How social media opened the door to the 'Rainman' suite

I had the pleasure of organizing a party for my customers, colleagues and friends in what my friend Dan Wilde nicknamed “The Rainman Suite.” A relationship developed through social media with Danielle Consiglio who manages the Luxor Las Vegas Twitter account provided the access necessary to have our party in a suite few people even knew about. Sit back as I share a tale of social media that spans back to Blog World in October of last year and culminates in a party I won’t soon forget.

The Blog World Connection

During Blog World, I spent my evenings with Jonathan Brewer, attending after parties hosted by some of the event sponsors. Jonathan’s association with Meet-Meme social media trading cards opens many doors and our trip to Vegas for Blog World was no exception. There was a party hosted by Klout in one of the Playboy suites at The Palms. Here is some video of Jonathan on the balcony of that suite. We also attended the SocialRewards party at Luxor on three separate evenings. That party was held in the super suite (that’s the real name for what we nicknamed the “Rainman” suite).

I met Danielle Consiglio during one of the SocialRewards party. Luxor’s marketing department had made the party happen. Danielle then got a group including Jonathan and I into the LAX night club for some after the after party fun. What can I say? She’s a marketer and knows how to leverage her connections. We kept in touch via social media (mostly Twitter) after Blog World ended. I also started to think about how cool it would be to someday host a party in the super suite.

Color Conversations and ColorVerify

Earlier this year, we had finalized plans to hold our Color Conversations Live ’11 event in Las Vegas during SignExpo. Our business partner Mutoh was using the show to soft launch ColorVerify, a private label version of ProofPass.com. I reached out to Danielle about holding our meeting at Luxor and perhaps having a combination after party/soft launch party in the super suite. She let me know she could provide access to a suite but wouldn’t know if it would be the super suite until a couple weeks before the event.

We planned our events knowing we’d have a suite high above the Las Vegas strip and hoping Danielle could secure the super suite for us. She did. A couple of weeks before the event, she let me know that I could stay in the suite the first two nights of my stay (I’d never thought sleeping there was part of the plan and it was an awesome perk).

As the day approached

When Jonathan found out the party would be in the “Rainman Suite,” he offered Meet-Meme cards in exchange for a Color Conversations Live sponsorship. Another social media story came full circle. Jonathan and I had both handed out dozens of our Meet-Meme cards in the super suite during Blog World. The social media trading cards were a big hit and our keynote speaker for Color Conversations Live ’11 even weaved them into his presentation.

As we headed off to Las Vegas the day before our event, my wife Cheryl noticed our friends the Wilde’s tweeting about heading to Vegas. She reached out and asked if they’d like to join our party. They said they would try and make it and we are very glad they did.

The day (evening) arrives

We planned a party that would last until about 7:30 p.m. Once we got started, the fun went on until almost 10:00 p.m. by which time we had run out of everything to eat and drink. When Dan Wilde arrived, he immediately dubbed our venue the “Rainman Suite.” Danielle had a chance to stop by and say hello to our group and meet folks face-to-face whom she’d only known through Twitter and email.

Thanks to our Twitter and Facebook activities during the event, plenty of people in our social media circle knew what was happening and played along at home. There were even jokes the morning after about tigers in the bathroom, babies in the closet and Mike Tyson at the door. Yes, the party was that good and it’s a reference to the movie “The Hangover,” which I must watch again soon.

It’s all about the relationships

The party has come and gone. The relationship I and others have developed with @LuxorLV will go on. Most of the people at our party will return to Las Vegas. Will they be more likely to stay at or at least visit Luxor when they return because of our event? Only time will tell; but I’m inclined to believe the answer will be yes. Luxor has a good product and I was treated well there. I’ve stayed in many hotels but never felt as well taken care of as at Luxor. I rank Danielle and @LuxorLV right up there with my friend Joe Sorge and @AJbombers when it comes to social media success. They are doing it right. Watching what they do will provide a great road map to social media success you can model in your business.