Join us on Tuesday, January 29 for a panel featuring industry thought leaders that will focus on upcoming trends and how social, with the integration of digital, will impact our lives in this new year.

SMC Seattle January Event

When: Tuesday, January 29 at 6 – 8 p.m.

Where: The Social, Seattle (21+)

What’s included: Drink tickets and appetizers

Parking: Street parking and paid lots available (also very convenient via Metro)

About the Panelists:

Sabra Schneider: As the Director of Electronic Communications for the City of Seattle, Sabra works at the intersection of technology, communications and government. Previously she drove web, social media and gov 2.0 efforts for King County. Sabra also teaches an annual workshop for the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs called “Likes, Tweets, and Shares: Managing a Social Organization.” You can find her on Twitter at @sabrak.

Lulu Gephart: Lulu is the manager of digital engagement at REI. She is a bona fide gear fanatic and leads a small and mighty team on all social strategy and execution for REI. The team manages REI’s social presence across the web as well as all social design features and UGC elements on REI’s owned properties. Previously she led the paid search program for REI and in her past life did marketing and PR for travel and tourism clients out of Lake Tahoe, CA. Her favorite site these days is www.REI1440Project.com. You have find her on Twitter at @lux2.

Lourdes Orive: As Director, Community and Online Support, Lourdes drives the strategy for Microsoft’s global social care strategy.  Before joining Microsoft, her professional experience includes working as marketing director for Major League Baseball’s MLB.com (she’s a huge baseball fan!), managing the Starbucks.com website and ecommerce business for Starbucks Coffee Company, and developing online properties as an executive producer for the Oxygen Media network. You can find her on Twitter at @lorive.

Photo credit: @ronschott

It’s been a great year for SMC Seattle. We’ve had exciting talks featuring some of the very best in our industry. This time around, though, we’re going to focus on something we all love doing – meeting and talking with some of the great people of SMC Seattle.

So, join us for what’s sure to be a great time meeting, talking, hanging out, and learning on Tuesday October 30^th at Corbis. The SMC Seattle community is filled with some of the best and brightest minds around. You may “know” someone from their Twitter profile pic, but it’s meeting in real life that takes things to the next level!

What: SMC Seattle Networking Event

When: Tuesday, October 30 at 6 p.m.

Where: Corbis

What’s included: Drink tickets, appetizers, and a chance for some great conversations

Parking: Street parking is available

Side Note: Attendees may be asked to sign an NDA when entering.

About the Sponsor

Corbis is a creative resource for advertising, marketing and media professionals, providing a comprehensive selection of stock photography, illustration, footage, fonts, creative merchandise, and entertainment licensing and rights representation services. Through its branded websites Corbis Images, Corbis Motion, Veer and GreenLight, the company helps the creative community produce distinctive work for websites, magazines, newspapers, books, television and films

Corbis: Facebook & Twitter

Veer: Facebook & Twitter

Something happened when the internet was invented – the world got smaller. With the advancements in technology and the emergence of a global, social community, the importance of having a plan for tackling the globe has become increasingly important. Join us at Seattle City Hall on Oct. 2 for a fireside chat with Charl Lee-Pearce of HTC and Tac Anderson, digital anthropologist, for a talk about launching, sustaining, and tweaking global social programs. Learn about geo-specific networks and trends in this no-questions-barred discussion hosted by SMC Seattle. As brands and programs continue to expand their geographic reach, thinking about the eventual challenges that lie beyond our borders become increasingly important.

What: SMC Seattle Event

When: Tuesday, October 2 at 6 p.m.

Where: Seattle City Hall

What’s included: Drink tickets and appetizers

Parking: Street parking and paid lots available (also very convenient via Metro)

About The Panelists

Charl Lee-Pearce

Charl Lee-Pearce is the Director of Global Social Marketing at HTC. Her role encompasses global social strategy, integrated campaigns, influencer outreach and research into emerging global social communities. Prior to joining HTC, Charl was a Sr. Marketing Manager responsible for emerging media at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington and was the founder of Social Media Minds, a cross-Microsoft team of social influencers . Her other roles at Microsoft included content engineering, program management, localization and dev.

Charl is a passionate fashionista and can be found on Twitter at @simchabe

Tac Anderson

From 2001 to 2004, Tac owned a skateboard shop in Las Vegas. From 2005 to 2012, Tac has been: partner at a digital marketing agency, social media strategic lead at Hewlett Packard, entrepreneur-in-residence at an early stage VC firm, VP of digital strategies for Waggener Edstrom, and head of digital strategies for EMEA at Waggener Edstrom based in London. Tac is currently working on the next thing.

