Last week I attended a conference – IAEE’s Expo! Expo in Atlanta. The conference program was great, I met some amazing contacts – but all that is to be expected at a conference (at least if you’re going there to you know – learn stuff and meet people in your industry.)
Something those of you should know about conferences, at least all the ones I’ve attended, is that there are always parties. Parties, parties, and more parties. Every company is trying to outdo their competition, people are running around trying to make an appearance everywhere. From beginning to end, you never stop running around, you’re always working, and by the time you get home you are sitting in a mountain of business cards, glassy eyed and have no idea what just happened.
Like I said I made plenty of amazing connections (I’d like to give a particularly big shout out to Taryn Pisaneschi (@TarynP on Twitter). We hit it off the very first day and met up throughout the rest of the conference. She is good people, and smart to boot!
It’s a good thing to stand out in a crowd like like that. Especially since I have the memory of an insect. It’s nice to remember specific interactions during a time when you’re meeting people essentially 24/7 for a week.
One of my favorite conversations happened with a person who coincidentally works out of Cambridge, MA. I won’t put his name here juuuuust in case he doesn’t want his name tied to our conversation, but it was one of the more hilarious ones I had.
Basically what you should know about Expo Expo is that it’s a conference for event professionals, and this year I attended the Social Media track. So all day long you’d be having conversations about your twitter name, your presence on Facebook, etc. People would start talking about “transparency” and “SEO” and all the same stuff you hear about social media EVERYWHERE. Which why this conversation was so refreshing:
Jenny: Oh hello man that my coworker just introduced me to! Nice to meet you. I hear your company is the one running this board over here.
Man: Oh hey Jenny, nice to meet you as well. Yes our company specializes in this type of service. So tell me what do you do?
Jenny: Oh I’m a Design & Digital Media Specialist – I work for the convention centers in Boston. (Hands over professional business card) But I also run my own site, events and do some work on the side that this would be useful for. (Hands over personal business card.)
Man: (Examines both cards for a few moments) Oh awesome! You’re a Social Media Douchebag too!!
Both burst out laughing.
Jenny: OMG. I am getting new cards made up immediately.
I absolutely will be contacting that company, first obviously because they provide a good service that I can use, but secondly – that guy was hilarious. And had me figured out in 2 seconds or less. Amazing.
