Passing the Boot with #dmtweetup

The #dmtweetup at Hessen Haus on July 29 brought out several new faces. Hillary Brown (@hillabean), back in Des Moines fresh from California, was a pleasure to meet and definitely a great addition to the crew. She is happy to be back in the Midwest and working with Nathan Wright (@nathantwright) at Lava Row. We’ll see how she feels about her decision when the first snow flies this year.

Other first timers in attendance were Jon Palestini (@youwithoutme), who owns his own clothing company called Nightmare City Apparel and works at Sacred Skin, and Neil Roberts (@pottedmeat), a JavaScript dev for Dojo Toolkit and SitePen. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Neil much, but he seems like a cool guy. Some of the regulars in attendance were Kathy Landen (@kathy_L), Daniel (@danielshipton) and Abbie Shipton (@abbieshipton), Brett Trout (@bretttrout), Jeremy Bingaman (@iowaradioguy) and Troy Rutter (@trutter). I know there were others I have left out and I’m sure I’ll hear about it.

One of the best things about our crew is it is such a diverse group. Where else can you sit and chat with a lawyer, a radio personality, web and software developers, a video producer, social media gurus, etc. all in one place? With such a wide range of personalities there is always something interesting to talk about.

The building that now houses the Hessen Haus has a long and varied past. Formerly an old train station it has undergone numerous transformations over the years – playing host to a variety of restaurants, bars and dance halls – and nearly facing condemnation and destruction at one point. Early in its history, it even served as an open-air structure for housing horses. It has a large open feel with plenty of room for a group.

I had a couple German beers I couldn’t pronounce and a burger that I’m not sure was German, but was tasty none the less. I may not speak German, but I do speak beer. Pass that boot.

See the rest of the photos from this #dmtweetup on Flickr.

Announcing Our Site Launch Special!

To celebrate our site launch and the public availability of Tweetup Badges for the masses, we are hosting a special on all badges purchased from now until the end of August.

Order a Unique Tweetup Badge for Yourself

Individual badges can be had for just $2.15 each, including a lanyard. This means you can get your own personal Tweetup Badge, in the colors you want, with your real name and Twitter username, plus a hashtag of your choice.

Wear the badge at your next tweetup or at any social function. It’s sure to spark some conversation and may even help you meet a few new people.

Check out the photos page (or our Flickr group) to see what color combinations have been popular so far and then head over to the order page when you’re ready to go.

Are You Part of a Tweetup Group?

If you belong to a tweetup group that you think might be interested in bulk ordering badges for everyone, we can do that to. Just use our slick order form, upload all of your details and off you go, still at the special price of $2.15 each (with lanyard).

This Special Runs Until the End of August

And remember, this deal is only good through the end of August, so get your Tweetup Badge ordered today and take advantage of our site launch special offer.

Finding the ‘Social’ Component in Social Networking

I have experimented with a lot of different social networking sites to find a way to connect with others. Once I found Twitter I knew I had found MY social network.

I think the thing I like most about it is its simplicity. There are no gimmicks, glitter, gizmos or… well, you get the idea.

With its short, 140 character posts and no add-ons or frills to clutter things up, it’s exactly what I need in a social network. I know there are many people who love the other social networks, but for me Twitter is the one.

Twitter has allowed me to connect with people in a way that is comfortable for me. Without the games and extras that a lot of other sites have it is only natural that more conversation will take place.

I started dabbling with social networking to try to make new contacts for my business. What I realized, shortly after starting to make contacts on Twitter, was that I would rather have the opportunity to call these people friends. If my friendships on Twitter lead to more sales, of course I will be happy about that, but it is no longer the main focus.

Along with the new relationships I have begun to develop, I have discovered another advantage Twitter has over the competition, at least in my opinion, which is the tweetup.

When I get together with my new friends in the real world it is always a good time. Many of the people in our local tweetup group are the most intelligent and interesting people it has ever been my pleasure to meet and I am proud to call some of them friends.

Twitter, at least for me, has definitely helped identify the ’social’ part of social networking.

