As I mentioned, I’ve been at the Blog Business Summit for the last few days. This is my second blog conference in three months, and so comparisons are inevitable. I attended BlogHer this summer primarily to socially mingle and talk about Electrolicious and my book. I’m attending the Blog Business Summit on behalf of of my employer and to explore ideas about my work blog and learn more about the business of social media. Clearly, these are different events that I’m attending for very different reasons.

Even so, it’s interesting for me to see the contrast in how people network at these events. At BlogHer it was all very personal, lots of chatting and getting to know you and intimate confessions and laughter. At the Blog Business Summit it’s lots of talk about work, strategies, ambitions, business plans, etc. This contrast was pulled into particularly acute focus over lunch. I found myself sitting with Zoe and Gretchen, the founders of JobSyntax.

I’d run into them yesterday and we’d spoken a bit about how our work was related and how we should talk further about content linking and blog strategies, but then today at lunch we just ended up chatting. We talked about trying to “pick up” girls to befriend, and about the legendary Seattle Freeze. I learned that both of them were Seattle transplants and they heard about my back neighbors who, when I introduced myself, dismissed me with a quick “Um, hi?”

Then a fellow-conference attendee interjected for a second. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But can we talk about work for a second?” We all nodded and put aside our conversation and launched into a discussion of the recruiting/HR landscape, etc. But my internal response surprised me. I felt like I’d been … chastised. Like I’d been caught talking in the back of a classroom. Why were we chatting about socializing in Seattle when we could be talking about work!?

You might say, It’s a business conference! Can you blame the guy for wanting to talk about work for a minute? Here’s the thing though: I can’t remember the name of the conference attendee who joined us in conversation, even though we talked about interesting industry issues. The personal “chatty” conversations I had with the ladies from JobSyntax made for an infinitely more valuable, “real” connection. I didn’t just take their business cards, I actually got to know them a little. We didn’t focus on talking about work, and as such, I’m more likely to do business with them in the future.

I’m not going to say that this is a gender thing, but I will say that it’s an interesting difference between the way people networked at BlogHer vs. how it’s being done at the Blog Business Summit.