Yesterday morning eleven NE Ohio bloggers gathered at Arabica to meet and share. Chris Brown and I had invited the bloggers and we had a list of topics we hoped to cover but before we got half way down the list, the conversation developed a life of its own.

Attempting to mirror the blogging group that Mike Sansone has successfully nurtured, we came together with a variety of goals:

Networking
Meeting in person
Shared Links
Knowledge
Curiosity

We went around the group and gave our 30-second commercial, but unlike a typical 30-second networking speech, each member spent 29 seconds talking about their blog, the reason they blog and some of the challenges they have with blogging.

For the most part, we weren't there looking for work connections - we had gathered to learn from each other. The conversation was great: talking about the rise in social networking, discovering who was on LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace and why. Sharing tips on posting ideas, search engines and rising in the rankings.

The 90-minute scheduled time flew by in a matter of moments and it was only other business obligations that tore us apart to go our separate ways with comments like:

Thanks so much for starting this group.
I've wanted to meet you and now I have - this great.
This is the best business gathering of its type that I've ever attended.
I love how eclectic the group is - what a great combination of people.

Our next steps? Reading each other's blogs, forming an e-mail group and scheduling our next gathering.

Blog conversations take place around the world and friendships and connections occur where the people never meet - but there is something wonderful about gathering in person to share ideas and challenges. I would encourage you to seek out other bloggers in your community. Put the word out that you are meeting at a local coffee shop and see who shows up!

Have you started a group in your town? What is your purpose? How often do you meet? What advice do you have for our new group: Akron Blogging Community?

Following are the initial members of the ABC group:

Andy Birol: Small Business
Chris Brown: Branding and Marketing
Deborah Brown: Website Writing
Lauri Burkons: Technical made easy
Bob Coppedge: Small Business IT
Norm Leigh: Say What You Mean
Ron McDaniel: Keeping Ideas Moving
Scott Piepho: Home of the militant pragmatist
Norma Rist: No nonsense business coaching
Bill Sledzik: PR and how it affects our lives
Ivana Taylor: Effective customer attraction and attention

Great start!

Deborah Chaddock Brown
Writer