#140Conf TweetUp

Attended:  Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 7P at Toma Lounge, Seaport Hotel

Dress:  Seemed to be business casual – I didn’t notice people dressed “business.”  Some very relaxed – I was pretty relaxed, too.

How I Learned About the TweetUp: I follow Jeff Pulver on Twitter and he tweeted the invitation on Sunday while I was masterminding my plan to leave my office and meet people.  Seemed to make perfect sense to have my first TweetUp be the penultimate TweetUp, #140Conf Boston. Among many things, Jeff is the creator of The 140 Characters Conference.

In the interest of full disclosure – I almost bagged.  I’ll spare you the reasons – blah, blah, blah – since they were all pathetic.  But since I wrote on this “Diary” that I would stop staring at 2-dimenionsal pictures on my 21” monitor and have conversations with greater than 140 characters, I thought “Pathetic is bagging out on the second event I scheduled.” So I headed to the Seaport Hotel.

What was the TweetUp: I follow #140Conf on my TweetDeck, since many passionate, smart people participate.  Jeff and his team at #140Conf hold their conference in different cities and scheduled Boston for Tuesday, September 14. 2010.  The TweetUp was a gathering of these smart, passionate people.

What went on:  This time, I was on time!  There weren’t many people there when I arrived and I knew it would be busy.  Aside from the attendees list on the MeetUp posting – my TweetDeck #140Conf column frantically refreshed with many “see you at #140Conf” tweets. I was greeted by Ellen Rossano, who organized the event.  This was my first realization that part of this voyeuristic social media is the participants are voyeurs… me, in particular.  Where’s the line of how much I should share that I know about Ellen? Ellen ran the registration table, so I saved myself from crossing into stalker territory.

There was a cozy group around a coffee table and a gentleman sitting by himself.  I headed over to introduce myself to him – then realized he sat by himself because he was on a call.  He hung up when I approached, which I appreciated (no awkward redirect necessary).  I’m glad we met. Jim and I had a great conversation about consulting and promotion and he answered my questions and offered suggestions I had not thought of before.

I realized I would have talked to Jim all night, so I set him free and suggested we mingle.  The packed room held many people – some I recognized from their profile photos or their Twitter names on their nametags.  Many knew each other.  Normally, this would not be good for the lone networker.  Not a problem at #140Conf.  I walked up to two gentlemen and joined their conversation.  Talking to Steve and Nelson energized me and reminded me why I enjoy social media.  They had unique stories I learned firsthand because of this media.  Steve, who has the term “cocktailist” in his Twitter bio, is a very talented web developer.  Nelson uses social media to convey an adoption story I won’t attempt to describe – please visit his site Ana’s Miracle.

Then I had my rock star moment (Andrew, if you are reading this – it’s your fault.  Thank you!).  Background: Andrew told me about a documentary he saw one weekend called Lemonade the Movie and said I had to see it.  I watched the trailer online 3 times in a row.  Blown away – I ordered the DVD.  I joined the Lemonade Facebook Page – I followed the creator of the movie, Erik Proulx, on Twitter. At the TweetUp – I met and spent time with Erik.  When he described Lemonade to Steve, I interrupted and took over.  This would have been a good time to be conscious of crossing that line to “stalker.”  What can I say – I’m a big fan.

Then – the hugging began.

Jeff Pulver walked in after delivering the keynote at MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge – Jeff was everyone else’s rock star.  A large crowd surrounded him.  Erik went over to introduce himself and received a huge hug.  Earlier, I told Nelson about my master plan of getting out of my room and meeting real live people and he asked if I had met Joselin Mane of Boston TweetUp. Joselin is featured in my Diary of a MeetUp/TweetUp overview. Joselin was in the middle of the Jeff Pulver crowd and Nelson introduced us – and I got a hug!  He introduced me to Reiko and Bobbie.  Great people!

I ended the night reintroducing myself to Ellen Rossano.  After a great night – I ignored the voyeur-to-stalker line and told her I knew where she lived because I grew up nearby.  Fortunately, rather than call security, she gave me a hug.  One more Joselin hug on the way out the door and I headed home very happy I went to the TweetUp.

The next day – I met fellow attendees Peter and Wayne on Twitter.  We didn’t meet at the event, but the hot rumor is there will be another #140Conf TweetUp before #140Conf Boston.  To sign-up for announcements, register on their MeetUp Page.  I plan to post on my Gillis Marketing Facebook Page any updates, too.