Quote: "IRL Is So 2013" Unquote

That quote is from Elena Yunusov who I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday over a lunchtime coffee (next one's on me!) and enjoying a very interesting conversation. Elena is the founder of Communicable, and co-organized fundraising events like HoHoTO and HaiHaiTO.

An invite came out of the blue from Elena via my LinkedIn account asking to meet for a coffee. That is a rare thing in this "Please RT me even thought we've never met!" social media society, so I accepted. (p.s. Anyone can invite me on LinkedIn -- I am an open networker and may be able to help you with something, a job lead or an introduction. It's my name at Gmail dot com, cheers.)

I feel more comfortable meeting new people one-on-one rather than in a big group. The amount of meetups and other techie gatherings I've been to where the person you're talking to is constantly looking over your shoulder at other people's name tags to chat to. Rude. (Or maybe I'm boring.)

Elena explained that I was part of a project. That intrigued me as I've never been someone's project before, but listened. She is embarking on the 50 Coffee Meetings challenge whereby, quite simply, she's inviting 50 people she's never met before out for coffee. (Elena -- correct me if I'm wrong in the comments!)

I thought that was a pretty bold idea. I get nervous at meeting new people, so respect the fact that she's trying to move (some of, not all) the conversation offline and actually shaking the hand of people that swirl around in Twitter feeds, LinkedIn profiles and other social media avenues.

I also learned about some cool stuff from her, including the Toronto Mini Maker Faire being held from September 21-22. I am away so can't attend, but promised to mention it ... so there you go!

Hopefully I was also able to offer some interesting stuff in return. It was great to do that kind of thing in person, and I hope to be able to meet some more people for coffee or lunch this year that I only see online, but feel like I kinda know.