Social Media Club Membership and Chapter Guidelines 1

In March 2006, Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells launched Social Media Club (ʻSMCʼ) as a simple
grassroots effort of loosely coupled social media enthusiasts and turned it into a modern
professional association. SMC is a 501c6 non-profit, member owned organization, and the
world's largest community of Social Media Professionals, with a reach of over 100k people
and local chapters in over 230 cities.

Social Media Club is organized for the purpose of sharing best practices, establishing ethics and
standards, and for promoting media literacy. Our community is made up of diverse groups of
people who care about social media and come together to discover, connect, share and learn.

As of July 15, 2010, there are 230+ chapters organizing worldwide with several coming online
each quarter.

What are local chapters?

Local chapters are independent groups founded to support and promote Social Media Club
within a specified geographical region (city, state or country) that aim to share our mission as
stated above. Chapters exist to further the goals of SMC and do so by engaging in a wide range
of activities, which include but is not limited to the following:

$ •$ Organizing local events and initiatives

$ •$ Sharing content discussed in local chapter with global SMC community
$ •$ Promoting SMC projects (i.e. SMCEDU, Adopt A Blogger, etc)

SMC chapters differ in how often they meet, where they meet, what tools they use to reach their
community, and what they discuss.

We want to see you and your local chapter succeed, and host weekly chapter phone calls
every Wednesday, rotating between 8am PST and 5:30pm PST. The schedule can be found
online in the Social Media Club event calendar. We are there to answer questions and provide
advice to help your chapter be a success.

Conference Dial-in Number: +1 (712) 432-0180

Access Code: 509633#

If you are interested in managing a local SMC chapter, please schedule a time to join us on one
of the weekly calls. International chapters can schedule a separate Skype call, please contact
Kristie Wells to make arrangements.

We recommend you review this guide prior to joining us on the call to ensure you have an
understanding of what goes into managing a local SMC chapter.

1Note: This is a living document (updated often) and meant to be used as a guideline when launching
and/or managing a Social Media Club in your local city.
Table of Contents

Become a Member of Social Media Club! 4

Creating Your Social Media Club Profile! 4

Open Community Members! 4

Professional Members! 5

Small Business Members! 5

Corporate Members! 6

Is There a Social Media Club Near You?! 6

If Your City is Listed! 6

If Your City is Not Listed! 6

Official Chapters and Open Community Chapters! 6

Official Chapter Benefits! 7

Qualification of Official Chapter! 8

Moving Forward! 9

Optimizing Your Chapter Portal! 10

Chapter Page Administrator(s)! 10

Chapter Page Features! 10

Updating Your Chapter Page! 12

Choosing Other Channels to Promote your Chapter! 12

Invite Your Local Community to Engage! 13

Build a Leadership Team! 13

Launching a Chapter: The Basics! 13

Roles and Responsibilities! 14

Set Monthly Meeting Date and Time! 15

 Topics! 15

Event Calendars! 15

Event Fees! 16

Sponsors! 16

Format! 16

Equipment Requirements! 17

Gathering Participants! 17

Launch! 17

Recommendations for your events! 19

Collateral! 19

Miscellaneous! 19
Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines
Page 4

Become a Member of Social Media Club

Social Media Club enables you explore your personal and professional passions by helping you
connect with a community of your peers based on both geography and areas of interest. We
invite you to join Social Media Club, build our your personal profile and then find a local chapter
near you to connect with your community.

To become a member, click ʻJoinʼ in the upper right hand corner of the homepage to view
membership options. Social Media Club offers everything from a Free Membership to the
Professional Membership, with options for Non-Profit & Government, Education, Small Business
and Corporate. You can access all of the public information on the site with a Free Membership
and can choose to upgrade at any time and receive some great benefits, including the
opportunity publish articles in the Social Media Journal, be highlighted in our Speakers Bureau,
or featured in our business services directory.

Once you decide what membership level you would like to sign up for, click "Register Now" and
activate your profile. From here you will be able to select your membership type, establish your
membership user-id and password.

Creating Your Social Media Club Profile

We encourage you to set up basic profile settings so folks within the Social Media Club
community can learn a little about you. Click ʻMy Accountʼ on the top of the page, then ʻEdit
Profileʼ to get started.

Open Community Members

After you upload a photo, add your first
and last name and then identify which is
your primary Social Media Club chapter.
Additionally, you can provide links to the
outside social media services where
people can find you most: Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn.

