AO TECHNORATI OPEN MEDIA 100 PARTY PICS

Last Thursday's casual beer and burger gathering at Rosati's in Portola Valley, CA was fun and cool. I did door duties most of the time helping to sign people in and give them their names tags along with Kathy, Anna, and Mike. I felt confident I could be a restaurant host afterwards :)

It was great meeting some people I either corresponded with online but never met (i.e. Susan Mernit) and people whose software I use frequently (i.e. Mark Fletcher).

It was very cool to meet with Charles Johnson and Roger Simon, who are bloggers whose blogs I read frequently. I also met with their friend, Jill Stewart, who I didn't know at the time was a journalist in California. Roger has his experience posted here.

Also egos in Silicon Valley crack me up sometimes. I was giving this guy his name tag and I ask if he wants his company name put on it, he gives me an odd look and says in an haughty tone, "You don't need to put it down. Everyone knows me here."

Give me a break, buddy. He was some guy in finance, but I don't belive he was a VC. First, it's a party celebrating Open Media, so it isn't an established space with that many repeat entrepreneurs. Second, as my AO colleague, Will, stated if Tim Draper takes a name tag without comment or attitude that guy definitely shouldn't. Kathy, who has been with Tony since the Red Herring days, didn't know him or Will, who grew up in insiders world of Silicon Valley, so I doubt if he really was someone that "everyone" knew. We definitely were amused by this guy and another who said a similar thing but without the arrogant tone.

Anyway, Valerie, who did most of the logistics for the party, has some pictures posted up on Flickr, so you can check them out here.

P.S. For you right-leaning people like me, Tony got Michael Medved to speak at the AO Summit. To be honest, when Tony told me I didn't know much about him and supposedly he's the second most popular radio talkshow host after Rush, but I'm not a talk-radio listener. Tony, who got most of the speakers for the conference, might secure Shimon Peres, which will be huge. My minor contribution is getting Sandy Berger, my friend's father and Clinton's National Security Advisor, to speak on the China panel. Though I'm not a supporter of his politics, Berger is incredibly sharp and intelligent and should be an excellent contributor to the discussion. Overall, the conference is going to be kick ass this year.