Lunch with Jason Carlton, APR

My lunch date with a complete stranger, connected via Linkedin, took place today at Cafe Rio in Draper. I found Jason Carlton by searching for Linkedin people who were members of a PRSA chapter in either Salt Lake or Utah county. I then sent a friend request. Of those people I sent friend requests to, nearly 1/2 have connected back. And about 1/8 of those connections have agreed to lunch, with a complete stranger: me.

So here’s what happened. Jason was asleep in his car; I actually pulled into the parking spot right behind him, and granted, it is hard to tell what someone looks like when all you have to go off is their Linkedin profile; even so, I thought I recognized him. My first ever encounter with a sleeping Linkedin connection. Anyhow, I called him when I got to Cafe Rio, so he could gracefully wake up in semi respectableness. We ordered, and chit chatted about what it’s like to work in healthcare PR; Jason’s the Social Media Specialist, Urban Central Region at Intermountain Healthcare. He told some cool stories about using Life Flight as part of a PR campaign to increase facebook fans; using a pass along coin to increase awareness for breast cancer; things like that. Jason is also on the board of the SL chapter of PRSA, and he tried to recruit me. I turned him down. But he tried his best, so kudos Jason 🙂

There was an older woman who stopped by our table and tried to sell us some Christmas ornaments, $2 apiece. Jason politely shook his head no. I had no idea people did that at restaurants, so I was kind of speechless.

Finally, Jason left off our conversation by saying he and his wife were planning on going to the airport next month for a random journey; where ever the next 5 flights happened to be going is where they would end up. I will believe it when I see it, so I’ll be stalking Jason on Facebook to see what happens. Until next time; Linkedin strangers unite!