NEW MEDIA CINCINNATI SPINS MAGIC: THE POWER IS IN THE PARTICIPANTS

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!


The New Media Cincinnati networking group had their monthly meet-up last Saturday at The Pub @Rookwood Commons. Daniel Johnson, Jr., founder of the rapidly growing group, changed up the usual format and declared it an UnConference Meet-Up. For the uninitiated, or non-geeks like myself (totally used as a term of endearment!), an un-conference occurs when the meeting content is wholly created by the partipants in a highly organic fashion and members follow the "two-feet rule", which means if you don't like what you're hearing, walk those two feet over to another presentation, according to Daniel.

The group spoke up about topics they wanted to participate in and leaders volunteered to spearhead the groups; provide expert knowledge in the area and facilitate the discussion. Corners of the room were designated for each topic. In true organic fashion, new topics and groups spun up on their own. At any given time, one could wander from

• Fervant discussions on Twitter and best apps to manage tweets
• Telecommuting and Jelly Meet-Ups (founded by AmyBeth Hale: day where telecommuters meet at a local venue to create community and work side-by-side to foster the camaraderie of the traditional office-place.)
• Blogging
• Pod-casting
• Videography

This particular Saturday afternoon was gorgeous and the Pub opened up the patio to make good use of the outdoors. Smart move on their part, as the crowd was large. I counted about 60 folks in attendance from a wide variety of walks of life: Videographers, business folks, bloggers, techies, traditional journalists, recruiters, small business owners, pod casters, musicians- the list goes on and on. The key here is that the group and it's centeral focus on new media is what brought folks out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon-and once again on a holiday weekend, Mother's Day!

The opportunity to share and learn and to create conversations that lead to incredible discovery of "other" is that magic that New Media Cincinnati spins. The group discusses the topics and yet at the same time becomes the topic in two key ways.

First- everything that occurs at a meet-up is being transmitted live under the creative commons licence. Members are tweeting, texting, status updating on Facebook and a live video stream is running so that friends and fans from across the land can join in our organic mayhem.

Secondly, in the pure act of coming together in conversation, we are becoming the essence of what social media is all about: connection and conversation. In the act of conversing we are changing the course of dialogue: creating new opportunities of thought; creating working relationships and partnerships and the most important end product of all- creating friendships.

And that folks is where it's truly at. The human element. The heart. Where social media: the tools become social media: the people. Come join us on the second Saturday of every month from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Pub. I guarantee you will walk away with more knowledge and a new friend or two (or 10!!!).


Copyright Michelle Beckham-Corbin 2009