words and pictures by Brian Solis

Tiffany Weller

The day after our successful TechSet event at the Luxe in Bel-Air, I was one of the lucky ones who attended the highly regarded Southern California tech event, Twiistup.

Hats off to Mike and Stephanie Macadaan. Twiistup4 was not only a resounding success, it raised the bar for tech events in general. Twiistup played host to an immersive experience that effectively materialized online social networks and virtual worlds into the real world.

Held at the posh VIceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, Twiistup created its own shangri la, where for just a few hours, we were able to completely lose ourselves in the conversations and ensuing friendships that will extend the well beyond the evening. Even though we were poolside, we were catapulted into a glamorous and elegant isolated island that seemed worlds away form the daily routine.

Cabanas were redesigned as themed destinations complete with Hookah Pipes, beds, lounges, and more accoutrements than I could possibly remember. And, the pool became a social stage covered in a see-through acrylic platform, which hosted some of the cooler conversations and shenanigans throughout the course of the evening.

I also wanted to take a moment to say congratulations to Twiistup’s Showoffs.Out of over a hundred applications to demo, the following companies introduced their products and services to the Twiistup crowd:

Bigstage
BookRenter
Compulsion
LOUD3R
Minggl
Musicshake
Phonevite
Seethroo
Strutta
Tools to Life
Twiddla

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, and some of them tell more than that!

Heather Meeker

Jennifer Stavros

Sean Percival

Brooks Bayne in bed with HeavyBagMedia

Brian Solis with Twiistup host, Mike Macadaan

Robert Scoble

Karen Hartline

Krystle McEachron and Em. Marc Salsberry

Shira Lazar and Brian Solis

Stephanie Agresta and Stephanie Macadaan

Before: Heather Lipner meets Pickle Man

After: Pickle Man and Heather Lipner “kick” and make-up

Desdemona Bandinin and Tameka Kee

Karen Hartline and Erica O’Grady

Before

After

Jackie Peters and Valerie Cunningham

Dave Mathews

Natalie Lent and Wm. Marc Salsberry

Melodi Cowan

Stephanie Agresta and Tim Street of FrenchMaidTv

Steve Wiebe plays Donkey Kong

Michael Liskin

Brian Solis and Pete Cashmore

Shira Lazar and Pickle Man

Sloane Berrent and Dhalia of Rubicon

Kevin Winston and Amanda Coolong

Michael J. Lambie

Siobhan O’Neill, ?, Sloane Berrent, Nicol Jordan (with Fun Dip)

Francisco Dao

Alexandra Mokh

For more pictures from Twiistup4, please visit my album on Flickr.

UPDATE: Francisco Dao discusses Twiistup and the Southern California tech economy at Fast Company Buzz.

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