As an Open Community Member, you are

able to contribute blog posts to the Social
Media Observer, a catchall for general
social media news and opinion.

In order to contribute to Social Media

Observer, simply create a general ʻSocial Media Observerʼ category on your blog and add the
RSS feed URL for that specific category in the Ads & Blogs Tab.
Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines
Page 5

Professional Members
If you selected a Professional membership, you'll have additional options for customizing your
profile through the addition of a bio, inclusion in the Social Media Club Speakers Bureau (listing
of current/past speaking engagements, links to press clippings and embedded media, from
photos to video and presentations)

Professional, SMC and Corporate members are able to contribute to both the Social Media
Observer and the Social Media Journal. The Observer a catchall for general social media news
and opinion, whereas the Journal is focused on deeper thought leadership pieces, research and
strategic advice. In order to contribute to Social Media Observer, simply create a general ʻSocial
Media Observerʼ category on your blog and add the RSS feed URL for that specific category in
the Ads & Blogs Tab. To contribute to Social Media Journal, create a general ʻSocial Media
Journalʼ category on your blog and add the RSS feed URL for that specific category in the Ads
& Blogs Tab.

Small Business Members

Your memberships includes three Professional Memberships and you will have additional
options for highlighting your business and services in our Company Directory.

The person who registers the company is the ʻcompany adminʼ and the primary account holder.
The first step for you as the company admin is to complete your personal profile as described
above under the ʻProfessional Membersʼ.

Then click on the ʻManage Companyʼ tab and add your companyʼs logo, location, ʻabout usʼ,
website, blog url, Twitter url (if applies), contact email and phone.

The next section titled ʻAdditional Company Membersʼ is where you will link the other two
profiles under this membership (if applicable). We are working to update this process, but for
now, the other two members under this account will need to sign up as Open Members, then
provide you their usernames*. Once you have their usernames, start to type them in these fields
and the system will match them up. Once this has been
done, their Open Membership will automatically transfer
to a Professional Membership and they can build out their
user profiles on socialmediaclub.org.

*We know this is not perfect and are working to better the
process, just please bear with these few extra steps for
now.

Each Small Business Membership also receives a special

125x50 ad that will be highlighted in rotation on the Social
Media Club website (as seen here inside the orange box.
The two large ads are from Corporate members).

To add your company logo, click on the Ads & Blogs Tab and upload it there. This tab is also
where you can join the Social Media Observer and the Social Media Journal as noted in the
Professional Members section.
Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines
Page 6

Corporate Members
You will set your company up as noted in the Small Business section, just keep in mind you
have 10 Professional Memberships and your company ad size is 125x125 (see the Shift
Communication and H&R Block ads as shown on the right).

Is There a Social Media Club Near You?

First step is to check the Local Chapters section on socialmediaclub.org and see if there is a
chapter in your area.

If Your City is Listed

Click on the city name and check out the local chapter portal:

• If the chapter is active, there should be blog posts, events, members, etc. Scroll to the bottom
and on the left you will see the Local Leadership Team. If you would like to lend a hand or
simply wish introduce yourself, click on a name of the ʻadminʼ and you can send them a note
directly 2. If there is no one listed in the Local Leadership section, please create your profile
then contact Kristie Wells for next steps.
• If the chapter is inactive, it most likely means someone inquired about launching SMC in your
area and then did not follow through with it. If you would like to ʻpick up the batonʼ, please
send an email to Kristie Wells and she will be happy to assist you.

Please note we just launched this new website in March 2010 and are working to get every city
migrated into it, so some active chapters may not be fully using their portal as of yet, but you will
be able to tell the status just by looking at the page and reading the welcome post.

If Your City is Not Listed

Please send and email to Kristie Wells and we will assist you in getting one set up.

Official Chapters and Open Community Chapters

In order to go from where we are, to where we want to be, we have launched the Official
Chapter program to better serve the collective needs of Social Media Club members and
chapter leaders around the world. In working with several chapters closely, surveying local
chapter leaders and understanding the needs of a local chapter through our own experiences
with San Francisco, we have developed this program with the intention of making it easier to
operate a Social Media Club chapter and to accomplish our primary missions.

