The more time I spend in the digital world, the more I realize that it's real-life connections that matter. Sure, it's amazing how easy it is to connect with people on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., but to me, what matters is building relationships in person. There's just no substitute for a face-to-face meeting.When I was at SXSW recently, I noted that I was meeting people for the first time, but I felt like I had been part of their lives for a long time. With presence applications and frequent blog posts, we end up sharing so much of our lives with our online communities. The result is that we're forming what I like to call prelationships - meaningful interactions with people before we ever meet them. Then of course, when we do meet, it's a preunion.
So as you can imagine, I'm really looking forward to heading to New York City this weekend for Blogger Social. Among the 80+ attendees will be many of my co-authors from The Age of Conversation (Volume 1), not to mention fellow Twitterers, bloggers and podcasters. There's a harbor cruise on Saturday afternoon, a nice dinner on Saturday evening, and plenty of meetups in between. I can't wait to meet so many of these people that I've admired and respected for quite some time.
If you're interested in seeing what kinds of people participate in this kind of activity (maybe to convince you to attend something similar some time), take a look at the list of profiles that Steve Woodruff has compiled. Not only are the participants impressive, but Steve's effort is worthy of admiration as well.
And if you're more into the visual arts, you can check out the video that Mark Goren created:
I suppose this is a great reminder that, no matter what business you're in, it's important to get up from behind the desk, get out of the office and meet with your clients, customers, prospects and fans. Business is inherently a social business. Are you making it so?
The Blogger Social '08 attendees:
Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet Connie Reece CeCe Lee Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock Neil Vineberg Cam Beck Mike Arauz Matthew Bailey Heather Gorringe John Rosen Cathleen Rittereiser Tamar Weinberg Rita Perea Linda Sherman Matthew McDonald Kaitlyn Wilkins Terry Starbucker Jennifer Berk Jane Quigley John Wall Scott Monty Kevin Horne Virginia Miracle Amanda Gravel Susan Reynolds David Polinchock Shashi Bellamkonda David Berkowitz Vahe Habeshian
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