With Sara Robinson

I met a lot of amazing people at Blogworld and New Media Expo. Some folks I had met before at other conferences and events. Others, I had only met online and finally got to meet them IRL (In Real Life). Finally, I met some people I never heard about before. Here are 5 new people I met at the conference. To qualify for this list, I could not have met you before in person. (sorry other amazing people like Liz Strauss, Terry Starbucker, Miss Destructo, Joel Libava, Angel Oakley, Barbara R,  Becky McCray, Shashi B, Sheila S, Brian Solis ,Kelly Olexa, Zane Aveton,  Dave Peck, Cali Lewis, Jim Kukral, Carol Roth, Wendy Piersall and others I am missing)

Sarah Robinson: I had wrote a guest post for Sarah went she needed time to go to Russia to complete an adoption. I think of her often now as her tag line is “Escaping Mediocrity“. In fact, there are some days I wake up and just want to be mediocre. I don’t feel like working hard. When we had dinner one night in Las Vegas, she taught me how I can always be extraordinary in the work I do.

Anita Campbell: If you don’t know Anita then you should. I am been at the same conference as her but we had never met. She is the creator of Small Business Trends. According to Compete.com, the web site gets 250,000 visitors a month which is huge achievement for a small business site (okay I admit, I am jealous). She has a depth of small business information that you will not see elsewhere. Whenever I can get a chance to write for Anita’s site, I do!

Angel Djambazov: Through Liz Strauss, I met Angel when a group of us went out to dinner at Koi on the last night in Las Vegas. This is one cool and sharp guy in social media (and he knows how to get around Las Vegas!). He runs Custom Tailored Marketing and has been awarded Affiliate of the Year. I would follow him anywhere.

David Gass and David Francis: Jim Kukral and I were fortunate to have dinner at Aria with these too successful guys who now work for major corporation, CSC. David Gass is a very successful entrepreneur that sold is company to CSC the month before the Great Recession (I wanted him to rub my lucky rabbit’s foot). David Francis is an incredible sales trainer who has worked with the likes of Tony Robbins. They now work together on a small business website called Earn.com.

Nancy Loo: A reporter for WGN Channel 9 in Chicago, I finally was able to meet her in real life at Haze at Aria. She covers a lot of crime in Chicago, but takes time out to meet people in the social media world which has become her passion. I admire Nancy because the more TV reporters like her reach out through social media, the more transparent traditional media will become.

Who were the best people who have never met IRL before?