Wrapping Up the Mashable and Regator Mixer (aka #mashlanta)

Tough to believe that one week ago today I was rushing around The Trolley Barn, setting up tables, printing nametags, answering an endless barrage of phone calls and DMs from people wanting last minute tickets to Mashable’s first-ever Atlanta event, cohosted by Regator. For me, it was a bit like a wedding–weeks of preparation then gone in a three-hour blur. Just wanted to throw up a quick post to thank some important folks and share a few links to interesting coverage and pictures.

Thanks from Team Regator!!

We want to give big thanks to Mashable for coming down to Atlanta and cohosting with us. We had a fantastic time with them. Adam Hirsch, Sharon Feder, Brett Petersel, and Adam Ostrow are not just amazingly good at their jobs, they’re also great people. Oh, and Adam H. and Brett are also rock stars in their spare time as evidenced by their performances at Metalsome Karaoke Friday night.

We’re also exceptionally grateful for each and every one of the 400+ guests who joined us in celebrating Atlanta’s social media, web, and creative communities. The diversity of the crowd was one of the things that really made the event a success. I can’t list everyone but here are a few of the many companies represented: CNN, Cartoon Network, [Adult Swim], The Home Depot, The AJC, Edelman Digital, Creative Loafing, Startup Chicks, Maestro.fm, Atlanta Magazine, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, We The Citizens, Wm Turner Gallery, Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs, Turner Broadcasting, Decatur Book Festival, Georgia Tech and the ATDC, Good Egg Studios, BigWebApps, The Humane Society, Mental Floss, Citysearch Atlanta, Moxie Interactive, The Wren’s Nest Museum, Ticket Alternative, and of course many, many more. It truly paints a picture of how fortunate we are to be living in the capital of the New South. If you were there, please know how much we appreciated your attendance. Hope you had a blast.

Super-mega-thanks go out to our incredible sponsors:

• Platinum level: Chirbit and A Small Orange
• Gold level: Krumlr, MailChimp, and Paste Magazine (Don’t forget about the Campaign to Save Paste!)
  
• Local level (though it should be pointed out because there was some confusion that all of our sponsors are based in the Atlanta metro area): Band Metrics, Feedscrub, Jungle Disk, Techdrawl, and Twitpay

They’re the sort of companies that are putting Atlanta on the map. I heard great feedback about so many of these businesses and was so happy to see people lining up to watch demos and see what they had to offer. We literally could not have put on this event without them.

Last but far from least, we want to thank all the people who helped actually put the event itself together:

• Preston Craig and Jordan Jeffares of KissAtlanta Events helped with organization and provided music (which I heard a lot of positive comments about) throughout the night. They have a lot of passion for what they do and are also some of my favorite people in Atlanta.
• Scott Harris took awesome photos throughout the evening and is a true professional who helped me not freak out when the step-and-repeat was glued to itself an hour before the bash. I’d highly recommend him if you need event photography. Don’t miss his gallery of all the shots he took during the evening (the photos shown in the slideshow above).
• Our friends Justin (Jack) Hix and Bria Rose did an amazing job of checking people in at the door, despite the pressures of a sometimes-intimidating line. (Check out Justin’s stand-up comedy some time. He performs under the name Justin Morgan and is hilarious.)
• Jordan Jeffares and Tori Soesbe did a fabulous job serving drinks during three hours of non-stop open bar.
• Susie Shakespeare and Patrick Duffy (no, not THAT Patrick Duffy), gave us a big hand with set-up and served food and drinks throughout the night.
• The always-reliable Ross Gamble ran out over and over (forgot Sharpies! more ice! more beer! omg!) and saved our butts on multiple occasions.
• Seanny Georgie stepped in whenever anything was needed and was simply irreplacable.

Blogs & Pictures

Wayne Sutton of Talk Social News did video interviews with attendees such as Brett Petersel and Adam Ostrow from Mashable, Christina Warren of The Unofficial Apple Weblog/Download Squad, Corvida of SheGeeks, and many others including several of the event’s sponsors.

Dave Delaney’s entertaining 13-minute video documents the Nashville resident’s journey through Atlanta and includes some pretty amusing commentary on local businesses he passes, a lot of the line, and a little of the actual event.

Ken Edelstein of Atlanta Unsheltered makes some interesting comments regarding the tech community’s “vibrancy and quiet enthusiasm” in “Paste, Regator and the start-ups”

“Regator photos are popular” by Dave Kell of inDecatur features one of my favorite photos from the event because when you end up with shots of a pink gorilla attacking a man, you know it was a good party

On Bernaise Source, Dan Greenfield asked a number of attendees why they were there and what impact the event will have on social media in Atlanta. Their answers are interesting and a comment from Toby says, “now the question is how to sustain the great energy from the event”–good question.

Jeremy Porter’s post, “Gators, Chimps, and Other Party Animals,” compares the party to events when he first became involved in the startup scene over a decade ago. His perspective is interesting.

Ajai Karthikeyan of Light in the Dark posted a video recap.

Mike Schinkel has some nice pictures that are worth checking out on his Flickr page.

Digital Papercuts has even more.

And Paul Stamatiou has plenty of great ones as well.