#dmtweetup with Sarah Lacy

When I walked out to the patio at Raccoon River Brewing Co. on the first night of August, I was surprised by the small number of tweeps in attendance. I assumed there would be many more considering we were hosting Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda), Silicon Valley reporter and author of Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good, and her husband, Geoffrey Ellis (@sadkids).

I walked in, sat down and handed Sarah the #dmtweetup badge I had made for her to help her feel like part of the crew. She gave me a User Generated Book Tour t-shirt in recognition of the lacyjump video I had made to help promote her new book. I found both of them to be very pleasant and genuine. You would hardly guess they weren’t from the Midwest. In minutes we were chatting and laughing like they were a normal part of the tweetup crew.

Sarah was very gracious and did a couple of video interviews with members of our local group, including Nathan Wright and Hillary Brown. She made a special point to bring up the Tweetup Badge I had made for her during both interviews, which I thought was very cool. I appreciate the exposure very much. I have to confess that I have not yet read Sarah’s new book yet, but after meeting her in person I’m sure I will.

Michael Ferrari (@mferrari), cofounder of SmartyPig (@SmartyPig), was also in attendance (his first I believe). SmartyPig is a very interesting concept, using direct deposit transactions, an online bank account and social tools to promote savings. Everyone should check them out.

Raccoon River Brewing is a big place as far as microbreweries go. They have a nice menu and a variety of beers on tap. I can recommend the wheat beer and hot wings personally.

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

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.

#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.