SMCDSM - Getting ready to roll after first planning meeting

On Tuesday night (12/15/2009) this week, I was joined by 14 other members of SMCDSM to begin planning for the future of the club. The meeting date and time were selected through a process of elimination, and anyone was welcome to attend. Our gracious host for the meeting was Alexander Grgurich and his coworking space downtown, Foundry Coworking.

Lots of interest, lots of attendees
Those in attendance included: Mike Sansone, Lindsey McAllister, Rob Jensen, Isaiah McGee, John Burnley, Alexander Grgurich, Jarad Bernstein, Jon Thompson, Pete Jones, Michael Chilton, a staff member from the Iowa Events Center (sorry I missed your name!), Claire Celsi, Amy Dix, and Renda Lutz.

Creating our own mission
Our meeting started with general introductions, plus a brief background and history on Social Media Club. We also talked about the mission of SMC and how that translated to our chapter. Although SMC HQ already has a set of missions and goals, it seemed that our group is very interested in developing our own mission/vision/goals statements to go along with our chapter. It was also voiced fairly strongly that these statements should drive everything about the club, and that if we have these in place, it should be easy for us to determine whether or not something truly fits under the SMC mission.

Building the hub for social media
We also spent a good amount of time talking about the purpose of Social Media Club and the kind of role it should play amongst other professional groups in Des Moines. With so many businesses, individuals, and professional groups starting to become interested in social media, attendees felt that providing and/or acting as the hub for social media in Des Moines would be a good position for Social Media Club Des Moines.

One topic that was brought up was the idea of using the SMCDSM calendar as an aggregation point for social media events in the Des Moines area. This would make it easier for individuals who are looking for social media events to participate in, rather than having to visit each professional group site and look for social media events in each place. Users can instead rally around the topic of social media, not an individual professional group.

Time, location, topics
Another chunk of the evening focused on what an SMCDSM event would consist of, from the time and place it would be held to the meeting format and topic. It was agreed upon that no specific meeting format would be identified as the only option, as each topic selected could work well in its own format. It was suggested that the times be varied, simply to enable more attendees to participate. However, establishing some sort of a pattern was also favored by the group, as it would bring a sense of regularity to events.

Local leadership and volunteers
With SMCDSM being a volunteer-based group, it is important to allow for people to be involved with its organization. That being said, there is also a need for some form of leadership to help manage the group and the volunteers who wish to help. SMC HQ has suggested several positions that each chapter should have staffed, but our club will also be talking to a few other chapters (including Kansas City) to learn more about their leadership structure. For the time being, I (Mike Templeton) was nominated as interim president of the club.

Follow up and next steps
A number of individuals volunteered to follow up on specific items from the discussion, though largely the group decided that another planning meeting would be required to further discuss the business of the club. We will attempt to schedule another planning meeting during the week of December 29, inviting anyone who is available to attend.

Calling on the wisdom of the crowd
While the group was able to provide direction on a number of topics, we will be looking for the input of SMCDSM as a whole on several items, including things like topic ideas, refining our mission statement, best venues for events, and branding for the club. With that in mind, SMCDSM will be leveraging the Des Moines page on the Social Media Club wiki. Please continue to check that page for ways you can become involved and provide your input about the club.