A huge part of the fun of blogging, at least for me is connecting with a whole bunch of different people from all over. We discuss things on each others’ blogs; argue about stuff; give and receive advice; find out about one another’s’ families, jobs, friends, life; share photos; exchange ideas – have a laugh.
Sometimes I find bloggers with whom I seem to have a real connection. We have a lot in common – the virtual conversation is easy and fun. Maybe we go on to exchange emails or connect further on Facebook. Maybe we even have a telephone conversation or two.
You’re in touch with these people almost every day. Sometimes you tell them things you don’t tell anyone else. Inevitably you’re going to want to take the relationship to the next level, as they say.
This Saturday I had the privilege of meeting up with 18 other Ottawa area bloggers for brunch. A few of us had met previously, but most of us were strangers except in the blogosphere. We had an Ottawa bloggers brunch a few months ago as well, but with a smaller and almost completely different group.
It’s so fascinating to have an actual conversation with someone whose blog you’ve been reading forever. Unless you’ve seen their photo they never look like you pictured them looking and most of the time they’re not even like you imagined them being.
You form an image of their personality from their blogs, but they can surprise you. For instance, Nat comes across as very philosophical, staid and laid back on her blog; but in real life she is one crazy-haired ball of energy – interesting and fun, while still maintaining her philosophicalliness.
Jobthingy, on the other hand, I was expecting would be dancing on the table before the second round of coffee, but she was actually very subdued compared to her blog image. Maybe she gets wilder later in the day? I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her or to The Maven because they were way at the other end of the table but they seemed to be keeping the conversation going pretty well down there. And I did get to hug them both.
I also didn’t get to talk to Alison or Meanie very much, but they had been wanting to meet each other for a while, so they had a lot to talk about. Alison is a lot taller than I thought she’d be, but otherwise the same lovely, strong, funny person she is on her blog. Meanie, I’d met very, very briefly once before and is just so adorable it’s impossible to imagine her puking up Doritos.
I managed to talk to everyone else for at least a short while — except Jo, who always seemed to be talking to someone far away from wherever I was at the time.
David requested more cleavage from the female participants next time. Zoom and the GC were very late (we didn’t ask) and sat in the corner snogging, eating, snogging, talking and snogging. Everyone at some point mentioned Robin’s fabulous photos. Newsguy Bob was working, but flew in, scarfed down some food and flew back out so quickly I only managed to get a very blurry impression of him. And while he was there his Blackberry wouldn’t leave him alone. Guillermo was charming, though anxious to get back to his family whom he’d abandoned at the Santa Claus parade, in the cold. Hella Stella and Lynn found out they had a lot in common and, I think, swapped photos of their “children”, human and canine. A&J are as cute as we thought they’d be and can’t imagine how their neighbours could be so mean to them. And Woodsy, who I have also met before, I just want to run away and elope with.
Next time perhaps we’ll manage to combine the people from last time with the people from this time and maybe even add a few others to the mix. (If you’re an Ottawa area blogger and would like to be on the mailing list for the next Ottawa Blogger breakfast/brunch, send us an email at bloggersbreakfast@gmail.com. Please include a link to your blog.)
As I mentioned, I wasn’t too happy with Saturday’s venue – the food took FOREVER to arrive and the really, really long table was not conducive to good mingling, so we’re on the look-out for a place that maybe has some round tables in a cluster and/or an environment that encourages wandering around. And it should be fairly central.
Anyway, this post is just to say how great it was to meet everyone. And, to see if anyone else out there has regular events – formal or informal, large or small with bloggers in their area and how they’re organized. What do you do? Where do you go?
