Connect and learn with Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region

I am the founder of Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region but I realized that I haven’t written about it in this blog. So I wanted to take this opportunity to ensure that this blog’s readers knew about this non-profit community group and what it offers you.

I was introduced to Social Media Breakfast when I attended the International Association of Business Communicators World Conference last year in Toronto. I met Bryan Person, who helped organize an unconference held within the conference, who founded the concept and learned how it worked. I did some research and realized nothing like it existed in Waterloo Region but I knew that a need existed to help people get their heads around this rapidly emerging area. Anyone who is interested in building relationships and communicating to a broad audience needs to get their head around how to use social media platforms. So together with a team of other volunteers, we launched a chapter to serve Cambridge, Waterloo, Kitchener and the townships. (I’m proud to say that we’ve held successful sessions in all three cities.)

Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region is committed to presenting sessions that can benefit everyone from those testing the social media water to those who are fully immersed. Each session offers information that is valuable for people and organizations using social media while offering plenty of chances to share tips, tricks and expertise with others. We have a variety of formats from speakers to panels to small group discussions. An important part of each session are the opportunities for networking before and after the formal portion. By its very nature nobody knows everything that there is too know about social media due to the sheer vastness of what is out there and its ever-changing nature, so in short, everyone has something to learn and something to share and participants have loved being able to connect with others active in social media in real life.

Here’s how I described Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region when we announced it last June. I’m proud to say that it’s still a great summary of what we are doing.

Great speakers & panels

Our past breakfasts should give you a better idea of what we learn and talk about. We have been fortunate to have had a stellar list of speakers including Joe Thornley, Dave Fleet, Kneale Mann and Josh Muirhead. Each has helped to enhance participants knowledge and use of social media.

We have also had a couple great panels where local folks have shared their knowledge and experience. Juanita Metzger, Hilary Abel, Joseph Fung and Brock Hart discussed how to build online communities and take them into the real world or how to enhance a community by taking it online. Another panel featured small business owners who looked at how social media was working for their business. This panel featured Trevor Herrle Braun, Pam Salisbury, Tricia Mumby and Benjamin Bach.

Our May Breakfast

On May 26, Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region presents Julia Rosien of Social North-a local firm that is known across North America.

Julia will speak on the topic: Social Networking & SEO - Your Online Dream Team. Everyone knows social networking is a business must-have, but many are missing the search engine optimization (SEO) that goes hand in hand with successful outreach. She will show you how to strategize your online reputation management through search engine optimization and social networking.

This session is in Kitchener in the Kitchener Market’s Market Place room starting at 7:45 a.m. (Doors open and breakfast starts at 7:30 a.m.). Advance registration is required.

Get involved in our online communities

There are many ways that you can stay in touch with Social Media Breakfast: Waterloo Region and get involved in our online communities. In addition to our official website/blog, we have a LinkedIn group, a page on Facebook and a Twitter account. Pick your preferred way of staying in touch and connecting with our participants. We also e-mail participants from Eventbrite which we use for online registration of all of our events.

If you come and we haven’t met yet, be sure to say Hi! And if we have met, be sure to say Hi!