Follow Tac on Twitter at @tacanderson

About the Sponsor

The Seattle City Council is committed to ensuring that Seattle is safe, livable and sustainable.  These nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire City, elected by all Seattle voters.  The Council approves the City’s budget, develops laws and policies that promote the health and safety of Seattle’s residents and oversees the City’s police, fire, parks, libraries, and electric, water, solid waste, and drainage utilities.

The public is encouraged to join Councilmembers at all full Council and committee meetings and comment on current legislation by signing up before the start of each meeting. Visit the Council’s website for meeting calendars, agendas and video footage.

Find the City Council on Facebook at www.facebook.com/seattlecouncil

Follow the City Council on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeattleCouncil

Building relationships and community on social media channels is effective, but the math behind tying those benefits back to traditional business goals is still up for debate. Now, social savvy organizations are looking for ways to earn the attention of customers not just in sporadic bursts but in ways that bring long-term engagement, advocacy and most importantly ROI back to the business. With Twitter’s Promoted Products suite, Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories” and contextual ads, and YouTube’s Promoted videos, brands can now extend their influence using the social and interest graph these networks currently provide and achieve increased conversions, traffic and more.

Join moderator Brooke Angles (Social Click) and our panel of paid media experts including Paul Peterman (Facebook) and Filip Wouters (Windows Mobile) at The Social (how fitting) on Tuesday, August 21, for a great discussion of how social media fits in to the media mix and how brands are turning to social advertising to reach, engage, and influence their target audiences.

What: SMC Seattle May Event

When: Tuesday, August 21 at 6 p.m.

Where: The Social, Seattle (21+)

What’s included: Drink tickets and appetizers

Parking: Street parking and paid lots available (also very convenient via Metro)

About The Panelists

Paul Peterman

Paul works in Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook, where he focuses on strategic partnerships that connect people to some of the world’s most recognized brands. In this role, Paul helps spearhead creative marketing strategy, including successful projects that leverage the entire Facebook ecosystem to drive business growth. Paul also serves on Facebook’s Product Council for Pages and Insights.

Filip Wouters

Filip is the Senior Director of Marketing for Windows Phone where he is responsible for global and US brand strategy, positioning, design and art directions, advertising, creative, and digital marketing. Prior to working at Microsoft, Filip worked at Heineken US where he helped lead the iconic brand to success in its largest global market – the USA. Follow Filip on Twitter at @FilipAWouters

About the Moderator

Brooke Angles

Brooke is owner and founder of Seattle-based Social Click. Previously, she headed social media strategy and execution at Expedia. Follow Brooke on Twitter at @twangles

About the Sponsor

Google Places is a local recommendation engine that connects people with the places they love. You can easily find, rate and review places you’re familiar with, share your opinions with friends, and as you and your friends rate and review more places, you’ll see recommendations based on your tastes and those of your friends in your local search results. Google Places is great for users, as it helps them find new places they might like, and it’s great for businesses and organizations to help them get discovered and increase awareness. Follow Google Seattle on Twitter at @GoogleSeattle. Also, follow Charles Koh, Google Places Comm. Mgr. for Seattle at @charleskoh.

Also…

In case you can’t wait another week to see your frieneds from SMC Seattle, we’re partnering with gdgt to bring gdgt live to Seattle on Aug. 16. Head over to the event page to learn more.

It’s officially starting to feel (at least a bit) like summer here in Seattle. What better way to kick off the warm months than with a not-so-usual event? On June 30, we’re teaming up with MLB.com and the Seattle Mariners to host the first-ever SMC Seattle Day at Safeco Field on Social Media Day

We’re extremely excited to be able to bring you (our awesome community) this one-time chance to sit in the posh seats of Safeco Field’s Suite Level (at an amazing, SMC Seattle only price). You’ll also get to mingle before the game with all your friends at the Social Media Mixer before taking to the stands to watch the Mariners beat the Red Sox.

So, head to the registration page and sign up. Bring a friend, bring your glove, and we’ll see you at Safeco Field.

What: SMC Seattle Day as Safeco Field

When: The Social Media Mixer starts at 5:10 p.m. with first pitch versus the Red Sox at 7:10 p.m.

Where: Safeco Field

How much: Tickets are $60 (+ fees) – way less than normal

Get tickets: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/ticketing/socialmediaday.jsp

• 86% of people admit to leaving or avoiding a site all together when facing a registration form
• 88% admit to giving false or incomplete data on forms when they do oblige

While you want to build a relationship with website visitors, the traditional method of gathering information doesn’t work.

The good news is that consumers do have a preferred method and can become a more valuable visitor when given this option.

Please join your peers at a breakfast gathering where you’ll have the opportunity to hear Jamie Beckland, Janrain’s Director of Digital and Social Media Strategy, connect with industry peers, and share experiences and strategies.

