Today is the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, and we are pumped! We can’t wait to meet Triangle (and beyond!) tweeps and show them a little bit about what makes the N.C. State Fair the…well…N.C. State Fair. We’ll be tweeting all night, and can’t wait to put Twitter names and faces together. We also want to give everyone who is coming out a big THANKS for helping us stock the shelves of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, since tomorrow is Food Lion Hunger Relief Day.

Here are some more details we’ve posted over the last few weeks:

• Details behind the tweetup: Entertainers/artist edition
• Details behind the tweetup: Deep-fried food samples edition
• Details behind the tweetup: Tweetup badges
• Details behind the tweetup: #deepfriedhunt edition
• Details behind the tweetup: Swag and sponsorship edition

Also, we wanted to go over a few details to hopefully answer any questions you may have.  If you’re wondering about something we don’t cover here, leave us a comment here on the blog or tweet it on over to @NCStateFair. Still haven’t registered? Sign up at http://deepfriedtriangletweetup.eventbrite.com.

• Where: Folk Festival tent (circled in the top right-hand corner above)
• When: Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 to 9 p.m. (The Fair stays open until midnight, so plan on sticking around.)
• Parking: The best option for getting to the State Fair is to take a bus or use one of three park and ride locations.  We’ll have CAT and DATA buses coming out to the fairgrounds on Thursday. Learn more aboutpark and ride locations and bus stops and schedules here. If you drive out, free parking is available on State Fair, Carter-Finley Football Stadium and RBC Center properties. Fairgoers are encouraged to take Wade Avenue to the Edwards Mill Extension to park in these lots. Because Food Lion Hunger Relief Day is always busy, we suggest allowing yourself plenty of time to get here – after all, if you get here early there will be plenty to see and do. Ginny Skalski posted a great roundup of tips on getting to the Fair on her blog.
• Admission: Bring four cans of food and get in free. (Bring more than four, and be our hero!) Volunteers will be at all of the main gates taking these cans. If you don’t have cans, you can purchase admission tickets online and print them out or buy them at any of the gates for $7.
• Bring your charger: We’ll have a charging station set up in case your juice runs low.
• WiFi: The fairgrounds has free WiFi. You’ll be asked to complete a short online registration form, then you’ll be good to go.
• Hashtags: We’ll use the #triangletweetup hashtag for the event to keep up with everyone’s tweets. Once you hit the road for the deep-fried scavenger hunt, you’ll be using #deepfriedhunt to submit your answers.
• Meet your planners: Make sure to follow @NCStateFair and @triangletweetup. Also, follow organizers Wayne Sutton  (@waynesutton) and Jeff Cohen (@dgtlpapercuts), who have helped us put this event together along with their Our Hashtag partners Kipp (@kbodnar32) and Ryan Boyles (@theRab). On the N.C. State Fair side, the Press Office is also on Twitter: Follow Karlie Justus (@KarlieJ), Jen Nixon (@jennix5), Natalie Alford (@joynatalie), Andrea Ashby (@aashby), BrianLong (@brian_long66) and Paul Jones (@pmarshalljones).

We wouldn’t want to let our tweeps down when it comes to cool (free!) stuff. At the N.C. State Fair, we have many awesome sponsors, agriculture commodity groups, entertainers and friends who have donated their time and swag to the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, and we want to highlight them here.

In addition to the other artists and entertainers at the tweetup, we have one more to add to the list. You may have heard us raving about the L’Oreal Paris Color Space tent that debuted at the Fair this year. (You can check out the deep-fried bloggers’ glam makeover experience here.) Lucky for us, L’Oreal Paris will have two consultants on hand at the tweetup to provide mini-makeovers for tweeps to get extra avatar-ready. They’ll also have a free Telescopic Mascara for everyone who receives a makeover.

Now, onto the swag!

Rolling giveaways – Throughout the night, we’ll have contests every 15 minutes for:

* Tickets to the last weekend showing of West Side Story at @NCTheatre and dinner at The Duck and Dumpling courtesy of Empire Eats
* Promo codes for the @StateFairApp
* A free weekend stay at Hampton Inn Raleigh Midtown (@HampInnRaleighM)

Swag bags, full of:

* Reusable tote bags from the N.C. Pork Council
* Custom @TweetupBadges
* 2009 Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup posters
* Free coffee coupons from @McDonalds and @McCafeYourDay
* Green Pledge Station pass to complete the Green NC scavenger hunt (to earn a free State Fair t-shirt)
* Soda coozies from @FoodLion
* Gear from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina (@FoodBankCENC)
* $10 in coupons from @SubwayFreshBuzz
* Key chains from the N.C. Egg Association
* @NCStateFair bumper stickers and magnet photo frames

And thanks again to these additional sponsors:

* Mimi the Clown
* Michelle Harrell, @Poodlemama
* Al the Artist
* Chef’s D’Lites
* The Murphy House
* Woody’s City Market
* N&T Concessions
* @TriangleTweetup
* pici.me by Adam Covati (@covati)
* Steve Trash (@GreenSteveTrash)

We think this is sure to be a great time, so register today to get in on the fun!

The Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup is upon us, and we are busy getting all of the final details in place. We have lots of fun stuff planned for the Folk Festival tent (including artists and entertainers who will be there, the awesome food you’ll be able to sample and the deep-fried Tweetup Badges we’ll have for the first 250 attendees), but we also have one adventure planned for tweeps outside of the tweetup’s home base.

We’ll have a Twitter-themed scavenger hunt that will take you up, down and around the fairgrounds in search of Twitter-related attractions, stops and hidden treasures. The #deepfriedhunt will have 10 stops, but you’ll only be required to complete five of the tasks. Once you complete the hunt, you’ll have until 9:30 p.m. Thursday night to head back to the Folk Festival tent to receive your prize, a 2009 N.C. State Fair T-shirt modeled off of the Fair’s vintage-inspired Web site and posters:

Complete our deep-fried, Twitter-themed scavenger hunt and this bad boy is yours.

Here are just a few samples of things we’ll have you searching for:

* A Fail Whale’s second cousin on the Midway
* The Twitter bird’s home on the fairgrounds, if it were to compete in the livestock shows
* The blue-ribbon opposite of #FAIL
* A recycled, environmentally friendly tweet

Does that get you curious? We’ll have more clues, of course, for you at registration, in both a paper format and an online format. We’ll have a mix of tasks (for example, some stops may have a picture option for scavenger hunters with camera phones) so everyone can get in on the fun, and all of the stops will require you to tweet out an answer marked with the hashtag #deepfriedhunt. We’ll use that to keep up with our scavenger hunt tweeps across the fairgrounds.

Be sure to register for the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup to get in on the fun. Also, since we’re in deep-fried crunch time before the tweetup, check back tomorrow and Wednesday for your remaining round-up of details, including the Techy edition and Swag edition. Stay tuned!

So now our tweeps know about the artists and entertainers coming to the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, as well as the awesome food they’ll be able to sample. But what about the all-important tweetup staple known as the tweetup badge?

No sweat–we have you covered!

This is actually one of the elements of the tweetup that we’re most excited about, mainly because we’ve never gotten badges before. And we have to admit, these are pretty snazzy.

We want to give a big shout out to Rich Drake, owner of Tweetup Badges, for his help in designing the badges. He was awesome to work with and really made the entire process fun and easy. It was his idea to use the red-and-white checkered pattern we use in the header of the Deep Fried blog, and we made sure to include an area for attendees to write in their names, as well as their Twitter handles.

On the back of the badges you’ll see Tweetup Badges’ logo and tag line, “helping you put names to faces in the offline world.” We’re excited to do just that at the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup. Also, Rich helped us place a QR code on the back that will take you straight to the N.C. State Fair Web site for all the Fair info you’ll need during your visit. Rich explains how a QR code works on his blog:

The QR code on the back of the tweetup badges is meant to be a time saver (and it’s cool). The concept is simple. With a phone equipped with a camera and a QR code reader, you simply scan the code on the back of the tweetup badge and the phone takes you to a website, in this case, the N.C. State Fair Web site. There are QR code readers available for most “smart” phones, and most of them are free.

Want a badge of your own? We have 250 badges to give out to our tweeps, so be sure to register at deepfriedtriangletweetup.eventbrite.com.

As we get closer and closer to the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, we wanted to give you a little more information on what you can expect at the event beyond lots of tweeting, lots of friends and lots of N.C. State Fair lovers.

Last week we told you about some of the fun artists and entertainers we’ll have out at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup. (Who is getting a Fail Whale painted on their face?)

If you haven’t joined in on the fun yet, be sure to register for the event here, and come out to the Folk Festival tent on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day Thursday, Oct. 22, from 7 to 9 p.m.

This update is the all-important “deep-fried food sample” edition. Since it wouldn’t be a deep-fried tweetup without some deep-fried food, we made sure to roundup some tasty food samples for our tweeps.

If food is the number one reason people come to the N.C. State Fair and tweeting is the number one reason people come to tweetups, we expect some serious “nom nom nom” tweets out of attendees. (Don’t worry: Sodas and water will also be provided to wash down all of this deep-fried yumminess.)

