Nearly 200 at the April ExitEvent RTP Startup Social

That and the Great Name Tag Debate

BY JOE PROCOPIO • @jproco • 4.18.12
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Filed Under: NEWS: Startups

jproco: That. Was. Ridiculous. Nearly 200 at @ExitEvent tonight. Killed 2 kegs in 1:15. Thanks to all who showed.

So Erik from Mystery Brewing called me at 5:30 Monday night and told he he was running right up to the ExitEvent start time of 6:00 and would I go get some ice.

Yeah sure. On it.

TriangleSF: Both Chris & Dave went to @exitevent & raving about it this morning! Lots of great conversation, beer & #entrepreneurs!

So as it is I didn't even get to the venue until 5:55. No worries, considering the Social takes about five minutes of setup on my part. Once all the invites are out, my job is to provide the non-beer, the music, and whatever crazy idea I cook up to distract the entrepreneurs, like a ping-pong tournament, in my stated goal of bringing productivity in the RTP to a screeching halt for 3 hours.

I took about six or seven minutes to carry in Diet Cokes and regular Pepsis (which were on sale, the budget for your average ExitEvent Social is right around $0), and when I looked up, there were entrepreneurs everywhere.

At 6:05.

So I did a count. There were 51.

byronhargett: Tonight's @ExitEvent almost caused a coolness singularity. If this thing gets any bigger our galaxy will start orbiting it.

So as Erik is furiously doing his thing, which involves a comically gigantic wrench, a lot of noise, and a pour-sip-dump coaxing of awesomeness out of the kegs, I prepped the wacky idea for the evening -- Figuring out the Top 3 things RTP startups need.

This involved a posterboard and a couple of Sharpies picked up from OfficeMax on the way downtown (Total Cost Overage for the evening: $4.68).

techaaron: Amazing @ExitEvent last nite - caught up with CED peeps, truxie founder, blogads founder, yardsprout & spreedly founder. see a pattern here?

The results of said experiment will come out at a later date, but one thing that kept coming up again as the vibe of self-examination and self-improvement became clear, was the lack of name tags at the ExitEvent Social.

Seems like a little thing, you know, all I have to do is get a pack of those sticky badges ($3.99) and leave that with a Sharpie at the front door. I mean, I already had the Sharpie, so WTF.

noodleshare: @ExitEvent is getting so popular I can hear them down the street.

I know it's not a big deal, but it is a big deal. In fact, it speaks to the very fabric of the Social.

Hear me out.

ListerDelgado: Thanks Joe. Great time last night @ExitEvent. Enjoyed the blond ale from @mysterybrewing and the environment @neuconcepts.

Throwing a networking event is hard, and I don't like hard. I like easy. But what I can do, what I want to do, and what I think is totally necessary is creating what I call an anti-networking event.

I don't want you to prep for an ExitEvent Social. I don't care if you walk out with connections or leads or ideas or a handful of business cards.

Ed Hubbell: 2 of 2 #truxie developers agree - Say no to chocolate beer. Except @mysterybrewing Six Impossible Things @ExitEvent. Then yes yes yes.

I want you to walk out with a smile on your face and with hope that the startup scene here is more than khaki pants, business plans, and hour-long discussions on what it means to be disruptive.

You know what you're doing or you wouldn't be doing it, I just want to remind you of that and remind you that you're not alone.

StockofU: @exitevent AWESOME event last night! I made a lot of valuable connections. Most def will b at next one

But of course, if you do make the connections, and you do, and if you do get some leads, and you do, and if you do take away a few new ideas, and you do, I'm all for it.

You're just not going to do it with name tags.

YardSprout: Had a great time last night at @exitevent, best #Durham monthly startup gathering. Thanks @jproco @mysterybrewing and @neuconcepts!

The area has seen that type of thing for at least as long as I've been here, and it has its place but, as an entrepreneur, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't trying to do something new.

You know what people do at events with name tags? They spend a lot of time looking just below people's left shoulders.

Then they wind up talking to people they've heard of. I talk to people I've heard of every day. That's not a big deal.

EverydayGlucose: @ExitEvent @neuconcepts I had a great time at the event last night. Special thanks to @jproco for organizing it.

You're nodding your head aren't you.

But when I walk up to people at the Social -- and I have to admit last night was the first one where I didn't meet everyone, there were simply too many -- I introduce myself to someone whom I know nothing about and am immediately asked:

"So what do you do?"

ntalbott: Great conversations @ExitEvent last night. Always enjoy talking shop and imbibing @mysterybrewing. Thanks @jproco!

And see, that's what everyone else has to do. So the more time you spend getting to know the ecosystem, who the players are (and what they look like), and introduce yourself to them and get to know them, the more you're going to get out of this anti-networking event.

And if you know very little or are brand new to this thing, well, here's an opportunity to turn to the first person you don't know and extend your hand and introduce yourself, then you get the chance to hear:

"What do you do?"

There's your opportunity. Make it count.

Companies We Mentioned In This Post

Everyday Glucose
IDEA Fund Partners
Mystery Brewing Company
Neu Concepts
NoodleShare
Stock of U
The Startup Factory
Truxie
YardSprout







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