I came in just in time to catch the end of an excellent presentation by Bill Flitter of Pheedo. Made me wish I'd gotten there earlier to hear the entire thing.
My new friend (and fellow cyclist) Dana VanDen Heuvel and my dear friend Toby Bloomberg warmly and generously introduced me to the seminar attendees and turned me loose for my very informal discussion on blogging and other social media, as it pertains to businesses and marketing.
Not something I get to see every day; the Masiguy blog on a big projector screen. Suddenly felt a little self-conscious...
For those who have seen me speak before in any kind of setting- Interbike, Sales Meetings, etc- I get pretty "animated" with hands/ arms flailing. I tried to keep it in check during the presentation... tried.
I managed to do "ok" with the restrained flailing. Donna would have been impressed- she's seen me in the midst of a full-on, coffee-fueled, bike rant before, so she's seen me at my worst.
Overall though, it went really well and I was very happy to have been given such a chance to speak. I am still very flattered by the offer from Dana and Toby be a part of the seminar discussion.
While sitting in the conference room after the close of the seminar, I had a conversation with Barbara Janszen from the local AMA chapter and discussed possibly speaking at one of their meetings as well. So maybe I'll get another chance to provide the same sort of rambling goofballery and blogging/ social media cheerleading.
After things were officially done with the seminar Toby, Dana, Bill, Bill's business partner Lohn Liberatore and myself went and had a couple beers and some great food at the Yard House. It was a great evening full of great conversations... including the numerous bike geek rants between Dana and myself. Not only is Dana a cyclist himself, but he's also a former shop owner.
As the night drew to a close, Toby was kind enough to do one of her short Flip videos with me outside on the sidewalk- which was pretty funny on a busy sidewalk on a Friday night in downtown San Diego.
All in all, it was a great time and a real honor for me to get to speak to the group of attendees at the seminar. I hope they all received something of value from the discussion. I know I had a great time having the opportunity to speak and hopefully I'll get to do it again.
This post is also post number 1000 for me since I began this blog on March 4th 2005. This March marks 3 years of Masiguy. There wouldn't be 1000 posts here and I never would have spoken yesterday at the AMA group if it weren't for those of you who stop here to read this stuff. I am constantly amazed by the community of readers that has grown here. If I miss a few days of posting, I get comments and emails asking if things are ok. When I share news about my life, I get an amazing outpouring of support. When I post pictures of beautiful bikes, I get wonderful comments of support, critique and sometimes great discoveries happen. This blog has served as a forum for those of you who read this thing and/ or have an interest in the Masi brand. It has also served as a way to shape the future of the brand and the products we produce. In short- it's become something much larger than I ever dreamed in March of 2004. So even though my 3 year anniversary is still a few days away, post number 1000 has me feeling pretty nostalgic and introspective... and sincerely thankful to you all.
I hope I manage another 1000 posts (and some more podcasts and video... I know) and that you all continue to read this thing because even though I would keep doing this without any readers at all, it sure is a helluva lot better with you guys participating.
A million thanks.
Tim