These four foods are also making their N.C. State Fair debuts this year, so come out and be a part of history in the making:

• Funnel cake fries from N & T Concessions. Just like the perennial Fair favorite, but with a portable twist. Who can resist a cross between powdered sugar goodness and the convenience of a french fry?
• Chicken-fried bacon from Chef Thomas’ Chef’s D’Lites. Just like it sounds, these strips of bacon are covered in batter and deep-fried like chicken-fried steak.
• Buffalo chicken rangoons from Raleigh’s own Woody’s City Market. These bite-sized, deep-fried dumplings (similar to the crab rangoons available in many Chinese restaurants) will be filled with some of Woody’s famous buffalo chicken.
• Chocolate-covered bacon from The Murphy House. Bacon lovers will have to contain themselves, since we’ll have not one, but two twists on the ever-popular bacon. A mix of savory, sweet and salty, chocolate-covered bacon got some rave reviews at our pre-Fair media lunch, but you’ll have to come decide for yourself. (Steph’s Strawberries will also have chocolate-covered bacon for sale on the fairgrounds near the Hobbies and Handicrafts Building.)

We were lucky enough to try out the chocolate-covered bacon at this week’s preview event. We can’t wait to see you at the tweetup and hear what you think!

We’ll be “releasing” these details every few days leading up to Thursday, Oct. 22, when four cans will get you into the fairgrounds for free. (If you don’t have four cans on you, you can always pay admission at the gate.) Keep an eye on the NC State Fair blog, on the Twitter account and on here on the Triangle Tweetup site to get the inside scoop, and be sure to register for the event to join in on the fun.

First up: The entertainer edition. We’ll have fun artists and entertainers from around the fairgrounds join us at the tweetup. But, of course, they’ll have a special social media twist:

* You’re heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve…but what about wearing a Twitter bird on your face? Mimi the Clown (who owns The Melody Maker entertainment company) will be on hand to work her magic with face paint and a brush. This won’t be just any facepainting booth, however; Mimi will adorn tweeps’ faces with Twitter birds, Fail Whales, the Twitter symbol, hashtags and more social media icons.

* Michelle Harrell, who has appeared at previous fairs as the living statue “Statue Viva” and returns this year with Michelle’s Magical Poodles, will be at the tweetup. Michelle uses social media to track her travels across the country as the “Poodle Mama” on YouTube and Twitter.

* Al the Artist will be on hand in his cartoon car to draw caricatures on specially designed tweetup posters. These would make fun avatar/profile pictures. (Hint, hint!)

* Our Twitter friend Adam Covati will bring his Twitter photobooth Pici Me to the tweetup. Adam created the photo generator, which, according to his site, “enables guests at any social gathering to generate buzz about a hot ongoing event by sharing pictures via Twitter.” Well, we know this event will be hot–after all, it is deep-fried.

Stay tuned for more information coming up on the food, swag, scavenger hunt and more. We’ll see you there!

Join us on Thursday, Oct. 22 at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair. The event will be held in the Folk Festival Tent from 7 to 9 p.m. on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day. Bring four cans of food for Free entry to the fair. Register here for free for the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup.

Triangle Twitter users will not be confined to 140-character conversations as they experience the Fair’s offerings at the first Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair on Thursday, Oct. 22.

The event, co-hosted by the organizers of Triangle Tweetup, will be held in the Folk Festival Tent from 7 to 9 p.m. on Food Lion Hunger Relief Day.

“We’ve built great relationships over the past year with our social media followers, and we wanted to organize an event that would help them enjoy the Fair in a new social way,” said Wesley Wyatt, fair manager.

During the Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup, attendees will be able to sample deep-fried Fair food, interact with Fair entertainers, participate in a Twitter-themed scavenger hunt and enter to win prizes throughout the night. The event is part of a growing trend of events where participants have face-to-face gatherings with people they follow on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. It is also one of the first Tweetups hosted by a state fair.

The co-host, OurHashtag, has held 10 Triangle Tweetups during the past two years. The company’s partners Wayne Sutton, Jeff Cohen, Ryan Boyles and Kipp Bodnar are active members in the local social media community, and have planned several social media events including Ignite Raleigh and monthly Triangle Social Media Club meetings. Past Triangle Tweetups have included a charitable component to the main event.

“By holding the Tweetup on Hunger Relief Day, we are able to gather at the Fair without charging a registration fee, and can continue to help our community through charitable contributions,” Sutton said. Anyone who brings four cans of food to the Fair on Thursday, Oct. 22 will get in to the Fair for free.

The N.C. State Fair was the first fair to use Twitter, and currently connects with fairgoers on a variety of social media sites, including:

• Deep Fried @ the N.C. State Fair Blog: www.ncstatefair.org/blog
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncstatefair
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ncstatefair
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/ncstatefair

The Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup is one of several new activities added this year to appeal to the state’s tech-savvy community. Other events include the TXT-O-LYMPIX texting competition and nightly video game contests.

