We’re returning to the venue at Coventry University’s Institute for Creative Enterprise or ICE – More venue information here.

We will be back in the Brick Room where we were for April’s CWSMC and if you want to stay on and enjoy ICE in the afternoon then you can with Free Fridays, where anyone can come down, use the free wifi and coffee after CWSMC.

June CWSMC round-up

Last month CWSMC had a great session at the  University of Warwick’s International Digital Lab. As well as the usual chat and coffees, there was a great talk from Coventry City Council about their Facebook page.

Amongst other things, we learned that it attracted more visitors than the council’s own website, and its non-Cov fans (even 52 from Slough!) mean the page is a good opportunity to paint a positive image of the area to outsiders.

There is an excellent write up of some notes from the session by Steve Woodward and there was plenty of Twitter chatter too.

The full talk was also Qikked by Steve Rumsby, so if you’d like to watch it, set aside about half an hour and have cup of tea  and a biscuit to reproduce some of the CWSMC experience.

Thanks as always to our hosts at Warwick University and the Digital Lab, especially Ellie Lovell for making it possible and our guest speakers too.

PS Data manglers event alert – The West Midlands Regional Observatory will be holding an event on the 15th July about Open Data: Challenges and Opportunities. From their website:

This event will set out the challenges and opportunities for public bodies, particularly local authorities, in achieving this. The event will concentrate on recent policy developments in the morning session and on practical application in the afternoon, through sharing examples of best practice and innovation.

(via Andrew MacKenzie)

We’ll be at the amazing International Digital Lab as this month we are being hosted and sponsored by the  University of Warwick (find out more about the venue and how to get to it here).

***UPDATE*** More info about parking etc

Guest speakers

Continuing our fantastic run of speakers (last month’s report to follow) we’re really pleased to welcome the eCommunications team at Coventry City Council who recently picked up the Digital & Social Media gold award as part of the LGComms local government awards.

The award was for the Coventry Facebook page, which reported school closures and service disruptions across the city during the snow earlier in the year. The Facebook service has attracted over 12,000 fans since November 2009.

The team will be talking about their award-winning service at the next Cafe event, which will have the usual mix of coffee, pastries and chat where anyone involved in digital can share stories and make connections.  As always the event is free thanks to our sponsors, so if you’ve never been to a social media cafe before, come along and if you’re a regular, helps us check out the new venue.

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for refreshments.

Continuing last month’s guest speaker trend, this month we are adding a little drama to the proceedings.  We’re pleased to have Gareth Collins and Helen Pollock  from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to talk about their recent forays into social media, especially their Twitter production of Romeo and Juliet, Such Tweet Sorrow.

As usual it will be informal but there will be time for questions and plenty of chat and coffee at the Court Street Creative Arches, Leamington Spa.

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for the all important pastries!

We’re returning to the venue at the Court Street Creative Arches in Leamington after our adventure to Coventry University’s Institute for Creative Enterprise or ICE.

We were made most welcome in the Brick Room and we’re planning to return again soon.  For the first time we also had a guest speaker, Christian Payne (better known as @documentally on Twitter).  He took us on a whistle-stop tour of his journey through social media, from turning up at the Leamington Courier as a photographer to ending up in Iraq.

He realised that he could bypass the media when he was getting more hits in a week for an audio and slideshow of images that he could produce himself than the same images would achieve appearing in the Telegraph or Independent. He talked about how to keep hold of his network (using Twitter and other tools) that was  initially based around videos posted on YouTube and how a crash in a Land Rover turned this virtual following into something that literally got him out of hole.

More here

A self-confessed early adopter, he also had plenty of tech to talk about and show (indeed but for the ash-cloud, he would have been at Heathrow picking up a hastily shipped iPad!)

So big thanks to Documentally (and the rest of the -mentally family who he talked about including Granumentally and Minimentally) you can see everything he’s up to at  his website. It’s definitely something we’ll do again so if you have any suggestions for speakers, then leave a comment below.

