Day 1: Wednesday, 9th November

Day 2: Thursday, 10th November

We are super excited that Stephen Leighton, owner of leading UK coffee roaster Has Bean, is going to join us at LSS 2010. Many of you will remember he was part of our LSS@Social Media Week event back on February 4th.

Stephen will be part of our panel:

The Rise of the Super SMBs.  Conversations with some SMBs who are crushing it with Social Media.

In reality, we’re fans of Steve and without saying the amazing coffee Hasbean sells from the UK. We would be happy if he just comes along and shares his wonderful passion for coffee. However, we are sure that we will not only learn a bit more about great coffee but also how he is leveraging social media to “bat above his weight” to grow a business that now sells coffee world-wide.

Stephen is into coffee, coffee and coffee and occasionally has time to support the Sunderland football club. His background prior to setting up his ‘local’ coffee ‘empire’ had nothing to do with coffee – but he has always had a serious taste for beans and started roasting in his garage sometime the 1990′s. To found out more about Stephen and hear him speak please join us at LSS 2010 on November 18th – tickets are available here.

To get a view of why we think he’s “crushing it” (or should we say “roasting it”) here’s a video from In My Mug, Steve’s weekly video show:

To fully get an understanding of how Steve is using Social Media in furthering the success of Has Bean we suggest you:

• Read his blog
• Follow him on Twitter
• Check out the photo stream on Flickr
• Watch episodes of In My Mug or check out the Hasbean Vimeo channel

LSS 2010 is also going to feature Has Bean Coffee as the “official coffee of the day” for the conference — so those who join us will get a chance to drink some amazung brew on Nov 18th!

I was recently having a coffee at Dose Espresso, one of the leading lights of the new wave London coffee scene, when I was given a disloyalty card.

A number of the leading lights have come together to create something quite cool.

Get a coffee from each of the places, get a stamp and once complete you can go collect your reward.  A free coffee pulled by Gwilym Davies, the current (2009) World Barista Champion.

I think this is a brilliant innovation and so excited it’s done by the SMBs themselves.  I’ll be looking for other examples but if you have seen some that you like, then let me know.

Here is a video of a group of Norwegians the card in one day:

Here is a map of the locations:

View Larger Map

Not convinced that you can get coffee in London, then click here to read an earlier post about just that.

Posted via email from Simon Baptist’s Posterous

Amongst a couple of others, I was asked yesterday on Twitter for a recommendation for where to get a decent cup of coffee near Victoria Station.  Influential UK foodie blogger, Young and Foodish, replied with Flat Cap Coffee, which was new to me.  As I’m a burgeoning coffee geek, I decided to add it to the Google Map I’m building to track good coffee bars in London   Here’s where it gets interesting:

Google Search brings back, for me, the Foursquare venue page as first result (see image below):

From going to Foursquare, I get a map, some tips and the official Twitter account @flatcapcoffeeco.

I then go to Google Maps to add it to my map and nothing.  Actually, this is an awful results set

Ok, it’s inconclusive and I’m in a rush but interesting none the less because of the following:

1. Twitter was used for what I call an over the fence request ahead of Search
2. Twitter replied with somewhere I hadn’t heard of and looked good
3. Google hadn’t heard much of it, other than bringing back results from Foursquare, Twitter and Blogs
4. It was nowhere near Google Maps

So, actually I think I’m going to stick with my title as at least in the example Local Social whooped Local Searches ass.  Agree, disagree, got some more examples?

The coffee was the El Salvador Finca Los Amates Bourbon Cup of Excellence 2009 and below is the episode of Steve’s weekly video show, In My Mug, where he cups this special coffee.

Local Social Summit is very excited that Stephen Leighton owner of leading UK coffee roaster, Has Bean, has agreed to come speak at LSS@Social Media Week on 4th February 2010.

We are planning to have a conversation with Steve about how as an artisan coffee roaster he is utilising a proliferation of Social Media channels to build engagement with his customers and the coffee community in general.

In reality, we’re fanboys of Steve (and without saying the amazing coffee Hasbean brings back to the UK) and would be happy if he just comes along and shares his wonderful passion for coffee and with that his direct trade approach with growers (actually, here’s hoping we get some of that because when you think about it, that’s still Local Social).  Regardless of what Steve talks about, our hope is that those who come along to LSS@Social Media Week will agree with us by the end of the evening when we say, we believe Stephen Leighton is coffee’s rising answer to Gary Vee.

To get a taste of why we think that, here’s a video from In My Mug, Steve’s weekly video show:

To fully get an understanding of how Steve is using Social Media in furthering the success of Hasbean, we suggest you:

• Read his blog
• Follow him on Twitter
• Check out the photo stream on Flickr
• Watch episodes of In My Mug or check out the Hasbean Vimeo channel
• Not forgetting the Hasforum

You can read more about the LSS@Social Media Week event by clicking here.  Go to the eventbrite microsite or start the booking process below: