Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > July > 31 > Entry
Social Media Camp and the Mashable.com party
World collided.
Yesterday, a Social Media Camp (more on what that means in a bit) was held downtown at the Thistle Cafe. I only began hearing this was happening last week, but I knew one of the organizers was Erica O’ Grady, whom I’d met briefly in Houston at Caroline Collective.
When I started hearing how many people would be there with whom I connect on Twitter (as well as several Statesman folks who were going), I managed to find a way to spend the day there. Usually a mid-week conference that takes place in the middle of the week and lasts all day isn’t something I’m able to attend.
I’m glad I did. Social Media Camp was set up like Bar Camp: attendees show up and decide what the contents of the mini-conference will be. Since everyone involved is probably an expert in some area or other, the topics of discussion are decided early in the day.
What this means is that some people arrive ready to present, with a PowerPoint, even, as the folks who use Twitter at Dell did. Others (like our small Statesman crew) were winging it.
But because the topic of the entire day was social media tools, everyone there was inclined to meet others, participate and connect.
I won’t go into the individual tracks, but I’ll say that the turnout was pretty amazing: more than 200 people showed up at 10 a.m. and braved some major Wi-Fi problems to meet and greet. Other people trickled in throughout the day.
There were plenty of “take-aways,” as they’re called, but what most impressed me was that there is a real movement to change the world for the better among some of the top speakers at the event, not just to use Twitter, Facebook and other social nets as marketing tools.
The second half of Austin’s Massive Day of Social Media was a Buffalo Billiards party sponsored by Mashable.com. More than 400 people were crammed into the upper floor of the pool hall (it was called, appropriately, the SummerMash). it was crowded and hot, but drinks were free and when I left at 9, the crowd had only grown larger.
It began to get a little surreal for me: so many people I’ve written about or communicated with on Twitter or over e-mail were suddenly there in person. World collided, like a dream where all your past friends and family show up in one place. Putting faces to names and online IDs was a bit thrilling, but so was catching up with people I usually only type to.
It took me a half hour to leave, obligated as I felt to say goodnight to everyone I knew who was there. This morning, I’ve been overloaded with new Twitter friend requests and messages.
Maybe it was just me, but it felt like one of those magical, transformative nights that people will still be talking about, at least in this sometimes insular online world, for a while. Many drinks were consumed, many business cards and “@” identities exchanged, and from what I hear, things got a little wild after I left.
I told O’ Grady that we could stand to have more events like this in Austin and I think a lot of people are thinking the same thing.
Here are a few photos I shot last night:
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
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By PJ Brunet
August 1, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this
You just passed me on page 1 of Google for "Social Media Camp Austin", knocked me down from the #6 spot! Probably Austin360 has a better Pagerank. Well, I'm glad we met briefly at Social Media Camp, if you're on Twitter I'm @_p_j
For non-geeks, the "Mashable" name I think is derived from the "mash-up" which is a geek term for combining two or more web applications together on the same web-page/interface, hopefully for some useful purpose.
Yes, the party did get loud/crowded in the back by the video camera but there was enough room. That was a first for me to shout about the LAMP stack. I'm getting through some of these business cards here now ;-)
By Katrina McLarty
August 1, 2008 7:49 AM | Link to this
Omar, it was great to finally meet you in person. It really was a fun party. love the photos btw!
By Sheila Scarborough
July 31, 2008 11:25 PM | Link to this
Hey, Omar, thanks for the update post and the great pictures - it was fun to see so many 2.0 Austinites in the same room at a non-SXSWi event!
By Ray Hernandez
July 31, 2008 8:21 PM | Link to this
These two events were my first. And I had an amazing time, met tons of people, and can't wait for the next one.
I did however lose my wedding ring at the mashable party, but through the power of social media I got it back.
By David H Walker
July 31, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this
Omar, what a great night indeed! It was great see such an awesome turnout. magical indeed...
By Connie Reece
July 31, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
Omar, it was great seeing you at Social Media Camp yesterday. I agree that we need more meetings like this in Austin. We do have the same thing, with a smaller group, every month through Social Media Club Austin. (We were one of the sponsors of yesterday's events.) We meet the Third Thursday night of each month, and at our August meeting Chris Almond will give us an insider's look at what IBM is doing in social media. See if you can get a babysitter that night. :-)
By Kim Haynes
July 31, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
What a fun event. I too loved finally getting to meet a number of online friends that I hadn't met before in person. I also realized just how many folks I've already had the pleasure of meeting. Thanks for catching this photo of me (2nd to the left) with @sheilas, @ericaogrady and @orchid8!