2You will need to sign up as a member - either Open or Paid - and then join the local group in order to
send them a message
As of this moment, all existing chapters as Open Community Chapters until such time as you
complete the Official Chapter application and meet the qualifications thereof. As with our Open
Membership program, there are no direct fees for being an Open Community Chapter.
The process itself is simple. First and foremost, we suggest local leadership teams who have
questions talk with one another to review the benefits and requirements as detailed below. If you
Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines
Page 7

have questions, we invite you to join us on our weekly calls each Wednesday so we can make
things clear. In order to help us run this transition more efficiently, we ask that you pick a
representative to speak on your behalf so we don't end up saying the same thing to every
individual on your leadership team, quadrupling our effort.

Official Chapter Benefits

Legal Status
Social Media Club, Inc. will file Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and other pertinent legal
documentation required to have official Not for Profit / NGO status for the Official Chapter in
your home state or country. The leadership team for Official Chapters will be voted in by
members on an annual basis. Required roles are President, Vice-President, Secretary and
Treasurer. Recommended additional leadership roles are Directors in Programming, Production,
Membership, Sponsorship, Promotions, and Community Outreach. We also hope that someone
within your community will serve as the SMCEDU liaison with the local university communities,
and that you will support other global programs as appropriate. Individual's may serve in
multiple roles with the approval of the Social Media Club global leadership.

Accounting
A local bank account will be set up for Official Chapters. Chapter Treasurer will work closely with
Banking liaison at Social Media Club, Inc. A portion of funds from the chapter account will need
to be reserved for bookkeeping and other administrative services. The anticipated rate for these
services, in line with other similar organizations, will initially be 5%, though this issue will be
addressed during our first annual membership meeting and adjusted accordingly.

Leadership Education and Training

Extended learning opportunities through our official intranet and through other specific training
opportunities such as the leadership day held during Social Media University. The leadership
intranet will be a place where network sponsorship offers will be made, where issues such as
this official chapter program will be discussed, and where we will all be able to learn from each
other and share documents such as local bylaws, sponsorship packages and other program
materials (like SMCEDU).

Insurance
All official chapters will be covered by Social Media Club, Inc.'s General Liability policy.
Certificate of Insurance, often required by venues for hosting events on their premises, will be
provided upon request.

Local Hub on Web Site

While still in its early phases of development, the SocialMediaClub.org Web site is being built to
represent a complete rethinking of a typical association Web site. The current state of the site in
essence represents a 1.0 release. There are many other major components yet to be built such
as chapter sCRM and eLearning tools. In the coming months we will also be investing in an
integration program with leading Web services such as Eventbrite, Lunch.com and even
Location Based Services. Together with your input, we will set a new standard for how global
professional associations operate and how they serve the market for the benefit of its members.
Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines
Page 8

Publicity and Promotion

Official Chapters, and those who have applied for this status, will receive additional publicity and
promotion for events and programs of interest to members and potential members. Through our
web site, and eventually through both online and offline marketing, we will work to drive
increased participation in your local chapter. Additionally, you will be able to coordinate
promotion with other chapter leaders through the Official Chapter Intranet and other yet to be
built web technologies.

Sponsorship Revenues
Participation in network sponsorship opportunities available through Social Media Club, Inc.

Share of Membership Dues

Once the requirement of having 10 professional members affiliated with your chapter as their
primary 'home' is met, every subsequent membership will provide the chapter with funds to use
for events, for charitable purposes or other expenses of operating the local chapter. The
percentages of membership dues listed in the schedule below will be discussed and amended
as determined by a vote of the professional chapters during our annual meeting.
# of Members Percentage Share
1-10 0%

11-50 10%

51-100 15%

101+ 20%
 

Qualification of Official Chapter

Once a chapter that has applied for Official Chapter status has 10 professional members
associated with it, we will change your status on the web site from being an Open Community
Chapter to being formally recognized as an Official Chapter. There is no revenue share on these
members because the funds from these memberships, approximately $750 after membership
fulfillment and setup expenses, will go towards setting up the legal and financial structure for the
Official Chapter.

Legal Standing
Working together with the international organization, you will be required to keep the Official
Chapter in good standing legally and financially. Each required position of the local chapter must
be filled. A plan for annual leadership elections must be created and followed to encourage the
cultivation of future leaders in the local community. Individuals who have a felony/criminal record
may not serve in an official leadership capacity with the organization.
Reporting
The Secretary and Treasurer must file quarterly reports detailing the then current financial
standing of the chapter and listing its leadership. Further, a summary of chapter activities for the

Social Media Club Chapter Guidelines

Page 9

quarter past and a plan for future activities shall be submitted to Social Media Club International.
Further details of this reporting requirement will be determined by the membership of the
organization and the full Social Media Club, Inc. Board of Directors.

