OK people of Salem, let’s have another tweetup!

I tried to pick a date and location that worked with everyone’s schedule.  Based on the feedback I received, the Salem Tweetup will happen very soon and here are the details:

If you are not familiar with Venti’s, you’ll be pleased to know that Venti’s has awesome food and drinks.  Combine Venti’s with some great tweeps and it is sure to be a good time!

If you would like to be on the visible list of people attending, maybe attending, or definitely not going to show your face, please drop me a line and I’ll get you added to the list as soon as possible.  When responding with your intentions, please include your twitter handle to reduce the chances of me screwing that part up.

Definitely attending

Maybe attending

Not attending

RIP Salem Beer & Blog

I think it’s pretty safe to say that the Salem Beer and Blog group is dead, with the official time of death (by my estimation) being August 6th, 2009.  This is a little disheartening, as the concept behind this group was pretty good.

The local group is (was) a chapter of the original Beer and Blog originating in Portland, OR.  Extensions of this group have spanned the whole country, from Hawaii to Massachusetts and there’s even an offshoot located in Tokyo.  Coast-to-coast and international.  How’s that for a dispersion!?

I was there for the inaugural meeting on June 2nd.  This group launched with a good amount of buzz and looked very promising at first.  I met several people in person that I’ve had interactions with through Twitter, and a few other great people.  Yep, this was looking like a good thing.

Unfortunately, the good vibes died a quick death.

I missed the second meeting, but made it to the third meeting on August 6th.  I couldn’t help but notice how this meeting in no way resembled the launch a mere 2 months prior.  The focus of the time there had shifted from “bloggers helping bloggers over beers” to something I can’t quite put my finger on.  It turned into something more like a “whatever” group; just show up with some beer and see what happens.

I was under the impression that in that meeting there would be at least some focus on blogging, as there was a post put on their website earlier that day indicating that free WordPress accounts on a particular site would be given to anyone who wanted one.  And instructions would be given on how to integrate them to advertise any other blogs you had.  No such presentation or giveaway happened.

I heard that the most recent meeting was scheduled to take place yesterday, but I haven’t heard of anyone mentioning anything about it, nor have I seen anything posted on the Salem Beer and Blog site.  From what I can tell it isn’t readily apparent if it even happened at all.

Two reasons stand out to me as why the local Beer & Blog has faded into a footnote: lack of communication and lack of an agenda.  The word doesn’t get out very well on when the next meeting is to take place, and if and when you get there you might find that blogging may not be the topic at this blogger’s group.

Did the Salem Beer & Blog die a quick death, or is it still happening and just not announced?

Salem Volcanoes beat the Eugene Emeralds 14-7

I managed to sneak away from the house this afternoon with a friend of mine and we went to a Salem Volcanoes baseball game.  Today”s game marks the second time that I”ve gone to watch this ball club, and they definitely didn’t disappoint any fans.  In fact, the final score makes the game look like it was a lot closer than it really was.

Even though this game is basically meaningless because Salem is already heading to the playoffs having clinched their division, I was still looking forward to seeing our boys put on a good show for their fans.  And put on a good show they did.

The game started off rather ominously.  Eugene was first up to bat and they quickly racked in two runs in the first inning, courtesy of a home run by Nathan Freiman (his 10th of the season).  Since I”m rooting for the home team, I really don”t like how it started out.  When Salem came up to bat, they exited the first inning scoreless.

Swing!

The second inning is when the Volcanoes started knocking in some runs.  In 4 innings of play, the Salem Volcanoes put on a hitting display and drove in 14 runs.  Eugene had more faces on the mound during that time than I remember, but it just wasn’t their night.  Eugene managed to pick up 5 more runs throughout the rest of the game, but ended the battle down 7 runs to the division champs.

If you haven”t been to one of these games yet, I encourage you to go sometime.  But don’t wait too long, cause their final game of the season is today.  If you don”t make it to today’s game, then you”re either going to have to try and score some playoff tickets or wait til next year!

If the below picture is any indication, there will be plenty of seats available for today’s game.  I can only assume the lack of attendance is due to the fact that there is nothing on the line with these final games.  Salem had the title wrapped up a while ago and are now just coasting into the playoffs.

Look at all the open seats!

I”m not sure if I’ll be able to make today’s game, but I’ll definitely be looking into scrounging up some tickets for the home stand in the playoffs. Playoffs start Monday with the first 2 games being played in the Tri-Cities and then they return home to finish the series. First home game is this Wednesday and I hope to see you there!

Yes, it's the Salem Tribe

There’s a new group starting up here in Salem (Oregon, that is) for all you social techie types.  It”s called Salem Tribe and you should consider getting in on this.  And no, “social tech” is not an oxymoron; I will have to inform you that despite how crazy it may sound, there are some people who work in tech fields that do happen to be social.

The brains behind this outfit are Bo Lane and Vin Thomas, two peeps who (or is it whom?) I have interactions with online as well as offline.  The website for Salem Tribe states their purpose rather clearly:

This group is an outlet for like-minded individuals that share a common passion for social media and the creative online community (blogs, website development, graphic design, the internet, etc) to get together and learn how to better utilize these resources – and the relationships we will build – to further us as leaders in our community and in our respective fields.

I can’t imagine how this could not possibly take off and grow into something good.  I’ve participated in other local tech groups that have suffered from the lack of an agenda or purpose, but I doubt this will be the case with Salem Tribe.  Bo and Vin are more than capable of keeping this group going.

The inaugural meeting is slated for Oct. 5th at a location to be announced in the near future.  Aaron Hockley will also give a presentation on “Social Media: Ignore the “Experts” and Build Influence Naturally” with a Q&A follow-up.

You can also keep up with the happenings of the Salem Tribe by following their Twitter feed.  Hope to see you there!