North Shore PR Coffee Meetup

Attended:  Thursday, June 16, 2010 at 8:30A

Dress:  Pretty much business casual – due to the whole work thing afterward for everyone

How I Learned About the MeetUp:  Jay Duchin invited me.  Who’s Jay?  One of those magical connections in social media – we have people in common!  Jay is Facebook “friends” with my boss when I was a college intern at a radio station and an amazingly talented creative genius whose ad campaign for me still hangs on the wall of my office 15+ years later and a former colleague who was another colleague’s roommate before I worked with her at my next job.  So Jay introduced himself – and invited me to the MeetUp.

What was the North Shore PR Coffee Meetup:  A gathering of independent professionals from … well, the North Shore of Boston.  Jay hosted the MeetUp in his office – they also meet in coffee shops.

How it went:  First, I was late.  I don’t like being late.  I actually arrived at the address early.  However, finding Jay’s office in the complex proved very difficult.  After a few circuits in the parking lot, I decided I may be better off getting out of the car and entering the building.  Then – I roamed.  Jay saw me walk by and caught me.  I finally arrived just over 20 minutes late.

After a quick introduction, I sat down at the table.  Jay explained that the MeetUp was being held as a video-conference for the people that did not make it (or were intimidated by the building complex – my theory).   This was very cool – and unexpected.  OK/unexpected – but now I felt worse for being late.  So apologies to all participants for my disruption of the flow.

The MeetUp introduced me to Jay (video producer), Edna (PR professional), Aaron (SEO professional), Kate (professional writer) and Stephen (marketer/professional writer).  I haven’t done any of them justice – so please check the links.  These are smart people and I intend to keep attending these MeetUps.  I enjoyed the camaraderie of independent professionals bouncing ideas, suggestions, and support.

So what’s next?  I LinkedIn (verb) to the people I met so I could get to know what they do better and promote them in the future.  I look forward to the next North Shore PR Coffee MeetUp – confident that I could find it when Jay hosts again!

To learn more about the North Shore PR Coffee MeetUp – please visit the Facebook Page.  Learn more about my intention of getting out away from my computer and meeting people face-to-face at Diary of a MeetUp/TweetUp.