David Bisset – @dimensionmedia will present on how to build a social network using WordPress and BuddyPress, which has recently been released. David specializes in website strategy and design and is an expert on WordPress and WordPress Multi-User platforms.

We will also talk about the other new media and tech events in South Florida, and you will have the opportunity to introduce your meetup or event in two-minutes or less.

There will be food, wine, beer, sodas, and other snacks and refreshments. Please make sure you RSVP at the facebook page. Find out more about RefreshMiami. We will be meeting at 7:30pm, at:

Brikolodge
3301 NE 1st Ave Unit L207
Miami, FL

Directions for getting to Brikolodge:
Brikolodge is in the Midtown4 building, on the south side of the building (follow the signs). Midtown 4 itself is at the southeast corner of NE 33rd street and NE 1st Avenue. There is plenty of parking along the street, and several garages a block or two away (next to target or the other stores on S Miami Ave).

Upcoming New Media Events

It’s a busy month! Featured events include:

Lisa Sparks and Alex de Carvalho will speak about using E-Mail and Social Media for Business Success on May 27, 4-7pm, Hyatt Coral Gables, 50 Alhambra Plaza, Coral Gables. RSVP here, the cost is free.

Miami Drupal Training, May 27-29.

This Saturday, May 30th, join over 200 other local techies as we learn from local and non-local experts on developing for the facebook platform.  Facebook, Intel, and Infinimedia are proud to host the second ever Facebook Developer Garage in South Florida.  Topics will include integrating Facebook Connect, Facebook Connect on iPhone, building your fan page, Social Gaming, and more. See Facebook Miami for more details and the speaker’s lineup. The event is at capacity, please arrive early to ensure your seating.

LaidOffCamp Miami: on Saturday, June 6, 2009 a gathering of job-seekers, freelancers, entrepreneurs and startups will meet at the Miami Beach Convention Center for South Florida’s first community-driven conference for creative employment. Don’t miss this event!

Second #pizzatweetup June 8th, 7pm at The Sicilian Oven Lighthouse Point. Free pizza when you buy a drink!

Social Media Club South Florida June 9th, 7-10pm, is holding an outstanding meetup: “Creative Community Engagement and Engaging Creative Communities”. We will be joined by a panel of artists and bloggers, including Steve Roitstein of the Palo latin-jazz band, Maria Lemus, creative writer, Carlos Miller, photographer, Onajide Shabaka, artist, and Irina Patterson, art event entertainer. Denise Jacobs will lead the panel, and later we’ll dance to the tunes of Palo music! Please RSVP here.

Coffee & Social Media meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month in Naples. Next meeting is June 9th, 8am at Bad Ass Coffee. Email cyndee@c2-com.com or (239)571-3174 for more information.

FPRA Treasure Coast Annual Media Conference June 12th, Stuart. This year’s topic is “Successful Media Strategies”.

Mobile Monday Miami on June 15th, in conjunction with the Mobile Commerce Americas conference

Miami Herald tweetup, June 16th (@miamiherald, @heraldsports). Time and location TBD.

The AWC hosts “Social Media – Challenge or Opportunity?” on Thu, Jun 18, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM at the Havana Club. In a few short years, online communications have changed dramatically. From blogging to Facebook to Twitter, more and more people are participating in the conversation online. For continued effective communication, using these tools is not optional, it’s required … or is it? Join Murray Izzenwasser and Alex de Carvalho for a lively discussion at the outstanding Havana Club, at no charge!

KickStartz Weekend 2009 will held June 18-20, 2009 at DeVry
University in Miramar Florida. KickStartz is an intense 3 day event bringing techies, designers, marketers, and business folks together to create businesses, projects, and work through their ideas! Idea submissions will be presented in an “Elevator Pitch” format to the attendees. The attendees will vote the ideas down to 10 or so finalists. The attendees will then be broken out into teams and will literally create these businesses over the duration of the event.

Friday, June 19, 10am, the Naples Daily News Press Conference and Media Tour, Naples, Florida. Collier County’s only local daily newspaper will move into its new $95 million multi-media facility in September. Media and communications professionals in South Florida are encouraged to attend this personal first-look at their new facility in Naples hosted by publisher Chris Doyle. Critics call it the “last newspaper press to be built in America.” Contact PRACC for more info.

More events:

“The Glitter of Twitter & Social Media” at SFIMA, June 11th

Miami Ruby Brigade Meetup June 15th

RefreshMiami June Meetup June 24th

South Florida iPhone Meetup Group TBA

Check Doterati’s site for many events in Orlando

PRSA PRVille June 18-20, Jacksonville

Just a quick word to update you on our upcoming meetups. Our next one is tonight, November 19th, 2008, at 7:30PM at Brikolodge. Please RSVP on facebook.

December meetup and party.

How did this year fly by so quickly? Whether it was a great year or a so-so year for you, it’s time to celebrate! Please RSVP on Facebook for our December 17th meetup.

