Commentary

Just An Online Minute... Palm Squeezing With The Best At OMMA Global NY

OMMA Global New York Cocktail Hour, Marriott Marquis, New York
September 21, 2009

I wish I had some candy corn right about now.  I think if I dig deep I can wrestle out a little caught piece in the back tooth.  Where did I get candy corn, you ask?  And why the heck am I even blathering about it?  Well my friends, yesterday was Day 1 of OMMA Global New York, a two day excursion deep into the minds of the brightest (which includes the guests!) in online media, marketing, and advertising.  I, like many others, answered the cowbell of twitter.com/mediapostlive: "Let the quality networking begin... over adult drinks... at the Kick-off Cocktail Party in the EXPO hall #OMMAGlobal" (hashtag much?) and ran into the OMMA Global Expo hall to chase down as many adults with beverages as possible.

The first person I ran into was the lovely Leslie Rasimas, a super talented can-do-anything, editor, writer, PR, comms type.  I said "can-do-anything."  She'd be an asset to your team, so you know, give me a shout if you want her contact (you can find her on LinkedIn as well).   She was just about to head into the Expo Hall sans beverage when I wielded the power of the staff badge to get the goofball bartenders to give her a rum and coke.   Those guys were awesome.  Suddenly a voice behind me said "wait, I didn't know the bar was open," because it wasn't.  The voice belonged to Troy Allen of Conversation who I met a while back at The Advertising Club's spring fling at Sidebar.  We did the whole "wait, where did we meet" back and forth.  I swear this job is making me sound like I either don't care or I did Dennis Hopper level drugs in college. Neither of those are true.

Who else who else?  David Berkowitz of 360i was holding court with many,  Super Delegate Dave Ford of Branded Evolution could be found shoving mysterious balls of meat into his mouth, while Joaquin Mallo of xspanseo.com simply hung around all dapper in his shiny pink tie.  Speaking of balls of meat, there were some strange roly poly edibles revolving around the hall de exposition (as they say in France).  Anyone have the chicken croquettes?  I was already operating on a weak stomach and those guys' mouthfeel was so odd.  Moving on.

I was very happy to catch Matt Biscuiti of The Lippin Group grabbing a frosty beverage.  He was looking around for a client he was meeting for the first time, August Trometer.  August Trometer described himself as wearing a brown jacket.  I saw a fellow in a tan jacket and told Matt that men call tan brown and that that was his fellow.  Who was right?  I was.

Corey Kronengold, who writes OnlineVideoWatch.com, was also milling around, speaking with dudes of varying height levels. Media6°'s David Honig was hanging out under the OMMA Global scaffolding cracking wise and being smiley.  I caught a lot of people mid eye blink and mouth gape, which I know you all love.  I witnessed LOTS of schmoozing; including Colin Gillis of Brigantine Advisors with his shiny red briefcase and Michael "you like hookahs, right?" Demby - Marketing Account Rep for Citysearch and J2M Events promoter dude.

And who could forget Eyeblaster's John Haake?  He and his pal had mini beach chairs and after grabbing some beverages, they plopped themselves smack in the line of Expo Hall traffic, passing out business cards and popping these ridiculous celebratory poppers.  Every time I heard one of those things explode I nearly became a walking incontinence commercial.

Oh! I met @mediadarwin Jim Meskauskas of Icon International, who is just a wonderful human.  Not slimy at all.

Goodies found in the Expo Hall were squeezy suns, jellybeans, pens as far as the eye could see, wine, beer, the delightful Persia Tatar's Social Media Society booth (ahem, launch party tonight, ahem) littered with Skittles, and my favorite, because I love me some Halloween, the JBC creative booth with TONS of candy corn. 

Whether they had edible goodies or squeezable goodies or not, you cannot argue that booth bunnying is hard work.  You're on your feet and on your game all day long, so big thanks to OMMA Global's Expo Hall pimps, and even more buckets of thanks to all attendees who packed the hall to celebrate the end of the day with some drinks and some schmooze.

I headed out the door with Dave Ford and David Berkowitz to hit up the Nokia Advertising Party at The Hudson Hotel.  More on that in a bit. 

OMMA Cocktail Kickoff Photos!

Pics coming - until then, check out the Advertising Week 2009 Collection!

1 comment about "Just An Online Minute... Palm Squeezing With The Best At OMMA Global NY".
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  1. Leslie Rasimas, September 22, 2009 at 4:55 p.m.

    Somehow I always manage to spot Kelly from a mile away - it must be the flashbulbs. OMMA Global was great; a million Socialists in Times Square!

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