Thank you, Darren Rowse, of ProBlogger, who scheduled and organized and found sponsors for a New York City meetup last night. While I have read Darren's work for some time now, this is the first time I met the Technorati Top-100 blogger in person. He was quite personable and attentive during the conversation I had with him. With a blog tag line being "helping bloggers earn money," I would have thought there would have been more of that marketing pushiness I have at times experienced with others; but to the contrary, Darren was pleasant and inviting and in his friendliness and calm, I believe he did more effective self-marketing than if he spoke loudly and gave out promotional materials. Amazing he had such a turn-out without marketing this event beyond his own blog. That is a testament to his writing and the extent that his readers respond to him (especially since this is his first time to the Big Apple).

I am somewhat new to the blogger meetup and more dedicated technology world. While my professional work is more in instructional design, organizational communications, and adult education (isn't all education communication, and isn't all communication education?), I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of people who attended last night. Yes, there were the marketers and blogging SEO devotees (which I have always found interesting since I did that sort of work a number of years ago using WebPosition), those who were more technologically oriented from a programming/software bent, and everybody in-between. While I did not win any of the prizes (too bad!), I am really glad I attended because it helped me put more of a personal position on blogging than just me sitting by myself writing posts or reading those posts of others. Without the F2F aspect from time to time, blogging can be an isolating endeavor. I am glad folks such as Darren work hard to add this human touch to their online world. Darren, until next time!