Courtney Pulitzer, who runs a social column tracking the tech world, hosts about 25 networking parties a year called Cocktails with Courtney. She talks with Leo Laporte about fostering connections among tech figures during the dot-bust, and mentions emerging projects like Kyle Shannon's World Wide Web Artists Consortium and Phil Kaplan's upcoming book.
I spilled a little bit when I drank, so they gave me a bib. She's the president of Courtney Pulitzer Creations, a company that focuses on facilitating networking for internet-related professionals on and offline. In other words, she throws great parties. Meet Courtney Pulitzer. She's joining us live via satellite from New York City. Hi, Courtney!
Hello, how are you?
What a good gig! You just throw parties, huh?
Oh, parties and a few other things.
You're the Liz Smith of the cyber scene. That's what they call you. How'd you get started doing this?
Well, it was a curious trip, but I just started going out networking to a lot of different events, as many people do in the internet and technology scene. And as a result of doing that, I was offered to write a social column.
Yeah.
And, uh, And, you know, history happened from there. Just people started knowing what I was doing and loved reading about what they were doing and who's out there, who's doing what with whom, when, on a corporate level, of course. And, uh—
Well, no, now, why limit yourself? Don't you talk about people's love lives, too?
I only make a few birth announcements, some marriages, things like that. I really try and keep it, you know, on the clean side.
Oh, all right. Well, if you must, I guess. How are— how, uh, you have your fingers on the pulse of the digirati. How's it, uh, how's it beating these days? Are people really down in the dumps?
Well, yeah, people are pretty much down in the dumps, but it is summertime, so I think people are also taking advantage of the slower months in general, and they're getting to enjoy themselves. A lot of people out here in Silicon Valley are going out to the Hamptons, which is a nice little resort area, and, uh, taking advantage of that, like BigStar.com's David Friedenson and the New York New Media Association's executive director, Alice O'Rourke, They're taking some time off and enjoying themselves.
You know, it's funny, if you went back 50 years, you'd be writing the same column but talking about industrial moguls. You know, Henry Ford was out at the Hamptons. And I mean, it's the same. It hasn't changed, has it?
It's true. You know, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
That's pretty amazing. So people are surviving this dot-bust. They're not— they're going on with their lives. And I mean, I know a lot of people are out of work.
Yeah, there's a lot of people out of work, but again, they're taking advantage of the time off. I mean, the health clubs have been busier than ever before, and in fact, you know, a lot of people that I know have ventured further east and gone all the way out to Thailand. Wow. It seems to be another hotspot for people to go check out and relax and just refresh and rejuvenate.
Who are the— who is it— who now, I guess, with the fall— come fall, everybody reconvenes in Silicon Valley and it all begins again. Who are going to be the up-and-coming companies that we want to keep an eye on?
Well, I mean, some of what's going on is actually a lot of the people who are, you know, up-and-comers are people that have been out in the alley for some time.
Right.
So for instance, Kyle Shannon, who started a trade organization here, the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, he's working on the agency.com think tank. So there'll probably be some innovative things coming from that. You know, Kevin O'Connor, he's working on new products with DoubleClick. So we'll see what's going on with that. You know, the effedcompany.com site, Phil Kaplan, he's working on a book. So I'm sure that will be amusing to quite a number of people.
And all those people, of course, have to appear on TechTV. I mean, it's just part of the circuit, isn't it? Of course. So you throw 25 parties a year. Is that Cocktails with Courtney? Are they all Cocktails with Courtney?
For the most part, they're all Cocktails with Courtney. Sometimes I'll do a private label event or a hotel.
What goes on at these parties? Is it people schmoozing and networking and meeting each other? Is that the kind of— That's happening.
Yeah, you know, it's— I really try and throw the event in the style of harkening back to an earlier era where it was a little more gracious and I can introduce people to each other. And it's about fostering relationships, having a martini, not spilling it on yourself, hopefully.
Yeah, I see I would not fit in in this group. I might be the guy in the back with the tray going, "Would you like some hors d'oeuvres?" Well, there's always room for people like you, Leo. Thank you very much, Courtney. I'm so touched. Courtney Pulitzer, where can we read the newsletter?
You can get it at thecyberscene.com.
Cool.
Or you can go to Pulitzer.com.
All right, and we really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us. Next time you have a party out here, I hope I can come, and I'll be glad to, you know, make some weenies for everybody or something.
That'd be great. I'll be out in a few months.
Oh good, we'll look for you.
I'll let you know.
Thank you, Courtney.
Okay.
If you want to know where you might rub elbows with the digerati, Courtney's put together a great list on our website. It's at thescreensavers.com. It'll point you in the right direction. Can I freshen your drink, sir? What's coming up?
