First, have you tagged your face yet?

Then, you might be interested in the pre-event poll results. “Are you happy to see a local media company do this for bloggers?” With 181 Responses, 133 were Yes, 45 were Kinda, and only 3 were No. “Even if you’re unable to make this event, would you like to see another one planned in the future?” With 165 Responses, 134 were Yes, 28 were Maybe, and only 3 were No.

I realize this isn’t a comprehensive list (far from it, I’m sure) – but here’s what summaries I was able to uncover through my trusty news aggregator throughout the day:

• Flickr Photos Tagged komomeetup’
• ALEX GARCIA IN SEATTLE – The Seattle KOMO-TV Blogger Meetup
• The Mortgage Porter – KOMO-TV’s Blogger Meet up
• Jerry Kindall – Slated; KOMO meetup
• Writer Way: Real-world social networking
• Slumberland.org: Bloggers invade KOMO
• Folly’s House of Mirth: KOMO-TV blogger meetup
• Jet City Orange: Seattle Blogs
• Steve Lacey: Seattle Blogger Meetup
• KevinFreitas.net ~ T-town bloggers represent
• Both Hands- KOMO TV Blogger Meetup Happens
• Stewtopia: KOMO Blogger Meetup
• Northwest Ladybug: KOMO TV’s Northwest Blogger Meet-Up
• This Pile I’m Standing in: KOMO Blogger Meetup
• Fisher Communications blogger party signals a changing landscape

After we get KOMO to give us a short date range, we’ll set up a Web-based poll and see which date is most relevant for most people. From that point, I’ll set up a free EventBrite page for anybody to RSVP into. With that, we can better collect our respective “RSS feeds” and instantly construct a community explorer that will serve to help us discover one another before and after the event(s). I wish I had thought of THAT before. :(

If we each try to bring at least one other person next time, we’ll have a full-blown invasion on our hands (the friendly kind, mind you).

Seattle Blogs: Unite and Untie

I was congratulated by so many people tonight (most of whom I did NOT know or who did NOT know me). I really feel awkward taking ANY degree of credit for this event. KOMO should be very, very, very inclined to do this again and on a regular basis – it’s only going to grow and increase flow. I’m just happy to be one conduit.

If KOMO is the rallying point for bloggers to get together, become acquainted with one another, and ultimately stretch their relationships beyond special interest circles, then KOMO can and should accept that role – which could be willingly embraced by any other traditional media outlet that was just hoping to learn more about its most vocal community members and advocates (read: bloggers).

Funny thing is: just about everyone was asking about the agenda (even though there really wasn’t any), and curious to know how they were discovered in the first place. Made for great conversation starters, but also underscored my belief that serendipity is the spice of life. I’ve been dying to get out of the technology blogger echo chamber for quite some time, and felt exceedingly relieved to know few others in the room.

So, next time…

• Need to have a poll to set tentative dates within a specific week. You could never accommodate everybody’s schedule, but at least you can get a better idea as to which night works best for most people on any given week (or no preference, for some).
• You’ll keep your costs low and confusion at a minimum by keeping it in the same place, even if it happens to fall at different times of a week and/or month.
• Don’t turn this into anything more than a social event.
• I might actually tap into your WiFi, because my EVDO signal wasn’t very strong in the studio(s).
• It’s a radical concept, but what about some kind of semi-UNproduced “Meet The Bloggers” show where you have someone do mini-interviews with the bloggers who show up? Bring ‘em on stage, give ‘em a small bit of make-up, ask ‘em what they blog about, put their URL in the lower-thirds, then run the program either online (exclusively) or in some random 4AM time slot that would otherwise go to an advertisement for Girls Gone Wild Volume XXXIV. Heck, if you don’t wanna do it, I’ll set it up through my live stream next time and do it anyway. ;)
• What about a table near the entrance where people can drop off a small stack of business cards, just to take a look to see who else might be there – then they might network their way through the crowd looking for the name and connections to that person?
• I think we would be better off using Upcoming.org to organize attendence – it’s much more open-ended and prone to attracting even more interested bloggers.

The EVDO connection kept halving my live viewers, since Ustream doesn’t handle disconnections and reconnections very elegantly yet. Still, two people took live screen caps before I had a chance to ask. Gordon Medley took the first shot (with the group photo live), and Taylor Hornby snaped the second (with me at the anchor desk):

Then, someone else dumped a few of the group shots onto my desktop (thanks to the help of another local blogger). I didn’t catch either of their names, sadly – and I certainly couldn’t name everyone in the photo:

Seattle Bloggers: We’re Here to Stay

KOMO-TV and its owner, Fisher Communications, has graciously agreed to serve as host for a blogger meet-up at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday August 2nd. The event will be at Fisher Plaza, 140 Fourth Avenue North in downtown Seattle. Light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments (alcoholic and otherwise) will be served and everyone who attends is promised a cool piece (or pieces) of KOMO swag. That’s right; we’re digging deep for this.

This is a social event, so come prepared to meet and make new friends. If you know of a local blogger who’s not on the list here, please let me know or feel free to invite them, too. We’d like to meet everybody.

KOMO-TV is interested in getting to know bloggers in the area, and what better way to do that than with a little party? Again, this is a social event; there’s no agenda for the station other than helping facilitate this meet-up. Fisher Communications recognizes the significance of the personal media revolution, and they want to listen and pay attention to what you’re saying. I think this is a good way to start.

KOMO-TV news anchors will be there, so don’t forget to bring your camera! You’ll also be able to take pictures of yourself (and your co-anchors) at the anchor desk.

Please use the RSVP function of this Evite to let us know if you’re coming. We want to make sure we have enough food for everybody. If you have any questions about this event, feel free to contact Leanne Dillon from KOMO-TV at (206) 404-6055.

We should all use “komomeetup” as the tag for photos, videos, blog posts, etc.

Seattle-area Blogger Meetup with KOMO-TV