When Twitter Attacks

Dear Guelph, it’s us, your Tweeps (Twitter Peeps for those not in the know). Are you ready for us?

So, some of you might not be aware, but today marked the first of hopefully many #LunchUpGuelph get-togethers.

What’s a #LunchUpGuelph? you ask.

Well, it just so happens to be a lunch-time gathering of nerds. But not just any nerds; Twitter nerds. Twerds, for short? Hmm, maybe not. How about BerdNerds? Perhaps I’m a bit more tired than I thought.

Anyway, a few days ago a conversation on Twitter became the fodder for a get-together that grew rather rapidly. That, dear readers, is the power of social media. The conversation began with a suggestion that lunch was in order, and the invite went out to those that might be interested. After a few tweets back and forth, the decision to go with a Friday lunch was made. And then it started to grow. And grow. And grow. Before we knew it, there were 35 people saying they wanted to meet up I.R.L. (in real life). You see, while many of us had become part of this network on Twitter, and had been conversing for some time, only some of us had met I.R.L. Out of the 35 or so that made it to lunch, I’d really only met 2 people (@DrMarkKubert and @DrJulieGill), so finally meeting the faces behind the personalities was an intriguing prospect for me.

Lunch was held at Artisanale, and it was fantastic. Thankfully, @cinn48 dropped by a few days early to warn them that we were coming. You can imagine how unprepared a restaurant might have been if a party of 35 arrived. To their credit, Artisanale put together a special Prix Fixe menu. I opted for the battered perch with frites. YUM!

Of course, it wasn’t all about nerds getting together to finally meet one another. We also decided to use the opportunity to do something good. In this case, we collected non-perishable items for the Guelph Food Bank; 100 lbs worth, delivered by @TheRobCampbell. Awesome stuff.

The most impressive thing about #LunchUpGuelph, beyond the ferocity of its inception, was its potential. You see, everyone that was there had something amazing to offer. And everyone there seemed to feel that. And they also seemed to feel that these types of events could lead to something more. I don’t mean more in the sense of more get-togethers, parties, food, etc. I mean more in the sense of what we might be able to offer the community. A way of giving back to Guelph, a city that clearly all of us love. We haven’t quite put our finger on what that might be as of yet (at least, I don’t think we have), but we have decided that future meetings will continue to include some sort of let’s-give-back element. I’m absolutely positive that whatever becomes of these events, it’s going to be awesome.

So, as I wrote at the start of this post, Are you ready for us Guelph? Cuz we’re coming for you.

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For those of you that might be on Twitter, here is a list of the nerds that made the event (put together by @cinn48). Follow them; you shan’t be disappointed. I guarantee they will bring joy, laughter, and much in the way of intelligent, witty, and urbane conversation to your timeline. Especially @superbang. That guy is the very definition of urbane.

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