The Good And Bad Of Syracuse Tweetups
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jan 24, 2011
Last Friday we had a Syracuse area tweetup at the new restaurant SyrPrime. It’s on the corner of South Salina St. and Water St. It’s a beautiful basement level location, co-owned by Paul Phan and another man whose last name is Klamm. I don’t remember his first name, but his son Dan is one of my Twitter friends.
Back in 2009 I went to my very first local tweetup. For those who don’t know, a tweetup is where you have the chance to meet some of the local people you’ve had the opportunity to talk to on Twitter in some fashion. It started out very slow, with maybe 5 or 6 people the first time getting together at a joint meeting with another group whose name I can’t remember right now at the Spaghetti Warehouse, and really seemed to hit its peak last summer with around 40 people at the Bear and Bull Restaurant.
There are a few different tweetup groups that meet. There was one that was more organized that used to take place once a month at the Syracuse Tech Garden, run by Nicole and Kevin Samolis of the Events Company. They would have some networking early, then a presentation that lasted about 30 minutes, and then a bit more networking. They were also the people responsible for the wildly successful Syracuse BizBuzz conference last August, with another one coming this year in May. But that one has kind of stopped for now, and I’m not sure they’ll get another one going.
There’s a technology group that has a tweetup as well, and I’ve never gone to that one because I don’t really consider myself all that “tech.” And in the Liverpool area we had a very small one that drew 5 people at Starbucks; some folks said they wouldn’t come because it was there and they wanted to support local businesses instead; whatever I guess.
So we have the main group of folks that get together, and the main people who set it up most of the time all work for Syracuse University. That’s turning out to be a good and bad thing. The last tweetup is a good example, as the same thing happened at the previous tweetup.
They do a great job of planning, and on getting the word out. However, what seems to happen is that once their circle shows up, they go off into a corner of their own and pretty much insulate themselves from everyone else. Both times when this happened I refused to go over to that corner. The first time I pretty much sat by myself for about 10 minutes before other people joined in. This time around there were already other people I could hang with. I still didn’t like it much. It reminds me of high school cliques, and frankly, I’d think adults who talked about social media and networking in person with others they’ve met on Twitter would know better.
Another minor rant is the proliferation of the smartphones. Now, it’s not such a bad thing when one pulls it out for a quick moment to send a quick post to Twitter making sure everyone knows about it and how it’s going. What’s bad is that it becomes the focus of interaction for a long time, such that no one else can talk to you unless they also have a smartphone. It’s that kind of behavior that will keep me from buying one for a very long time.
Still, there were good parts as well. I went with my friend Kelvin and got to talk to Scott Severance (@scottseverance), who was celebrating his birthday (I won’t say his age, but if he decides to then he can). It was also a celebration for Tracy Tillapaugh (@tracytilly) as she just started her new job at Syracuse University this week. As a matter of fact, the picture of the cake you see, which I know isn’t great, is the cake made by Jen Comfort of Nonpariels Cake, and it was wonderful.
I also got to talk for a little while with Bill Gambino (@fosterdad2) about being a foster dad, and Margaret McCormick (@mmccormickny) about foods and wine, even though I don’t drink. And I met a new lady, very pretty, named Nikki Feroni ( @nikkiferoni). And of course my friend Sunny (@sunnyinsyracuse) was there as well; she’s got the cutest face! 😉
So, I’m thinking that the next tweetup will need someone else to set up the place and time. This way, maybe there will be the opportunity to make sure everyone mingles a bit more. If it has to be me, then I’ll work on it. But we’ll see. Overall I had a good time, but it could have been much better; it has before.
Hi, Mitch — Interesting post. I’m new to all this but thought the turnout was pretty good for a bitter, cold night in Syracuse. I wouldn’t have known about this Tweetup were it not for Jen at Nonpareils Cake (@nonpareilscake)… it was billed as informal, and that it was.
My attitude with these things, always, is that I’ll go for a coffee or a drink, check it out and make a hasty retreat if I don’t feel comfortable or welcome. I’m old-school and like to put faces with names and mingle! 🙂 My goal is to meet up with fellow foodies and make some professional/personal connections that I continue to network with down the road, so in that respect Friday was OK. Whether it’s a Tweetup or not, it takes some self-dialogue for me to walk into a room of people I don’t know…
I’m the same, Margaret, and it was great seeing you there and being able to talk with you for a little while.
The good news is that anyone (yes…anyone) can organize a tweetup. So if a format isn’t appealing, it is okay to create something different. In essence, that is what has occurred in Syracuse over the last two years. Different tweetups for different audiences.
Prime may not have the best layout for a tweetup since it is harder to circulate there. My personal favorite was at Recess and then the one at J. Ryan’s. In both places, it was easy to circulate and talk.
BTW the BizBuzz conference was in May 2010.
Hi Jill,
You’re right about Recess; I missed the one at J. Ryan’s, so I’m not sure what the atmosphere was like, as I’ve never been there. It seems that the room needs to be a bit more open so it’s easier to mingle, and a lot lighter so people can be seen. And there are definitely different tweetups for different audiences; I think you and I have been to at least 3 tweetups with different people there.
As to the BizBuzz, I thought it was around the time I had something else going on, which was in August, but I guess not. Now I have to figure out what was happening. It looks like they’re having another one, and we’ll see if I have the opportunity to make that one.
Mitch, I’m sorry you felt that way about the last gathering at Prime. As one of the Syracuse University folks who attended, I can tell you this was not the intention. I was glad we got a chance to talk for a while, and I enjoyed seeing many other friends from Twitter as well. Eventually, some of us realized it was time to order dinner, as we were entertaining a colleague visiting from another University (which was the main reason we had planned to be there that evening). Prime is a beautiful place, but the bar area offers limited choices for dining. That’s why we ended up in the corner booth (the only booth). It was definitely not because we wanted to be distant from others.
I sincerely apologize if you or others felt excluded. We’ve had some great tweetups in the past, and this is actually great feedback.
Thanks for that, Anthony. I wasn’t going to name names because I didn’t think that was necessary. And it seems there were some serious miscommunications as to the intention of the event. So, we’re good, and next time there’s an official tweetup, we all make sure to announce it and promote it better. You’re a good one! 🙂
I went to the tweetup at Recess and thought it was nice–haven’t been since. 1) I’m not in the social media biz and some of the tweetups seem to be niche marketed. 2) I can’t drink and feel intimidated by tweetups at bars.
Hope to be able to make one in the future.
The tweetup at Recess was a great one. The one at Bear & Bull was the largest one with just Twitter folks; one other was as large, but also included Syracuse First. I don’t drink so that doesn’t bother me at all, but not being able to get something to eat irks me a little bit. As for the niche marketed ones, some are that way, some are just for meeting others. One has to discern which ones they wish to go to. Of course, just ask on Twitter and I’ll hook you up.