Late last week I happened upon a post from Michelle Tampoya describing a networking event in Toronto that featured speed mentoring for marketers. Essentially, small groups of marketing newbies would move around the room and pepper experts with real-world questions in three-minute bursts.

Now, why not apply this same concept to the social media space and call it “social media speed mentoring“?

Here’s one way to do that:

1. Use a wiki (I’m partial to PBwiki.com, but there are countless others to choose from) or service such as eventbrite to manage the event’s registration list, and ask all participants to identify themselves as a social media newbie or expert. Make sure you list the likely topics of discussion for the event ahead of time — how to start a blog? how to podcast? how to conduct a blogger-outreach campaign — because participants could have expertise in some areas of social media but not in others. They’ll need to know which camp they fall into .

2. Based on the composition of the group — ideally you’ll have more newcomers seeking advice than experts willing to dispense their knowledge, but it could be the other way around — set up X number of tables or stations where your experts will hold fort.

3. Set a relatively compressed time limit for each session, such as three to five minutes. When time expires, the newbie or group of newcomers move(s) on to the next station.

4. After the speed sessions end, allot some additional time for the participants to follow up on the connections that felt strongest to them. You could also ask the newbies to list the names of two or three experts they’d like to meet with again, and then forward on the relevant contact information after the event.

Other models?

Are there other ways you might organize a social media speed mentoring event? I’d like to hear about them. Drop your suggestions or thoughts in the comments section below.

In the meantime, does someone want to help me organize Boston’s first Social Media Speed Mentoring Night?

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