First sessions booked!
The first two sessions have been booked for Solihull’s Councillors, and these will primarily be an introduction to social media, and how it can be useful to them, and their communities.
CivicSurf have kindly sent out some DVDs and about 70 booklets for me to distribute to the Councillors, and directors, so I really hope this generates some interest in these social media surgeries.
I have been very careful to aim this at the Councillors themselves, rather than the whole council, as these members do not have budget, and are not paid, so I really hope that some of the volunteers from the Birmingham Social Media Surgeries will be willing to help me out here. As this is all about them being able to engage more with their communities, in the same way that we have been helping community and voluntary groups to engage.
In the first two sessions (currently booked for the 7th, and 11th of September) I am only going to introduce them to the concepts, and answer some questions. From this, we should have some people who are genuinely interested in learning, and setting up their own blogs, presence on Facebook/Twitter and so on. I would like to run four surgeries in total with the first towards the end of September, then the other three over October and November.
Without Councillors active engagement through blogs, and social media, I honestly believe we have lost something after spending so long helping community groups make their presence felt online. If they can both engage with each other, and the public together, surely the outcomes will be better for all.
Please let me know by email, or in the comments below if you would like to be involved.
