Some wonder if that hurts my business, offering ways for folks to learn on their own. Perhaps a bit, but it’s worth it to me to see my community become stronger from a collective effort to make everyone a bit better at being a business. Plus, I have the help of some fabulous people on each team for each event (check out the team pages on the event sites – I couldn’t do these big ideas without these folks – they are awesome). That makes it a bit easier to make everyone we reach a bit more awesome.

Why would a non-social media marketing wonk want to attend a PodCamp NH or a SMBNH? That’s easy – in addition to the connections and the atmosphere of learning at each, you are guaranteed to learn something new each time. With SMBNH I’m militant about not marketing to the attendees, and encourage people to let me know if they feel any of our presenters or organizers have sold to them during their speaking time instead of educated them via a clear link on the site sidebar and on the Facebook group sidebar. With PodCamp NH that problem takes care of itself thanks to the Law of Two Feet, one of my favorite things about PodCamps everywhere.

For the truly non technical, I’m offering a class at PodCamp NH in social media applications for the trades (construction, etc). I’m also talking social media and music and possibly film. That’s three classes right there that aren’t geared toward the social media marketer, but to YOU, and looking at the sessions proposed I see many, many more. Don’t see one you need but have experience in your profession to bring to the table? Sign up for PodCamp NH then go propose your own session over at the website. We’ll be getting a first draft of the schedule posted soon (though you should note, as a user driven conference, all drafts of the session are just that drafts – it is subject to great sweeping change even during the event as the users evolve what they want to learn in real time).

If you can’t spend a weekend learning (though it is highly recommended) you can try the two hour long SMBNH once a month. The next one is this Friday. And if you don’t live in New Hampshire, you can find a PodCamp in most states and several countries on the PodCamp wiki, or find your closest Social Media Breakfast by heading over to the national web site.

See you in class – let’s teach each other something new!

As we enter our third meeting, averaging 50 – 80 people each time (and growing) no matter what the weather holds, it became time to get some behind the scenes help. Kevin Micalizzi and Matt Turner have been instrumental in helping at each breakfast without being asked (Kevin has been doing the live-casting everyone loves so much through DimDim, and Matt has been excellent on concierge duty the day of each event). It only made sense then to bring on Kevin and Matt officially.

From now on, while I will still be the main contact, you can also submit topic, speaker, sponsor and venue ideas to Kevin Micalizzi as well as to myself. He will also be another source for answers to your questions. Matt Turner is so fantastic at on-site duties and connecting people during the event that he’ll be instrumental in that area, so the day of the event you can see either myself or Matt for whatever concierge-type help you may need.

You probably already follow me on Twitter (leslie). Be sure to follow Kevin (kevinmic) and Matt (onmatt) also. Hashtag for all Social Media Breakfast events continues to be #smbnh

See everyone Friday at UNH for the third SMBNH!

I put up an EventBrite page for sponsor sign ups here: I’m looking for 2 sponsors (or one willing to take both slots) at $500 each. I am confirming the three speakers I had on the new date now – keep your eyes peeled for that announcement later as well. I’ll open up regular registration once I know if I have one or two sponsors.

The theme is still loosely Government 2.0. The speakers I have are going to be discussing things like clean air initiatives and how they’ve worked with governments and municipalities to make them happen as well as how public works is using social media to reach out to the people in their communities. It should be educational, and I’d like to encourage you to invite your local government officials to sign up – you don’t have to be in social media to gain or share knowledge this month.

The venue is a restaurant owned by a new client of mine, Rick’s Pond View. It does have WiFi, but as always I encourage speakers to bring a copy of their presentation on flash drive or CD in case the WiFi gets overloaded, as sometimes happens when you have many iPhones and laptops running. It is located right on the 125 in Kingston (92 Rte 125), ten minutes north of I 495, ten minutes south of Hwy 101 and at or near the juncture of Rts 111, 107, and 108. 30 minutes from Manchester and Portsmouth, 20 from Newburyport and Amesbury, 15 from Haverhill and 45 from Boston.

I’ll announce the sign up page link later today.

What is a Social Media Breakfast?

From the official description: The Social Media Breakfast was founded by Bryan Person in August 2007 as an event where social media experts and newbies alike come together to eat, meet, share, and learn. Marketers, PR pros, entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters, new-media fanatics, and online social networkers are all welcome to attend.

The breakfast series began in Boston and has now spread to more than a dozen cities throughout the United States and around the world.

How will the Social Media Breakfast in NH be different?

The main difference between Social Media Breakfast NH and other SMBs will be all-inclusiveness. I do not want only social media people and companies to attend, I also want technology types, programmers, coders, tech writers, tech companies and more to attend. As a state that is rich in technology but scattered in distance, I think the best networking and connection making effect will be achieved by combined our different cultures. You never know, as a social media type you might just meet the coder you’ve been looking for to create your dream project if we all come together to connect and to learn from each other!

Planning the First Social Media Breakfast NH

The first Social Media Breakfast NH (hashtag #smbnh) will be in February. I will be announcing a date and venue shortly, as well as calling for speakers and sponsors. If you’d like to sponsor, contact me via email or the phone number in the navigation bar above and we can talk specifics.

Important note: To honor the fact that NH is spread out quite a bit, and the fact that our friends in surrounding states (ME, VT) are welcome to attend, I will be moving the location each time. That way people who may have to drive a little further for one month’s breakfast can look forward to their turn for driving less for a future meeting, and people who don’t live close to each other and wouldn’t normally meet will be able to meet people out of their area as well. To that end, feel free to email me your favorite local venue for consideration. It needs to hold between 50 and 100 people, be able to serve continental style breakfast, and have WiFi and wall space for projectors if people bring slides to show.

Things we need currently: A reliable source for projectors. I do not own a projector, and I want to be covered in case our presenters’ projectors have technical glitches. Also, sponsors for the first SMBNH and future SMBNH. Feel free to submit comments telling me themes you’d like to cover as well – each breakfast will have speakers and address issues important to social media and technology.

I am excited about this project, and hope that those of you in NH are as well. I look forward to your emails and comments with ideas, venue possibilities and more.