation, stick around for a spirited panel discussion featuring local professionals who are also experts in social media relationship management.

Deborah Shane is owner of Train With Shane. She spent 20 years in broadcast media (radio) in sales, management and training in corporate America with Cox Radio and Clear Channel. In 1994, she began training and mentoring sales professionals both through continuing/adult education programs and broadcast media. She has designed and developed several original sales and professional development curricula. The expression you only come this way one time” has always motivated her to follow her dreams and take some risks along the way. TWS is an expression of all of her skills, passions and gifts. Find her on Twitter at @DeborahShane.

Executive Panel

Suzanne Boy is an Associate at Henderson Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. She concentrates her practice in employment law and is the lead writer of Southwest Florida HR Law & Solutions, Henderson Franklins employment law blog. Suzanne also speaks to businesses and professional groups on various employment matters. In addition to her employment law practice, Suzanne also handles a variety of commercial litigation matters including contract and business disputes, foreclosures and bank-related litigation, landlord-tenant issues, and estate-related litigation. She serves as general counsel for several of her corporate clients. Suzanne also has an active civil appellate practice.

Find her on Twitter @suzanneboy.

Sarah Owen is Chief Executive Officer at Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc., the umbrella agency for The Soup Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, Faith In Action Senior Transportation, Hands & Hearts Montessori Preschool, and two United Way Resource Houses. The agency is dedicated to providing food to the hungry and transforming the lives of those in need through partnerships, collaborations and innovative social service solutions.

Her journey into the non-profit arena came by way of a career in public relations and corporate communications. Sarah has worked in investor relations, public relations and corporate communications for publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange as well as private companies throughout the Southeastern United States.

Find her on Twitter @hungerfighter

Dean Piccirillo is a Principal and Senior Financial Advisor at HBK Sorce Financial LLC. Dean has been practicing for 20 years, working closely with families to help them plan for their long-term goals and with businesses and other institutions to help them establish or enhance retirement plans. He leads HBK Sorces Retirement Plan Unit, working closely with all of the firms corporate clients sponsoring qualified retirement plans. In addition to the Certified Financial Planner certification, Dean also maintains the Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist certification and the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst certification. He was recently named as one of the Top 300 most influential retirement plan advisors in the U.S. by the 401(k) Wire.  Mr. Piccirillo writes online regarding pension and retirement planning matters on his professional blog at www.deanpiccirillo.com.

Find him on Twitter @deanpiccirillo or on his blog at www.deanpiccirillo.com.

Moderator

Pason Gaddis, President and Publisher, Florida Weekly

Pason Gaddis is President and Publisher of Florida Weekly. He is a 15 plus year newspaper advertising sales veteran. Prior to Florida Weekly, he served in a variety of sales and sales management capacities from 1998-2007 with Gannett, Inc. and successfully launched several new newspapers and magazines.

He is heavily involved in several local charities including the American Heart Association along with serving on the board of directors for the Lakes Park Enrichment Foundation, Great Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Press Service.

Florida Weekly on Twitter: @FloridaWeekly

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO COST AND THIS EVENT IS FREE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, SEATING IS LIMITED AND YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND

Time: 7pm – 9pm
Where: Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport
9931 Interstate Commerce Drive, Ft Myers, FL
Speaker: Carlos Cardona
Sponsors: Fifth Third Bank and Kiss Your Web, LLC

Carlos Cardona is a one-of-a kind talent; a visionary with over 15 years of Web experience and proven success in creating and leading companies to include an Internet portal and search engine he invented and sold to Microsoft. Carlos has been recognized by Hispanic Magazine with both the Hispanic Entrepreneur Award as well the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” distinction in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

Register Here for free

Event Description

The Social Media Club of SWFL is partnering with Hodges University and the Southwest Forida Hispanic Chamber for this wonderful event. With 21 million Hispanic Internet users projected by this year, Hispanics are adopting social media as their primary source of communication, news and entertainment faster than any other group. The Hispanic community’s buying power is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013. In order for businesses to connect effectively with this huge demographic group as it moves online they will need to understand how Hispanics are using these tools.

