The #AHLABostonTweetUP, organized by two members of The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) on the 28th of June, was the essence of what a tweetup should be. A physical gathering of like-minded individuals that initially connected on Twitter. In this case, the like-minded individuals were either members or in some way associated with the AHLA (@HealthLaywers), which just happened to be having their annual meeting in Boston.
Now since the annual meeting already placed the AHLA members in Boston for the formal meeting, David Harlow (@healthblawg), a Health Care Lawyer, Consultant, Blogger and Bob Coffield (@bobcoffield), Health care, technology and business lawyer who tweets from the mountains of West Virginia, decided to organize an informal #AHLABostonTweetUP
An ambassador role
This turned out to be a fantastic idea for multiple reasons. Both Bob and David created an opportunity to physically meet people they had only connect with on twitter and, they acted as ambassadors for the AHLA as the Tweetup was described on Twtvite as :
“Tweetup for American Health Law Association members in town for the annual meeting, Health 2.0 types in and around Boston, and other folks interested in all (or some) things healthcare, legal and/or social media. This tweetup caps an afternoon of social media programming at #AHLABoston.”
So not only did the tweetup cater to members of the AHLA, but also other Health 2.0 types around Boston. This is extremely important for organizations that want to grow. Bob and David did a great job expanding the visibility of the AHLA by inviting other people who are interested in the subject, in addition to their current members. This is an important function of a Tweetup when organizations want to promote themselves to potential members, media and sponsors.
Communication and promotion
Because they used a registration service like Twtvite (@Twtvite), the tweetup is easy to promote via social media and the Twtvite page makes it simple for people to connect before and after the event. In addition, David aka @healthblawg also created an additional #AHLABostonTweetUp info page with even more information, which is a fantastic idea and not often done.
Lastly, they also help support the local economy, which Monday’s AHLA keynote speaker Mass Governor Deval Patrick (@MassGovernor) would be proud of. In this case it was Brasserie Jo (@brasseriejo) which is an excellent location for a tweetup. They have hosted many events and tweetups in the past, including one for the 140Conf.
In short, this Tweetup was a great way to end a day that was filled with Social Media discussions.
