30 Jan
2009
Video by Nick Booth
Just a quick writeup following the third Social Media Surgery for voluntary and community groups based in Birmingham, organised by Nick Booth, and held at the Birmingham Voluntary Services Centre in Digbeth.
At these surgeries, representatives from community groups and volunteers come along to discover how they can make use of social media. This could be setting up a blog to bring people together around a common issue, organising a Facebook group or sharing a video on YouTube to better communicate a story.
Volunteer “surgeons” offer advice on freely-available social tools in a one-to-one or small group environment. No presentations, lecturing or jargon—just people with knowledge, ideas and passion to help community groups make the most of the internet.
I met Jon at the surgery. Jon runs a martial arts academy in Birmingham and is advocating how martial arts training can be used specifically to help disadvantaged groups.
He wanted advice on setting up a blog to act as a home for the academy, and using social tools to connect people together around this comon issue.
We looked at how to get started with a free WordPress blog, tweak the design and personalise the blog. A day later and it’s nice to see Jon has got his blog up and running at Epic Martial Arts. Great stuff! I’m looking forward to seeing how Jon develops his blog as a community hub to bring together people who share an interest in the therapeutic and rehabilitating potential of martial arts training.
I also met Chris at the surgery. Chris, Jon and I looked at the Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn networking sites as ways to make contact with other people interested in similar issues.
Other ‘surgeons’ at the event were Nick Booth, Jon Bounds, Simon Whitehouse, Danny Smith, Abby Corfan, Katie Spragg, Pete Ashton, Philip Oakley, Jon Hickman, Ben Whitehouse and Joanna Geary (apologies if I’ve missed anyone off).
This is the second surgery I’ve been along too. They’re refreshing, fun and you learn a lot.
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[...] Bounds, Pete Ashton, Jon Hickman, Joanna Geary, Gavin Wray, Benjamin Brum, Simon Whitehouse (see here), Abby Corfan, Phil Oakley, Watfordgap, Danny Smith, [...]
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I remember this! Gavin you were a great help, I know I wouldn’t have got the blog started without your help. Thankyou so much, I had a great time discussing things with you and it was nice to meet Chris too.
Cheers mate.
Hey Jon! It was good talking with you too. Glad you find the surgery useful and got the tips you needed to get started. Best of luck with the martial arts blog!