The Social Media Cafe is a monthly meetup for anyone and everyone interested in social media in Manchester to get together, share ideas and learn from each other.

It's a really informal event, usually held in a pub, bar or other suitable space in and around Manchester city centre. Everyone is welcome - we love a good mix of regular attendees and those new to the scene.

Check out details of our next meetup.

We also usually open up a number of sessions where people can suggest things to talk about or offer to share something new with the rest of us. This "un-conference" format is open to anyone - so if you feel that you would like to lead a talk or discussion around your particular area of interest, put your name and a title of your session into the online spreadsheet. Or start a thread in the forum if you want to gauge interest first!

In the past, people have talked about the future of blogging, the impact of the Apple iPad, new hyperlocal news website and even shared memories about Teletext!

Participation tips

• The unconference format is informal - feel free to contribute and comment.
• Although the sessions can appear to be quite short there is opportunity to carry on the discussions through the break and after.
• Generally the sessions are run as a conversation and participants are encouraged to pitch in where appropriate.
• You don't need to put your name down for a particular session in advance just come along and choose on the night.
• We encourage people to respond to the sessions through Twitter. This will feedback into how the event runs and promote future debate. To make it easier for us to track comments please use the hashtag #smc_mcr. If Twitter isn't your thing then feedback through your medium of choice.