Jamie will share the findings of a recent study on ‘Consumer Perceptions of Online Registration and Social Login.’

Register here!

You’ve heard the word before, but is your company ready to take on agile marketing? Testing, adapting, and improving in a way that’s keeping companies ahead of the curve is quickly becoming the way. Are you ready to be transparent and quick enough to act in order to take advantage of the wealth of customer interactions and connection points out there? What are the benefits (and barriers) to making a shift to agile marketing?

Join moderator Todd Shimizu (Ants Eye View) and our panel of experts including Kevin Scott (Cisco), Jonathon Colman (REI), and Greg Meyer (Salesforce), at Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday, May 29, for a great discussion about agile marketing and how social plays a pivotal part in the process.

What: SMC Seattle May Event

When: Tuesday, May 29 at 6 p.m.

Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Seattle

What’s included: Drink tickets and appetizers

Parking: Street parking and paid lots available (also very convenient via Metro and the Link Light Rail)

About The Panelists

Kevin Scott

Kevin Scott is the director of marketing operations and technical services at Cisco. Previously Kevin held positions as the manager of marketing operations and manager of web marketing and strategy – both at Cisco. In addition to his roles at Cisco, Kevin is also a member of ANA Marketers – the only trade organization exclusively for client-side marketers that focuses on insights, collaboration, and industry advocacy.

Jonathon Colman

For more than a decade, Jonathon D. Colman has designed, developed, and promoted web sites for large companies and nonprofits, including The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, IBM and Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) where he currently serves as the internet marketing program manager. You can find him on Twitter at @jcolman.

Greg Meyer

Greg Meyer delivers Customer Wow at Desk.com (a Salesforce.com company) and creates above-and-beyond customer and sales experiences. Greg’s past experience includes founding and building a Customer Experience team at Gist (acquired by Research in Motion). Before that, Greg built eLearning and Agent Tools at Expedia and T-Mobile, and has startup experience at companies like Netegrity, eRoom, and Allaire. You can find Greg at @grmeyer on Twitter.

About the Moderator

Todd Shimizu

Todd is a senior vice president and managing director of Ants Eye View. Previously, Todd served as Director of Developer Relations & Engineering at Juniper Networks. Todd also led for strategy for Juniper’s J-Net and social media properties as Director of Online Communities, You can follow Todd on Twitter at @shimmage

About the Sponsors

Janrain is the recognized leader in the use of social identities to drive better online experiences that lead to more profitable relationships. Our solutions, including social login, social profile data storage, access to the social graph, game mechanics, and digital strategy services, improve the effectiveness of online marketing initiatives for leading brands like Fox, Universal Music Group, Whole Foods, MTV and Dr Pepper.

Like them on Facebook

Follow them on Twitter

Visit their website at
www.Janrain.com

The Ethofy team has a proven track record in developing value based products and custom solutions that help our customers succeed in the complex business of selling their brands and products through external channels. The Inspired Marketing Suite and Kurryer product lines are hosted applications that allow our customers to reach their customers and partners through customizable web portals and social media platforms, through desktop as well as mobile devices, and they support a wide range of user interfaces – including Windows 8. Kurryer, currently in beta, enables you to bundle your content, call to action, and lead collection into a seamless process that can be customized for each team member. Kurryer is designed to be deployed in conjunction with any common data stream or social network and provides one central location for pre-approved messages, customized posts for every user, team-wide calendars, sales tools and reporting about each user’s clicks and leads. Please contact us at www.kurryer.com to join our beta program.

Like them on Facebook

Follow them on Twitter

Visit their website at www.kurryer.com

Join us on Tuesday, April 24 at 415 Westlake for a conversation with Alex Wheeler, vice president of global digital marketing at Starbucks, about how Starbucks keeps ahead of the curve in the ever-growing competition for the hearts, minds, and tumbler mugs of the consumer.

How do you measure that? It’s a common question those in social hear on an (almost) daily basis. For some, it’s cause for concern, but for those who have a plan and tools in place, it’s a chance to flex their analytics muscle. This March, we’re going to be doing a lot of flexing!

Join us on Tuesday March 20 (we’re making a slight departure from our normal last-Tuesday rotation, so mark your calendar) for a deep dive into social analytics with Chuck Hemann, Director of Analytics for WCG. We’ll be taking our discussion straight to City Hall – literally – for a great event sponsored by social SaaS juggernaut Vitrue. For those of you looking to avoid parking in the area, we’re team up with our friends at Uber Seattle again to provide transport to and from the event.

So, put on your analytics hat and come prepared for a night filled with numbers, networking, and definitely a few laughs.

Get your tickets here.

