I attended my second Tweetup last night at the Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi. My first experience with a tweetup was actually my second day in Abu Dhabi, and it was a great way to meet people in my new hometown to answer many of my “newbie” questions.

When I mentioned that I was going to a “tweetup,’ I got a lot of quizzical looks from people. Yes, it sounds a little geeky, but once you get to the event, you quickly realize there’s a lot more behind the 48×48 pixel icon. In fact, there isn’t that much tweeting at the event itself, with lively conversation and a hotly contested quiz competition to cap off the night. Twitter is the tool used to organize, but once there it’s just a great icebreaker to meet people in real life that you “know” from Twitter.

The tweetup mechanic is quite simple and self-organized. Last night’s event was organized by @anubhavsethiusing the website twtvite.com. It’s easy to set up your own event and people can RSVP by sending a tweet to let others know they’re going, which helps grow the crowd. Last night’s event had about 20 people in fields ranging from public relations to investment banking to a pastry chef and everything in between.