Campaign Central

[Lisa Qualls]

This forum will serve as Campaign Central for the upcoming Board vote that will run from 7/26 - 8/4 with winners being announced at the 8/6 SMCKC Breakfast. This forum will serve as the primary location for the Board nominees to share a little bit about themselves, their experience and why they would like to serve on the SMCKC Board. We also encourage SMCKC members to ask questions and/or provide supporting statements for their candidate of choice. We will announce all nominees and distribute the voting link by end of day tomorrow Tuesday, July 26th. If you have any questions regarding the nomination and/or voting process please contact your Board Chairman Ed Roberts or myself, Lisa Qualls. Thank you for your support and participation during this very important process!

Cheers,

Lisa

[Lisa Qualls]

The voting link will be sent to the membership by tomorrow morning....in the meantime I would like to announce your Nominees!

Education: Brooke Beason, Brenda Bethman, and Dee Saddler
VP: Joe Cox, Michael Robinson, and Neil Steiner
Treasurer: Kerstin Deppe

You should expect to see updates by your nominees within the next day or so. Please join me in congratulating these exceptional candidates!

Cheers,
Lisa

[Katy Ryan Schamberger]

What a fantastic list of nominees! Congratulations to all of you!

[Brooke Beason]

Well Hello! To tell you a little about myself, I am a self-proclaimed social media nut. I live it and breathe it. I am engaged daily on social media platforms at work (I am the Social Media Coordinator at Two West) and come home and check it again; once more before bed; and first thing every morning. :)

I consider myself a digital native and have been fortunate to see many of these platforms evolve into what they are today (or in some cases fail). I have been involved with social media for more than 10 years and have assisted a variety of businesses and institutions in creating an online presence including universities, hospitals, spas, athletic teams and investment firms. I am a naturally curious individual and spend time daily doing research on new market trends or social media best practices for specific industries to help clients. I have a Bachelors of Science in Interactive Digital Media.

I have been involved with the Social Media Club since about February 2010 and have helped to put on happy hours alongside Steven Chau and Joe Cox and have suggested topics for breakfasts and other events which I feel would assist our social media community. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with #SMCKC and networking on and offline. :)

I already have some education topics in my back pocket such as Facebook Privacy issues, Incorporating social media into traditional marketing, Personal Blogging and Blogger outreach and more! Of course I would love to hear what you're interested in learning or what you feel has worked well in the past! I am excited to work with area Social Media Club chapters to leverage hot topics, speakers and of course to provide ample networking opportunities. Thank you for this opportunity! I would love to represent #SMCKC as Education chair.

Brooke Beason
http://twitter.com/brookebeason
http://facebook.com/brookebeason

[Kerstin Burns]

Hi everyone!

First, I'd just like to say that I am honored to accept this nomination and I'm thrilled to participate in this process.

I’ve been a part of SMCKC since 2008, and I firmly believe in our mission to serve the Kansas City metro community. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ll keep it brief. I currently work for a local integrated marketing communications firm in the Social Influence discipline, creating social media and online reputation management strategies for my clients.

In a past life, I have been a bookkeeper, a controller and a COO. In short, I have 11 years of experience in accounting, finance, small business management and operations. I also have a certificate in Professional Accounting for Business.

I believe my combined social media interest and finance and accounting experience put me in a unique position to support our vibrant organization.

Thank you very much for the opportunity!

Kerstin Deppe

http://twitter.com/kayhaswings
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kerstindeppe

[Mark Mattison]

I strongly endorse and encourage you all to vote for Brenda Bethman for Education Chair. As a colleague at UMKC and personal friend, I know that Brenda is the perfect person to help bring creative and high-quality Educational Programing to the club. Additionally, she has the ideal work skills and style to help link members' interests and expertise with educational opportunities outside of the organization either as participants or presenters.

Brenda Bethman said:

Greetings all! I am excited to be nominated for the SMCKC Education Chair position. I have been involved with SMCKC for quite a while (I don't remember exactly, but I know I've been attending breakfasts for at least a year if not longer). In my day job I am Director of the Women's Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where I am also Acting Director of the Women's & Gender Studies Program and Affiliated Faculty in German.