Professional Conduct
You are required to conduct the affairs of the organization in accordance with all locally
applicable laws and regulations. You must serve and protect the good name and reputation of
Social Media Club locally and globally. When approved by a majority of the total international
membership in accordance with our bylaws, local leaders must agree to and support the Social
Media Club Professional Code of Conduct.

Web Site Publishing

In order to keep every member around the world informed of your activities and to connect them
with the knowledge and insights shared by your local members, we require that you list your
events on the socialmediaclub.org calendar, that you provide a summary of the events you hold
within a few days after the event on the local chapter site on socialmediaclub.org, and that you
include your RSS feed from any external site you operate. You may continue to use your
existing web properties as desired so long as these basic requirements are met.

Official Event Discounts for Members

You may choose to operate your local events as needed to ensure you do not lose money. This
includes choosing whether or not to charge for these events. Should you choose to charge for
events, we ask that you provide a discounted rate for Professional Members in good standing.
You may choose to provide free access for professional members, but this is not required and
would be dependent on the type of event you are hosting.

Support For the Official Missions of Social Media Club

Official Chapters should endeavour to fulfill the missions of Social Media Club through its local
and online activities.

Moving Forward
Please fill out the Official Chapter application form. From this application we will create your
accounts on the Intranet where we will begin sharing documents and preparing for our 1st
official membership meeting in Orlando, FL on November 10, 2010.

You don't need to promote paid membership to your local chapter members, but we think it
would be beneficial for everyone. Either way, once you have 10 paying professional members,
we will notify you of your Official Chapter status and recognize this in a weekly post on the
Social Media Club blog. We expect for this to happen organically in many cases.

For those local leaders who wish to serve in an official capacity as either President, VP,
Secretary or Treasurer, we are going to ask that you become a paying professional member, so
you may vote for your interests. Should this place a financial hardship on you due to
unemployment or another situation, please let us know and we will figure out a way to help you.
This isn't intended to be onerous, but it is necessary for legal reasons with regards to the
governance of the association. Besides, your professional or business membership essentially
makes you an owner of Social Media Club.

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Page 10

Should existing chapters (which we are now referencing as Open Community Chapters) choose
to not apply at this time, you will be able to retain your Open Community chapter status at least
through the end of the year and the beginning of next. While it is our belief that you should be
able to keep such status forever, it will be up to the voting professional members of the
organization and the 2011 Board of Directors as to how long they will continue to honor this
status. The only issue we can see with preserving the status quo under the new structure is in
the case where a chapter has dozens of paying professional members who are not being
represented by local leadership in regards to official Social Media Club business. The bottom
line is that we hope you see the real value in restructuring this way and we hope to be able to
hand over the keys to this great global village we have all built together in the very near future.

We are looking forward to establishing an official democratically minded governance for all of
the members around the world, to ensure that our work together might endure for the benefit of
ourselves as Social Media Professionals and the world in which we live.

If you are interested in starting a Social Media Club in your city and there isn't one that already
exists, we ask you to complete this Official Chapter application as soon as possible and a
representative will be in touch with you shortly. 

Optimizing Your Chapter Portal

Once your chapter has been approved, Social Media Club will provide a portal for your city to
share their insights, communicate with their local members and connect you to the Social Media
Club global network.

Chapter Page Administrator(s)

Identify who will be responsible for updating the local chapter page content and email Kristie
Wells so they can be given admin rights. For us to make you an administrator, you already need
to have an individual member profile and have your city listed as your primary chapter (see
ʻCreating Your Social Media Club Profile) section above.

Chapter Page Features3

Once the administrator has been assigned, we will send them a confirmation email and thus
begins the fun part - customizing your chapter page's features. The options currently available
are easily found under the tab ʻEditʼ and include:

3 We are building out the local chapter pages to be more feature rich by the end of Summer 2010. If you
have recommendations to improve the content displayed, please share it through the ʻFeedbackʼ button
that shows on the left side of every page.
Group Mission. Why does the SMC chapter exist and what would you like to do.

Promotional photo (heads up, for the moment the image has to be 600x150. We know many
of your logos don't come close to those dimensions, but for the moment its a great place for a
modified graphic - see the San Francisco page as an example).

