Interesting Conversations from Blogger Social’08-5 April 24, 2008
Posted by Arun Rajagopal in Conversations, Digital, Social Media.Tags: Blogger Social'08, New York
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Tim Brunelle, Joe Kutchera & Marshall Sponder
, originally uploaded by ck.epiphany.
Blogger Social 2008, originally uploaded by Matt Dickman.
It was great meeting Steve Woodruff & Curious George. Steve’s a quiet person, but that doesn’t mean he is less affable. It was such a pleasure meeting a person who is so passionate about our community without being so vocal about it.
Tangerine Toad & Tim Brunelle: TT and Tim are two icons I look up to when it comes to my work. So it was nice to hear a lot of interesting things about advertising, social media, work and life in general straight from the horses themselves. At the dinner, Tim was like c’mon boy; let’s go meet people out there and I tagged along. I like the man’s spirit, he knows how to have a ball and then get away with it. Real heroes, both of them.
Kristin Gorski came, saw and conquered in the 1-minute we got to say hi. I find her a very prolific writer and I was so looking forward to meeting her. In real life, she’s simply more awesome.
I had a good time chatting with CeCe Lee Salomon and her hubby Gregg at the Perfect Pint. They were the perfect couple that served as my ice-breaker to the event.
Darryl Ohrt told us (Mark Goren & I) about the ‘scar’ over drinks. Darryl’s such a chilled-out dude.
David Armano. Kick me somebody, oh, somebody just kick me. The whole wide blogosphere knows how David has gripped the bull called social media by its horns and is riding on its back. I feel like an opportunity lost that I missed out in saying hi to him, especially when he was all over the place with his cowboy hat. May be I felt so awed that I couldn’t walk up to him. I so admire his work and the way he is involved with social media. And if he’s reading this, he will know he’s got a fan in Oman.
Hah! Tim McHale! The Man. I went so ga-ga over him the first time I met him, I think I almost embarrassed him. Why not, after all, he’s the guy who’s helped set up Tribal DDB. He shared with us a lot of his war stories, specially why DDB picked Tribal as its nom for the digital shop and how the interactive landscape was then back in the days. Quite the cat!
Joe Kutchera has promised me to be my guide if I ever decide to move down to the States. He would know best, especially with his work that takes him outside the country. God bless his soul! Joe, it was so much fun meeting you and looking forward to the next time. (Now I know, what a ‘daily joe’ means!)
I met Paul Soldera on the pier after the boat ride and we had a good time talking about our geographical background and favourite sport (cricket)!!! He was very excited about social media bringing people together from across the globe. Too bad he couldn’t spend much time with us.
Todd Andrlik is a very mellow, gentle soul (and really tall, like Ryan wrote in her Blogger Social memoirs). He is fond of collecting antique, special edition newspapers and was kind enough to gift me a copy of one treasured, antique piece. And I learnt from him about this unique, hand written newspaper that is published from India. Todd was frequently mobbed by bloggers who wanted him to jumpstart their Power 150 rankings. I’d personally like to be on that chart some day, some where on the top! Todd captured a very interesting video where he asked Blogger Socialites what they liked the most about blogging. My response was: INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS.
“May be I felt so awed that I couldn’t walk up to him.”
You know, I was *this close* to feeling the same thing when I saw you.
Another great post, my friend! I love how you’ve been able to so encapsulate your experiences at Blogger-Social.
Arun,
I wish you would have come up and said hello. I know who you are and the whole “web celebrity” thing is kind of silly (even though I played it up with the hat). 😉
And my fault is I’m a terrible networked. I think I hung out with the same 5 people the whole weekend.
If you ever come to Chicago, let me know.
Thanks for the kind words, Arun! And I’m glad you’re enjoying the historic newspaper. Speaking of which, here is a link to a story about the last hand-written newspaper in the world: http://tinyurl.com/26ttpf
@ David: I read your comment while I was in the cab on my way home. And I was like ‘wooooh’. (an expression of excitement). I know I should have come up and said hi. Thing is, I’m such an incredibly shy person (a lot of people are disagreeing with me over this as the years pass by). But I’d one those ‘attacks’ when I ran into you. I will def. look out for you should I be in the vicinity of Chicago. All power to you, till then.
@Todd: Hey Todd, thank you for the link on The Musalman. Let me try getting my hands on a copy. Cheers!
Aha! It’s a Mini Series. A Conversations at Blogger Social epic! Brilliant!
Arun – the pleasure was all mine. I was so thrilled you came all the way from Oman to be with us!
And I saw the “Houston pictures” and you are a very lucky man 😉
I don’t think anyone got to talk to everyone they wanted to that night– I know I certainly didn’t– but there will be other opportunities.
I mean a part of me thinks “oh, if you were a better businessman, you’d have studied the attendee list and made a list of people you needed to meet.”
But you know what– if I’d have done that (and I’m sure there were some people there who did) I’d have been miserable.
Sometimes serendipity is a wonderful thing.
Arun,
We only had a few brief moments with one another, but I can’t forget your smile, and your obvious joy at being with the group. How touched we all were that you came halfway around the world to join us! Thanks for writing up this series of posts…
Arun, I couldn’t believe that you had flown such a long distance for such a gathering! It was a pleasure meeting you too. And like you, once the jetlag subsided, I started realizing who all the wonderful bloggers were in the room =)
Arun, it was I who was so impressed and happy to meet you. You are such a generous soul in Blogville, have boundless positive and creative energy, and flew such a distance to be at BS08! Absolutely amazing. 🙂