(Packed House at SMB10 by Bob Collins on Flickr)

The theme of Social Media Breakfast Boston 10 was “ Getting ROI Out of Social Media.”
HubSpot’s CEO Brian Halligan discussed their method for measuring how social media conversations translate into sales.
Marketers at the event suggested that hiring good content people is a more attractive alternative than buying advertising.
Matt Cutler, Vice President, Marketing & Analytics at Visible Measures, presented on the ROI of viral video.
Visible Measures has powerful tools for measuring viral impact, a database of millions of videos and criteria to evaluate what makes videos “go viral.”
Matt drew a comparison to how much Nike would have had to spend on TV commercials to create the same impact that one of their viral videos had (with 16M views).

He calculated that broadcast TV CPMs are apx. $25 and online video CPMs are apx. $50-75, and he created an estimate.
His formula needs to add one critical consideration: context.
Watching a viral video forwarded to me by a friend, posted in a favorite blog or on a social network is worth much more than a tv spot that interrupts my show.

I held Rubber Chicken IV at  Maggiano’s in Boston. 30 guests joined us for an evening of delicious Italian food and many fast yet intense conversations with colleagues and peers. We created an official Rubber Chicken IV soundtrack, as well as “beak breakers.” The beak breakers took some serious time to make; however, I think they helped to provide fuller networking experiences. Since we knew most everyone who joined us, and were aware of their likes and dislikes, we created cards design to help make sure that the right people met and quickly discovered why they were introduced.

For example, a beak breaker might say:

For Bob

• Ask Steve G. for a tip about video blogging
• Ask Jake for advice on time management
• Ask Zach B to share an embarrassing Facebook story
  

Essentially, we helped identify the people Bob should speak with and suggested a few questions to spark meaningful conversation.

The only disappoint for me was the event service Evite. Without my direct knowledge, they sent two reminders to more than 50 people about the event. They also sent a follow up email requesting that my friends and colleagues share their photos. They should know better than emailing my contacts without explicit permission, especially when they are representing that email comes from me. While there are many other services I could use, I think that people are more inclined to open an “evite,” rather than an invitation from a startup with which they are not familiar. If you have another service you like, I would appreciate the recommendation.

More than thirty attended the third Rubber Chicken Social Club dinner at Chang Sho restaurant in Cambridge. We shared great food and conversation. In order to facilitate this, everyone at the dinner received a note card with an assignment. The names of three different people at the dinner and questions to ask them were written on each card. The questions were conversation starters based on people’s areas of expertise or interest.

For example, one question read: “Ask Bob how he uses Second Life in his business.” and another “Ask David what the difference is between filming for the web and filming for TV.”

After each course the ten people at each of the three tables switched places. From what I could tell everyone had the opportunity to get to know each other.

My favorite moment of the evening happened when I looked around the table to see everyone happily eating Chinese food and discussing social media, politics, PR, the Cambridge geek scene, investing and mobile user interface design. It felt like one of those movie moments when the soundtrack kicks in.

Thanks for making the Rubber Chicken Social Club a success. If you’d like at attend the next dinner, email me, or send me a tweet (quiverandquill). Bring a healthy appetite and your sense of humor.

Every week I spent a few hours hunting cool activities that interested me. That became very-time consuming, so I’ve decided to assemble this list of sites as quick reference. I hope you find it helpful, and I would appreciate your contributions. If you see me at one of these events, please introduce yourself.

Boston Business and Advertising Events

• MarksGuide
• MIT Enterprise Forum
• BIMA
• Ad Club
• Social Media Club
• MIT Media Lab
• Web Innovators Group
• Boston Media Makers 

Cyber Citizenship Events

• Berkman Blog Group: I love this.
• H20town’s list of local events
• Berkman Center Events

Boston City Events

• Eventful.com
• Upcoming.org
• Boston.com’s calendar
• City of Boston’s calendar
• Going.com
• Google calendar

Boston Academic Events

• Harvard lectures
• Kennedy School lectures
• Fletcher School lectures
• MIT lectures and events
• BU lectures and events
• Tufts lectures and events
• Brandeis lectures and events

Boston Spiritual and Religious Events

• Shalom Boston
• Boston Buddhist Events
• Jewish Events
• Boston Buddhist Groups

Boston Health and Fitness

• Metro Rock
• Healing Tree: exception Yoga and health center./
• Ultimate Boot Camp
• Mixed martial arts classes: I am looking for a good recommendation.
• Boston Rock Gym

Boston Live Music and Events

• Comedy Connection
• Jazz Boston
• Improv Boston
• Improv Asylum
• Nick’s Comedy Stop

Boston Volunteer Opportunities

• I am looking for an opportunity to volunteer either in the schools or with senior citizens. I want to help create art or teach, entrepreneurship, literature, improv, marketing or strategic problem solving. I would also love to teach senior citizens about social media and help them create profiles in online communities. Suggestions?

Boston Cooking Classes

• Elephant Walk
• Helen Rennie
• Terence Janericco
• Tarantarist

Boston Arts and Theater Events

• MFA events
• Boston architects
• Boston children’s museum
• MFA continuing education
• Art classes
• Can you recommend a place or studio to paint, use clay or create something fun.

Boston Dance Classes

• Wadabo
• Hop to the Beat
• Fads Boston

Boston Adult Education Classes

• Cambridge Adult Education
• Boston Adult Education

Boston Poetry Events

• Poetry Jam
• Myspace Poetry Slam Boston
• Boston Poetry Calendar

Boston Film Events

• MFA films
• Brattle Films

Monday:

• 12:15 p,  “‘Mexico: How to Avoid Being Kidnapped, Jailed or Killed While Reporting.” (DRCLAS) Rafael Fernández de Castro, Harvard University. CGIS S-250, 1730 Cambridge St., 12:15 p.m. Free and open to the public.
• 7 pm. Mobile Monday Boston is having a holidays meeting on Monday December; ard Pub in Cambridge, between MIT and Central Square.

Tuesday:

• 5:15 pm. Tue., Dec. 11 – “Mapping Sacrifice on Bodies and Spaces in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity.” (Women’s Studies in Religion Program/CSWR) Joan Branham, Providence College. CSWR Common Room, 5:15 p.m. Reception to follow. Free and open to the public. (617) 495-5705, esutton@hds.harvard.edu.
• 7pm. Cambridge Semantic Web Interest Group Meetup

Wednesday

• 12 pm. Wed., Dec. 12 – “Black Narrative and Poetry in Latin America.” (Du Bois Institute) Glenda Carpio, Harvard University. Thompson Room, Barker Center, noon. Feel free to bring a lunch. (617) 495-8508.

Thursday

• 7pm. Berkman Blog Group. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/bloggroup/

Friday
4 pm. Fri., Dec. 14 – “The Post Office in Japanese Politics and Society: What Will Change with Privatization.” (Reischauer Institute) Patricia MacLachlan, University of Texas. CGIS S-250, 1730 Cambridge St., 4 p.m. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~rijs.