An Introduction to Social Media at #SDVision

I gave a presentation this afternoon entitled ‘An Introduction to Social Media’ at the annual Supporters Direct (SD) conference. The event held at the home of the Institute of Technology and Engineering (IET), at Savoy Place was  an opportunity for supporters up and down the country and beyond to come together and talk about sports club ownership. For those who are unaware of what SD does, essentially their aim is to bring about responsible, democratic representation for supporters at their clubs, often by buying a stake in them.

As a QPR fan, a club who like many, have sailed too close to the wind in recent times, the concept of supporters owning part or all of  their club has always interested me and I was only too delighted to help out after SD Communications Manager, Kevin Rye got in contact via Twitter.

As I mentioned in the presentation I think social media can be used effectively for people to congregate, communicate and mobilise around a cause or campaign, such as sports club ownership. I hope the session provided a useful introduction to social media and that the case studies and tools featured helped demystify some of the platforms out there.

I was also lucky enough to attend Dr John Beech’s session which looked at the tell-tale signs of a club whose finances are not as healthy as they proclaim. It was an insightful, humourous session and for those with an interest in football club ownership, I recommend checking out his Football Management blog.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed presenting and I must say it was an afternoon well spent, meeting passionate, committed supporters all in one place. There were many inspiring people in attendance and it is always somewhat humbling to meet those who freely dedicate untold hours to a cause close their heart. With regard to SD, it is great to see a democratic, co-operative, self-help movement that wants to garner grassroots support for genuine change and supporter representation. I look forward to working with them again in the future.

You can find out more about this year’s conference from the #SDVision Twitter stream. Below is a copy of the presentation – if you attended the session I would delighted to hear your feedback or any questions you may have.

Thanks is also due to my Edelman colleague and Watford supporter Matt Churchill for the hours of hard work he put into the presentation.