Capital Cabal: Networking DC Style

I had the pleasure of attending a really nice event last night. It was the Capital Cabal 2nd Tuesday event in Arlington.  I had heard Ann Bernard of WhyGoSolo went last month and said it was really a good time.  So I decided I was going to give it a go.  I was really impressed with the turnout, there was a lot of people there and a wide range as well.  My only criticism would be that they may be outgrowing their venue.  It was a bit crowded and loud.  Not the best environment to explain your startup concept to people who are asking … as you are leaning to them screaming in their ear.

Of course it was great to see a lot of my local DC friends there to catch up with them.  Let see (please forgive me if I miss someone) there was:  Shana Glickfield , Leslie Bradshaw, Nick O’Neill, Zvi Band, Eric Blair, Ann Bernard, Andrew Wright, Jared Goralnick.  I also met some great people and had some really interesting conversations.  I had a good chat with Julie A. Barko Germany, the Deputy Director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.  They were one of the sponsors last night.  The Institute is holding the Politics Online Conference 2008 in March :

The Politics Online Conference sits at the intersection of smart politics, good governance, transparent democracy, and innovative technology, spotlighting tools, applications, strategies, and ideas that affect a range of functions, from writing policy to organizing democratic movements to running a smarter political campaign to building dialogue with your constituents.

People come to the Politics Online Conference to learn about cutting-edge trends and to gain access to the visionaries who make those trends possible. They come to find solutions. They come to discuss their ideas with other experts in the field and outside the Beltway. And they come to network.

For more information, please visit http://polc.ipdi.org/

I have it on the schedule and hope to be able to check it out.

Overall it was a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting new people.  There was a good mix of people from many fields. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get out there and chat with interesting people and share their ideas or look for new connections.