The “Meet the Winners” after-party sponsored by Thomson Reuters was a huge success with people spilling out of the Ballroom after the awards dinner. Many stayed to see old friends and colleagues and to have one more beverage (read champagne). The tab was entirely on Thomson Reuters who served drinks to a still-thirsty crowd until the wee hours of the evening. The company also set up a loop of their photographers best work from 2011 presented on a large-screen television monitor.
After the pre-party, dinner and acceptance speeches, it was time for people to let their hair down, or in the case of many of the women, kick those heels off. You could hear the sigh of relief from Charles Graeber, a contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek, said he was enjoying the after-party because he no longer had to be nervous about what he was going to say on stage when he accepted the Ed Cunningham Award for “Nothing To Do But Start Over Again.” Graeber said he believes many writers have stage fright.
Off to the side of the room, OPC interns Rixey Browning and Marissa Miller (who live Tweeted the event, #opcofamerica) gave party goers an overview of the OPC’s latest website, opcglobalparachute.org, on display by Lenovo’s latest desktop computer. Across the room, Lenovo distributed its laptop to award winners. The laptops came in cardboard carrying cases that alerted party-goers as to who the winners were.