The Future of the Black Country Social Media Cafe
December 10, 2009
Last night was the last Black Country Social Media Cafe (BCSMC) of the year, with a Christmas feel provided by roaring open fires and the toasting of crumpets provided by @Cybrum. 
The end of one year and the start of another seems an appropriate time to start a discussion about what people want from the BCSMC, if indeed they want anything at all. Over the past year we have experimented with a couple of formats: structured talks during the day, and informal gatherings down the pub in the evening. Meetings have been held in Wolverhampton, as well as in Walsall and Stourbridge. We’ve had as many as 25 people turn up, and as few as six.
So. What do you want from the BCSMC? Feel free to leave a comment.
Advertisement
6 Comments
leave one →
Hi –
I’d love to be able to make one of the meetings, but haven’t been able to as yet. Seeing as I could really only make Walsall ones at lunchtimes on a Thurs or Fri, my options are severely limited!
Jayne
I would like it to not clash with things. Unfortunately, that tends to happen more than I’d like. I really enjoyed my first – the panel discussion – but also enjoy it when there’s just a few of us sitting in the pub chatting. Curry is always good, too!
In short, I don’t know but I’ve enjoyed everything so far so not sure whether there needs to be much change from the status quo.
You are right. It’s a good time to have a think. I’ve really enjoyed attending. From each one I’ve come away with something positive.
I’ve enjoyed the pm stuff because there has been a different more unstructured feel to it.
I’ve also really enjoyed the more structured approach with guest speakers.
Would it be an idea to have a pm meet one month and then a daytime structured debate the next? The WV11 Blog and hyerlocal blogging would be a great idea for a focus. The excellent Derbyshire SMC did one recently and I’m sure they don’t have the last word on it all.
Besides @philipjohn – and maybe Will, Mike and Nicky from Talk About Local may contribute.
What do people think?
I’ve only been to Stourbridge and Wolvo pub nights. Both have been interesting. I’d struggle in the day.
I’d certainly be interested in something structured, preferably on a Saturday afternoon.
Working in the week and every other Saturday till 1pm leaves me little spare time. Evenings are ok if not too far away but being a public transport user living on the semi-rural fringe of Walsall makes anything too late or too distant very tricky.
No problem with beer though :O)
Chatting to people with a passing interest the model of ‘Theme, speaker, debate, chat’ is a very popular one.
People would like to come and know they were going to get insights around a specific topic.