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Facebook Group url link and/or Fan Page badge (get badge code directly from Facebook).
See the ʻChoosing Other Channels to Promote Your Chapterʼ section for more information
around this.

Website/Blog Feed. This is for chapters who had a separate website prior to the launch of the
new socialmediaclub.org. Simply paste the URL of your blog into gray box titled 'Feed' and
once saved, there will be a tab that appears next to the 'edits' in the right corner of the chapter
page, titled 'import'. Select this and choose the 'import' button. This will allow the site to collect
all the blogs from your chapter blog and they will begin to feed through your chapter page
automatically to instantly create content for your new chapter page.

Ning badge (which for many of you isn't long for this world, but in the meantime its a great way
to make the connection). See the ʻChoosing Other Channels to Promote Your Chapterʼ section
for more information around this.

Twitter Widget. We have produced a customized code to ensure some consistency for this
widget. Please use the following code, and simply modify the last line by removing ʻChapter
Handleʼ and replacing with your ʻTwitter user nameʼ for the local chapter - you must leave the ʻ ʻ
around the name:

<script src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script>
<script>
new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'profile', rpp: 4, interval: 6000, width: 250, height: 300, theme: {

shell: {
background: '#064d11',
color: '#ffffff'
},
tweets: {
background: '#faf5fa',
color: '#050405',
links: '#2207eb'
}
}, features: {

scrollbar: false,
loop: false,
live: false,
hashtags: true,
timestamp: true,
avatars: true,
behavior: 'all'
} }).render().setUser('ChapterHandle').start();

Be sure to select 'Input Format' and choose 'Full HTML' in order for the Twitter widget to appear
correctly, if you do not select 'Full HTML' your Widget will appear as code on the right sidebar.

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Page 12

See the ʻChoosing Other Channels to Promote Your Chapterʼ section for more information
around setting up and using Twitter for your local chapter.

Flickr widget. Again, select 'Input Format' and choose 'Full HTML' or else the widget will not
appear correctly on your chapter page. See the ʻChoosing Other Channels to Promote Your
Chapterʼ section for more information around setting up and using Twitter for your local chapter.

If you have any questions or ideas on how we can improve this online community site to better
serve your needs, let us know by clicking on the ʻfeedbackʼ button on the left side of every
page. It is only through your continued active and passionate engagement that we can develop
this to the level you need and deserve.

Updating Your Chapter Page

You've carved out a nice piece of real estate for your chapters new home, now itʼs time for one
heck of a house warming barbecue. You don't throw a party without any furniture though, so
make sure to populate the page with some content.

We have added a welcome post for you, now we recommend you add one yourself and let
people know what you would like to do, why you would like to do it, and what you need to make
it happen (team members, location, topic suggestions, etc). You can do this easily by clicking
the ʻAdd Blog Postʼ button. As you start to move the process along, keep everyone up to date
with, you guessed it, another blog post or eight.

The same goes for creating an event page. Click the ʻAdd an Eventʼ button to add information
on your planning meeting, launch date or regular monthly meeting once you get up and going.
Upload information just as you would on an Eventbrite page or Facebook event, add a
promotional photo to make it pretty and now not only will your local chapter have the information
they need, but chapters around the world can see what you are contributing the community.

Choosing Other Channels to Promote your Chapter

Many chapters help promote their activities through the use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
(there are other tools used, but these three networks proved the strongest through a little survey
we just did).

We have found choosing one or two additional networks aids in the reach you have, and by
doing a little research, will enable you to find other people in your community to engage with.
Facebook seems to reach a larger audience, use of Twitter comes second with LinkedIn a
distant, but still worthy third.
Figure out which network you are most comfortable with and then notify Kristie Wells. She will
set your group up on one or all of these networks and then provide you admin privileges so you
may build out your profile(s).

Please do not set up the Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts on your own.
This process may change over time, but for now – we appreciate you following this simple
request.
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Page 13

If you use Twitter, we will add your chapter to the SMC chapter list under the Social Media Club
global Twitter feed, and encourage you to follow other chapters and
tune into what they're doing locally and connect with them as well.

We have a relationship with icontact.com and can set up a mailing list for you
for free if you prefer to communicate via email. It is a one way communication line (you email
those who opt-in, but it seems to work well for some cities (Boston and Austin use it) over
posting messages via Facebook or Twitter.

Several chapters also use Eventbrite for event registration as it provides the ability to track
email addresses and print badges. The service can handle both free events (for free) as well as
paid (for a fee). Social Media Club has a master account with Eventbrite and we are happy to
set your chapter up with access so your events track under our umbrella there.

