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Social Media Club Portland (OR) hosts Paul Barron, Publisher of Fast Casual Magazine and the USARestaurant Industry's "Most Influential" Social Media Voice.

Paul's presentation, "Web Era 4 - What It Means to Restaurants" is a must-hear for Portland restaurant professionals/owners and publicrelations/social media service providers.

Less than 10% of USA restaurants have even begun to embrace the social web - here is the opportunity to get leading theory from the tophospitality social media thinker in North America.

Paul Barron, with over 52,000 Twitter followers, was rated in July 2010 as the top social media influencer in hospitality in the USA by Restaurant Reality Check Blog. Publisher of Fast Casual Magazine and Social Coco Blog, Paul is actively engaged with the boards of both the National Restaurant Association and Share Our Strength.

It's our distinct pleasure to welcome Paul to speak to the Pacific Northwest hospitality and public relations/marketing/social mediacommunities at Social Media Club PDX.

Event Details:

Registration is open and underway, limited to under 100. Register here at EventBrite.

Paul Barron: "Web Era 4 - What it means to the restaurant industry"

As a leader in the new restaurant, technology and social media era and also as the founder of Fast Casual.com and QSRweb.com

Change Agent has often been my moniker and I welcome it with open arms. As a Publisher and new media maven I have spent the past 16years developing online media to build brands and amass audience. Ibelieve that change is the one thing that is always constant. I feelfortunate as a founder of many blogs, podcasts, viral video and socialmedia platforms. Each of these experiences has helped me to be on thecutting edge of every new media push since the first web page by TimBerners Lee in 1992.

As an expert in understanding the evolution of digital media over the past 15 years, I can say I am one of the elite in Social Media inall sectors of business and continue to grow and understand thismassive shift in communication.

As a trend watcher I have had a chance to be part of the biggest shift in consumer restaurant interaction in the history of therestaurant business. In the mid 90's I began tracking and defining the Fast Casual restaurant segment that has grown to more than a 40 billion dollar contributor to the half-a-trillion restaurant business.

As an early adopter, consumer science master, programmer, designer, social creator and best of all a student of the actual technology that drives the weband this entire new media craze, I understand what it takes to create adigital footprint and develop a social brand in today's online world.

I am happy to talk to your brand; group or company on how new media can change the way you do business.

McMenamin's Lola's Room at the Crystal Ballroom

The little sister of the historic Crystal Ballroom, Lola's Room is located on the second floor, directly below theCrystal. If you're a fan of DJ'd dance events, raging local rockshowcases or intimate seated performances, then take a moment andbookmark this page.

The navigation menu at left is your roadmap to Lola's Room and the other offerings at the corner of 14th %26 Burnside. Check out what'scoming up on the Events Calendar, discover how to let us host your nextparty, or simply investigate our brewery, artwork and history.

A night at Lola's Room should always include a stop by Ringlers Pub or Ringlers Annex, where there's usually a vibe to fit your mood -- great pub fare,inspiring beverages, engaging conversation, a good pool game, a rowdyparty, or a groovy DJ in a dimmed and quiet setting.

August 11th from 5 to 9 pm. Cash beverage/pizza by the slice bar.

Giveaway Schwag

• Gift certificates to weekend cooking classes at Oregon Culinary Institute.
• $25 gift certificate to Scratch in Lake Oswego (Chef Warner is competing on Iron Chef in August 2010).
  
• Five 12oz bags of premium roasted coffee from Water Avenue Coffee/American Barista & Coffee School in Southeast PDX. Retail value 12oz bag $12.
• Two tickets to Foodportunity Portland on September 13th at the Heathman Hotel.

More schwag coming!

I've become really fascinated with how small independent businesses can take advantage of emergent social web tools. Much of my professional experience has been in the non-corporate world (except for Ritz
Carlton, Hyatt, GTE Sprint, and some early career positions);
independents generating less than $5 million in annual revenues.

The growth challenges posed to independents are, I believe, much more difficult than that for larger organizations. With larger organizations comes economies of scale. The independent organization manager has so
many more hats to wear and not nearly the time or educational resources
available.

How can these organizations take advantage of the new tools of the social web? The social web research firm Wetpaint/Altimeter found that organizations with total social media engagement were able to grow their
businesses by 18%. It's no secret that the social web offers
organizations opportunities, but these players aren't able to afford the
market rate for social media strategists and community managers
($100/hour and $60/hour respectively).

**Please do not think you can conduct good social media by hiring a kid with a large Facebook account - that will FAIL miserably.

How does an independent restaurant, inn or coffee house effectively compete against the multi-units in social media? This question has been rattling around my brain for the past six months and I think there is a
minimum of three answers:

Do It Yourself. Doing it yourself offers the operator complete control. It also means significant time in learning effective strategies, tools and methods. In addition, it means significant time
involvement in maintaining your social media activities (production,
distribution, monitoring, engagement).

Outsource To A Large Firm. Outsourcing to a large firm can be attractive because of the automation offered in distribution, monitoring and analysis. In addition, you don't have to invest time and money in
learning effective strategies, tools and methods. The disadvantage is
that your organization will still have to do the content production and
the engagement, requiring your time and attention.

Hire A Small Professional Creative Company. I posit that this is the best option for the independent small business. The creative company brings all the resources for production, distribution, monitoring and
engagement - crafting and executing a sound and highly individualized
strategy. Time requirement for the organization is minimal, requiring
meeting in person or through technology for the creative professional to
gather some raw content and give reports/feedback. It's personal and
accountable.

I'm going to forecast here that 2010 will be the year we'll see an explosion of small creative social media providers catering to small business. Market rates will be reasonable, ball-parking in the $500 to
$1000 per month range. With small business being the backbone of the
American economy, I believe these social media providers will become the
norm.