• by Kelly Samardak , September 9, 2008

ABM/FIPP B-to-B World Conference Networking Reception and Dinner, The World Yacht, New York
September 8, 2008

Every time I hear the word "boat" I think of my dad and our old boat on Lake St Clair in Michigan. He would obnoxiously sing the Banana Boat jingle "Get on de boat [Yeah!] the Banana Boat [Yea-AH!]" before boarding. I laughed at him until I turned 15 and my gangly girl rage just wanted to throw him overboard. I heard that ridiculous jingle as I approached The World Yacht. That and the sound of my own heart racing in my head as I ran, confident I was about to miss the boat.

I had an interesting day leading up to the party. I had to write up and caption the night before to the lovely sound of 8 million jackhammers hammering and metal blades grinding on metal pipes. I thought working from home would be a great way to wrap things up peacefully. Instead, I imagined myself tying up the construction workers, weighting them down with their own tools, and dragging them to the World Yacht with me to let them swim with the three-eyed fishes. Unfortunately, because I wasn't at the conference during the day, I missed a few important details -- like the location of the dock. You know, little details.

After discovering the location of Pier 81 using this thing called Google (have you heard of that?)(sarcasm), I MTA'd myself all over town, eventually getting myself directionally twisted - and in Bryant Park. Yeah, that's not the West Side. I smacked myself in the face with a hot dog cart and ran like the wind in my strappy shoes. It should be noted I leapt over a rat the size of a morbidly obese small dog.

I hopped on the gangplank and poofed, sweating like Rocky Balboa training to fight Apollo Creed, "Am I the last one?" That's where I found out two buses were still en route. Great. LURCH! Holy Gilligan and The Skipper, I forgot how lively enormous docked boat can be. Cocktail sippers weebled and wobbled up the stairs to the top deck and steadied themselves with a wide stances. I ran into Jun Imada, Deputy Group Manager, Nikkei Business Publications, who then became part of my "Ohio represent!" conversation with Joe Pulizzi, Chief Content Officer, Junta42. He's also in MediaPost's Future of Media issue (Media magazine, September 2008, page 89 call out!) so we'll reunite at the big issue release party tonight!

I found Amanda Mosle Friedman, Director of Strategy and Development, Europe, for Lebhar-Friedman, Inc (who also had a brother on board) and Denise Capello, Business Development Manager, Amsterdam RAI, made a fashionable pair, one with a huge wine glass, the other with the tiny "welcome aboard" version. I'm glad they found something to chat about as I choked on the bacon from my bacon-wrapped scallop. They hatched plans to crash the Fashion Week tents after getting some cruise cocktail courage while I did the I'm-about-to-make-the-worst-noise-ever-or-get-the-Heimlich-and-irrigate-my-pants-in-front-of-everyone choking panic dance.

I regained my composure in time to snap a picture of Kate Patton, Editor, American Business Media and her colleague on my way up to capture the sun setting. The cruise was delicious on all levels. The cocktails, the waitstaff (all were so polite and really sweet), the sushi, the scallops (hork!), and the views were incredible. What a wonderful way to welcome a worldwide audience.

Half of the guests (including me!) forgot about their arriving crusted salmon or filet mignon dinners as they poured onto the decks to grab shots of the Waterfalls, the mammoth Brooklyn Bridge, the most beautiful girl in the world - the Statue of Liberty, and of course, the Manhattan skyline, with its still missing tooth that used to be The World Trade Center - now illuminated with determined bolts of light.

The ABM/FIPP knows how to put together a B-to-B World Conference. They surrounded intense and enlightening sessions with a welcome party at the United Nations and further warmed them up to NYC with last night's romantic tour on a luxury yacht. The romance being with Manhattan, of course.

Send party invitations to kelly@mediapost.com if you want your moment in the Just An Online Minute sun.

See beautiful lovely Manhattan in the photo set on Flickr!

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