Meetups. They’re fun, we all agree, right?
But schedules don’t always match up, so what’s a girl to do?
Follow the hashtag.
And now, boys and girls, I’ll tell you a story.
In my early days of Twitter, especially with the business account I started in 2009, I really wanted to connect with people in Orange County. While following and listing people for that purpose, I also found a meetup called Social Media Mastermind, Orange County.
For years, I followed the people, loosely followed the hashtag, and finally started attending this year. It was cool because I felt like I knew some of the people before I actually became part of the group. (That really helps with the anxiety of meeting new people, by the way.)
One of the long-time #SMMOC members, Dennis Carpenter, recently moved out of state. A business trip brought him back to Orange County and he made time to attend the meetup. (Also, it was nice to see how lovingly greeted he was — what a group this is. But I digress.)
“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” I said.
“But I’ve known you for years!” he said.
Dennis was convinced that we had met in person before. I had to remind him I started coming to this meetup in January of 2014. (more…)