Meet Our September 2010 Social Media Breakfast Speakers!

Thinking about starting a blog?   Wish you existing blog had more readers or comments?  Wondering just how the city’s successful bloggers ever have the time to do such good work?

Find out all this and more as recently-launched, local news startup TBD and a few excellent DC area bloggers tell you the secrets to their blogging success. They will talk about how to get started blogging, crafting great posts, using social media to market your blog and how they fit blogging into their day (on top of full-time jobs, families and other commitments).

We have several speakers this time around, which means only one thing — more brilliant brains to pick on. But don’t worry, breakfast won’t run beyond the allotted time. Our speakers will first share their favorite pieces of wisdom with all of us and then, we will open up the floor to make sure you get the opportunity to ask all of your burning blogging questions 🙂

See you at Busboys and Poets (14th and V — U Street Metro) on TUESDAY, September 14, 2010 at 8:30am.

Meet the speakers (and their blogs!)

Speakers: Jaime Fearer (@bogrosemary)

and Geoffrey Hatchard (@IMGoph)

Blogs: District Curmudgeon (@distcurm)

and Greater Greater Washington (@ggwash)

Jaime worked in the book industry for over 10 years, dividing that time between bookselling and academic publishing. After living in NE DC’s Woodridge neighborhood for 3 years, where she ran the blog stop, blog, and roll, Jaime decided to formalize her passion for community building and planning by pursuing a Masters in Community Planning at the University of Maryland, College Park. Jaime currently lives in DC’s Trinidad neighborhood and is co-creator and author of The District Curmudgeon with Geoffrey Hatchard and also contributes to Greater Greater Washington.

Geoffrey’s background in geography is what brought him to Washington, DC, and it’s what has helped him develop a deep and abiding love for the city. An life-long obsession with maps brought him to DC for a job as a cartographic editor at the National Geographic Society, and he currently is employed as a geographer with the U.S. Census Bureau. Since moving into the city 6 years ago, he’s strived to stay on top of neighborhood news, leading to the creation of a neighborhood blog for the Bloomingdale neighborhood in 2006. In 2009, he moved to the Trinidad neighborhood with Jaime Fearer, co-creating their current blog, The District Curmudgeon, as a vehicle for both rants and a way to talk about how to change things in DC for the better. He also contributes to Greater Greater Washington.

Speaker: Scott Brodbeck

Blog: ARLNow.com (@ARLnowDOTcom)

Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by Scott Brodbeck, an Arlington resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news in D.C., ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.

Speakers: Cindy Cotte Griffiths (@cindycg) and

Brad Rourke (@bradrourke)

Blog: Rockville Central (@Rockville)

Cindy and Brad have been collaborating on Rockville Central since June 2007 when Brad founded the site. Rockville Central covers the news from the second-largest city in Maryland and the county seat of Montgomery County. Designed from the start with the civic goal of being a safe space for all kinds of people to discuss issues in public life, Rockville Central has grown to be in the top five most-read local blogs in Maryland, and is read throughout City Hall and beyond.

Both very active in the Rockville community, Cindy and Brad each bring a unique sensibility to the site. Brad is an expert in civic engagement and has been blogging about public life since before the term “blog” was invented. Cindy has
worked with local nonprofits and shares her experiences about what’s special in the community through blogging, which she hopes will encourage greater public participation.

Speaker: Mandy Jenkins (@mjenkins)

Blog: TBD.com (@TBD)

Mandy is the Social Media Producer for TBD.com, a local news website and TV station in the Washington, D.C. area that launched in early August. In addition to its own reporting staff and a collection of curated local sources, TBD features posts from a Community Network of more than 150 local blogs (and counting). TBD is also active on the social web, using Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and other tools to gather, share and report news. Before moving to D.C. to work for TBD this summer, Mandy was the Social Media Editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer. She also writes Zombie Journalism, a blog on new media issues.

A special thanks to Busboys and Poets, the OFFICIAL venue of Social Media Breakfast DC!

Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bookstore, fair trade market and gathering place where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace. Each Busboys and Poets location should enhance the community — allowing us to bring together a diverse clientele reflective of the surrounding neighborhoods. Busboys and Poets creates an environment where shared conversations over food and drink allow the progressive, artistic and literary communities to dialogue, educate and interact. Follow them on Twitter and declare your love on Facebook.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Want to get more involved?

Register as a “Head of Table”! Essentially, you will be volunteering to ignite conversation at your table and let others pick your brain during the Breakfast. Don’t worry, we don’t mean this literally. Heads of Table get 50 % off!

If you or your company is interested in sponsoring any one of our monthly breakfast events, please let us know. Email us at socialmediaclubDC [at] gmail [dot] com or send a tweet to @smcdc. Thank you in advance!