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I attended the Google Dance last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are a few of my random thoughts and observations:
- Very young crowd and interesting demographics.
It reminded me of college parties, but more friendly and with less spilled beer on the dance floor. I was surprised to see fewer Asians than at many dot.com parties I've attended. This is neither a complaint nor praise, simply something that struck me as odd.
- TONS of Google employees... friendly and good looking ones to boot!
Sometimes it seemed there were more Googlers than non-Googlers... and on the dance floor, this was DEFINITELY the case. Also, all the Google folks I chatted with were friendly, helpful, and -- forgive my lack of political correctness here -- generally quite attractive as well. Also, the Google employees somehow struck that amazing balance of being professional while still not appearing uptight. Fun was the name of the game last night.
- Rather unoriginal DJ but a fun video screen!
The beats weren't bad, but didn't change much from hour to hour. Some variety would have been nice. Some goofy 80's pop tunes, campy 70's classics, whatever. On the other hand, the video screen, complete with Robot logo, live search feed, and live coverage of the dance floor was fun and occasionally mesmerizing.
- The food wasn't from Charlie
The food wasn't bad at all, but was admittedly a little bit of a dissapointment after eating at Google's amazing cafeteria.
- GoogleGuy was closely guarded
I asked a couple of Google employees to point out GoogleGuy to me, but they were understandably coy. And since I'm broke and not a member of this fine WebmasterWorld site, I guess I will never learn his identity. Bummer.
- Can you say GENEROUS? I knew you could!
Google was giving out $300 credit vouchers for potential and existing AdWords customers. Holy moly! Open bar, free food, dancing with fun Googlers AND $300? I'm already blocking off my calendar for next year's Google Dance! :D Alas, though, I wasn't the lucky fella who won the Segway scooter. What a cool (free) raffle prize!
- Other miscellaneous details
Google brought over their massage chairs, table games (foosball, etc.), and lots of bouncy balls!
Info booths (for AdSense, AdWords, GoogleBox, etc.) were staffed.
The party was still bustling when I left a bit before 10pm.
The guys' bathroom line was consistently longer than the womens' line.
Lots of Googlers were taking pictures!
We got cool Google t-shirts, Google bags, and Google lit pins.
It became pretty darn chilly last night; I felt bad for the Googlers who volunteered (?!) to be in the dunking booth.
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Okay, enough of my observations. What did you think? What did you notice?
It sounds like everyone is having a great time; maybe I'll be able to make it to Dallas - which of course isn't a stone's throw from the Plex like San Jose is.
And Marcia... as great as the party was... being near the 'Plex wasn't really an asset in this instance. It would have made absolutely no difference if it had been on the other side of the country, 'cept of course that it would have been more difficult for us West coasters to attend.
But no, we general party riff-raff did not get GooglePlex tours.
Then again, I wonder how much the folks who volunteered/were picked for Focus Group Interviews beforehand got to see. Hmm.
[And even if they did get to see anything, they undoubtedly would have had to sign NDAs, so they couldn't blab here anyway.]
[google.com...]
(I just spotted this... I was not responsible for the pics or anything else about the party, just to clarify)
Now I just have to figure out which picture features GoogleGuy :D
Now I just have to figure out which picture features GoogleGuy :D
looks like you have the answer right above
"Are you girls tired? - Cuz you've been running through my SERPS all night..."
[google.com...]
"...so we came up with our own gang signs to identify Google employees on da streetz."
Really? or just kidding?
I don't know if you could quite call him a social butterfly, but he was surrounded by people whenever you saw him, and looked like he thoroughly enjoyed talking with everyone the whole time. What's interesting is that he has a really down to earth, "just plain honest, friendly folks" demeanor and presence in spite of having reached almost celebrity status.
>> looks like you have the answer right above <<
Really? or just kidding?
in spite of having reached almost celebrity status.
inference from above two statements shouldn't be so difficult :)
There's nothing inferred at all, the mystery identity of GoogleGuy still stands, which I think is a good thing. The element of mystique kind of adds to the charm and fascination.
Some of us around here have been "accused" of being GoogleGuy - no one is above suspicion. ;)
>>ok - who are those waaay cool guys? ehehhe
I know those two. That's the grumpy old man and the playboy. :)
Any more?
- canuck
ok - who are those waaay cool guys?
Oh btw i've found my future wife among the pictures
And yes, Lazerzubb... it better not be the same one as MY future wife! Google frowns on polygamy :D
Oh btw i've found my future wife among the pictures
Perhaps if we send a Spam Report with our WebmasterWorld nic and the GoogleDance photo url GoogleGuy will set us up! ;)
Ok... that's enough off-topic for me today :P
Someone told me they were a couple of rock stars. :)
Since I only know what two WW folks look like now, I'm sure I ran into many others (or even chatted with them) without noticing.
Basically, what I'm curious about is... did a large percentage of WW go to the SES thing, and of that, did a lot go to the Google Dance?
Next year, we should organize separate "WW" stickers :D
[google.com...]
EquityMind (far left)
Not sure but every time I turned around those two guys had a drink in their hands...whatevertime of day it was....
[google.com...]
but this does not?
[google.com...]
(missing the trailing slash)
Calling Google's Webmaster... ;)
In [google.com...] it says at the bottom of the screen:
Did you mean to search for: matt cutts googlebot
