This past week I had the privilege of attending Paul Greenberg’s and BPT Partner’s Social CRM Summit in Atlanta. I’ve never been to Atlanta before or anywhere near that portion of the U.S. Yes it was a bit warm and yes it was a bit humid, but I still had a great time. The event was made up of two full days of Social CRM goodness which culminated in my certificate of completion which I will proudly display on my site once the new badges are live. Paul is always a passionate speaker and it’s really great to get go see someone who usually keynotes to hundreds or thousands of people speak to a small group of 40 or so. It was an intimate setting which made it really easy to get to know other people and consume information effectively.
You can read a killer summary of the event by Lauren Hall-Stigerts if you log into Facebook and read her note. I’m not going to re-cap the event as Lauren already did a great job there.
Although I did learn a great deal at the event I also had the opportunity to build some personal relationships which are just as valuable and enjoyable as the information. I had the great opportunity of meeting people in person (that I have conversed with online) such as Mike Boysen, Brent Leary, Laurence Buchanan, and others. Here are a few of my favorite moments:
- Getting stuck in Mike Boysen’s car and not being able to get out because of the child safety locks which led Esteban Kolsky to make many other jokes about me.
- Stealing (I mean borrowing) Esteban’s car to go hang out with Blake Landau and Lauren Hall-Stigerts
- Hanging out with Ray Wang until 2am in a hotel room chatting about everything from business to his past life as a DJ
- Spending some time 1 on 1 with Paul chatting about all sorts of things ranging from the professional side to the business side of things
- Esteban calling me a “low-value” customer during his presentation (in front of the whole audience)
- Sitting in a car with Esteban while he’s telling me how he never gets lost; this while he’s driving in the opposite direction of where we need to go. Shortly after he recommended I go to a waffle house in Kennesaw at around midnight, I think he wanted to get rid of me.
- Telling people that the name of my hotel wasn’t Extended Stay American but actually “Suburban” Extended Stay America (not making that up)
- Listening to Paul’s “war” stories about some of his previous interesting work experiences
- Going to dinner with everyone from the event at Bahama Breeze in Kennesaw
- Skyping with Mitch Lieberman during dinner at Bahama Breeze so he could say hi to everyone
There were many other great moments during the event with various people but that’s the point, that’s what made this event so great for me. Yes the information was top-notch but the people that attended were a really great bunch of folks that were all clever and smart in their own right. I’m very thankful that I attended the event and that Paul invited me to attend. I’m looking forward to building upon the relationships that were started in Atlanta.
Here are a few more pictures from the event:
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