Monday, July 19, 2010

Silicone Bitch: Startups, Sports, Social and More!

News and notes about the South Florida social media and blogging scene, with a little tech thrown in for good measure. And maybe some other random events, too.

social media club south florida bank atlantic centerBig turnout at Social Media Club this month. Photo by @miamishines.

It's summer, but there's still lots going on ...

START ME UP

Startup Forum, led by Seth Elliott and Alex de Carvalho, held its inaugural meeting on July 8 at Q Barbecue in the Design District. "Defending Your Moat" featured guest speakers John Christopher of Christopher & Weisberg and Jack Karabees of CP Capital Securities discussing intellectual property. The next meeting is on August 3 and will focus on developing sales, distribution and partner channels for business. Meetings are free and followed by networking.

PLAYING WITH BALLS

Social Media Club South Florida
held one of its biggest and best monthly meetings yet at the Bank Atlantic Center in Broward on July 13. The Sports and Social Media panel was led brilliantly by Toby Srebnik (Pitch to the Rhino). The panelists were Kartik Krishnayier, North American Soccer League (@kkfla737 and @NASLOfficial), Jim Rushton, Sr. VP of Corporate Partnerships and Integrated Media, Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins), Boris Menier, Marketing Coordinator, Florida Marlins (@Marlins411), Jennifer Tobias, Director of Interactive Marketing and New Media, Miami Heat (@MiamiHeat), and Steven Ziff, VP, Marketing and Brand Activation, Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers).

Amazingly, the words LeBron James were only mentioned about three times in the entire session, but much was said about the impact of social media during the world cup, for example, when millions of Twitter users connected on the topic online.

CHATTY CHICKS

Yours truly is now co-hosting Social Chats, an internet radio show, with Tonya Scholz from 1 to 2 pm every Tuesday. We're talking about social media and all things hyper-local from West Palm Beach to Monroe -- from restaurants to events and anything else that tickles our fancy -- all with Sex and the Beach style insight and humor. Our studio headquarters are at super geeky and ultra wired Securenet Systems in Deerfield Beach, but we're also be broadcasting live from other locations in South Florida. We're currently in beta and ironing out some technical kinks, but stay tuned for weekly posts about each broadcast.

BLOGGING WORKSHOP

By popular request, yours truly is teaching the first of many workshops to come on the subject of blogging and writing. Sponsored by Preemo, Miami's computer repair experts, this three-hour workshop will help guide those who have never started a blog or are new to blogging. We will focus on content development and writing techniques through a variety of lecture topics and exercises, custom-tailored to the group. The cost is $45 and includes a pre-workshop phone consultation to determine individual participant needs. The workshop is limited to 10 students and will be held at Preemo headquarters in South Miami. Pre-registration and pre-payment is required at Eventbrite.

SOCIAL MEDIA WORKSHOP

Life is Art continues its great "Creative Connections" educational series by hosting a social media workshop with pro "branding professor" Patrick Barbanes at GAB Studios in Wynwood, Miami on August 21. The $35 fee is well worth it if you're new to social media. Sex and the Beach highly recommends!

FUN WITH BUGS

It seems like social media events are all about the ride these days. Truly Nolen (@trulynolen) -- you know, the exterminators with the cute yellow cars that have mouse ears, whiskers and tails on them -- will host a few lucky tweeps and bloggers on a Broward adventure to the Museum of Discovery and Science, Pizza Fusion and Butterfly World. So if you see a bunch of Truly Nolen cars parading in the 954 this Saturday, July 24, you'll know why. Yours truly will be part of the team. Apparently, we're going to get a crash course in entomology, which I hope means a tip or two on repelling South Florida's real mascot -- the palmetto bug. Follow us on twitter with the hashtag #mousecarparade.

PEOPLE TECH

Refresh South Florida
is combining both Miami and Fort Lauderdale meetups into one giant gathering on Thursday, July 29 from 7:30 to 10 PM at Florida Atlantic University in Davie. "Demo Night" will focus on five companies presenting in five minutes each with slideshows. Invite on Facebook.

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