Sydney Mobile Technology

Over the last couple of months you’ll notice that we’ve been revamping our image. Essentially, rebranding. And with great results.

Here’s some of the things we’ve been up to, why, and the results:

1. Developing our Facebook presence.

Why? It’s what everyone’s doing right. Of course not. It’s not about what everyone else is doing, it’s acknowledging where our members hang out online. At least socially. A group on Facebook allows our members to discuss items of value to them, without having to go to another website, or change tabs. After all, we are a social group of people with a common interest. This is the easiest way share our passion online.

Results? So far 66 people have joined the Facebook group, which is over a year old – if you have an account, we’d love to welcome you there.

2. Initiating our LinkedIn presence.

Why? We are a group of professionals, who share and learn about the technical aspects of Mobile Technology. LinkedIn is the social media network for professionals. Recently this has exploded in terms of raw growth, as well as increased in significance for professionals.

Our experience is that a lot of professionals use LinkedIn where they wouldn’t use Facebook. A lot of companies allow LinkedIn where they block Facebook. Our presence on LinkedIn allows us to initiate the professional discussions, not to mention job connections, which is just inappropriate on Facebook.

Results? 2 weeks in and we already have 71 Members. If you use LinkedIn, and more importantly, if you have a colleague in the industry that does, please do join the group. Early announcements, passionate discussions, speaker suggestions, Slideshare presentations, all those will happen there.

3. Redeveloping the Blog.

Why? Is blogging dead? Hardly. This is the area where we can announce events, discuss news, and provide resources to our members. This is where we’ll review a shiny gadget and allow others to give their real world experience. Can we do this on LinkedIn? Sure, but only for our LinkedIn members. On the blog, anyone can read, discuss, and debate.

Why the redevelopment though? Simply put our previous host fell over and couldn’t provide their promised SLA. Now, technical challenges affect all providers, so we’re not going to slate them here. We did, however, vote with our feet and move the hosting. If you’re interested, we now use Dreamhost.

Results? We haven’t been running long enough to get any decent Google Analytics yet. Nevertheless, the site has been running a dream

4. Relocate the meeting to the City Hotel in the CBD.

Why? A number of reasons really:

1. We dropped our “Windows” focus last July at the wishes of the membership. The rationale being the amount of alternate smartphone platforms we simply weren’t addressing. Interestingly over half of our members use an iPhone, a good proportion use a Blackberry, and other platforms. Being focussed solely on Microsoft was decreasing out relevance. Since the change, it didn’t seem entirely fair to depend on Microsoft to provide facilities. Especially when an Employee is required to stay behind for security purposes.

2. Increasing our membership. Being at North Ryde made it hard for anyone in, or South of the city to get to a meeting. In the CBD, whilst a pain for some of our members, is a lot more convenient to most professionals in Sydney.

3. Encouraging alternate vendor speakers. It’s pretty hard to get a Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Apple speaker to a usergroup. It’s especially hard on a vendor location (this is counter-intuitive, but hey.) A neutral location encourages the high calibre speakers from all persuasions.

4. The “refreshment” dilemma. This is a real dilemma for any social group leadership.
Should you provide refreshments? After all people come from work, and give up an evening.
How should you fund these? Sponsorship or subscription, both of these require additional logistics overhead, and many “cap in hand” discussions. Just speak to Craig Bailey of SBTUG about the amount he loses personally every month because people don’t pay a donation for the pizza.
Pizza? Why pizza? what about low carbers? How about vegetarians? How many should you order? AARRGGH
What about drinks?

At the pub our members can choose to order food and drink, or not. They can choose a light meal, or a full dinner. They can choose to have a healthy alternative, or an awesome Bacon Cheeseburger. We have no timing, funding, or “what to provide” dilemmas. In addition, the venue is suited to having a meal and a beer.

5. Ambience. Simply put, Microsoft is great for presentations, kind’ve ok for informal networking, and pretty ordinary for refreshments. There is no question that the Livingroom at the City Hotel is great for all of these activities.

At the end of the day, we’re here for you, our members, but this is an unpaid gig. We want to facilitate the best opportunities for our group to grow, whilst minimising the overhead on the organisers. We believe changing venues helps us achieve this.

Results: One meeting, double the attendance of our 6 monthly average. Second only to our world famous Christmas Parties.

5. <Insert your wish here>

How about you? Would you like to see podcasts? Webstreaming? Speed Networking? We’re open to all of these and anything you can come up with. The obvious caveat is: It needs to demonstrate real value to our members, and requires minimal effort to implement.