For the third year Steve Jones and I are coordinating a very informal networking dinner on Monday night the week of the 2012 PASS Summit. Our formula isn’t complex – find a place where people can come for dinner and drinks, greet them at the door and guide them to a table with other interesting people. It’s been extraordinary to watch this grow, last year we had more than 150 people attend and it looked like everyone had a good time.

For the past two years we had it at Lowell’s on the water front, a great restaurant that is unique to Seattle, but last year tested the limits of their staff. With three floors and a large volume it was very hard to maintain their service level (they did), but as we talked with them about this year they decided it was an event that had outgrown their capacity.

We’re not trying to build an event for thousands of attendees. We think that the 100-200 range is a really nice niche. Enough people to make it vibrant and interesting, not so big that it becomes all about logistics. So, time to find a new place.

I spent a couple hours pondering a map of the restaurants near the Convention Center, thinking about walking distance, price, local vs. chain, seating capacity,noise level,and what to do if we have overflow. We decided to go with Gordon Biersch, located in the Pacific Place mall on Pine St. I’ve been there before and think it will work well.

I hope you won’t let “networking dinner” throw you off if you’re new to or nervous about networking. After a day or traveling or learning you’ll be ready for a nice dinner, we’re just going to get you a table with people that are a lot like you – in Seattle to learn and grow, and ready for dinner!

There’s no fee to attend, just pay for your own food and drinks. Have dinner, mix and mingle as you will, and I think you’ll find it to be very good way to start the week. Hope we see you there!

Please register if you plan to attend so we can tell them how to staff for the evening.