I was first exposed to social media through my work with university students. Wary at first (I am a Gen Xer, after all...), I eventually embraced social media wholeheartedly and the Women's Center now leads UMKC in its adoption of social media. I am also passionate about educating others about social media and will be teaching a first year seminar with a social media theme this fall. I have presented on social media both locally (Central Exchange) and nationally (National Women's Studies Association and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) and look forward to designing educational sessions for SMCKC as well as working to enhance the membership experience for both new and continuing members. My university background would also serve SMCKC well here as my work at UMKC entails not just education, but event organizing and working with constituent groups to enhance their experience with UMKC. As someone whose work involves a lot of collaboration, I would also work to bring together the various SMC chapters in the Kansas City area.

I believe that my background and connections would serve SMCKC well should I be chosen as Education Chair. Feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions. Many, many thanks for the opportunity to run for Chair -- I hope to have the opportunity to serve SMCKC in this capacity.

Brenda Bethman
http://twitter.com/brendabethman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/brendabethman
http://info.umkc.edu/womenc

[Dave Fluegge]

I'm a previous co-worker of Brooke, a friend, and someone that discusses new social trends constantly with her. She not only has a real passion for social media, but understands best practices for using it in real life business applications. Many people have social media accounts (hopefully everyone in the group), but few people truly understand how to use it as a tool in their marketing arsenal. Brooke would be an amazing addition to SMCKC as the education chair, and a valuable asset to members.

Brooke Beason said:

Well Hello! To tell you a little about myself, I am a self-proclaimed social media nut. I live it and breathe it. I am engaged daily on social media platforms at work (I am the Social Media Coordinator at Two West) and come home and check it again; once more before bed; and first thing every morning. :)

I consider myself a digital native and have been fortunate to see many of these platforms evolve into what they are today (or in some cases fail). I have been involved with social media for more than 10 years and have assisted a variety of businesses and institutions in creating an online presence including universities, hospitals, spas, athletic teams and investment firms. I am a naturally curious individual and spend time daily doing research on new market trends or social media best practices for specific industries to help clients. I have a Bachelors of Science in Interactive Digital Media.

I have been involved with the Social Media Club since about February 2010 and have helped to put on happy hours alongside Steven Chau and Joe Cox and have suggested topics for breakfasts and other events which I feel would assist our social media community. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with #SMCKC and networking on and offline. :)

I already have some education topics in my back pocket such as Facebook Privacy issues, Incorporating social media into traditional marketing, Personal Blogging and Blogger outreach and more! Of course I would love to hear what you're interested in learning or what you feel has worked well in the past! I am excited to work with area Social Media Club chapters to leverage hot topics, speakers and of course to provide ample networking opportunities. Thank you for this opportunity! I would love to represent #SMCKC as Education chair.

Brooke Beason
http://twitter.com/brookebeason
http://facebook.com/brookebeason

[Neil Steiner]

Hi there fellow SMC-KC members! I'm Neil Steiner and I'm running for Vice President. Like many of you I'm new to the club and I'm new to social media but picking up knowledge very fast through my exposure with the SMC-KC. I started coming to some of the meetings after I worked on my own blog.touchpollkc.com site. I've been an active member in many other organizations like the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, The Convention and Visitor Association, The American Royal Marketing Committee, the AAF-KC, the Freelance Exchange, the Downtowner's and the Visionaries. I guess you could say I'm a networking junkie!

I intend to help this organization become a focal point for all that is social media in Kansas City. I believe that "Shift Happens" and that pretty much describes how the media landscape is changing and evolving into new forms of communication with the help of the internet infrastructure. The traditional media is either going to adapt or to die. I'm an older guy but I don't even read newspapers anymore (sorry KC Star). My goal will be to foster the understanding of these changes, provide a resource for those that want to learn the new rules of social media, and to be a place where people from a variety of backgrounds and needs can have fun, learn and grow in this evolving social media landscape.

I recently wrote an article on " Using Social Media to Understand Your Competition" and it's available here for download.

I will look forward to serving you if I am elected. Thank you.

[Joe Cox]

Good morning SMCKC peeps!

I'm Joe Cox and I'm a nominee for the VP position for the group.

First off, I wanted to thank Lisa & the rest of the board for being so on top of these elections. The forum is an AMAZING idea and I know everyone here really appreciates a spot to be heard and to learn a bit more about the folks running.