Invite Your Local Community to Engage

Once you have your options set, social media services integrated and blog and events
highlighted, and a local leadership team in place, it is time to invite the local community to join
you for the welcoming party by clicking on "Invite Friends." Donʼt know anyone off hand to
reach out to? No worries. Just let us know and we will help get the word out for you.

Build a Leadership Team

We recommend every city have a group of four to six people who manage various tasks such as
Programming, Promotions, Production, Sponsorships, etc. A good reference for what each role
entail can be found below in the ʻLaunching a Chapter: The Basicʼ section.

We have cities being managed by one or two people struggle, and some fade, as the local
leader gets busy or goes on vacation. We want to make sure once a chapter is launched that it
meets consistently (monthly) and is diverse in both the attendees and the topics discussed.
Having several people manage the local group goes a long way towards ensuring success and
diversity of attendees and topics. If you do not know of anyone in your local area that is able to
help you launch SMC, please contact Kristie Wells and we can try to enlist folks to help you.

Launching a Chapter: The Basics

Once your chapter portal is set up, and you have a base for your leadership team, we
recommend getting the leadership team together to discuss the goals for local group. This will
help to avoid any differences of opinion down the road. In that meeting, you should also be
prepared to discuss:
Roles and Responsibilities
As mentioned above in the ʻBuild a Local Leadership Teamʼ, we recommend assigning roles and
responsibilities to ensure a smooth running chapter. The roles below were first established by
the Boston chapter and are a great starting point:

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Programming Director
At the heart of the Social Media Club is great interactive events. The Programming Director
manages all aspects of the activity calendar for the local chapter. This person is responsible for:
(1) Developing and managing the schedule of events, (2) including regular (monthly) public
meetings and planning meetings, Identifying topics for upcoming events, (3) coordinating with
the Partnership Director to secure speakers and identify venues for each event, (4) securing
speaker bios, (5) preparing the event program for each public event, including agenda,
directions and other special instructions, and (6) hand off event program to Promotions Director
for publicity and Production Director for planning and coordination of event.

Partnership Director
Partner with other businesses and organizations to find topics, speakers and venues for future
activities. The Partnership Director manages the relationships with the global Social Media Club
parent organization, other important social media organizations (both national and local), as well
as with local businesses and organizations interested in sponsoring or hosting upcoming
activities. This person is responsible for: (1) Managing relationships with SNCR and other
national and local social media-related organizations, (2) build and maintain relationships with,
and identify co-sponsorship opportunities with, local marketing and technology organizations,
(3) identifying and managing the relationships with past and future event sponsors, co-sponsors
and venues, (4) coordinating with the Programming Director to find appropriate time slots, topics
and venues for partner-sponsored events, and (5) coordinating with the Production Director to
identify speaker and sponsor needs for each event.

Promotions Director
Promotion is key to the ultimate success of your organization--and the earlier the better! This
person is responsible for: (1) Managing the Social Media Club local chapter web page, including
the blog, wiki, forums and email list, (2) coordinating with Programming Director to secure
program agenda for each event, (3) promoting future events through all the above-named
channels, (4) publicizing future events through online and traditional channels, (5) writing and
sending around recaps of each public meeting, and (6) recording, publishing and sharing audio
and video from events.

Production Director
This person is responsible for all aspects of event execution, including: (1) Assuming
responsibility for event program from Programming Director, (2) scheduling and managing
planning meetings with event sponsors and speakers, (3) managing on-site signage, video,
audio and lighting, (4) coordinating food and drink with event sponsors and/or venue, (5) staffing
and managing event registration, (6) maintaining the master member list, (7) managing
development and collection of feedback forms, and (8) managing giveaways and all-other on-
site activities.

Membership Director
The membership director is responsible for three important roles: (1) managing the master
membership list of the local Social Media Club, (2) promoting local membership in the global
Social Media Club organization, and (3) managing the relationship with the global Social Media
Club organization.

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Digital Scribe
One of the most important roles within Social Media Club. Someone takes notes, photos and/or
video at every meeting (educational or social) and then posts the summary on your local
chapter page on socialmediaclub.org for the SMC community to share in. Tagging it with
applicable key words based on your event topic will help us build a global topic directory as well,
and help educate us one and all.

