GRCF is located at 185 Oakes Street SW Grand Rapids, MI. (map). Come a little early to network or stay a while after.

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these dont whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word.

Again we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

Justin Godley (GodleyJu), He leads the Social Media Marketing and Community Management efforts at Meijer. He manages their presence, execution, and strategies for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and FourSquare. He also works with a network of over 50 shopping bloggers in the Midwest. Justin has worked in Marketing for over 8 years with experience in retail, pharmaceuticals, and non-profit organizations. In addition, he was a founding member of the Michigan Film Festival committee and has also assisted the AMA group here in West Michigan with Social Media.

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these dont whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word.

Again we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

In the coming months we’ll be discussing Network and Interactions. More info to come.

George Aquino (@myhotellife) and Ryan Slusarzyk (@SmileRy) will be speaking about their interests and strategies of social media in their personal lives and how we relate them to the hotels and city.  They both treat their social media “life” as an extension of their brands.  It’s every day, whether it’s food, drink, entertainment, they like to talk about it.  What essentially this does is make them “experts” in what interests them.  For George, he is obviously well traveled, a huge foodie and wants to shares those experiences.  Coupled with his enthusiasm of the city, it creates a perfect brand for someone in the hospitality industry, which can utilizes what he learns in other West Michigan locations or anywhere around the world to make his hotel or our city better.

With Ryan, he has a love for anything Grand Rapids.  He focuses on what he is passionate about; dining, Grand Rapids, unique events, fashion, LOCAL, non-profits, etc… Ultimately people seek him out as because he is a “brand ambassador” to the city and those things going on here.  His passion is to give others the insight, tools and opportunity to experience new and different things. If it attracts people downtown Grand Rapids, then he feels he is doing his job.

Working for the Amway Hotel Corporation, George and Ryan, are truly meant to be ambassadors of the city.  If they attract people downtown, it will inadvertently help their hotels in occupancy, food and beverage revenue and exposure.

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these dont whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word.

Again we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

In the coming months we’ll be discussing  Repurposing, Monitoring, as well as Network and Interactions. More info to come.

Christopher Jasinski (analyticswonk), of Amway, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist at Amway, is the Senior Specialist leading Amway’s Social Media Platform Strategy. Christopher is responsible for coordinating Amway’s Social Media efforts and platform initiatives across the globe. Christopher has worn many hats during his tenure at Amway. Previously, he led the global Web Analytics initiative, and currently serves on the Amway Social Media Business Council. Christopher is a native of the Grand Rapids area and was educated at the University of Michigan. He resided in Chicago Illinois and the Bay Area of California prior to returning to Michigan.

Michael Yoder (mdyoder), owns and manages LinkedUp Grand Rapids, a business networking group of nearly 9,000 members based in the Greater Grand Rapids, West Michigan region. He also works with several business partners as a social media adviser and consultant. He has a broad background in many areas of Social Media specializing in Social Media Consulting, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Implementation, Social Media Monitoring, Communications Consulting, Business Development and HR. Michael’s experience includes nearly 4 years of Social Media Consulting and Social Media Strategy development for companies in West Michigan and the upper Midwest.

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these dont whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word.

Again we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

In the coming months we’ll be discussing Content Creation through Curation and Repurposing, Monitoring, as well as Network and Interactions. More info to come.

“Social Media in Higher Ed”

Abigayle Sloan (AbigayleSloan) is a former Fox 17 News reporter and current Assistant Director of Alumni Relations for Grand Valley State University. Miss Sloan handles Alumni communications, the Alumni E-Newsletter, promotional materials, social media, and edits the GV Magazine.

Derek DeVries (derekdevries) Is the Communications Technology Manager at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). In his daily work he focuses on social media,
crisis communications, employee communications, and online reputation management.

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these dont whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word and lets make this our largest event so far!

Again we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

“Managing Facebook for Promotion”

Jeremy Bronson (@jbrons) will be speaking about how to promote your company using facebook.  Topics covered will be: what tools to use, how to manage what you say and when, ways to manage content and track users.  Jeremy helps manage the Social Media and other Digital Marketing for Celebration Cinema (@celebrationcnma)

This is a lunch event, but we are not providing lunch, so please visit local eateries and bring your food on in. Founders and Ritz Koney are both local places, but if these don’t whet your appetite there are many restaurants nearby. Come on out and invite a friend or co-worker that may have some interest. Spread the word and lets make this our largest event so far!

Pizza will be provided by Clark Communications (@ClarkCom) and we are also hearing there maybe cookies and cider being provided.

Again, we will be live streaming the event for those that cannot attend, the stream can be found in the Tools tab up above. Also see the sidebar to follow us on Twitter.

So come have a lunch of Flounder and Gravy with Ellen (she needs a nickname) at GRSM next week : noon on October 27th. We’re going to Experience GR – at their downtown office this month. ExpGR is 171 Monroe Ave NW, Suite 700.

Also note that with the holidays coming up, November and December’s meetings will be combined and moved to the first week in December.

Thursday’s event will have the artist, Alois Kronschlaeger, Eric Kuhn (from SiteLab) and Kristen Underhill, from Storming The Castle Pictures, (a videographer) discussing their Social Media efforts before and during ArtPrize. Each will speak about 5 minutes with some QnA, but mostly this is a tweetup to discuss what you experience at SiteLab. You’re encouraged to twitpic or tweet, video or Facebook post your experiences.

So grab a sandwich from any of the downtown establishments and join us at GRSM.

Do you know about this new initiative that Grand Rapids is doing this year? My Grand Rapids in Six Words @MyGR6 – is a community movement designed to allow anyone to express their sentiments about our community using just six words. MyGR6 mashes up social and traditional media.

Inspired by the urban legend that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in just six words and the resulting six-word story and six-word memoirs, MyGR6 has collected nearly 5,000 stories about our community.

Join Beth Dornan (@BethDornan) of Amway Public Relations and John “Gonzo” Gonzalez (@GRGonzo) of The Grand Rapids Press to learn how MyGR6 was created and how it uses a blend of print, online and social media to get people to share their pride and share their six.

We’re moving this particular event to the Amway Grand Hotel (Pantland), in the Atrium Room. It’s on the lower level by the river just off of the staircase.

This month, we’re taking a break and not having an event at the GR Community Foundation. We’ll be back in August with new content. Check this blog or our Facebook page for more information about next month’s meeting.