In Retrospect…The FireEMSBlogs.com Meetup

The FireEMSBlogs.com meetup was a huge success. The event was hosted by Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation, and FireEMSBlogs.com. The event was also sponsored by Black Helmet and Black Diamond Boots.

My time at FDIC was a blast. We managed to pack the week full of friends, fun, and work (Firefighter Netcast). The people I have met through this blog, twitter, facebook, etc. will stay with me for a long time. Our occasional chance to meet is always fun!

L-R Chris Kaiser, Art Goodrich, Rhett Fleitz, Justin Schorr, John Mitchell, Tiger Schmittendorf, Chris Hebert, Dave Iannone, Chris Naum, Bill Carey

L-R Chris Kaiser, Art Goodrich, Rhett Fleitz, Tiger Schmittendorf, John Mitchell, Justin Schorr, Chris Hebert, Mike Ward (if you look close between Chris and Dave in the back), Dave Iannone, Chris Naum, Bill Carey

Whether it be through commenting on each others blogs, following each other on twitter, being friends on facebook, or any other of the many social mediums we stay connected. We know when each other are having a bad day, working, having a birthday, or whatever.

There may not be an exact core of the fire/EMS interwebs, but it grows daily. Mostly it is championed by several leaders. And yes, the Fire and the EMS interwebs are connected. The leaders are not self proclaimed or “formal” leaders. They might not even realize they are leaders. However, they have a following and stay connected to others through social media. These leaders have “tribes” or followers and the various tribes are interconnected as well. I would name a few but I would probably leave out many. The point isn’t the leaders, but the followers. Most of the leaders are followers in other tribes and so on… You get the point.

We all have a stake in this and we are all working towards the same goal…connecting.

One way of connecting is by meeting up. One of those meetups was held this past weekend at FDIC.

The night began with a get together for several of the bloggers. Consider it some down time for the guys/gals to network before the crowd arrived.

I had a great time meeting and talking to everyone!

I was honored to be asked to announce the winners of the raffle items. There were Black Helmet Hats, $100 gift certificates to Black Helmet Apparel, Firefighter Monopoly, and a pair of Black Diamond Boots given away.

A lot of thanks from John and myself to Chris, Dave, Bill, Paul, Jeff, Tim, Shannon, Olga, and everyone else!

All in all it was a huge success… I will give the rest via photos of the night!