I have attended and been involved in planning many TweetUps over the past year with my first being an impromptu one I “organized” with @girlgamy and @Geechee_girl at Pocos Bow Street Cantina in Portsmouth, NH. I use the word organize loosely because all we really did was decide we wanted to hang out and meet some people we tweeted with then chose a location and Bam! People actually showed up.

Jeff Cutler & Christine Major MargUp! (photo credit: Steve Garfield http://www.stevegarfield.com & http://www.twitter.com/stevegarfield

Since then, I have planned many other TweetUps including, the #MargUp at Margarita’s in Portsmouth, the #NHTweetUp at The Portsmouth Gas Light Co. (which ended up in the upstairs lounge because it rained) and some movie-themed events such as the #BondUp for the James Bond movie Quantum of Silence and the #BostonBeamUp for the new Star Trek movie. In all cases, we were able to draw a nice group  - both Twitter users and non-Twitter users, who also shared the same passion for networking and just hanging out with friends (along with movies and popcorn).

The latest NHTweetUp - tagged The #DeckUp – took place on 8/12/09 at The Portsmouth Gas Light Co. again, this time on their outdoor deck since the weather actually cooperated with us. Local videographer/photographer Jay Duchin from Duchin Productions attended and brought along his video equipment to capture some on-site interviews and footage of the event. He asked a few attendees, including myself, several questions about TweetUps, specifically what makes for a good event and the benefits of attending a TweetUp. Below is the final version of his video. If you are curious about what a TweetUp is or the value of attending them, you will want to check this out. Better yet, find out when the next TweetUp is taking place in your area and just go!

So what do you think? What makes for a good TweetUp/networking event? Let me know your thoughts with a comment below. Would love to hear from you as I have been having many discussions around this topic lately with varying degrees of responses. A future blog post perhaps? You bet!

Photo credit: MargUp Jeff Cuter & Christine Major photo taken by Steve Garfield

So without further ado, for your viewing pleasure check out what some of this year’s SXSW Interactive attendees had to say for themselves. I am sure you will recognize a few of your friends and hopefully have a few laughs along the way.

A special thanks to everyone who participated and shared their two (and sometimes more) words and thanks for all the memories. See y’all next year – SXSWi 2010!

Disclaimer: The video quality and lighting varies slightly due to the ‘extreme’ shooting conditions of SXSW.

Translation: This was my first attempt and I didn’t lug around all the lighting and sound equipment with me for these impromptu shots, so some responses were a little more difficult to see/hear, but you get the point.

Music: Dan Tharp, Guitar Suite I – Movement I and II
Camera: Kodak Zi6 HD