Social Media Breakfast in Minneapolis

February 15, 2008

Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending my first from-Twitter-to-face-to-face meet and greet. Rick Mahn organized the first Social Media Breakfast in Minneapolis, based upon the Boston Social Media Breakfast. How did I hear about it, via Twitter of course, one more good use of Twitter. Through that meeting, I’ve learned about LikeMind, another meet-up (I can’t attend this month but look forward to attending another time.)

Let me begin with the end… if you didn’t attend and are considering going to one of these events, you should attend. Go by yourself, bring a friend, no one was left out of the conversation on Wednesday.

Rick arrived first, and I realized value of people using actual pictures for their twitter bios; I recognized him at once. (As an aside, the funniest comment of the day was when Garrick Van Buren arrived, and one of the folks said, “you look just like yourself.”) Over the course of 90 minutes, approximately 15 people walked in and out. The meet-up was very informal which was great for a first meetiing. I was a part of about 4 or 5 different conversations (the value of sitting in the middle) and enjoyed them immensely. Discussions ranged from what devices we all use, how we use twitter and other social networking, to how to convince your company/city to engage in these practices.

The group was from disparate backgrounds and ages, scattered across the city, in various jobs as well. I think the ages ranged from 22 into the 40’s, and we had college students, marketing people, developers, among others. There was not a dominant field which was great. The mix was also between strangers and people who knew several others in the network there. I was one of the n00bs and felt welcome which was great. The only improvement I could suggest would be to have some sort of rotation where people move two seats down every 15 minutes or something like that. When you have a long table like we had, you miss out on the ends of the tables. You don’t always have the luxury at a restaurant to move the tables around to form a perfect square

I look forward to future meetings, and while no one can attend every meeting, it’s nice to know the options in the area that are available. And I will echo’s Greg’s thoughts from his blog post, there are so many options opening up in the Twin Cities to blend your online and offline worlds, this is a great time to get engaged. This week alone included the events Greg mentioned, as well as the UPA monthly meeting.

Breakfast Review…

The meeting was at Keys Cafe in downtown Minneapolis. I am a big-breakfast lover and I live out in the suburbs but love downtown, so this was a double-bonus beyond the meet-up, I got to enjoy a terrific breakfast and got to go downtown. I had the eggs with italian hash, homemade toast, and homemade strawberry jam, along with fresh squeezed orange juice. The food was terrific, and the waitress kept my coffee full, and had to deal with about a dozen separate checks with no problems If you like a comfort-food breakfast, I highly recommend.

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