Wednesday morning’s Social Media Expedition Breakfast was definitely a good one, but we’re just gearing up for SocialCamp, Sept. 19. We’re pulling out all the stops for that one, so make a point to stop by the SocialCamp Memphis website for more information about that.

After our usual announcements (which, by the way, included SocialCamp), we were treated to a special welcome from Shelby County Commissioner / founder and CEO of Flinn Broadcasting / radiologist Dr. George Flinn who had some kind, generous, and flattering words to everyone who takes part in the Social Media Expedition – and that includes attendees.

It’s easy to get so deep into what you’re passionate about that you lose perspective on how what you do affects the community around you. To be reminded that the relationships and communities we build bring noticeable good into Memphis was a powerful and empowering way to start the morning.

To have Dr. Flinn come and remind us of the good that we are all building is nice. But what would be nicer would be to pass on the good will – and to pass on his closing sentence, “Thank you for making Memphis and Shelby County great.” Seriously. Thank you.

What really made the September breakfast something special was the structure. Rather than have a single speaker, as usual, we embraced a show-and-tell format.

Each presenter shared a single topic, service, program, or idea for about seven minutes. One of the greatest things about gathering people together for is the wide range of experience, knowledge and curiosity that everyone brings to the breakfasts.

Our presenters were, in order, Blake Palmer, Beth Sanders, Matthew Crawford-Trisler, Jonathan Lyons, Dave Barger, and Robert Staub.

Palmer and Crawford-Trisler are both social media specialists at LunaWeb, though Blake will leave at the end of this week for CommercialAppeal.com. Sanders is a freelance design and social consultant. Lyons manages social media in the marketing and PR department for the Peabody Hotel. Barger is President and CEO of LunaWeb. Robert Staub is a small business success coach and host of the weekly Small Biz Show.

Blake Palmer Presenting the Yelp iPhone app

Between Blake Palmer’s talk about the emerging trend of augmented reality applications for smartphones and Beth Sanders’ run through of Evernote, the online/real world service that works as an augmented memory application, we were handed a very interesting view of the future in which technology will aid and combine human tasks and knowledge in ever more helpful, present, and intuitive ways.

Matthew Crawford-Trisler delivered an in-depth presentation about the need for and use of the Free Music Archive, a curated cache of Creative Commons-licensed music which, because it is free – as in both beer and speech – is a great resource for music to use in videos, podcasts, presentations, or to load up your iPod.

Jonathan Lyons talked about how he uses Social Media on behalf of the Peabody to build and expand upon existing relationships in the community, and to positively impact the image of the hotel among Memphians. He had to figure out how to promote the hotel without being spammy, create personal content, and navigate photography rights when covering events. He shared his experience with the blurring line between Returns on Investment and Returns on Engagement.

Dave Barger spoke about the trouble in looking at social media as a way to expand your business’ audience. While it’s possible, he notes that it is a big time commitment. If you’re just stepping foot in for the first time, it’s likely going to be best to focus on existing relationships. Facebook and Twitter are important, but are not the only answer.

Barger recommended the simplified blogging service, Posterous, to communicate with employees and clients alike, along with internal tools, such as Yammer or Socialcast. When it’s time to turn outwards, there’s always services like Ning, which are quite useful, but, Barger warned, only if you’re going to put the time and effort into making it a good resource before the doors are ever even opened.

Robert Staub has put a tremendous amount of effort into his latest venture, Small Biz Memphis, which launches Sept. 18th. The site, built on Ning, promises to be a valuable resource for small business information and for online business networking in a city where most networking is done face-to-face. By gathering as much information as possible about small businesses and events in one place, it promises to be a one-stop shop for small businesses in Memphis.

Each presentation went off without a hitch, and we felt honored to host such a stellar series of presentations. Dr. Flinn had it right when he thanked everyone who came this morning for making Memphis and Shelby County a great place. And once again, we’ll pass that thanks along. Thank you.

Tags | breakfast, Dave Barger, Expedition, LunaWeb, Memphis, network, networking, Social Expedition, Social m, Social Media, socialcamp