It’s going to be a party. It’s going to be a Tweetup. It’s all about you and us and some food and some networking. It’s the first ever Castle Tojosan Tweetup.

You and you and you are invited. Oh wait, you’re not late though. The date is Friday, February 19th. The time? 6PM Central and beyond.

Warning – it’s mostly BYOB though I have a couple of bottles of wine in the house. I will take your keys if you’re toast.

This is intended to be a family and friend deals. Bring your kids, bring your wanna be tweeps, bring the garbage man if you like him.

I’ve got wifi, sodas, and video games and movies for the kids. As for food, the plan is to order some pizza, put out some chips, and make some finger sammies.  Whatever else turns up, I won’t mind.

We mostly stock Pepsi products but if ask ahead I can grab a few other sodas.  We’ll also have iced tea on hand.

Oh wait, you want to know where right? St. Peters, Mo. Um. Need more?

5 Westwood Estates Drive.

Google map?

Recap: Tweetup at Castle Jordan – it’s on Foursqure!

Bring yourself and your kids if you’d like. BYOB. Wireless. Big TV w/DVD player, Wii, XBox 360. Jigsaw puzzles. Cards. Yahtzee. Origami. Bring your camera/camcorder.

Food as it works out. If you have special food rules please contact me ahead of time.

Please RSVP here, vai Twitter, email, etc, and remember to tweet it up-  http://wp.me/pfLxC-uv

Note: we have a very friendly dog. He’s about 23 lbs. We don’t give him people food.

So it just goes to show that if you can’t go to St. Louis, the people will still come out.  That’s right, our second Tweetup in St. Charles county area was a success.  Before you read my take on it though, I’d like you to read Jeff’’s Tweetup post.

Back? Great.

As Tweetups go, this was a great crowd.  We had both techies and non-techies, men and women, and the mix worked well.  The conversation wasn’t just stuck on the latest Twitter tool or tech tip.

Lisa, @StL4Closeures, talked to us about real estate and politics.  Karen, @KarenStL, talked about her recent networking experience at BarCampStL.  Sharon, my wife, jump in and talked about being a parent and bus driver.  It was one busy table.

The location turned out to be busy but well liked.  Trailhead Brewery is located on the St. Charles waterfront area, in the historic area of town.  Trailhead provides a fun and warm atmosphere for getting together, as well as a great selection of microbrew beers.

All these elements made this an above average experience.  How do I judge that? I judge it by the relationship impact.  Huh? Yes, it’s about relationships.

Out of this Tweetup, Jeff, @jpickell, met, Chris, @idonotes, and others that he’d only known via Twitter.  They really hit it off, and I see collaboration coming for those two.  That’s just one example of how real face to face time can be a plus.

What did I learn? On a practical level, I learned to plan the location better, but knowing what circumstance might affect it.  It turned out they were packed due to activities on Main Street.

On a social networking level, I learned that word of Twitter, though fast, isn’t always efficient. I used simple broadcasting to my followers to alert folks of the Tweetup.  This proved less than fully effective.  Where I saw the response was in people that follow me and few others right now.  The more active involved folks on my stream missed the message altogether.

Feedback I received indicates that a more direct and targeted approach would work better.  This would include as much advance notification as possible with an effort to reach as many relevant individuals as possible. Aiding this would be the fact that I keep a group column in Tweetdeck just for tweets by locals.

Another lesson was that not everyone is equally interested.  Some will respond online and honestly be fully committed. Others will reply and not really plan on turning up.  The rest will ignore the offer like it was never heard.   The key is to not worry about the head count but about encouraging folks to come with the intent to add value.

On that last point, and my final one, adding value isn’t about being the most knowledgeable about Twitter, social networks, or Web 2.0.  Bringing value to the table is about your willingness to join the conversation, form relationships, and get over your fears.

Luckily the best way to get practice at these things is to show up to more and more similar functions.  Cheers to those that do.

I look forward to seeing you at an event near you in the future.

Focus on Chris Brogan

We held a Tweetup in O’Fallon Missouri.  Attendance was good.  There was a guest celebrity.  Out-of-towners showed up.  Heck, the food and the beer were even good.  But it’s a miracle it worked out so well. I totally goofed up the part about having a guest out.

Here’s how not to successfully have a guest at your Tweetup

• Give the guest a one day notice about the Tweetup.
• Only plan the Tweetup two days ahead of time.
• Don’t guarantee a ride out to the Tweetup for the guest.
• Expect the guest to find a restaurant almost 40 miles down the highway from their motel.
• Don’t remember to treat your guest.
• Introduce your guest as if everyone there actually knows him or her.
• Don’t even offer the guy a beer.
• Oh yeah, and take pictures of your guest eating. That’s always a winner.

The first ever St. Charles County Tweetup is upon us.  Conceived on the spur of the moment, and driven by a desire to not drive across the Missouri River, it’s happening this week.

Where:

Mc Gurks Public House
108 S Main St, O Fallon, MO
(636) 978-9640
Google Map

When:

6 PM, Wednesday, October 1

Bring what?

Yourself and your smile and a friend if you’d like.

No special topics to include, but how about we agree that politics should be off limits. That never works out well for me.

If you bring a camera, and post pics to Flickr, be sure to tag them, stchaztweetup.

DM me on Twitter to confirm or comment here. Feel free to steal this post.