The XBroker: The XBrokers First 24 Hours at REConnect

Arrived in Manhattan about 5pm yesterday, checked into The Hilton Garden Inn, in Times Square and looked out my window...directly into someone elses office :(    The room itself is pretty sweet with a flat screen TV and a real Herman-Miller chair....

Ahhh The Big Apple. Although I am a native NY'er, it's only my 4th time in the 'city' and am still amazed and the constant buzz. 4am or 4pm. it doesn't matter, this city truly never sleeps.

Shortly after arriving my phone rang, John and Mary McKnight were already settled in and looking to take in some sights and food. After some walking we decided on Rosie O'Gradys (highly recommended, great food with a nice atmosphere). We filled our tummy's and decided to venture on to the Hudson Hotel, where a group of bloggers had agreed to meet.

What should have taken about a 10 min walk turned into a 30 minute trek. Once in the hotel, it took us another 15 mins to find the bar. The three of us decided that we would fail miserably on that TV show where you have to find clues around a city..? I forget the name, but you know what i mean, we were navigationaly challenged...Eventually we found our destination, which was full of character and more 'atmosphere'. I love 'atmosphere'.

JF and Rudy of Sellsius, Joel of FOREM, and Stephen Fells of Agency Logic were already there, quickly followed by Jon and Matt of Active Rain, as a mix of others shuffled in. Thx to JF and Rudy for the first round! After some schmoozing we walked over to another bar in the Hudson with a lively atmosphere...I bought a round for like 6 people and the tab was almost as much as dinner :-0

It was great to meet all the people I 'read' on a daily basis...everyone was incredibly nice, much as I had imagined. A few people told me I wasn't the person they had expected, based on my writings and willingness to 'fight' the comment battles. I took this as a compliment ;)

It's funny how our respective blogs had taken on a life of their own, as it was easier to identify the crew based on their blogging handle rather than their actual name...i.e. 'Hey, Im Jeff Corbett!'...'Who?'...'The XBroker'...'Ohhhh, Nice to meet you!'...

Pat Kitano admitted he introduced himself to someone he thought was me, before I walked up and introduced myself :) Pat was the first blogger to write about and link to my site, so I was stoked to meet him.
I only got a chance to talk to a few people with any depth but thoroughly enjoyed the time. The night ended about 11:30 with Joel, Erik, and myself catching a cab back to our respective hotels.

Went to Inman today and caroused the vendor booths (Blogging Systems had the nicest set-up IMHO), otherwise I didn't stay long. Plan on being there tomorrow for Seth Godins speech...He is a marketing Deity...