After an intimate fireside meetup in January, SMC_MCR returns to its regular format in February, and we’re at a different venue.

We’ve got two talks already lined up for you, and space for two more. Already booked, we have:

Where are they now? – Martin Bryant, SMC_MCR co-founder and Managing Editor at The Next Web, talks about the ‘next big things’ of the past. From Myspace, Bebo and Friends Reunited to more quirky and obscure offerings. What happened to them and the people who built them?

Perceptive Media - BBC Perceptive Media takes storytelling back to something more aligned to a storyteller and a audience around a fire. It uses Internet technologies and sensibility to create something closer to a personal theatre experience in your living room. The BBC’s Ian Forrester explains more.

Have you got something you’d like to talk about? We have two slots free for this event, so email us: admin AT socialmediamanchester.net with details of what you’d like to discuss. We’re flexible about the topic – as long as it’s about digital innovation or social media and isn’t a sales pitch we want to hear about it!

SMC_MCR takes place: 6pm – 9pm, Tuesday 7 February 2012.

Venue: Lamarrs Restaurant & Bar, 57 Hilton Street, Manchester, M1 2EJ

Sign up on Lanyrd here So we know how many to expect.

See you there!

Image credit: Hober

As has become traditional, our January meeting will be a low-key post-Christmas meet-up in the Britons Protection pub, 50 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester city centre.

We won’t have any programmed events, just suitably social chat about technology, social media and more.

We’ll be there on Tuesday 3 January from 6.30pm onwards. Seek us out in the rooms on the far side of the bar from the door. If you can’t make it, we’ll see you on 7 February when we’ll be back to normal – details of that event will follow soon.

[Image credit: Adam Bruderer]

The University of Salford is holding a ”celebration of the latest in digital entertainment and creativity” called Believe at its new MediaCityUK site on Saturday 12 November.

Works on show will include:

• Lowry to Life. This is described as an ambitious digital re-imagining of LS Lowry’s Piccadilly Gardens painting. Members of the public walking through Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre on Saturday 12 November can literally become part of the art as special motion capture technology will transfer their movements to Lowry characters shown on a giant projection of the painting at MediaCityUK, so the picture will come to life with moving men, women and children.
• A chance to star in the BBC’s Dinosaur Planet thanks to green screen technology.
• A spectacular 3D film of digital dancers, courtesy of renowned Austrian art technology group Ars Electronica,

This Tuesday, 1 November sees November’s SMC_MCR take place, and we’re looking at one of the most interesting, and perhaps the most important, social developments of the year – the #Occupy movement.

From OccupyWallSt to the protests around the world that have followed, we’ll look at what has spurred this new type of protest to form, where it could lead and what it means for the future of society. Panelists will include the University of Salford’s Helen Keegan, whose work explores the impact of online networks. More panelists are to be confirmed.

Please sign up to our Lanyrd event page to confirm your attendance (so we have an idea of numbers). See you there!

Venue: Matt & Phreds, Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

Doors, 6pm, starts 6.30pm

[Image credit: Silveira Neto]

SMC_MCR and MadLab are delighted to host a book reading and discussion with American journalist and writer Cyrus Farivar.

Saturday 29th October, 7pm to 9pm on at Madlab Continue reading →