I attended my first #CBusr meetup event last night, and I chronicled my experience right here on my blog. I was able to meet some awesome people (whom I’ve given shout outs to in the article), learn a valuable lesson on why taking social media offline is important, and added another hangover to my career statistics. All in all, it was good clean fun!
Last night I popped my #Cbusr Meetup cherry! To quote Austin Powers, “Ooo, Behave!”
First off, I’ll just say that I have a pounding headache, but I guess that just means that I had a good time! Second, it was great to finally meet a lot of awesome people, as well as to catch up with old friends. A big thanks to Woodlands Tavern for hosting, Cheryl Harrison for planning and promoting, and CBusr.com for making it possible for so many local Columbus peeps to connect, and TechLife Ohio for sponsoring.
As far as CBusr goes, I must say I really love what they are doing and I really think they are building a new type of social network – that is, one based around cities and communities. In my opinion, their platform and model could easily translate to other cities (although the name may have to change). It will be interesting to watch where they take it.
I just want to give shout outs to some of my old friends that I was able to catch up with, my online friends who I was able to finally meet in person, as well as those new faces that I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time last night (in no particular order):
- Aaron Flax – @aaronflax
- Jared McKinley – @jmckinley3
- Mike Wright – @mikewright5482
- Robby Herbst – @robbyherbst
- Bailey Herbst – @Bailey_Herbst
- Erika Pryor – @ErikaPryor
- Nate Riggs – @nateriggs
- Sarah Storer – @thenakedredhead
- Mike Whaling – @30lines
- Heather Whaling – @prtini
- Elijah Young – @ElijahRYoung
- Vinny DeFrancisco – @vinnydf
- C.J. Jones – @CBusCJ
- Amy Schmittauer – @schmittastic
- Drew Goettemoeller – @goettemoeller
- Rob Barrientes – @GrooGruxInOhio
- Bryan Huber – @bryanhuber
- Gabe Taviano – @gabetaviano
- Megan Severs – @Megs723
- Cobi Dorn – @cobidorn
- Matthew Martindale – @madikarizma
- Josh Boles – @joshboles
- Lena Alidib – @lenautical
- Timothy Wolf Starr – @TWStarr
- DJ Collier – @djragamuffin
- Sapna Bhakta – @sapnabhakta
- Allizon Muñoz – @allizonmunoz
I’m sure that I met more than that, but the cloudiness of a slight hangover is stopping me from remembering. Either way, if you’re on the list above or not, I toast you and look forward to attending future events with you!
Also, I got a wicked-awesome CBusr t-shirt! I’m a sucker for cheap (or free) t-shirts…
Note: The Awesome T-Shirt was made by a Local Columbus T-Shirt Company called TraxlerTees. Props to them!
Why Taking Online Offline Is Important
In my opinion, the whole point of social media is to develop relationships. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and in this case CBusr are the tools by which people can start the relationships and interact. The crazy thing is that many of these relationships wouldn’t have been formed otherwise without the platforms.
However, what the platforms are not is an excuse to be lazy. I repeat – social media platforms are not there to enable you to be lazy. If you want to develop relationships, you have to try.
So what I realized earlier this month when I decided to attend the event last night was that I was not practicing what I was preaching. I said to myself, “You’re such an A-Hole. You’re out there telling other people how important it is to develop relationships and you’re not fully following your own advice! Flippin idiot! Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (Napolean Dynamite reference).”
So for me the next logical step was to take the online offline and start meeting the people I only know on Twitter, etc in real life – i.e. stop being a damned lazy geek and actually be social. Now, since I’m super awkward when it comes to making small talk with strangers, I naturally had a fear of this. BUT the best part about this was that the people I was meeting for the first time weren’t strangers at all.
In fact, there were several people who I’d never met in person in my life who I was able to walk up to and say “Hey (so and so), how’s it going?” and get the same response in return as if we’d known each other for years! I knew people by name as well as things about them without ever meeting them. If you ask me, that is pretty cool – and maybe creepy – but I’ll stick with cool!
I’ve heard people say that meeting social media folks in real life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I totally disagree. After last night, I confirmed that belief. Taking it offline is a great way to meet new people, make new friends, develop more trust, solidify relationships, etc. Plus it’s cool to see how people differ from their online persona.
Anyhow, that’s my 2 cents. It was nice to meet everyone and I look forward to seeing you all again in the future.
