After loitering a while at Borders for the book signing, we were lucky enough to accompany Gary to a wine bar down the street, Cru (which I have discovered is a chain interestingly enough). We made ourselves comfortable in the back room with a group of Vayniacs, and Gary picked some bottles. There were 9 of us in total, and it was fantastic. By the end of the meal, I figured out why Gary Vaynerchuk is making such a name for himself… everywhere. He makes the people around him feel like rock stars. That’s what it boils down to. This man knows his shit. He knows wine like few others, but shares his knowledge without pretension. His enthusiasm for life is infectious, and you come away feeling fantastic and in love with life somehow (ok, part of that was the wine ). Honestly, it is a damned good thing Gary is not a cult leader because I would TOTALLY drink THAT kool-aid!

He gets technology and web media in a way few non-geeks do. If you are involved in any way with online media, you should be reading his blog and paying attention. Just do it. Trust me on this, and you’ll be glad you did.

The following video made my day yesterday. Watch it and go from there. I couldn’t embed, so you have to click through.

How do you know you have a community?