This week has been quite the whirl-wind (even though it's only Tuesday). I was at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Boston, which turned out to be quite a blast. I got to spend two full days with all marketers talking about topics I find really interesting (and happen to address in my job) like blogging and social media.
What was also great is that I finally got to meet some of my "virtual friends" if you can call them that. Meaning people I've spoken with over e-mail, followed on twitter, or whose blogs I've read. Turns out that (1) they're amazingly nice in person, (2) it wasn't weird to "know" them before I actually met them, and (3) oh, they're more than just a floating twitter head.
The second point is actually what baffles me. These are people I "met" online, had conversations with online, and by the time I actually meet them in person, I already know what they look like and what they've been up to, but it's not weird.
On top of that, I felt "at home" with this crowd. We got to talk about marketing and social media, but it wasn't really work-related - it was actually just a group of people talking about a common interest. So what if it was a little geeky. Oddly enough, I don't get a lot of opportunities like this. I'm one of two marketing people in my office right now, and I don't yet have many "industry" or "peer" contacts - most of my friends are in odd jobs or in graduate school and most of my business contacts either aren't in marketing or haven't embraced social media. Gosh who knew I'd turn into such a marketing and social media geek? Well at least I'm not alone.
And for those of you who haven't met me, and in case you want to recognize me at the next social media meet-up:
