I really wanted to make it to New Media Atlanta on Friday, but I already have an incredible travel schedule for October and November and just couldn’t justify another day away from the office. NML is the first social media conference I’ve heard about in Atlanta, and I was excited about the opportunity to meet up and talk about social media and online marketing.
Since I wasn’t able to attend the conference, I decided to just crash the after party which was held at Ten Pin Alley in Atlantic Station. I was originally planning on leaving the office around 4PM, since it takes me at least an hour to get to Atlanta with road construction and traffic.
Unfortunately, I left a little late and arrived at Atlantic Station around 6:30 PM. There were a lot of people there, so I got a drink and started mingling. I talked to a couple of the event staff, then said hello to Daniel Walters of Social Media Birmingham. I met Daniel at BarCamp Birmingham back in May. Unfortunately, he was on his way out to head back to Birmingham for WordCamp.I walked back up to the bowling lanes and said hello to Wayne Sutton. Wayne and I met back in March at SxSW but only briefly. We talked about social media, online marketing, and business in general. It was a great conversation, and I can’t wait to hang out with Wayne at IzeaFest this weekend.
When I walked down to the bar to get another drink, I noticed Jim Caruso who I’d met a few weeks ago at the Atlanta Web Design Group meeting. Jim owns MediaFirst, a tech-focused PR firm in Atlanta. We were both hungry and started trying to wrangle a group to go to dinner. As we were talking, Courtenay Bird walked up and said hello. Coincidentally, she and a couple friends had also been talking about grabbing a bite, so we left the after party (which was just about dead at this point anyway) in search of food.
I ended up at Rosa Mexicana with Jim, Courtenay, Allie Sullivan, and Scott Lockhart, founder & CEO of Regator. The food was great, we even had fresh guacamole made fresh right in front of us. After dinner, we talked for more than an hour before leaving.
I was planning to meet a friend who was on his way to Atlanta, so I departed Atlantic Station and called it a night with the New Media Atlanta folks. I had a great time meeting everyone and look forward to actually attending the next one!
