Conference Hookups

I go to a good amount of conferences. I almost never hook up at one. If there was an ERA for this like there is for pitchers in baseball, I would be kicked off the team.

Not sure if this is a badge of honor, or a prime example of how I'm just not pretty.

I've been to ones in Vegas, Orlando, New York, Denver, Portland....it really doesn't matter the place.

Conferences are breeding grounds for meaningless hookups, one night stands and instant connections. Maybe I put out a vibe that says, 'I know you're married with a daughter my age and it's because of people you that I don't want to get married?'

I don't know.

Don't get me wrong, I have a good time at these things usually, but it's never like the stories I hear from others.

Actually, I guess I lied. There was one time, where it was pretty close to those other stories you hear.
From the moment I saw Luke during a VIP foodie event in Vegas I thought he was hot. Wayyy out of my league. He kept looking at me, too, but made no attempt to talk with me. Toward the end of the night I heard him say something about a girlfriend.

Oh well. That was that.

The next day, after finishing an educational session, I stopped at this live cooking event and sat next to my friend. Luke was hosting. I looked up at the stage and he was staring at me while he was talking. And, he kept looking at me.

I smiled and kinda laughed to myself, because of course he likely wasn't looking at me, I'm sure it was my friend or the person behind me that caught his attention.

That night we went to another invite-only party and I knew there would be a good chance he would be there. I had such a great day catching up with my friend, drinking champagne and shopping for new shoes that my confidence level was through the roof.

We were the first to arrive at the bar because there was a delay at the place everyone else had gone earlier, but we skipped.

Luke walks into the lounge, plops himself right next to me completely interrupting my previous conversation and begins engaging me in a conversation -- telling me how's wanted to get a chance to talk with me.
That led to him getting very cozy on the bar's couch with me, his arm gently placed around my waist and shoulders, photos taken together and at one point showing me a photo of his room number.

(That was how when he got drunk, he remembered where he was staying-actually very clever move I now use even when I'm not drinking because I usually can't remember ...even before I've taken a sip of alcohol)

Luke was a producer/manager/musician/humanitarian wanna-be who loved his family, especially his grandmother who has recently passed away. I heard all about her during our conversation. It was actually kind of sweet.

It was time for us to go to another party. He gave me his card and his number. I gave him mine.

About an hour later my friend, who couldn't stop telling me how 'into you' he is, talked me into texting him.
That led to hours of flirting over our Blackberries and eventually put him inches away from my room. All I had to do was give him the actual room number. He already knew the floor.

I chickened out & never gave him it.

But this scenario leads to several questions.

- Did I just 'look easy' so he figured it would be an easy hookup?
- Did my soaring confidence level play a part in coming across attractive to him? Because trust me there were plenty of hot girls looking for his attention.
- He was surprisingly smart. Were the things I was talking about impress him/peek his interest?

I'm writing this now, because I'm going to a conference later this week. Granted, the majority of the people will be women, but there will be male PR reps, vendors and others there.

Oh, and remember that girlfriend I overheard him talking about to a mom-type who was hitting on him after a few drinks that first night? Apparently, they were together for 7 years and things weren't going well anymore. She moved out a few months after that conference.

(For those wondering, we still follow each other on Twitter, and run in some of the same social networking circles)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry