People I Love From Blog World Expo 2009 – Part 2

I know this is going to take a while to get through all the people I got to meet and have grown to adore because of Blog World Expo 2009. Hopefully I can get through this list before Christmas!

Today I’d like to talk about the people I met at the ProBlogger Dinner, courtesy @TasteMGMGrand and FiAMMA Trattoria. A few of these people I’d met before, but never had the chance to really spend time with them, and a few are “new” to me.

Left to Right: Lisa Morosky, Jen Wilson, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Patrick O’Keefe, Zane Aveton, Darren Rowse, Reem Abeidoh, and me.

First, Darren’s guests who were invited to come along with us to help make the dinner great for the winners of the draw to attend.

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Patrick O’Keefe (@ifroggy) – Patrick’s a really great guy. We had spoken via Skype a few times just prior to the trip to Vegas. I actually had met him (sort of) last year because I walked in front of his camera when he was on a panel with Darren. I still feel terrible for that, as I’m usually really good about noticing cameras and staying out of their way!

Patrick has this book called Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards that’s been a pretty big hit. I’m excited to start reading it myself, given the recent launch of ProBlogger.COMmunity. He also owns the iFroggy network, a collection of websites and communities on various topics.

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Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) – At last year’s BWE I met Chris for about 30 seconds. He shared chocolate with me. Talk about a guy who knows how to connect! (I kid… he does know how, but it’s so much deeper than sharing chocolate with an addict like myself!)

Chris is an amazing, sweet, kind man who takes the time to connect with every human being who crosses his path. He’s also a big deal, in case you’re not aware. His latest co-authored book, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust made the New York Times Bestseller List and I strongly recommend that if you do business of ANY kind online that you get and read this book. He’s also the President of New Marketing Labs where he works with another coolie guy I met and had a heart to heart with at BWE, Justin Levy.

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Brian Clark (@copyblogger) – This was the first time I’d ever had the chance to actually meet Brian, and I’m really glad I did. He’s hilarious and was constantly catching me off guard! (Wait til you see the clip I took of him for ProBlogger giving his #1 Blogging Tip – Priceless!)

Brian’s all about copywriting, online marketing, and showing people how to have success with their blogging and writing efforts. He’s truly an amazing teacher in this regard. His free PDF Authority Rules: The 10 Rock Solid Elements of Effective Online Marketing is fantastic and a highly recommended read.

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Reem Abeidoh (@rabeidoh) – Another fun-loving, amazing sweetheart who I got to meet briefly last year at our b5 party night but didn’t get the chance to really bond with until this year. Why, oh why, did we wait so long? She’s amazing – a soul-connection. Reem’s destined for greatness for the rest of her life, I just know it. She is quickly developing her status as a Social Media Butterfly! I love how well she connects to people and really makes them feel comfortable.

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And on to our wonderful guests:

Zane Aveton (@zaneology) – This chick ROCKS. She’s one of the funniest, outgoing, sweet-hearted people I think I’ve ever met. She lives out loud (one of my favorite types of people) and is original and stylish to boot! Zane’s going places – she’s the energetic one. She’s the one who knows where all the “cool geeks” are hanging out. She’s got AMAZING shoes.

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Jen Wilson (@jenwilsonphoto) -If and when I’m blessed with children, I’m bringing Jen out to NY to photograph them. WOW! She was voted Children’s Photographer of The Year – 2009 by the Professional Photographers of California, and one look at her photoblog and you’ll know why. Jennifer has also been named *Environmental Photographer of the Year “(California 2006), “Top Ten Photographer” (California 2006) and had won both a Fuji Masterpiece award and the prestigious “Kodak Gallery Award” (2009). She was an absolute delight to share dinner with, and I look forward to seeing more of her work!

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Lisa Morosky (@lisamorosky) – Lisa’s awesome. Very funny and I’m SO glad she got to come to the dinner with us! She’s a VA for Bloggers, and is launching a new site in November: Spend Less on Life. I got to hang out with Lisa more during the conference (she’s in the ProBlogger blogging tips vid, too) and just know that this chick’s gonna go really far in her ventures online. She’s what I affectionately call a “fetus”, a joke borrowed from a comedian friend of mine, but this means that she’s got a great grip on what most young people her age do not have yet – a living sense of pride, hard work and determination. I’m excited to watch her progress!

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Yes, this is going to prove quite difficult I think. I don’t want to leave anyone at all out, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to miss a few people at some point! Have to keep these posts shorter rather than just one huge run-on of names and websites. I really am blessed to have met those I did, and I want to honor them with more than that.

Part 1 – KB (Karen Bell) is here.

People I Love From Blog World Expo 2009 – Part 1

I feel like I have to do this. I have to write posts about people I met up with, face to face at Blog World Expo 2009. One of the most important parts of this conference is the people you meet and are fortunate enough to spend time with, and I want to honor those people who spent time with me.

Of course I met so many fantastic people, it’s inevitable that I’ll either forget a few or won’t be able to include them all. Please know that this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy meeting them, or don’t adore them. It’s just impossible, as this entire blog would be full of them!

This is part one of “I have no idea how many parts this is going to have”. I also don’t know how long it’s going to take. I want to take my time with this, and really devote the energy to it these great people deserve from me.

So without further explanation, here’s part one.

Karen (KB) Bell

As you may know, I work for Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. We got the chance to give away a Weekend Pass to someone for BWE and ran a little competition on the site to find the best person to give the pass to. People from all over the world had entered, offering up their idea of why they felt they deserved the pass. There were so many great entries, it was hard for us to pick one, but KB’s stood out to me and when I suggested her to Darren, he agreed.

KB is a spiritual life coach, musician, and all around sweetheart. I can’t explain the sense of peace and happiness I had just in our everyday conversation, much less just being around her with friends. She’s amazing, beautiful, and a new friend I’m absolutely blessed to have.

She was so excited when I emailed her! I had her call me and I was in the casino at MGM at the time, so I told her just to book her travel arrangements and I’d call her back when I got up to my room. Once we had some time to talk, I explained that like her, I have retired racing greyhounds and it was really neat that she did too. KB makes handmade martingale dog collars, which are the preferred style for sighthounds, and they’re gorgeous. (She brought me one for one of my babies… how sweet!)

What really moved me about her was initially the video she posted with her entry. I’d like for you to take a minute to watch if you don’t mind. You’ll see what made me fall in love with her right off the bat.

Karen, thank you for spending so much of your time with me. I’m blessed by it and can’t wait to make a trip up to Toronto to hang out again soon! <3

You can follow KB at @ktotheb on Twitter.

My next post in this series will cover the folks who came to the ProBlogger Dinner at FiAMMA.