What Happened at the First Fresno TweetUp

The anticipation has been building for days. When it finally got started, I think the very first Fresno TweetUp was better than anyone hoped for.

No one knew quite what to expect. @FresYes said it was like everyone was getting ready for prom night. And there was a serious discussion right before hand: do we tweet at a TweetUp? Should we not? Is it completely face 2 face? We weren't sure what the right thing to do was going to be. So of course, the first few people who did tweet at the event got laughed at and teased just a little, but their messages were in support of those who were lost, on their way, or feeling left out.

It felt a little bit like a blind date. People sort of knew what you looked like, but not sure (people are always taller in real life). Everyone had someone they had to meet, so we walked around, peering at name tags. Then there would be the glad sounds of recognition "Hey, great to finally meet you."

It felt a little bit like a family reunion. You're pretty sure you remembered someone and there was definitely something in common, so the warm up time was a lot shorter than any other "meet and greet" where most of the people hadn't met.

Topics of Discussion:

• How long you'd been on Twitter
• How long you were sort of on it before you really got going
• How addicted you were to it
• Twitter success stories (new friends made, great contacts found, resources provided)
• How Tweeters almost never use Google search any more
• There are a lot more Fresno Tweeters than anyone thought
  

After the party warmed up, the technology really came out. @ResPres started broadcasting live video at the event through www.qik.com, so we totally got our geek on. People were texting their friends, and emails were sent, probably with pictures.

There were so many amazing people. Thank you to ALL of you! I'm so glad I met every single one of you at the TweetUp.

I've been to a LOT of networking events (seriously... a LOT) and this was unlike any I'd ever been to. There was an almost even ratio of men to women. The uninformed might think that it would be mostly men, but that's because they don't realize this is a people thing, not a computer thing. I wasn't surprised that most of the people there were between 20 and 35, although a few people told me how their Mom or Aunt Barb were on Twitter.

Here's a few more things I learned:

• @ShyTrbleMaker isn't shy
• I think maybe @MikeOz is, just a little. He's definitely humble about growing the Fresno Twitter commununity.
• @CreativeAgentVA isn't from Virginia, she's a Virtual Assistant
• @KatrinaNeufeld knows her Twitter name is boring, but it's important for her to be transparent
• @FresYes is as awesome as @Relocater said he was
  
• @SusanWilke has curly hair, which you can't tell from her avatar
• @JamesCollier still looks cool even without the fu

There's so much more; perhaps some of you will comment and provide your impression of the event. I'll link to your blog posts (which I'm sure are coming) over the next few days.

Oh, does someone have a picture I could post? Chamber Woman had her business cards, but not a camera!