I'm a Marketing Manager for vitaminwater here in KC and have spent my whole life in the KC area. When I first started attending meetings I was just a huge enthusiast, working on my personal brand. I really wanted an offline place to talk and meet others with the same interests.

Since then Social Media has become a large part of my local marketing strategy and I'm now a certified Social Media spokesperson for the Coca-Cola Company and one of the people tweeting for @vitaminwater as well as posting for local events on the national Facebook, Foursquare & Youtube channels. I owe a lot of this to the group and the people I met through the breakfasts and I'm so happy to now have the opportunity to give back.

I joined the group fairly early. Not sure on a date, but we were meeting up at FirstWatch in Westport and I think we were on one table. Since then, I've gotten to see the group grow...a lot! So many awesome people and such a different vibe than other groups I've been a part of in the past.

The most important part to me is keeping this place fun & honest. We have a giant opportunity to connect with so many other communities and to teach and learn and grow ourselves, but we must always protect that same passion & heart that was there from the very beginning.

As the VP, I'm there for support. Everyone on the board has full time jobs and planning these meetings, reaching out to other communities, getting speakers, and everything else it takes to make this group happen takes a lot of time. I want to be there to make sure that the quality of these events are always high and that responsibilities are as evenly distributed as possible. I've always been sort of a Jack of all Trades, so I won't mind jumping in wherever needed. If any of you have worked with me in the past, you know that I like to get stuff done. I would have an absolute blast helping the rest of the board get stuff done here in KC for SMCKC.

Thanks for your consideration everyone!

www.joecox.me
http://twitter.com/joenormal

[Banky]

Fellow SMCKC'ers,

Personally, I'm excited to read that there will soon be some new thinking infused into the SMCKC. I'm sure everyone who has been nominated is MORE than qualified to fill these positions. I wanted to pass along my thoughts about two of the nominated leaders who I have worked with professionally, and can heartily recommend.

Dee Sadler for Education: You want people around you who know how to design groups for a purpose. Dee has been a part of organizing four groups around bringing people of various technologies closer (KCWebCore, DesignCore, DevCore, and Digital Photography) She also created and hosted the Design/Developers Workflow conference (d2wc.com) at the Crown Plaza Hotel which launched to great success this past June. The d2wc attracted people from all over the country to Kansas City to attend. Having been a speaker at the conference, I can attest to how smooth and educational people found it.

Michael Robinson for VP: I worked with Michael at Sprint and Embarq and have yet to meet a better "idea" guy. He not only brings a fresh attitude to the SMCKC but also a proven record of designing ideas for Fortune 300 companies. He is a business person who understands technology (he can actually program Java) and how it can be used for business and their customers. He's not only passionate about leading edge technology but also his family and being healthy and fit.

[Dee Sadler]

Hi everyone, my name is Dee Sadler, and I am a nominee for the Education Chair.

I am not new to non-profits. I started doing the newsletter and website for MacCORE back in 1998 and eventually became their Vice President for 3 years before the business was disbanded last year.

I started running the local Macromedia user group in 2005 and rebranded it KCWebCore in 2006 and founded KCCoreGroups, which now has 5 user groups, and 4 of which I founded or was co-founder of. We've put on numerous large events, where I've been the main person organizing.

I run a conference called D2W. Design/developer workflow conference and we just had that in June where our own Vince @banky was a very well received presenter (of course).

I have been an Adobe Certified Instructor for many, many years. I have 6 Adobe certs and a CompTia CTT+ Technical Trainer certification.

For the Adobe User Group Managers, I run a Manager 2 Manager meeting each month online via Adobe Connect. It is to help managers figure things out. Like, getting speakers, where to hold their meetings, how to run the meetings and more. I also wrote an interactive PDF for new Managers that Adobe uses to give to new managers.

Besides being a UX/UI web designer, I am a frequent speaker at conferences. I have 8 speaking engagements this year alone, including speaking for the first time at Adobe MAX. I am thrilled and honored to be speaking there this year. I also had the privilege of being a presenter for Total Training this year for 2 of the CS5 (Adobe Creative Suite) programs, Dreamweaver and Fireworks.

While I have a ton of experience running groups, I also have just as much experience educating. Please consider me as Education Chair for #SMCKC

Dee Sadler
@DeeSadler