This week I attended the Social Fresh Nashville event, a one-day conference on Monday January 11th, where I met up with friends like @JasonFalls and @LisaMarieMary (right) and met a lot of interesting new people as well.
One of the highlights was learning about the Social Media Club which has several local chapters here in TN. You should check the site to see if there is a local chapter in your area, and if not - start one! It's a great way to meet local people and business owners in your area that are using or are interested in using social media.
The event was chock full of content and included panels on Social Media for B2B, Twitter and Facebook Success (case studies), Social Media in the Music Industry, and more. Ben Bennett of CMA was there, Jason Falls, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot. It was an interesting mix of both local industry experts and social media experts...
I got to talk to @mDave of NashvilleFeed.com, a local podcast, and they actually did a live podcast on the scene. You can listen to it here: Nashville Tech Feed #5 – Pseudo-Live from SocialFresh Nashville.
I also ran into my friend Todd McCalla (left) of CoolSprings.com. We originally met on a red-eye flight back from Vegas a little over a year ago. I was coming home from one event, and he and Grant were leaving PubCon.
I got to meet Jonathan Kay of Grasshopper.com, and shared a cab with him to the pre-event party on Sunday night. His company actually sponsored the party. Super cool guy, and I really love the company concept.
I'll be doing a full review of Grasshopper's service, so you'll be hearing more about them in future posts. 😉
It was really interesting to hear how local business is adopting social media, and how employees are introducing the new media marketing concepts to their companies.
I was most impressed by @HubSpot's The Science of Social Media Marketing presentation, which I attempted to tweet highlights but Dan Zarella is one fast talker (lol). I also really liked the open discussion with @JasonFalls and @LisaHoffman on Social Media Policy & Procedure. The Q&A brought out a good conversation on when to delete comments and when to address them - and how.
I have to give props to MillenniumPR. Fabulous room service (heh), very attentive staff, and great food. They were monitoring the activity on Twitter and responding to any requests or comments there within minutes. Impressive, and very suiting during this particular event!
The event was great, and I will definitely be attending more Social Fresh events in the future. I must say though, after cruising to the Bahamas and then flying straight in for SF... I'm super glad to be home, and look forward to catching up here for the next couple of weeks. 😀
Best,
p.s. The next Social Fresh event is in Tampa Florida on Monday, February 8th. For details and registration, see Social Fresh Tampa.
About Lynn Terry
Looks like a lot of fun. I'd love some events like this over in Australia!
Hi Tom,
I'm attending Ed Dale's event there in February:
http://www.tubbynerd.com/ComingHome2/
As for something like the Social Media Club, or other events/meetups, you might consider getting something like that started. It has to begin somewhere 😉
Hi Lynn,
Nice recap, sounds like a fun event.
How brilliant and effective for the hotel to be using twitter to assist their guests at a social media event. While I wasn't even there, I checked out their tweets and was just as impressed.
So I guess there where social media lessons to be learned even outside the conference room doors.
It was definitely interesting to see how offline businesses were using social media both for marketing AND communications...
Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I checked http://www.socialmediaclub.org ans there is actually a meeting about an hour away from me in July. I'll try to attend.
It's good to have you back.
Thank you Adriana!
You might consider hosting one closer to home if you think there would be enough local interest. There are a few around me as well but all an hour away minimum...
Lynn, I'm so glad to hear that you had a great time! I know after back to back trips, I'd be glad to get home too 🙂
I checked out that Grasshopper.com site, and bookmarked it. It may be something I'll need to incorporate into my business in the future, so thanks for sharing the link.
Very cool site, and it was great to meet their "Buzz Ambassador" - cool title Jonathan had! 😉 I definitely like the concept and will be checking it out myself.
You really have fun over there. I never been to Australia, maybe one day i will arrange a tip to be there.
I was just in Nashville - about 90 minutes from home 😀
Sounds like a great time! I would probably love to attend something like this. Went to the website but there is so much info I had no clue where to go to see if there is something in my area. I'll keep looking.
Welcome back!
Thanks Lynn! I never heard of the Social Media Clubs and found one in my area. I joined this morning! I can't wait to meet up with them. It sounds like the SF event was a good one and I think I will watch for the next one.
Keep me posted - I'd love to hear how it goes!
Hi Lynn,
It was great meeting you at Social Fresh. I hope I got a picture of you in my feed http://ow.ly/W2ma .look forward to running into youa t another conference soon.
Shashi
Sounds like Social Fresh was another great event. I would really be interested in hearing more about the Social Media Policy about when to delete comments and whe to address them.
Check out Jason Falls' blog, http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/ - the guy is amazing! He was one of the ones leading that talk and I'm sure you'll find some good info. on it if you start following him!
Sorry made a typo before.
The event was a total blast! I had such a great time! (And I have to get myself a hat like that - man, I loved that freaking hat! Heh!) I was nervous going into the event, as it is geared toward 'big' business/offline business and such... I was totally wrong with any preconceived notions I had, though! I met some really cool people and it was definitely interesting to hear 'our stuff' being talked about to people outside our normal realm. And I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how far along in the learning process many of them actually were!
Ditto all of that, Lisa - plus it was super fun to hang out with you 😀
It looks like you really enjoyed the event.
Spending small talk with other people in your chosen field. That's pretty much interesting on your part!
I love that big foofy hat on Lisa in the first picture. I was following the hashtag on Twitter trying to get an idea of the event while you guys were there. It sounds like it was an interesting and fun event to go to, I might have to check one out.
Conferences are such great events to connect, learn and share ideas. And of course, meet up with friends and colleagues. Thanks for sharing Lynn.
See you in a few days at NAMS3.
Kathleen
Looking forward to it, Kathleen!
Lynn, thanks for sharing...sounds like a great event... a combination of fun and learning! I never heard of Social Media Club, I'll check
it out in Wa state.
Enjoy your at home time, you'll be off to NAMS pretty soon!
True - I have a heavy travel schedule lately. I have to say... it's been really nice to be home these last couple of weeks!!