Venue(s) to Host Meetings

The San Francisco chapter started in conference rooms of local businesses (10-15 people) and
over time, grew to large meeting spaces (100+). Some chapters, like New Hampshire, had 150
show up on their first event. Reach out to PR firms and Newswires (BusinessWire, PR
Newswire, Marketwire, etc. as most as willing to offer up their offices to meet in). Venues should
allow for easy conversation and can range from chamber of commerce offices to corporate
conference rooms to restaurants/cafes to libraries to art studios depending on your size and
technical needs. They key is to be prepared for large and small groups and build a list of
potential meeting places, associated fees to rent the space (if any) and the offerings it provides
(wifi, square footage, parking, chairs/tables, etc) to ensure you have adequate space for all.

Set Monthly Meeting Date and Time

Experience has shown locking in a set day/time of the month your chapter meets works best for
most local communities. For example, every 3rd Tuesday from 6:30-8:30pm, of every Thursday
at 7am. We recommend polling the community and seeing what works best for you and them,
and then alternate if needed.

Topics
Build a list of topics to be discussed with potential speakers. Check out the SMC Speakers
Directory for possible guests. SMC is also working on a master database of all topics discussed
at previous SMC events with related collateral to help you going forward. We expect to launch
this ʻTopic Directoryʼ in Fall 2010.

Event Calendars
Most chapters announce gatherings and other events on the SMC Global Calendar, Twitter,
Facebook and Eventbrite. All local events should be listed under your city portal. Ideally,
meeting notices should be pushed out four weeks before an event, with weekly reminders. Send
a final reminder the day of the event. Event announcements should include date, location, topic
name, speakers (if available), directions and price.
Event Fees 4
It is up to each local chapter whether or not you charge a door fee for the SMC event. Some
cities, like Birmingham, donʼt charge as they meet at lunch time in a free venue (library) and

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have every one bring their own brown bag. Others, like San Francisco, charge between $5-$20 5
as they meet after work and feel a need to provide baseline food and drinks so the door fees
help cover costs.

Sponsors 6
Some chapters secure sponsorships to cover basis expenses like food, drinks, name badges,
and venue rentals. All revenue and expenses must be tracked in detail and a monthly
accounting is to be given to Kristie Wells.

Format
Meetings can (and should) differ in format. Some chapters prefer panels, others like single
speakers, while some topics are best done in a group discussion.

• Speaker or Panel discussion (works for any sized gathering) – bring in an industry leader (or
several) to discuss topic for anywhere between 15 minutes to one hour. Ensure plenty of time
allowed for Q&A and group discussion.
• Demos or presentations by attendees/members. SMC prefers demos from users of products
rather than the company reps. There are plenty of events that provide the latter. We donʼt
need to do that.
• World Café (works best for 20 or more people) – participants break out into groups of 3-4
people and are given three (3) questions to answer around a given topic. They rotate three
times (15 minute intervals), then the group reconvenes and reviews discussions.
• Social mixers – mix a breakfast, lunch or happy hour meetups in between ʻeducationalʼ events
and it goes a long way to building community.

4Social Media Club will handle the accounting for Official Chapters. In the interim, we are addressing this
on a chapter by chapter basis.
5 Several chapters give discounts to paid SMC members (enter for free or heavy discount).
6Social Media Club will handle the accounting for Official Chapters. In the interim, we are addressing this
on a chapter by chapter basis.
Equipment Requirements
Ideally, every venue should provide wifi to allow participants to live tweet, blog, video cast.
Making sure you have good sound is key. Smaller venues do not normally require a
microphone/speaker, if you are in a bigger room or have a larger crowd, we recommend
securing a sound system to ensure everyone can hear the discussion. Some chapters set up a
Ustream account (free) that will capture the meeting live, it also has a recording feature that is
great so we have something to reference after the event.

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Gathering Participants
Once you have decided to launch SMC in your city, please contact Kristie Wells so we may
promote the upcoming city launch and/or planning meetings via our various online communities
to help you raise awareness.

The goal in each city is to bring a diverse group to gather and share what they know –
this can be folks in PR/Marketing roles, teachers, students, journalists, attorneys, doctors,
government employees, bloggers, photographers, videographers, etc. Getting a cross section of
folks will keep conversations interesting and expand knowledge across multiple industries. We
know this could require some time to build the group outside of the standard network you
connect with, but would like to keep this as a long term goal in every city.

