Tampa Bay Tweet Up

Last night, I attended the Tampa Bay Tweet Up at Walker Brands. I'll admit, I was not sure how it would go. In the past, there was a strong emphasis on our time being our own and being able to move freely and mingle at will. It was made clear ahead of time that at this Tweet Up would have a heavy emphasis on branding complete with "Think Tanks" and "Brain Storming Sessions."

This led to my group of friends wondering if we were, in fact, a brand. We decided that for the most part, we aren't, though some of us have brand like qualities. I wondered where our place would be in the Tweet Up if we weren't following the new train of thought. The truth is that our place is the exact same as it was before. We don't come to brand. We come to network, and network, we did.

I am always amazed at the quality of people at these events. Everyone that I spoke to was engaging and seemingly intelligent. I suppose that should be the norm when attending networking events. I ended up randomly approaching people and having totally random conversations about everything. The question I like the most when attending a Tweet Up is "What do you do?" It gives me an opportunity to get the important stuff out of the way and it gives me a follow up question. I know it's a lot to remember, so I'll recap at the bottom of this post.

I was concerned that we would be forced to attend the "Think Tank," but my fears were completely unfounded. In the end, I kind of wished I had gone to the "Future of the Tampa Bay Tweet Up" tank. I was too busy enjoying the company of everyone to break away though.

The event was just as unstructured as previous events and even more enjoyable. The Walker Brands building is just beautiful and the bathrooms are wonderful. The bathroom are unisex and very modern. I walked into the bathroom on the right side of the building and, there I was, in Times Square. There were honking horns and people walking across the street. I have never been to Times Square. It was almost like being there, with my pants down.

After the Tweet Up was done there were two after parties. One went to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company, and ours went to The Bungalow.

I went with my posse of trouble making friends (@johnhummel, @dorkland, and @Gnorb.) We thought the food was alright. My chicken was alright, but I don't know that I would advise eating there. It was alright, but you can find better food elsewhere. I did like the location though. There were lots of trees and outside seating. We met up with @Tamparon, @JuliaGorzka, @Sigepjedi, @Sarahintampa, and some other nice people whose name I have forgotten and hope to remember later.

During that time, I disclosed to @johnhummel, @dorkland, and @Gnorb, that I continually have a song in my head. It's from a children's book called "Your Personal Penguin" and sung by Davy Jones. Yes, THAT Davy Jones. Here for your personal enjoyment is my favorite ear worm.



Oh, and one more thing, the bartender for the Tweet Up was very attractive. I vote that we hire him again.

WHAT do I DO?

• I write www.courtneyschoenfeld.com and www.rentersregret.com.
• I work for www.hotbuckles.com
  
• I am the Accounting Chair for the West Tampa Relay for Life.
• I am the Team Captain oo a Relay for Life Team. TEAM BONZAI!