July 25, 2011

#UsGUYS in Montreal.

You know when things just click? The #UsGuys gang are a fast-paced Twitter stream of social medi-oids. This weekend, I got to meet some of them in real life!

Radio personality @997Dave was headed from Vancouver Island to Montreal. Seizing the day, SEO dude @Josepf and self-proclaimed Interloper @JennyHerner decided to come on up from Philadelphia and St. Louis respectively. Their plan? To début their jointly written beat poem, a tribute to Ginsberg's The Howl, for Dave, fellow Montrealer @MilasPage, and myself.

But Dave bailed on the dinner!


Somehow we managed to have too much fun. I brought my Wacom and drew right there at the dinner. Josepf attempted to make out with a parrot, and it tried to eat him. Jenny joined me in being demure and petite! Ok, she was much better at demure than I, but still...! The poem blew my mind. And Mila graciously organized this event and made everyone feel welcome. She also took the best photos including these.

Josepf did lose his head at one point....


...but I replaced it.


And here we are in the Carré St. Louis after lunch the next day - synergy and a fountain of ideas, (yet somehow still Dave-less).


I'm breathlessly impressed with the entire event. My face hurts from laughing and smiling so much. The conversation was truly sublime and seamelssly interwoven with tweets from #UsGuys following our antics online.

What are you thoughts on meeting people from the internet?

18 comments:

  1. I think it's fabulous. Glad you had a blast.
    I've always hated networking (not particularly cool for someone who works in communications), but a couple of times in Ottawa -- including this past weekend -- twitter has trotted into real life, when I've met the people behind the avatars.
    It's amazing. I find it energizing, fun and inspiring.

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  2. Wratwrds - I agree! And that's a good way of describing it, meeting "the people behind the avatars".

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  3. I've been animated!! Totally amazing, this was truly a whirlwind weekend of fun. What started as a dinner, really turned into an entire weekend of #coffee, brunches, dinner, Fireworks and parrots. Thank you for honoring us with this beautiful post! I'm an animated vampire now! Yay!

    As you can tell, the whole experience left us giddy. Jenny, Josepf, Dave, and JC, it was a total blast. :)

    "To Synergy, Great Friends & the spirit of #Usguys & all the magical things that have come and will come together from a serendipitously created tribe" #gratitude

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  4. This is hysterical, as always! Meeting twitter friends IRL has always been a great experience for me! Hope to meet some of the #usguys at some point!

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  5. JC!!!!!!!!!!!

    My face may never recover. Here is the link to one of the YouTube Video shot between me or Mila: http://youtu.be/yaZpEdkOEOQ <<-- people may not understand how we got there but they'll feel the energy.

    Thank you so much for the "click". Truly an amazing weekend. Will be back to Montreal (after my face recovers)...

    warmest regards -- Josepf

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  6. Princess Vampire Mila! You make a great little cartoon character.

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  7. JC,

    You most certainly got Josepf and glad to see Dave made it ;)
    Love the drawing, sounds like you all had a great time.

    Simon

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  8. Josepfffffffff!!!!!! LOL! (ow!) LOL! (ow!) LOL! (ow!). I love watching all the vids, though I'm still waiting to see the one about Les Filles Du Roi history lesson!

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  9. Meeting peeps from the internet (or tweeps, if you will, from Twitter) can be most awesometastic. Back in the old days of the BBSes, we used to have BBSGs (Bulletin Board System Gatherings) so everyone could meet up, put faces to handles, so forth and so on.

    I've had the pleasure of meeting people from around the country and even the world. It's truly a wonderful way to make connections.

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  10. So envious of your meetup ... how I wish I was there in the great white north.... one question - where's dave???

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  11. Terry - That's so interesting about the BBSGs. And lucky you! I look forward to meeting some more too (perhaps we'll even meet sometime, ya never know).

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  12. I haven't yet met anyone from the Twitterverse, but the most awesome persons in my life I did first meet them online...including my lovely husband.

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  13. Considering that I met my wife thanks to the Internet, I'm very pro-meeting-people-you-met-online-in-person. I've had the chance to meet people at BlogHer last year as well as at 2 Disney Social Media Mom events that B attended (while I tagged along/watched the kids/rode on rides at Disney).

    If B and I ever take a trip to Montreal, maybe we can meet up! (We went once when we were dating and had a blast.)

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  14. Love your photos/animation of your meet-up.
    I adore meeting people from my blog/online life. They end up being just as wonderful, if not more-so IRL as they are online.
    I can't wait to go to more events so I can get to see more people that I "know" from online.
    When you meet them in person, you can't help but get/give big hugs!
    The Shewbridges of Central Florida
    http://wmljshewbridge.blogspot.com
    LJSBlog@aol.com

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  15. I love how at the fountain, you all have 'prayer hands' but the 'Dave Stand-in' is holding what appears to be a beer and is giving someone bunny ears.

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  16. Please forgive my dilatory gushing at the wonder, joy and brilliance of this!!! You are so dear, JC, and what a lovely tribute to a perfect weekend! Thank you so much! Also, thank you for the demure comment. Love that and think you're very adept at it as well! -Jenny

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  17. I met my wife from the internet so...I think it's a bad idea don't do it, just kidding of course.
    -@stevenmdaily

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Cuz You Rocketh.