Last night I was minding my own business when I saw my friend Ryan tweet that he was heading over to The Pit for dinner. I had just tried the warm chocolate cake with ice cream there a couple days ago, so I replied that he should try it. A minute later I saw the reason Ryan was heading over there, it was to meet Chris Brogan who was in the area.
It was about 7:30 and I was happily on my couch with my wife and 2-year-old. I turned and told my wife that it was cool that Chris was hanging at The Pit. She then asked, “are you going?” – I thought about it for a long second and decided, no, I wouldn’t.
I’m a really big fan of Chris Brogan, also a big fan of The Pit, and friends with most of the guys who were hanging out there. Here’s the calculation I did in my head: Should I go someplace I wasn’t exactly invited to meet someone I admire. I’ve chatted with Chris in comments and via email a few times, and he’s always been super nice and responsive, so running out away from my family to be one of 50 didn’t make sense to me.
I’ve asked my family to put up with me being out and about a lot over the past year, and because Chris Brogan is so accessible I couldn’t bring myself to jump off my couch, drive 30 minutes, find parking, muscle my way in, and introduce myself, then hang around, there wasn’t enough value for me.
That made me start thinking about who I would have jumped up for. I have a short list of people I only know via the Internet, that I would run for:
These 5 people are my personal rock stars. I can’t think of many days that I don’t bookmark or share something from at least on of them. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to have a normal 5 minute conversation with them, so I would go that extra mile to meet them IRL.
By the way, if any of my personal rock stars ever make it to Raleigh, dinner at The Pit is on me!
I know you have a list like this. Who is on your list?
There are a few celebrity social media rock stars whom I’d love to meet. I might attend a conference because they were one of the speakers, or I might hang around work late if I knew they were arriving next door at the Pit soon thereafter. However, I wouldn’t jump off my couch for any of them. The people who I enjoy seeing the most are people already in my life. I’d jump off my couch for my LOCAL social media rock stars. Seeing a celebrity is less important to me than maintaining established relationships and making new contacts who will stick around and have the potential to become close friends and professional resources.
@Morgan – I agree with you that your local network is super important, but there’s no reason you’re network can’t expand beyond your local geographic contacts.
The beauty of the web is that there’s really no need to be limited by geographic boundaries. If I click with a guy in Wisconsin or Texas, there’s no reason I shouldn’t build on it.
Great post Phil! And definitely something to think about. I think I’d add Pete Cashmore to my list, because Mashable is awesome.
It’s always great to see new folks, and I’d have loved meeting you in person, but I think that spending time with family is excellent, too.
There are always more opportunities. Next time. : )
@Chris – I think it would be hard for me to be in the Social Media space and NOT bump into you at some point, you’re everywhere 🙂