Social Media Leaders Seek Kansas City's Roadmap to Gigabit City

Sept. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- The area's most avid internet users and innovators will convene with business, education and civic leaders to brainstorm ways to capitalize on Google's bestowment of ultra-high speed fiber internet network upon Kansas City.

After Google announced last spring that Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri are the two initial cities to benefit from "internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today," the task falls to the community to determine the best ways this technological gift should be used.

In response, the Social Media Club of Kansas City (SMCKC) will host "Building the Gigabit City: Brainstorming a Google Fiber Roadmap" October 3rd at the Kansas City (MO) Public Library Central Branch, one of the event's major sponsors.

SMCKC member Mike Brown, founder of The Brainzooming Group, will lead the invitation-only, daylong work session. Brown volunteered to fully donate the company's innovation services and the Brainzooming Methodology to the session that will bring together more than 50 individuals from SMCKC as well as the broader community—a combination of visionary entrepreneurs, developers, business leaders and creators.

A public presentation of preliminary results from the Gigabit City session and a call for public input will be conducted from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Kansas City Public Library Central Branch Helzberg Auditorium at 14 W. 10th Street in Kansas City, MO.

"The importance of not only accepting this tool from Google, but using it with an eye towards long-term success cannot be overstated," Brown said. "The Brainzooming Group is based in Kansas City, and our method successfully allows a large, diverse group to actively contribute and shape ideas. That diversity of thinking is exactly what's needed to bring the community's best ideas to the surface."

The public is invited to share their thoughts about community needs and opportunities that gigabit home internet might help address prior to the workshop by completing an online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GigabitCity. Data collected from the survey will be used to stimulate a focused, facilitated workshop designed to yield hundreds of potential ideas and at least 25 refined application concepts about what Google Fiber might mean to consumer households.

"We want to lay a framework on which businesses and individuals can develop opportunities on the social web within the Kansas City community, positioning the region as a national leader in the social technology and innovation space," said Joe Cox, president of the Social Media Club of Kansas City. "As a metro area we will have a short window as the first gigabit city, and we believe in getting ideas on the table and into action as quickly as possible to take full advantage of the opportunity we have been given."

Session output will also be shared with the public online as a crowdsourced foundation of opportunities and concepts for creation of positive economic, educational and lifestyle changes in Kansas City.

Other sponsors for "Building the Gigabit City" include Polsinelli Shughart PC and KCNext.

For more information, contact Joe Cox, President, Social Media Club of Kansas City, 816-809-6466, joe (at) joecox.me or Aaron Deacon, Events Chair, Social Media Club of Kansas City, 913-475-9885, aaron (at) thecuriolab.com.

Social Media Club of Kansas City's primary mission is to expand digital media literacy, promote standard technologies, encourage ethical behavior and share best practices. We bring together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, toolmakers, and other interested collaborators--essentially the people who create and consume media who have an interest in seeing the ‘media industry’ evolve for everyone’s benefit. We are more than just USERS, we are the reason the tools exist - we are the people who communicate our thoughts and ideas near and far. Join us and let’s shape the future together. Learn more at http://gigabitcity.smckc.com.

The Brainzooming™ Group, based in Kansas City, helps make smart organizations more successful by rapidly expanding their strategic options and creating innovative plans they can efficiently implement. Employing a diverse innovation methodology actively incorporating the expertise resident within an organization, The Brainzooming Group serves consumer, business-to-business, and non-profit organizations by dramatically improving their results in marketing, sales, and overall performance. Mike Brown, founder of The Brainzooming Group, writes daily about the firm's approach to strategy, creativity, innovation, and social media at http://www.brainzooming.com.