Going to the Silicon Prairie Social? I am.

I’m planning to be at the inaugural Silicon Prairie Social this Thursday (tomorrow, September 20th) at Mullen’s Bar and Grill in Lisle… which is conveniently located a mere 8.4 miles from my office in Oak Brook. The event runs from 6:30p-10:00p, and the bar itself is open until 1:00a. Admission is free, but if you’re interested in going, you need to rsvp pdq as they’ve already got 250 people signed up and they expect it to fill up. (Though I don’t know at what number it’s “full”… just hustle and rsvp if you want to come, k?) There will be free drinks (YAY!), lots of networking and they’re giving away an Xbox at some point during the evening.

So what is the Silicon Prairie Social? Well, to steal from their website…

Silicon Prairie Social is an opportunity for technology professionals in the Chicago area to connect in a social setting with likeminded people. The event is open to everyone, and specifically targets upwardly mobile tech professionals, entrepreneurs, service providers, Internet professionals, Web 2.0 and startup companies, the mobile industry, and mobile marketing professionals.

I’ve been to two of the TechCocktail events in the city, and they were great fun (witness the obvious fun being had in the photo — on the far left is Steve Krull, one of the sponsors of Silicon Prairie Social, I’m in the middle, and then Dave Choate is on the far right). The only problem with the downtown events is they’re just a little hard to get to from the burbs and then it’s a hike and a half to get home afterward. I’m really hoping this event turns out to be a huge success because I love the idea of being able to attend these kinds of things without having to schlep all the way downtown.

Just for giggles and some possible content for the SEO 101 podcast website, we’re kicking around the idea of me bringing a camcorder and doing little interviews with random people at the event. So if you see me walking around with a video camera, feel free to either flee in terror or come on up and ask to be interviewed. Make sure you bring me a card though… no business card, no linklove later. I’m pretty good at remembering names, but there is just no way I can remember everyone’s website addresses without something written down.