Detroit Tweetups – Royal Oak Tweetup 2009 Edition

After the immense success of January’s Novi Tweetup, it felt like the entire Detroit Twitterverse was left wondering: “so….when is the next one?”

While there was some initial debate on whether or not we should hold off and allow for a period of “Twitter detoxification,” Ken Burbary and I decided to pull the trigger and call upon our community once again to come out, meet new people and reconnect with old friends.

The response was overwhelming.

With nearly 120 RSVPs on the Facebook event page, 75% of which came in the first few days, you could physically feel the level of excitement leading up to February’s Royal Oak Tweetup.

As the event’s “promotion engine,” which was the perfect role for me because I am loud… even online, I had extremely high expectations.  Little did I know that by the end of the night, they would be completely blown out of the water.

On Feburary 27th at 6 p.m., the Detroit Twitter community descended upon Mr. B’s in Royal Oak (a special thank you to Mr. B’s for hosting us).  More than 90 great people got together, shared a few cocktails and took their conversations from Twitter into the “real world.”

Things are just getting started…

Within 20 minutes of arriving, I knew the event would be a success.

(You hear that Yelp!?  @balanon loves you guys…)

As more people showed up, we slowly took over the entire back section of Mr. B’s.

(@rumblestrip with the classy keg stand comments – ha!)

Then came the icing on the cake.

Around 8 p.m., local twitterer and catalyst for optimism Stephen Clark decided to swing by to join us for a few.  Oh… I forgot to mention…. he is also a news anchor with WXYZ Channel 7 here in Detroit….  and he brought along a cameraman.

For those wondering, he uses TweetDeck

Holy. Crap.

(Yes, I know I said sclark@wxyz… not @sclarkwxyz…. but you get the picture)

Stephen mentioned that he wanted to interview two attendees about Twitter and Tweetups.  The chosen two: yours truly and @damonhenry.

Everyone was ecstatic.  Then… panic set in.  We all froze when we realized a we had to explain Twitter in one sentence to “non-geeks.”  That meant no use of the common buzzwords such as microblog, social media, social networking, etc.  Go ahead…. try it.  It is not that easy.

Luckily, @charliecurve swooped in like a majestic eagle and proclaimed Twitter to be (paraphrasing here) like “the world’s largest, online cocktail party where people are sharing news and information, as well as having conversations about virtually anything, in real time.”  His quote made it into the end of the piece.

(Hat tip to Eric Vogel for grabbing the clip)

You can view a high quality version here in the Channel 7 Web site.

While I was interviewed on camera about the event, my footage was lost due to “technical error” (probably because I am too handsome—instant rimshot).  However, I did get to spend ten minutes or so talking with Stephen about Detroit’s growing social media community and how our members are doing some amazing things.  We also talked about how traditional media is looking at social media as an avenue for connecting with viewers.  Great stuff.

As the night went on, we ran out of name tags.  Attendees started using whatever they could find to show who they were in the Twitter world.

(That was @michaelsavoni with “Blue Steel”)

As the event came to a close, I spent a minute talking with Damon about being interviewed.

(My grandma really is on Facebook.  She is 72.  The world has imploded.)

Here were a few of  my other favorite moments from the night in no particular order:

• Meeting @turbobrown in person – we are in the middle of the 100 pushup challenge (now on week four)
• Running out of name tags – FAIL
• Being interviewed by Channel 7 – WIN
• Being told the interview was lost due to technical error – EPIC FAIL
• Saying the word awesome about 156 times
• After @rmercader put “I’m awesome” on his name tag, I put “#awesome” on mine…
• Discussing the movie Commando with @themoviefight
• Hanging around till the very end with @terrybean and @missive

I also love @rmercader’s follow-up video with his favorite moments.  Great stuff!  Be sure to swing by his blog and comment!

So, I bet you might just be wondering…. “when is the next Detroit Tweetup?”

To stay informed, please join the Detroit Tweetups Facebook Group or follow me and @kenburbary.

To wrap up this post, please share your favorite moments from #rotu09.   Any new friendships?  Any new business leads?  Just had a great (or awful) time?  Let us know!

To view the event’s Tweet stream, search the hashtag – #rotu09.

A full list of attendees from #rotu09 is available after the jump.

UPDATED LIST – March 2nd – 1:11PM
New Additions:

@chrismoritz
@shelligutholm

*If for some reason you DID NOT appear on the list, please leave a comment, shoot me an email (brandonchesnutt@gmail.com) or DM me on Twitter.

@bchesnutt (obviously)
@balanon
@joefoodie
@laurieslade
@rumblestrip
@rmercader
@davemurr
@daveklonke
@dbrycz
@davepeckens
@coreyperlman (@ebootcamp)
@kritikal
@ronlippitt
@keithstonehouse
@virtualjason
@turbobrown
@andreafog
@dougwernert
@captainbrazil
@tomshea
@damonhenry
@mollysly
@genebrady
@mpiccinato
@dmassad
@cosguru
@charliecurve
@jwphillips
@damnredhead
@bevbaldwin
@karenevanstm
@purplelady35
@leebryan
@jefferymavers
@estrellabella10
@andreapecoraro
@davidlingholm
@ericjvogel (@soccermastery)
@naokomc
@jareddetroit
@detroitvoice
@anahidlisa
@hubertGAM
@stephdecker
@angrychad
@meloncamp
@bryan_halicki
@alisondunn2
@kristenross
@themoviefight
@heatherhall3
@mabdelno
@davebiznet
@kevinbiznet
@annkucera
@mrossana
@saradixon
@ryan_forrest
@primesuspect
@hogpath
@suedecrush
@holli81
@dpeeps
@corab
@jkauf
@kauf (@twitartdotcom)
@klavaute (@quickenloans)
@travismillward
@kenburbary
@terrybean
@montilee
@kirktalon
@digitalvision
@rrockafellow
@digitalb
@chrisjlee
@rukmal_fern
@mirandaanzures
@derekloyer
@jenna_belle
@michaelsavoni
@benbetter (@tfln)
@loan_survivor
@admore
@missive
@davebenjamin
@maureenfrancis
@publiccitypr
@sclarkwxyz

Attendees who are not on Twitter… yet….
Andrew Loco
Lauri Smith
Laurette Larmy

Filed under: detroit, detroit tweetups, social media, social networking, tweetup, twitter , #rotu09, detroit, detroit tweetups, Royal Oak Tweetup, social media, Social Networks, twitter