Hoping to attend Blogher, the passes sold out before I could even save enough pennies for a trip to Chicago. So, when I heard about a Tampa Blogher Meetup, I jumped on the chance to attend the event Saturday evening at Channelside.
Despite the numerous times I’ve arranged to meet cyber strangers through my moms group, this particular meeting made me a nervous wreck. Perhaps I thought I would appear too new to this whole blogging thing or maybe I would come across too desperate or chatty. Would they like the real life Run DMT or would they prefer the blogger better? I decided to swallow my insecurities and set out to search for them in a sea of people at Channelside.
When I first arrived, I had difficulty finding the group. Hooters was the selected meeting place and I anxiously scoured the restaurant looking for a group of bloggers. But, without their laptops, how do you find a group of bloggers? In my attempt to find the meetup, I randomly walked up to strangers asking them if they were with Blogher. Of course, they had no idea what I was taking about. I even confused the Hooter’s hostess.
Starting to feel sorry for myself and like a butt of a cruel joke, I stumbled upon a group sitting on a bench just outside Hooters. Texting like fiends on their cell phones, I knew I had found the right group of people.
Thankfully, the evening offered exactly what I had hoped for: an opportunity to connect and network with other bloggers. Over dinner and drinks at Stumps, we talked about Twitter and other happenings in the blogosphere. Noreen of Don’t Put Lizards in Your Ear (@DontPutLizards) shared some great tips to help me on my road to become published.
Christina of The Green Mom Review (@TheCaffeinatrix) mentioned how she has been searching for genuine and witty product reviews for her site. Upon hearing this news, my ears perked up for I knew I could deliver such a piece! I was all over it like green on Kermit!
I enjoyed putting a face to the tweeps I have been following on Twitter, such as @missbritt and @MommyMelee. I also met some great new tweets: @AnissaMayhew, @CheekySweetie and @karlerikson.
Mostly importantly, I learned that I was the only person at the table not attending Blogher in Chicago next month. After meeting such knowledgeable and interesting people, it only made me long to be at Blogher even more.
Love your post.
Anytime I have to meet folks F2F, I look for the cell phones. It’s a sure sign you’ve found your people.
🙂
Aw shucks! You made my day! Thanks!!
Norine
Insecurities….hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
how cool! i know the nervousness feeling. i felt the same before i met you! what if i’m really weird? lol. glad you had a fun time.
I’m glad that you were able to meet some fun bloggers. I’m not going to BlogHer this year either. Maybe we will both be able to go next year!
It was great to meet you too!!
It was so nice to meet you! I’m really glad you were able to come and if you’re still interested in doing something with The Green Mom Review, shoot me an email 🙂
No one else finds it weird that you all met at Hooters?
Love your dress!!
Wow. I’m glad you found them and had a wonderful time!
Maybe someday I’ll get to meet up with some awesome bloggers too!
Comments are closed.