Chris Brogan and Justin Levy are Two Awesome Dudes

How cool is my job? I’m involved whenever super social media people happen to be in town, because I usually have a hand in coordination once the decision makers decide on things. BOO-YA!

I’m not saying that to sound important, far from it. I know who I am, and I realize that there are some great perquisites to my job. The biggest one being that I get to meet, hang out with and learn from really intelligent people who are squeezing that lemon in their own ways.

For that I am extremely grateful. This post pays homage to my gratefulness.

It also pays homage to two big names in social media, who happen to be all around cool dudes to boot. I was broadcasting that my job is great above, and last week was no exception. Chris Brogan and Justin Levy were in town, and I might have looked like their conjoined twin at points throughout their visit because I enjoyed hanging with them that much.

Putting People on a Pedestal

I’ve had that problem for most of my life, and my time in the Air Force didn’t help much. If someone had a status higher than mine, I would usually not approach them. I’m finding out that’s pretty silly. We’re all moving along together on planet earth, one foot in front of the other, so there is no need for me to take myself out of the game.

A person’s approachability is based on their attitude and not on their status.

I think that’s one part of the on-line social world that I really appreciate. People are not only accessible, but when they are accessed I have found out more often than not that they’re also human. These two guys were simply great in that regard.

Highlights

Chris and Justin were here on business, which I’m totally excited about, but the highlights for me came when we were not talking business. During their visit I realized that I can talk social media at any time, but its a lot cooler to not talk shop all the time. Especially at dinner.

One thing that’s great about meeting people who blog and speak publicly is when I read their blog or hear them speak I get a sense of what they are in to. That way I don’t have to guess when I talk to them. This is huge. If I have a conflicting opinion or I just want to learn more about a given topic, we have a starting point that saves time in the conversation.

Convo with Chris
I got to sit by Chris at dinner last Thursday and we ended up talking about comic book movie adaptations for a bit, which I thought was really cool. I knew that he was into comic books because I had heard him say that during his talk at the May SMC Louisville meeting. So when he said something about the Incredible Hulk I just went with it. We both had opinions on things, and conversations are the best when people bring their opinions. I noticed that, as busy as he is, Chris gives his full attention in a conversation. I truly appreciated being able to spend time with him.

Convo with Justin
Justin had been making a lot of non-traditional references and analogies in his blog of late and I wanted to know more about it because I have enjoyed them. So we talked about them over beers Thursday night. What I found interesting was the fact that he started writing those types of posts as a release and learned from the analytics that they were resonating with people. Great insight, and all around great guy.

The Point

There really isn’t one, other then the fact that I have become a gigantic name-dropping fanboy on my personal blog… But if you had a gun to my head I would say that what I’ve learned about being social on-line is that it opens doors to being social in real life. Its a great reminder. And I don’t think that it can be overstated as I face off with people who want to say that I waste my time with this stuff at work.

Plus its just plain fun to find out what I have in common with other people. I have found that I really like that part of it. With that, let the record show that Chris Brogan and Justin Levy helped kick-off the man-hug revolution in Louisville, KY in July of 2009.

It’s official.