It was a late night for most who went to the party at Showbox, a Seattle landmark where I personally have seen Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and Nirvana in my much younger, grungier, and thinner days.

There was lots to talk about from a very busy and exciting first day. Viewzi sponsored the party and their cool search interface was being projected on a 20 foot screen making it a very effective and slick backdrop for the whole evening.

Above are Chris Pirillo, his wife Ponzi and Kat who works for Chris. They are the three that held the center tight so everything around did not fall apart. Here are some highlights of people there that evening:

Robert Scoble, meet the Robert Scoble of Network Solutions

In a funny exchange, Shashi met Robert Scoble and talked about our work on Solutions Are Power, I interjected that everyone calls him the “Robert Scoble” of Network Solutions. He jokingly said, “be careful you don’t fired” but was really glad to see a company like Network Solutions using social media to reach out to customers and evangelize what we do here. Below is a picture of the two Robert Scobles. I will leave it to you to figure out which one is the real Robert Scoble.

The two funniest guys in the room discuss social media

Dave Delaney and Chris Brogan are funny dudes. Both are passionate about social media and are very successful evangelists for the companies they work for. They are also really funny.

I met Dave for the first time here at Gnomedex 2008 and he has traveled all over the world and even to Ireland where he met his wife – who is from Tennessee. I mean, he goes all the way across the world to find and marry another American. There is a joke in there somewhere. It is the reason that he lives in Nashville and just got a job as the social media guy for Griffin, the iPod accessory people.

Chris Brogan is Social Media. As the originator of Podcamp Boston he is someone who has been at the center of the social media tornado these last few years. His personal blog ChrisBrogan.com has 8000 subscribers and his work on events for his company, CrossTech Media, allows him to put together events with serious social media angles.

Both guys were talking about the future of social media and how this year’s Gnomedex compared to last year’s. For a great perspective on this year to last year’s event, check out Chris’ post.

I am turning in early while most are still going until close. Looking forward to a fantastic second day at Gnomedex 2008. See you in the morning.