There are various channels we recommend you reach out to, including: your own personal
network, your employer, partners and vendor, Chamber of Commerce, Small Business
Administration, PRSA, AMA, Refreshers, Podcampers, Wordcampers, Barcampers, etc. or any
other local group that is already meeting in the city, Universities and local colleges,
Newspapers, TV stations.

Launch
One very important thing to keep in mind – this is not a numbers game. Gatherings
can be two people or they can be 200 people. The number of people gathering is not
important. What IS important is making sure that conversations are happening in your
local area and that you have the opportunity to connect with a global network. Success is
always ensuring that people are happy to have met each other and walk away from an event
learning something new.

Also, keep it open and laid back and donʼt put so much pressure on yourself, whoever
shows are the right people. Keep it as easy and low key as you can until you find the
right group and the format until it fits.

Try for a balance between ad hoc and formal. The reality is that different people have
different needs. What we find is people into technology tend to be more do-it-yourselfers.
People in companies tend to lean towards more formal, and they want to bring people who have
more formalized mindsets. You have to put out different programming choices to attract different
kinds of people, keep it fresh and keep people engaged.

Communicate openly with those attending the SMC gatherings. Let them know they have a say
in the topics they hear and how each event is run. Make it as participatory as possible. And be
flexible, but most of all, have fun. Managing a Social Media Club can be a bit of work, but can
also be extremely beneficial.

Founders, Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells are happy to offer a 15-20 video chat, either during the
planning session, or the official launch or both to officially welcome your new chapter. In the
chat we can share the history of SMC and our goals going forward. It can also give you the
ability to ask us any questions you or your local members might have.

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Logistics
Here are some tips on what to consider when running a meeting:

Host Company/Location related items

• Security List
• When does the list need to be downloaded and delivered?
• Who at the host company needs it?
• What is the procedure for walk-ins?
• Where should attendees park?
• What fees are associated with host location?

Technical Considerations
• Who at the host company is the contact for AV?
• Does the facility have a projector to loan?
• What does presenter need for AV- mic, projector, connectivity, screen
• Can they provide a mic?
• Do they have Internet? Is it restricted (ports blocked or sites blocked?)

Attendee Issues
• Purchasing and producing nametags (pre-printed or bring pens for attendees to make their
own)
• Assign at least two members to handle registration (if desired)
• Who takes the sign-in list?
• Who adds the attendees to the mailing list?

Is there a fee to attend this event?

• Determine fee (free for SMC.org? $10 for non-members?)
• Who is in charge of the money?
• Did you get change to give to people w/o exact change?
• Provide receipts upon request

Speaker Issues
• Who has contact info for the speakers and is confirming with them?
• Tent Signs for the speakers necessary?
• Water bottles for speakers

Everyone's time is valuable. To have a successful chapter, people have to find the
meetings worthwhile. Most people attend meetings to network and learn something.
If you are going to be a successful leader, you can't leave that to chance. YOU have to
help them achieve their objectives.

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Recommendations for your events

• Allowing remote presentations
• Present information about other events SMC members might like to attend
• Collaboration with other professional/community groups
• Scheduling the meetings at the same time/place/location for a year at a time so people can
easily remember where and when they are and just "show up."
• Asking members to bring a friend
• Becoming a focal point for social media activity in the community
• Making sure the content is educational
• Giving different people responsibility for the meetings every few months.
• Adjournment after the meeting to a less formal setting
• At the end of each meeting, please write up a summary of the event (blog post, record video,
etc)
• Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Collateral
Each chapter can obtain a stack of SMC stickers to hand out to their local community.
Please send an email to Social Media Club with your name, chapter name and mailing address
to receive a supply. We are working on promotional materials that will be available on the SMC
website come August 2010.

We are also working on t-shirts that will be available for sale shortly. All proceeds will go towards
advancing Social Media Clubʼs missions.

Miscellaneous
If you are looking for speaker suggestions, please contact SMC Secretary, Serena Ehrlich, or
reach her at @serena on twitter.com.

We are working on a formal sponsorship document that informs sponsors what

they get out of sponsoring an event on the local, national and global levels.
We are in the process of launching a Sister City program to have existing chapters
help new chapters set up and grow (i.e. Austin is helping San Antonio, New York
is assisting Miami). If there is another Social Media Club thatʼs not that far from
you, work with them. You may contact Serena Ehrlich or Kristie Wells for details
on this program.

Feel free to contact Serena or Kristie at any time if you have questions this
document or the weekly phone call did not answer.