More information about the Fair can be found at www.ncstatefair.org. Space is limited to the first 500 registrants.

A big thanks to Bronto. (@bronto on twitter) for hosting and Capture Carolina (http://capturecarolina.ning.com) for sponsoring. If you’re interesting in presenting or sponsoring Triangle Tweetup 2.0 please use the form on the contact page here: http://triangletweetup.org/contact/ or leave a comment or send a tweet to @triangletweetup.

More about Bronto:
A Proven Email Marketing Solution with Award Winning ServiceFor marketers looking to create an engaging customer experience, Bronto provides a powerful email marketing solution with advanced features, exceptional deliverability, detailed analytics and robust reporting. Backed by responsive client services and expert advice, Bronto is the right partner to enhance your email marketing activities.

Bronto Software, Inc. http://bronto.com
Washington Building
324 Blackwell Street, Suite 410
Durham, North Carolina 27701
A big thanks to Bronto’s twitter team: @djwaldow: @covati and founder @Colopy

Please note: We’re requesting the attandace of our Tweetup prom king and queen, @GinnySkal and @mammalpants ! More annoucements to come.

As you can see the Suns are on top of their Twitter / Social Media Game and it looks like the Suns are taking things to next level.  On Friday, January 16th  they’re hosting the NBA’s first ever Tweetup with exclusive access to twitter friends.

The way it works, you go to the Sun’s special twitter page use the password “TWEEPS” and buy your game tickets. You’ll receive a  a special Suns twitter t-shirt, pre-game front row seats and during the game a seat in the “twitterville” section. After the game a chance to go to the Suns practice court and mingle with a “surprise” Suns personality. I’m sure it’s either Shaq or @PhoenixSunsGirl herself.

Twitter is becoming to can do all community website by not being limited to what it can be used for and many thinks that twitter biggest value is related to the news media industry but the sports industry is catching on.  It’s interesting to watch the NBA and other athletes interact on twitter and only time will tell if other players or sports team will use twitter for online/offline sports promotions in the future. I wonder if anyone will be live tweeting the game or the tweetup.

Do you think we’ll see other sports teams host tweetups?  Do you think we’ll see a UNC or Duke college tweetup?

Speaking of tweetups, we recently celebrated our 1 year tweetup anniversary on December 29, 2008. Yes that’s right, North Carolina ’s first tweetup was held in 2007.  In attendance was @shepherdfx @dgtlpapercuts @therab @ginnyskal and myself (@waynesutton).

It was a few days after Christmas and we sat on the old couch at @cafehelios (I miss those things) , talked about photography, blogging and twitter in it’s early days. We have come a long way since then and looking forward to seeing everyone on January 29th at Edge Office.

How many tweetups have you attended?

Therefore I would like to announce the information for the 1st Triangle Tweetup of 2009.

Date: Thursday, January 29th
Location: Edge Office
400 Glenwood Ave
Raleigh, NC 27603
Directions link here:

View Larger Map

Agenda (beta)

6:15 p.m. Pre-Drinks and Post Drinks/Dinner Tweetup:
Tobacco Road Sports Cafe
222 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27603,
http://www.tobaccoroadsportscafe.com
919-832-3688
(food and drinks social before & after at Tobacco Road Sports Cafe )

7:00 p.m. Triangle Tweetup at Edge Office
7:10 p.m. Welcome & Announcements ( @waynesutton @kbodnar32 @ginnyskal &  @dimambro )
7:15 p.m. Guest Speakers and presentations
a. Jason DiMambro – @DiMambro –  Coworking in Raleigh
b. Jazzy Chad – @jazzychad - TweetGrid.com
c. Brian Russell – @brianr –  Carrboro Creative Coworking
d. Alexander Barbara – @ayb –  EasyTweets.com
e.  Adam Covati - @covati – http://idek.net
f.  Jeff Cohen – @dgtlpapercuts – online video projects
g.  Taylor Barr – @taylorbarr - YoungTechStars.com
KEYNOTE – h. Angela Connor, from WRAL/golo – @communitygirl - online community building
8:00 – TweetCamp – How are you using twitter, social media, etc.
8:30 – Closing announcements and social
9:00 – Close

If you’re interested in being a guest speaker or would like to present at an upcoming Triangle Tweetup use the form on the contact page or send a tweet to @triangletweetup.

If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor of TriangleTweetup.org read more information on the sponsor page and use the form to contact us or send a tweet to @triangletweetup.

*update* We’ll also be holding a food drive at the Tweetup. If you can bring at least one non-perishable food item, that would be awesome.

*Photo Credit: Jeff Digital Papercuts