#dmtweetup at Black Cat Café

The #dmtweetup at the Black Cat Café had something of an inauspicious start. When I arrived at 5:50 PM I found several of my fellow tweeps standing outside. A sign on the door read “Black Cat Café is closed from 3PM to 6PM every day this month of July”.

We stood around in the summer heat engaging in pleasant conversation and giving Adam Pirillo a fair amount of chiding for recommending the location. Most people in attendance were wearing their Tweetup Badges and several newcomers donned their badges for the first time. Shortly after 6:00 the bartender arrived, apologized for the inconvenience and invited us in.

The Black Cat Café is a pleasant little coffee shop with a variety of seating and a very comfortable atmosphere. There are a few tall tables, regular height tables and even a couple of couches with coffee tables.

As people settled into small groups and enjoyed some cold beverages, we were informed that it was open mic night at the café. This was my first experience at an “open mic night” and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Some of the entertainment was outside the realm of my understanding (a little too artsy for me), but others I thoroughly enjoyed.

Adam Pirillo performed some of his original poetry and Kathy Landin was in her element taking part in the reading of a short piece about the Large Hadron Collider. I’m not sure how soon I will attend another open mic night, but it is something I’m glad I experienced.

The evening ended with John Pemble and I selling others on the advantages of Twitter on the patio outside until the owner said it was time to close. The Black Cat definitely attracts diverse and interesting clientele.

We met one of the owners, an intelligent and ambitious young man from Croatia. We also made the acquaintance of an attractive young lady of Japanese decent who I believe grew up in Peru and another from South Africa.

Here are some great shots of the #dmtweetup crew sporting their Tweetup Badges:

All in all it was a very pleasant evening. I’ll probably go back to the Black Cat Café some time in the future, but I’m just not sure I’ll go on open mic night.

The Story of Tweetup Badges

Where did the idea for Tweetup Badges come from?

In late March of 2008, I was introduced to Twitter. Not long after that I attended a social media presentation lead by Nathan Wright, founder at Lava Row. Nathan’s presentation got me exited about the potential power of social networking, and Twitter in particular.

I have never been that comfortable in face-to-face networking situations. I find it difficult to meet someone for the first time and form any kind of connection with them. I feel as though I come off as either bumbling or scripted. I usualy end up saying the same things over and over or I am searching for the correct language to get my point across.

Twitter, however, has allowed me to get to know people and form a relationship with them over time, all without the uncomfortableness that meeting new people offline can sometimes bring. When we do finally meet face-to-face at a tweetup, it feels like I already know many of them.

I had so much fun at my first tweetup and connected with so many interesting and fun people that I wanted to give something back. My company, VR ID Cards, produces name badges for companies and organizations, so making badges for the local group seemed like a no brainer. I arrived at the next couple of tweetups with name badges and lanyards in hand, and thus Tweetup Badges was born.

The badges created for that tweetup were a huge hit and I received many compliments on them. Now when I show up to a tweetup, new people always come up to me and ask, “have you made a badge for me yet?” If I have done my homework, the answer is normally, yes.

TweetupBadges.com was born out of fun.

After having so much fun with the #dmtweetup crew, word started to make it’s way around Twitter and across the blogosphere about the badges I had produced. Wayne Sutton, a social media evangelist from North Carolina, contacted me on May 11, 2008, in regards to producing tweetup badges for the group he belonged to, Triangle Tweetup, located in Raleigh, NC.

I worked out the details with Wayne and then produced their badges. With Wayne’s large following on Twitter (over 4,000 followers), word continued to spread even more.

In order to accomodate others looking to do the same thing, I wanted to come up with an easy way for other groups to:

1. find out more about the Tweetup Badges
2. be able to order Tweetup Badges for their own groups

I kicked the idea around with Mike Templeton of Dosovo (whom I met on Twitter) over lunch one day and we came up with the idea of having a microsite dedicated solely to Tweetup Badges, which is what you see here.

I must admit I have to give most of the credit for TweetupBadges.com to Mike, as he was instrumental in coming up with the design and getting the site launched.

I don’t know where this will lead or how many Tweetup Badges I’ll end up producing, but I’ve made some great new friends through Twitter and it’s going to be a fun ride.