ICE played host to us and they were also launching ther Free Fridays, where anyone can come down, use the free wifi and coffee in fantastic surroundings to get on with some work in great company. Director Christine Hamilton told us more about the idea.

So for May we’ll be back in Leamington where as usual it’s a chance to meet other people involved in everything digital and social media.  Feel free to arrange a meeting or use it to find out more about the venue at the Court Street Creative Arches.

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for the all important pastries.

PS If you’re interested in sponsoring CWSMC, then have a look at our sponsors page and either:

• leave a comment
• email info@cwsmc.com
• or drop a tweet to @cwsmc

We’re delighted to have Christian Payne (better known as @documentally on Twitter) as our first guest speaker.

He’s a photographer, videographer and all round media maker who specialises in getting brilliant stuff done using the power of social media. What Christian doesn’t know about social media, probably isn’t worth knowing, so we’re glad he’s visiting his alma mater of Coventry University to chat, drink coffee and eat pastries with us.  You can of course  find out more about him at his website or better still have a chat with him in meatspace tomorrow.

Also CWMSC’s very own Paul Squires will be appearing on BBC CWR’s breakfast show with Tim and Marian to talk about social media, the election and of course CWSMC – so tune in or catch it on the iPlayer. See you then.

(orginal image by Jingdianqiche adapted under Creative Commons)

After an enjoyable March Cafe, the CWSMC is about to make good on our promises to cover both Coventry AND Warwickshire!

The plan is to keep our base at the Court Street Creative Arches for regular events (so we’ll be back in May, July etc) and on alternate months, go elsewhere.

Our first stop is Coventry University’s Institute for Creative Enterprise or ICE.

They are kindly hosting and sponsoring the April CWSMC on Friday16th from 10am-12pm in the Brick Room. More venue information here. You can sign up now on EventBrite. Paul Squires and Dom Breadmore explain more…

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for the all important pastries.

PS we are hoping for a surprise guest – watch out for tweets later

February’s cafe was a good one with lots of the Listers team coming down for a really good chat about how they use social media, and hopefully picking up some ideas too. Thanks also to Kaz Thomas for sponsoring the coffees.

As well as a chance to meet other people involved in everything digital and social media you can arrange a meeting or just find out more about the venue at the Court Street Creative Arches.

We’re also hoping to have a special announcement about future CWSMCs, so come along to find out first!

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for the all important pastries.

PS If you’re interested in sponsoring CWSMC, then have a look at our sponsors page and either:

• leave a comment
• email info@cwsmc.com
• or drop a tweet to @cwsmc

This month we are kindly sponsored by Karen Thomas who is responsible for her prolific anti-bullying, anti-discrimination campaigning and emotional support service. She’s everywhere from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and will be at the cafe tomorrow.

The venue is the Court Street Creative Arches and the full address and postcode for Sat Nav etc is:

6 Creative Railway Arches
Court Street
Leamington Spa
CV31 2DW

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

PS. Don’t forget to put your glad-rags on, as they are shooting a promotional video for the Creative Arches and you could play a starring role

If you’re not sure what a social media cafe is, then have a look at some of the previous posts, but it’s basically a chance for anyone involved in anything digital locally to meet up with other people to exchange ideas, chat, network and find out more about what others are up to.

There are tables and chairs for informal meetings and showing off your latest project, so feel free to invite someone along and use the fantastic space at the Court Street Creative Arches, as well as meeting new people.

For all the latest information follow @cwmsc on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up now on EventBrite

Of course you can turn up on the day, but it does help to plan for the all important pastries.

PS If you’re interested in sponsoring CWSMC, then have a look at our sponsors page and either:

• leave a comment
• email info@cwsmc.com
• or drop a tweet to @cwsmc

We’ve had not one but both eyes on the weather and as people are finding it hard enough to get to work let alone gather together for coffee and pastries, we have decided to cancel this month’s CWSMC. 

Hopefully the snow will be a distant memory by the time next month’s CWSMC comes around on February 19th.  Let us know if you’re coming or would like to sponsor the event.