Ever want to meet the Mashable team and get your product and 15 minutes of fame all at once? You typically don’t have the plethora of opportunities to meet more than one, let alone nine members of the blogging team! So what better way than the SummerMash tour here in San Francisco last Wednesday? That’s right…last Wednesday was the San Francisco stop of Mashable’s US Summer Tour and they were warmly greeted by over 500 people at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco. The ballroom was quite spacious and there was plenty of mingling to be done. From cupcakes to hors d’oeuvres being passed around by waiters to the open bar lasting for more than three hours, guests were definitely treated in style. Of course, the party wouldn’t be anything without some sponsors and they’ve certainly made it quite entertaining…the Mopho team brought out their mascot, a panda (no not a real one) to roam the crowd for photos, Weber Shandwick offered the cupcakes, Watchitoo did interviews and livestreamed the event and Bing certainly let people play dress up….why? Because they had a photobooth!’
It was an interesting cast of characters at the SummerMash tour. The Mashable team was represented by CEO and founder Pete Cashmore, Adam Hirsch, Ben Parr, Brett Petersel, Karen Hartline, Jolie O’Dell, Jennifer Van Grove and their community manager Vadim Lavrusik. Of the people that I did see, some notable guests include Sloane Berrent & Erica O’Grady, Francine Hardaway, Drew Olanoff, VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas and Anthony Ha, Social Media Club’s Chris Heuer, Dealmaker Media’s Debbie Landa, Paladin Advisory Group’s Louis Gray & Tina Hui, Pop17′s Sarah Austin and many others.
As expected, long lines soon formed around Pete Cashmore to take photos and to talk with him (the true test of an elevator pitch?), but for those that couldn’t wait, the next best thing was to find the cardboard cut-out of him and have your picture taken – unfortunately he just wouldn’t talk to you.
Oh! We can’t forget about prizes, right? Some lucky attendee walked away from the SummerMash party with an iPad, courtesy of Gotelo – who used their technology to actually pick the winner and Intel gave away a netbook as well. But the biggest prize of the night probably was the two free American Airlines tickets thanks to Weber Shandwick.
Now that we’ve got the recap done, how about some pictures? Here are just some of the fun from the event:
Welcome to SummerMash 2010 in San Francisco!
Co-editor Ben Parr just loves his Mopho panda
The Grand Hyatt San Francisco is packed!
Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove & Jolie O’Dell with Pop17′s Sarah Austin (middle)
I #blamecancer for this happy moment
Intel’s Ken Kaplan meeting guests at the SummerMash event
The Mashable SummerMash team
Boku’s Ron Hirson, 12second’s Sol Lipman and members of the Skype team
Social Media Club’s Chris Heuer, Dealmaker Media’s Debbie Landa & Collecta’s Brian Zisk
Gotelo gives away an iPad
Livestreamed interviews from SummerMash
Drew Olanoff & VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas share a moment
Camera+ creator Lisa Bettany & Mashable’s Pete Cashmore
All photos here were taken by Kenneth Yeung. You can view the complete SummerMash set on Flickr by clicking here.