With 21 million Hispanic Internet users projected by this year, Hispanics are adopting social media as their primary source of communication, news and entertainment faster than any other group. The Hispanic community’s buying power is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013. In order for businesses to connect effectively with this huge demographic group as it moves online they will need to understand how Hispanics are using these tools.

To help educate the local professional community about how the Hispanic market is growing on the Internet, the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida has teamed with the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Institute at Hodges University for a workshop on Monday, January 25th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center. For meeting will include a presentation that by Carlos Cardona an entrepreneur and web strategist followed by a panel discussion including local Hispanic professionals experienced with or experimenting with social media in their businesses.

Carlos Cardona currently serves as Chief Social Media Strategist for Welltok, Inc where he is in charge of reinventing how healthcare companies use social networks to help individuals better their lifestyles. Prior he served as the Chief Social Media Strategist to Newlink Groups a public relations firm where he managed social media strategies for clients such as Oracle, Pionner, Smirnoff, Skype Latam, Tourism board of Mexico and others.

Carlos also served as a Project Lead & Development Manager for Microsoft for several years and was the founder of Yupi Internet (now MSN Latino, and part of the global MSN network) a leading web-portal that targeted the Latin American and US Hispanic market, which attracted more than 10 million unique visitors with over 200 million page views per month in less than 3 years, which was subsequently acquired by Microsoft.

Location

Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
9931 Interstate Commerce Dr.
Fort Myers, FL 33913
Phone: 239-561-1550

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO COST AND THIS EVENT IS FREE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, SEATING IS LIMITED AND YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND

* Bubba’s Roadhouse, Cape Coral
* Chef Murray Young at Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
* Simply Cupcakes, Naples
* Naples Smokehouse, Naples

Best of all, we all can lend a hand to make Southwest Florida children a little happier by donating an unwrapped toy to benefit Toys for Tots. Typically admission to our meeting is free, but we hope you will understand this month’s “cover charge.”

This meeting is possible thanks to the generosity of our sponsors:

We welcome D3 Services and CPR Tools to Southwest Florida. Those who attended the networking reception in October meeting at Blu Sushi may have had the opportunity to meet Andy Crawford.

We also appreciate the generosity of Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport Town Center!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
9931 Interstate Commerce Drive
Fort Myers, FL 33913

RSVP here so our vendors can plan catering and staffing appropriately.

Thanks to the generosity of our event sponsors, The ELLIS TEAM RE/MAX Realty Group and The Naples Daily News, this event is free to the public. To attend, you simply need to register for the event at the registration link shown above.

This panel will be moderated by Mike Kiniry, a producer and morning show host from WGCU, Southwest Florida’s local national public broadcasting affiliate. The discussion will center around how local media properties are adapting to the public’s increase usage of social networking and social media related tools. Topics to be explored include:

*How social media is impacting the traditional media business model
*How social media changes the traditional media companies’ conversations with their viewers and readers
*Changes in how local reporters identify story ideas and develop sources
*The convergence of media platforms – the written word, audio and video

We currently have the following media companies and representatives confirmed for this event:

*The Fort Myers New Press, Michelle Hudson, Social Media Editor and the Data Diva, @npdatadiva
*The Naples Daily News, Ken Lane, Sports Editor, Collier Citizen, @NDN_KLane
*FOX 4 WFTX-TV, Cory O’Donnell, Web Manager and Producer, @coryodonnell
*NBC-2, Matt Bernaldo, Assistant News Director – Interactive, @NBC2
*WINK-FM 96.9 and Fox Sports Radio 1200/1460 AM, Chad Rufer, Program Director, @chadrufer

Immediately following the conclusion of a panel discussion we will be continuing our conversation during a social gathering to be held right at the Holiday Inn property. If you have time, please consider joining us for some additional socialization.

Location:
Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center
9931 Interstate Commerce Dr.
Fort Myers, FL 33913
Phone: 239-561-1550

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO COST AND THIS EVENT IS FREE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, SEATING IS LIMITED AND YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND

The Social Media Club of Southwest Florida would like to thank The ELLIS TEAM RE/MAX Realty Group and The Naples Daily News for underwriting this event. You can find more information on The ELLIS TEAM at http://www.topagent.com/. You can read The Naples Daily News online at http://www.naplesnews.com.