About the Speaker

Over the last seven years, Chuck Hemann provided strategic counsel to clients on a variety of topics including digital analytics, measurement, online reputation, social media, investor relations and crisis communications. Prior to joining Edelman Digital, he was VP of Digital Strategy and Analytics for Ogilvy Public Relations. Before joining Ogilvy, he was the Director of Social Analytics for WCG, a global media services company based in San Francisco.

Chuck started his career working for Dix & Eaton, a full-service communications firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was responsible for supplying research and information for all of the firm’s practice areas including media relations, marketing communications and investor relations. He also co-chaired the firm’s digital communications practice.

Chuck is a former Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research, a global, nonprofit research and education foundation think tank focused on the latest developments in media and communications. He is the co-organizer of the Social Media Business Summit Track at BlogWorld Expo, a frequent speaker on the topics of influence, measurement and digital analytics.

About Our Event Sponsor

Vitrue

Vitrue is the leading Social Relationship Management (SRM) platform, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology, that partners with brands, marketers and agencies around the world to maximize their social community engagement. The Vitrue SRM platform gives brands the ability to scale across multiple social networks, target global to local, and publish content that drives and facilitates the two-way dialogue between brands and their fans. In addition, Vitrue, an original Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant, provides clients access to deep analytics, industry insights and best practices, product training options and high-touch customer service, giving brands a competitive advantage.

Vitrue on the Web: www.vitrue.com

Vitrue on Twitter: @Vitrue

Vitrue on Facebook: http://facebook.com/vitrue

About Our Venue Sponsor

Seattle City Council

The Seattle City Council is committed to ensuring that Seattle is safe, livable and sustainable. These nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire City, elected by all Seattle voters. The Council approves the City’s budget, develops laws and policies that promote the health and safety of Seattle’s residents and oversees the City’s police, fire, parks, libraries, and electric, water, solid waste, and drainage utilities.

The public is encouraged to join Councilmembers at all full Council and committee meetings and comment on current legislation by signing up before the start of each meeting. Visit the Council’s website for meeting calendars, agendas and video footage.

Seattle City Council on the Web: http://www.seattle.gov/council

Seattle City Council on Twitter: @SeattleCouncil

Seattle City Council on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/seattlecouncil

About Our Transportation Sponsor

Uber Seattle

Have you always dreamed of having your own private driver? Well, dream no more! Uber is an innovative black car service which helps you request a swanky ride with the tap of an app. And, SMC attendees get their first ride FREE. Just download the app to your phone, enter the promo code “SEA_SMCMAR” and request away! Within moments a fancy car with a lovely driver will whisk you away in style.

Existing Uberers: 50% off your ride to and from the SMC Seattle event! Just enter promo code “SEA_SMCMAR50″ before riding.

Sign up here.

The global markets have changed. Where brands and corporations once ruled, customers are rising up and making decisions with their wallets (and conversations). Is your company ready to be a part of this change?

Join Social Media Club Seattle (SMC Seattle) at 415 Westlake on Tuesday, February 28 for a talk featuring Sean Moffitt, author, strategist, and all around good guy. He’ll walk us through some of the main points from his book “Wikibrands: Reinventing Your Company in a Customer-Driven Marketplace” and look at how things are the same (and yet very different) now in 2012.

We’ll also have some great discussions and a great group of people. Hope to see you there. Buy your tickets here.

About the Speaker

Sean Moffitt is author of the 2011 award-winning book – Wikibrands – Reinventing Your Company in a Customer-Driven Marketplace , Managing Director or the Wikibrands customer engagement consultancy and President, Agent Wildfire Strategy & Communications Inc., a leading new media, social influence, word of mouth and customer engagement firm based out of Toronto, Canada.

With one foot in traditional business and another in new digital worlds, he has previously led the efforts behind established brands Molson, Guinnness, and Proctor & Gamble in exective roles and now partners with many Fortune 500s and startups as an evangelist for web-enabled customer engagement and collaboration in business. Visit www.wiki-brands.com, www.agentwildfire.com, and his blog “Buzz Canuck” for his musings on all things web, marketing, and new culture or contact him on Twitter at @seanmoffitt.

About Our Sponsors

Google Places

Google Places is a local recommendation engine that connects people with the places they love. You can easily find, rate and review places you’re familiar with, share your opinions with friends, and as you and your friends rate and review more places, you’ll see recommendations based on your tastes and those of your friends in your local search results. Google Places is great for users, as it helps them find new places they might like, and it’s great for businesses and organizations to help them get discovered and increase awareness.

Also, stay tuned during the event for a special contest from Google Places!

Google Seattle on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GoogleSeattle

Google Places Comm. Mgr.: http://twitter.com/charleskoh

Charle’s Google+: http://gplus.to/ckoh

Google Places on the Web: http://google.com/places