Who participates in RefreshMiami?

RefreshMiami is a volunteer-based community of over 500 new media professionals in the South Florida area, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties. Refresh members include local professionals, startups, freelancers, and students who work in or are interested in new media, the internet, technology, social media, and design. From the CEO to the intern, from the venture capitalist to the startup, from the programmer to the artist, Refreshers are a diverse set of skilled and passionate people.

How much does membership cost?

Participation and membership in RefreshMiami is free. Be sure to join our group on LinkedIn, GoogleGroups, or Facebook to get updates on our upcoming meetups.

What are RefreshMiami meetups like?

Our meetings are an informal gathering of local professionals, startups, freelancers, and students who work in or are interested in . We get together on the last Wednesday of each month at 7:30pm. At 8pm, we have three companies or individuals present their topic, which may be a demo, a concept, an idea, an insight, or something they are working on. The presentations run for 10 minutes each followed by a 5 minute discussion. After the presentations are done, we network over food and drinks at the location or at a nearby bar. Generally, between 60 to 100 people come to RefreshMiami meetups.

If you would you like to present or demo something, let Brian or Alex know and we’ll set you up.

Great! Can my company host or sponsor a meetup?

We have generally held our meetups at Brikolodge, the University of Miami School of Communication, and Yahoo! Latin Americas.

Hosting requires inviting us to use your facility for a meetup on the last Wednesday of the month. We would prefer that the location is in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and can hold abut 100 people. Generally the host sponsors the event with food and refreshments and drinks.

If you cannot host RefreshMiami but would like to sponsor us, we will hold the meetup in your name at Brikolodge.

If you would like to host or sponsor one of our meetups, please contact Brian or Alex.

I can’t host or sponsor RefreshMiami; how else can I support the community?

There are lots of ways to give back to your community. If you appreciate the meetups, the easiest way to help is to talk about Refresh to your friends and colleagues, to blog and Twitter about Refresh, and to bring a friend to a meetup.

Got a particular skill you’d like to donate, like web design or programming? Please contact Brian or Alex and we’ll put it to good use … and give you full credit.

I would like to market my product/service to RefreshMiami members.

We ask you to refrain on marketing and advertising your wares to Refreshers. In other words, RefreshMiami is a place to feed, not feed off of.

Getting updates about RefreshMiami and other South Florida new media and tech events.

The best way to get updates is to join one of our groups, on LinkedIn, GoogleGroups, or Facebook. We generally send out one email per month that looks like this, with information about most web and new media events in South Florida. The Google Groups is also a place to hold discussions with other members.

Our next meetup is on Wednesday!

Yahoo! Latin America hosts us again at their cool Coral Gables offices and we’ve got great presentations lined up:

- Alexandra Leite will describe what it’s like to work in global virtual teams;

- Jeffrey Sass of Myxer will talk about dealing with the complexities of mobile content;

- Jose from the Knight Foundation will present the Knight News Challenge Garage and give information on how you might win part of $5 million!

If we’re running on time, we’ll lead a discussion on “Steps to building your personal brand online.” Let us know about your experiences of what works … and what doesn’t!

Here are the details of the meetup:

When: Wednesday September 24th, 2008, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Where: Yahoo! Latin America
Street: 1 Alhambra Plaza, Coral Gables, FL
RSVP: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=36985634056

Here’s a Yahoo! map of the location.

Space will be limited to 75 people this time, so make sure to RSVP and to arrive promptly on time. Nearly 100 attended the last event, which caught us by surprise since there were more people than had confirmed. Please arrive early as we may not be able to accommodate more than 75 people.

We’ve set up a quick poll to record your preferences on where to hold RefreshMiami meetups. Please take a couple of seconds to choose you preference: http://tinyurl.com/3ov5d5

If you are interested in presenting at the October event or hosting the October event, please let us know.

Nathaniel McNamara of HIG and YASNAP will present his thinking on viral distribution of web applications. He’ll talk about how to how to build, measure and optimize your apps for viral distribution.

We have also started researching the ins and outs of formalizing RefreshMiami as a non-profit organization. There are many pros and some cons, and we’ll present our latest thinking and progress at the meeting. If you have experience in running or setting up a non-profit, we would love to hear from you.

After that we’ll have some beers and wine!

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=13697336138

Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Time: 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Location: Brikolodge
Address: 250 NW 23rd ST, Miami, FL

Many thanks to Denise Jacobs and dotMarketing for hosting a great RefreshMiami meetup in May. We talked about developments in South Florida’s burgeoning tech community and then learned about website accessibility.

Thanks also to Victoria Edwards from the Collins Center for Public Policy, who presented her upcoming free Conference on Universal Access, on June 23rd. She is also setting up a volunteer program (Facebook link) for tech savvy people looking to give back and help bridge the divide in South Florida.

Since the meetup was in Coconut Grove, we continued the conversation over dinner and drinks at Jaguar’s.