This week at Phoenix Social Media Club, one of the people I talked to was Erin Atherton, the owner of a local business, “Durtbagz” (They sell satchels and messenger bags with street signs on them, including “Slow School Zone: Watch For Slow Children” and “DON’T DRIVE DURNK“). I had never met her, but I had known of her thanks to a lunch I had in Santa Monica in November.
Travel back, back, back in time to November of 2007…
I was in the Los Angeles area for a few days to see family. While in town, I sent out an open invitation to my social network friends (people I know and people I don’t know YET) to have lunch by the beach in Santa Monica and some bowling afterward. Six people I had never met in person showed up, despite relatively short notice.
One of the individuals I met at lunch, Serena, is an employee of BusinessWire, resulting in some good conversation about public relations and the press release, misconceptions of PR vs. marketing, and the future of the press release on the internet. Serena recommended that I get in touch with Malcolm from BusinessWire’s Phoenix office.
Within a week or two, I sat down for lunch with Malcolm Atherton and we discussed the future of PR on the internet, social media, and even some search engine optimization. During our discussion about social media and marketing, he brought up his wife’s company, Durtbagz.
Several weeks after that, I attended Social Media Club and bumped into Malcolm’s wife, Erin.
None of these introductions or conversations would have been possible if it weren’t for my relatively open social network friend-adding philosophy.
hey brian!
i agree, very cool and small world how we met. thanks for the links and durtbagz talk. i had lunch with Evo yesterday and he gave me your name as someone to talk to. oddly enough, i already had.
take care and keep jumping. hmmm…that could be a cool sign.