If there's one coming to your region, don't miss it!
Jul 02 '08 (Updated Jul 04 '08)
The Bottom Line Honestly, if a M&G shows up near your town make the effort and take the time to go and meet with other reviewers and staff.
So here we were, in the heart of downtown Chicago at an incredible hotel, getting to meet colleagues, strangers, and the heart of Epinions. It’s difficult to say what makes this such a valuable site, both to the community and to each of us, but after the Chicago Meet & Greet I have to say the staff and the reviewers contribute to the success equally.
What a wonderful time! As others have stated before, the value of a Meet & Greet, of getting to spend face time with other reviewers, makes the site more personal. I joined Epinions in July 2005 but didn’t write my first review until October 2005 (and my knees were knocking). Some supportive, favorable comments from “old timers” bolstered my confidence and I proceeded to write. A year or so later I wanted to meet some of these people. At one point I read about Bryan Carey’s informal M&Gs and that sounded perfect—I was ready. Using his pointers, Misc-el (Elaine) and I coordinated an informal M&G in Indianapolis. That did it! I was addicted to not only the site but meeting these fabulous (and controversial) people. Since then I found myself in an area where sleeper was going to be and Mr. Pestyside (aka Rex) and I drove over to meet him. Later there was the community day in Peoria where I had the pleasure of meeting Julie (cmaw63), Kathy (kamel622) and several other reviewers. Most recently we met up in Chicago (before this) and spent time with Sue (Millinocket), Dave (driftless), Andy (panguitch), and Stephanie (dramastef). I have had the pleasure of meeting Meagan and Michelle (and Mr Chelledun) several times (Indianapolis and Chicago) and feel like they are old friends.
It was pleasing (and I felt maternal) watching the enthusiasm of staff when they heard Garrett was in the building.
Unlike previous M&Gs this didn’t go into drinking and debauchery immediately. Almar and Yoel took time to explain the changes, to answer our questions, and to reassure us that there really is a plan. I’ll leave the plan to others to explain, but there should be changes within the very near future (seems to me some might be occurring as I type). We had multiple meetings—first we met everyone who was present, then we met the staff and heard about their plans. Then we met to travel over to the Ebay Live Gala event.
The ultimate highlight of the entire trip began at my house because sleeper accepted an open invitation to spend the night at my Big Old House. He and his wife arrived in time to visit and drink and enjoy University of Illinois, Meat Sciences brats. I grilled them (the grill had been reviewed) and in the morning we shared coffee (both the coffee and the coffee maker had been reviewed) and had breakfast at a local restaurant (never will be reviewed). The next day we drove up to University Park on the South side of Chicago, caught the train into town and did a brief tourist thing.
Because of the power of these gatherings I now consider Tom and his wife (uh, what was her name?) good friends. (Her name is Marlene.) He’s not the ax murderer he pretends to be, but perhaps I’m supposed to keep that a secret, but he is as inquiring and direct as he seems online.
I was continually impressed by the two newbies at the M&G. lschofield brought her mom, who was considering writing reviews. lschofield has not written many but wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. I was impressed by Joubert and his teasing, playful manner. I was immeasurably impressed by Saxguy (John)—he’s quite different from what I expected. (I guess we all were.) Frostygirl spends time here, New York, and Romania. I especially enjoyed visiting with Danielle and Guy and look forward to meeting her again. Laurashrti, her soon-to-be husband and future step-son took up a quiet location in the back of the room to observe but it was a thrill to meet her (What else would a librarian do?) It’s too bad that Shelly didn’t make it to Chicago the last time, but I’m considering a trip to Detroit to meet with her, Stef and Cindy (hadassahchana). When we move to Houston there are a number of people on my list to visit. (I feel as though I’ve started an Epinions equivalent of a birder’s life list.)
If you get an opportunity to attend a M&G, do! Even if you say that’s not your thing, that’s not why you write (I certainly said that) be brave, be adventuresome and I doubt you will be disappointed. It enhances the value of the site for yourself to meet these people and to give them faces and discover they really aren’t high heel shoes, blond Labradors, or sunsets (sleeper really does look like his profile pict). While I’ve been on the site for a while I still feel new and listening to the long-time veterans talk about the site, the changes, and asking relevant questions provided more information than I’ll get from the message boards.
Take advantage of the opportunity to meet staff. I met Garrett and some of the staff in California a year or so ago and that made a huge difference in how I looked at Epinions. They’re not really some huge office; they’re just a small group of people working to make the site better.
I second Tom’s thoughts; these are too short, too sweet, and too satisfying. Saying goodbye was not easy and had we stayed at a hotel in Chicago rather than on the edge of town, and had we not needed to catch a train we might have blackmail material. If you get the opportunity, just do it! You won’t have regrets (unless perhaps you enjoyed a little too much debauchery after the main event.)
*chelledun (Michelle)
dandj (Danielle) and a very helpful Guy
frostygirl (who joined this year on my birthday)
Joubert (George)
lambchops (Shelly)
laurashrti (Laura)
lschofield (Laura—a very new reviewer)
*meagandowney (Meagan)
*mr_chelledun (Nick)
openroad (Abraham)
pestyside (me)
*roheblius (Garrett)
Saxguy (John )
*scmrak (Rex)
shippo225 (Ronald)
*sleeper54 Tom (who found away to change his nametag from Tom to …tom…)
Staff
almarsezstuff (Almar)
aweiner (Alisa)
yoelc (Yoel)
Joel
Johnny
Hopefully everyone is on this list. “*” indicates people I’ve met before through informal gatherings.
I apologize for this being so lengthy, we didn’t take photographs and I’m always wordy anyway. Thank you, Epinions, for offering this opportunity, for letting us attend the Ebay Live event, and for taking the time to talk to us.
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