I am attending my first PCMA event this week in Dallas covering the show for MeetingsPodcast and to grab some interviews for my Event Solutions articles. The Hash tag for all you social media types is #PCMA10 Head over to www.search.twitter.com and load in #pcma10 and join the conversation on Twitter.
Arrival in Dallas brought me to a meetup of social media friends I have been connected with online virtually, but never in person. It is really amazing to me once again on how social media can connect you. I had never met anyone in the group but it felt like a reunion of sorts. We had dinner at Monica’s and then to the Hyatt. If you see me at PCMA please do stop and say hello. The conversations I have already had made this trip really worthwhile.
Jeff Hurt (@jeffhurt) Mike McCurry (@michaelmccurry) Greg Ruby (@gregruby) me- Mike McAllen (@mmcallen)
Jessica Levin (@jessicalevin) PCMA’s Liz Giannini (@lzgiannini) and Christine Melendes (@camelendes) came in later to round out the core group.
A decision was made to pay virtual homage to both Cristina Coster (@mizcity) and Midori Connolly (@greena_v) who could not make the trip to Dallas.
While sitting at the Hyatt bar several other event professionals stopped by:
I had a great talk with Gary Shirmacher of Experient. Nice knowledgeable guy who was tracking the buses at the Hyatt to help out on his off hours. 
John Potterton, PCMA’s VP of Education stopped by for a bit to talk social media, podcasting and how the preparation for the PCMA event was going.
Even Deborah Sexton, Executive Director of PCMA came by for one brief moment.(snapped this quick shot of her) Seems she has some sort of event going on this week. Did you know she is tweeting? It is great that PCMA is getting involved with Social Media! Follow her at @DeborahlSexton
Check out more PCMA photos on Jeff Hurts photo on Flickr
Photo credit and Hat tip- Jeff Hurt Jessica Levin Mike McAllen
Great post. A wonderful discussion that serves to prove the effect that social media is having on the meetings industry, particularly before, during and after the life of a meeting. It’s developing relationships and creating community surrounding an event.
Thank you Tom for the comment and yes it is amazing. I do think Social Media can help with the face to face interaction.
I look forward to how this evolves into the sessions more and more.
Mike