The Catalyst Blogger Meet-Up was a blast!

But things were in its favor, as always when returning to Duluth, GA and the Infinite Energy Center (it will always fondly be known as the Gwinnett Arena to me haha!) in October. Catalyst continues to march on in the post-Brad Lominick world — Although Brad was an inspiring Labs speaker this year. 😉

It’s great to be with digital influencers and leaders of their field — in person.  Hanging out in the Blogger / Media Suite was fun as always to sit side-by-side with other content producers from various corners of the country. This is the part of conferencing that fuels me.

One of the highlights was the Catalyst Blogger Meet-Up that happened on the first night after Catalyst Labs was over.

I headed over after a long day and hung out for a couple of hours and ended up leaving after 10pm. It was great to meet some people in person after knowing them first online. It was great to meet some new friends. As always, there wasn’t enough time to get to know everyone at the meet-up, but there’s something to leaving an event always looking for more.

What I liked about this event is that meet-ups help you form relationships and if you are a participant consistently over a few years, it becomes community. That’s what is lacking for many people in a big conference like Catalyst, attracting 13,000+ people into a single room.

There’s one thing I’ve learned in life for sure:
You need to be proactive in building life-serving relationships. It doesn't happen on its own. Click To Tweet

At a recent conference, I didn’t see enough networking / introduction opportunities scheduled, so I took the initiative to create connection points and scheduled some organic meet-ups — and those are the things that made the event for me.

Another way to do it via distance and with some more depth is to join a mastermind group.  There are numerous flavors or mastermind meetings and mastermind groups.  The mastermind that I’m a part of is the one meeting I have on my calendar each month that I’m 100% excited about.  Connecting with my peers in that group always fuels me.  Always.

And why am I driven to meet more people? Connect others together? Over and over? Because it’s really hard to find a core group of people that you fully resonate with. And in the end, you want to find peers that really get you and you get them.  Friends and counsel that push you, inspire you, keep you accountable.

But the point is that you need to make it happen.  It’s on YOU.

So I have TWO QUESTIONS for you today below.  Make sure to DROP A COMMENT below. I read every one of them!

1. Have you ever gone to a meet-up? What was it for? What did you get out of it?
2. If you’re open to a meet-up or a mastermind group, what topics/kind would you be interested in?