The last few weeks have been full of personal obstacles so I apologize that I wrote this post just after I got back from Boston at the Inbound Marketing Summit but for some reason I had not been able to publish it. Here it goes!

What I enjoy most of conference is being able to meet people and spend time with them. I enjoy the spending time with people part so much I opt in to people and opt out of some of the sessions.

Thankfully one of the conferences where I opt out very easily out of some of the sessions is Inbound Marketing Summit since @thepulse does an awesome job of recording and uploading the sessions for us to see later.

Yesterday I wrote about my key takeaways from #IMS11 and in this post I want to highlight a few of the awesome people I spent time with during the conference and many of them who I met for the first time.

First Timers

Rob Hatch, COO of Human Business Works

I have spent most of my time using Skype, Google Plus Hangouts, and Go To meeting videoconferences with Rob. For the last few months he has become a business mentor and facilitator. But these last few days meeting him in person allowed me to get to know Rob more on the personal side and the many conversations allowed me to see that Rob is an encyclopedia of information for many things. Even on the parenting side Rob shared multiple stories and parenting tips, which will make my life easier as a new dad. I can see why my good friend @chrisbrogan has chosen him as the person in charge to help him run HBW.  My interactions with Rob confirmed that being able to work with him, as a Partner of Human Business Works will bring great things into my life. I want to thank Rob for taking care of me during my stay.

Joseph Ruiz, Strategic Marketing Solutions

I had met Joseph online and our good friend @margieclayman connected us even more. Joe is an awesome guy from Texas who I had the opportunity to share many ideas and experiences. Joseph was also kind enough to give me a few tips, which I will be implementing over at my corporate blog in the near future. Having the opportunity to meet Joseph was a privilege since I did get to experience in person what a great guy he is.

Carissa O’Brien, Strategic Partner Human Business Works

Carissa is full of energy and demonstrated to be even more disciplined than many people I admire. I go to conferences and I try to stay away from work and writing so I can spend time with those around me. Carissa was able to do both and not miss a beat. I had met Carissa via Rob Hatch. I really enjoyed talking about many subjects including parenting and non-work related stuff where I learned a lot from Carissa. I can’t wait till I have the opportunity to work with her on a project since I can tell there are lots to learn from her based on the many conversations.

Joe Valley, Empowered Papa

Thanks to my good friend Deanne who introduced me to @empoweredpapa I was able to learn of another father who is setting up a parenting blog from a Dad’s perspective. I can’t wait till to read more of his project when he launches his blog. Joe seem full of energy and by listening to him during the conference in the interactions we had I am sure he will be sharing some great content on the soon to be launched EmpoweredPapa.com.

Tyler , The Pulse Network

Last year I had seen Tyler in but he was busy with interviews and the many things that where happening with the Launch of @thepulse.  This year I was able to spend some time having multiple conversations with him during some of his breaks. It was a different experience from talking to him on twitter or via the phone when I usually make my phone calls into #KTCO. It was great to meet Tyler in person and I look forward to continue interacting with him on @thepulse.

Lois Ardito, @lardito

I met Lois thanks to @chrisbrogan and she reminded me so much of the very caring strong female family members I have. A very elegant lady which reminded me of my grandmother when she was younger. She seems to be one of the few Real Estate Agents which are full of good insight in how to buy real estate. Based on some conversations I had with her I can clearly see why she is successful in her business.

Lois is also an Art fan and was able to connect with me quickly.  Lois had met Rafael Tuffiño a very well known artist from Puerto Rico. I am looking forward to keeping in touch with Lois because in just the few interactions we had I saw we had many common interests.

Old Friends

It was also great to connect with people I hardly get a chance to see. I had the privilege to go to dinner with my friends @jacqcarly & @chrisbrogan on multiple occasions. Make sure to follow @jacqcarly if you have not done so already and catch her on Fitarella TV every Monday at 1pm on @thepulse, and take a look at her new revamped blog.

The great @joselinemane it is always a pleasure to see one a latino who stand out because of the innovative thinking he does one of the founders of Latism. I met Joseline last year at #IMS10 and was able to catch up with him this last #SXSWi. Seeing how Joseline shines because he is a very creative and energized guy make me proud that we have such a great guy representing us as Latino online. If you want to find out more about Joseline feel free to go to BostonTweetup.com or just follow him on twitter.

I met Deanne (@decli) last year at IMS10 and during the last year we have kept communicating with each other. Deanne is a great connector and naturally connects people that might have not been able to meet under regular circumstances. I wish I could see Deanne more often and have her at other conferences. It was great seeing Deanne again and I am looking forward to my next conference having Deanne helping me with meeting more great people like Tyler Golden and Joe Valley.

Catching up with Josepf (@josepf) was a nice treat. I met him in the chaos of a conference which SXSWi where you really have so much going you don’t have the chance to really get to spend time with a lot of people. I was very happy to seeing Josepf again, he does a great job connecting people and genuinely engages with them.

What are your priorities when going to a conference? Educational Value? Networking?