John Graham, Twitter, & the PGA Merchandise Show

John Graham, Twitter, & the PGA Merchandise ShowJohn Graham is kind of a big deal on Twitter. I really respect his efforts and was glad to see him at the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show. John actually spoke with me during one of our online brand management solutions sessions on Thursday of the show. Zach Miller and I spoke in the AMF room, and talked about websites, social media, and streaming video. John joined me on stage for the social media section of the conversation.

We spoke on Thursday morning, but on Thursday night I ran into John again. John had planned a Tweetup to be held on Thursday night at Miller’s Ale House. But wait a second; what’s a Tweetup?

A Tweetup is simple… It’s a gathering of people who are all on Twitter. The event is planned on Twitter, and to be invited you must also be active on Twitter. It’s a great way to meet new people, especially those you connect with on a daily basis on the social network. John and I actually met on Twitter, so it made sense I go to show my support!

John Was Wearing his Brand

When I walked in, a few minutes late actually, I saw John standing beside the bar. He was wearing a shirt, a black shirt, which had his Twitter handle on it. Talk about a great way to brand yourself. It was the topic of conversation for most of the night, and while some 35-40 guys showed up, no one else had thought to do that. John is just an “outside the box” thinker like that, I suppose!

I did get to meet a ton of new faces that night. I finally got to meet Jason Sutton, a PGA teaching professional. I asked Jason to speak on my panel at the next Golf Inc. Conference in March. He’s running a great campaign, too, and wanted to share his story.

I had the chance to meet Todd Halpen, Claude Harmon, Dennis Sales, and a ton of other guys. It was a great night, lots of conversation, and the perfect example of a successful Tweetup.

John will also be joining me down in Tampa this March as I have asked him to speak on one of my panels at Golf Inc. as well. I will actually be moderating two panels down there, so stay tuned for more details.

And please make sure you start paying attention to John Graham. Not only is he writing a fantastic blog, posting tons of great content on Facebook and Twitter, but he’s also a really nice guy. That goes a long way, regardless of what he does online.

I tip my hat to John for all his hard work, and look forward to watching grow over the next few years.

(On a side note, I played golf on Saturday of the show. We had intended to play with a couple of guys from AMF, but that fell through. When we got to the course at Harmony Golf Preserve, we were paired with another twosome. Standing on the first tee, the guys said they were from Rochester, New York. John is also from Rochester. So I ask them, assuming they would have no idea who John was, if they knew the name. Not only did they know the name, one of the guys had actually worked with John on some junior tournaments in the past. Talk about a small world!)