Last Thursday Triangle Tweetup was held at the NC State Fair for the first ever Deep Fried Tweetup. Sponsored by the NC State Fair and Our Hashtag, the gathering was a fantastic event for everyone that attended. I was able to combine my kids’ trip to the Fair with the Tweetup and ended up spending eight hours at the Fair. Some people would say that eight hours is a long time at the Fair but if you plan correctly the time goes by fast, even with two kids in tow.
So after several hours of rides, food and exhibits we headed over to the Folk Festival tent at 7 pm for the start of the Tweetup. At the registration desk we received our badges and gift bags containing two nice posters of the State Fair and the Tweetup as well as some other nice gifts. Inside the tent there were several great activities to choose from. For the ladies, mini makeovers were being done. A sketch artist was present and did sketches; my kids were patient long enough for him to capture them. People lined up for face painting of Twitter birds and Fail Whales. My daughter had her whole face painted as a Twitter Princess. Samples of chocolate cover bacon, buffalo crab Rangoon and other deep fried treats were available. And of course everyone was meeting and greeting new tweeps as well as reconnecting with existing friends.
In keeping with the Tweetup Theme, there were several Twitter activities too. Tweetgrid was being used to search and aggregate all the related tweets on a large screen. A charging station was set up which for me was vital since I had exhausted my battery being at the Fair all day. Using a neat random tweet selector tool Wayne Sutton selected the winners for the evening giveaways on the big screen. The evening ended with a scavenger hunt for clues found throughout the fairgrounds. Several teams participated in the hunt and tweeted their answers to participate.
Being a good parent I had to leave around 8:30 as the kids’ batteries wore down as much as my iPhone. I had a great time seeing everyone and meeting new people. The Tweetup lived up to the hype in that it was a “Whole Lotta Happy,” based on the good cheer and smiles on everyone’s faces. The NC State Fair team and Our Hashtag did a great job promoting the event and keeping the activities flowing.
Click here to see my photo album from the Tweetup and State Fair.
