I had the pleasure of meeting Suw Charman this afternoon, at a Technorati party following the end of the Supernova conference. I was there primarily to say hi to Suw, who's both a personal and professional blogger, and whose writing I've enjoyed ever since I responded to a post of hers all of 20 days ago. A few random thoughts:
- Suw's great. Super smart, of course, but down-to-earth as well. We commiserated over the difficulty of getting organizations to "unclench" when it comes to blogging. If you're not reading her, you should be.
- Blogging = visibility = being connected to so many interesting things that are happening right now. A few opinionated words on the humble site you're reading now put me in touch with a blogging consultant from England 20 days after reading her work for the first time. (Yes, it helps to live in San Francisco, where the entire circus passes through eventually, but work with me here.) If you aren't part of the fray yet, jump in.
- Conferences are strange little subcultures. As the former Executive Director of a nonprofit that was essentially in the business of holding conferences, I've been through the drill more times than I care to recount. But it was both humbling and liberating to be the guy dropping into the afterparty because he couldn't afford the registration fee, rather than the guy who has to say "HI!" to everyone all night long.
- Even a great bar like the House of Shields loses its charm when it's full of post-conference schmoozers instead of actual drinkers.
- Hey, I saw Doc Searls and David Weinberger! (And swear to God, I just read all of Cluetrain, straight through. More on that soon.)