The art of the tweetup
Team Ai is actively tweeting the Internet Retailer conference this week. We’re having fun observing, commenting, and getting to know some of our peers.
Nathan, Ed and I went to a tweetup in the lobby bar last night, and I met a few folks one-on-one today, all from Twitter interaction. It’s a great way to meet people, as you’re already in a fast-paced, topical conversation, and going f2f is a nice next step.
I’ve noticed that a tweetup is not the same as a meetup of an online community or users of a single website. It’s much more quick-hit, because a) you’ve been conversing regularly, sometimes minutes earlier; b) tweets are more conversational in nature than blog or forum posts; and c) you’ll probably resume that interaction afterward.
So individual encounters are often quick. “Oh hi! So you’re that person,” followed by a few minutes of small talk and a swapping of business cards. Then it’s onto the next thing, be it greeting more people or heading back into the conference. But even at five minutes, the meeting has served its purpose, for now there’s a face to the name, and further conversations take on a more congenial tone.
As we spend time at IR I’m continuing to reach out to folks whose tweets I’ve enjoyed with a request for a quick hello. What better place to do so than at a conference? The speedy nature of Twitter has begotten a speedy personal meeting that seems just right for the medium.