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I’ve always wanted to find an excuse to use the great Tweetup platform of Twtvite after I saw an invitation for an event that my friends Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson were organising for a Tweetup in the US.

Today I tested out the platform when creating a Tweetup invitation for an event with another Shel – this time Shel Israel author of the new book Twitterville.

Long time podcasting pal, Adrian Moss, who I met a few years ago at the Corporate Podcasting Summit where we were both speaking,  dropped me a direct message on Twitter some weeks ago to say that his company Parity Group were sponsoring a speaking series for Shel in Europe and did I think it would be possible to organise a Tweetup in Dublin.

The details have only just been finalised and on Sunday the 8 November 2009 we are organising an informal  Tweetup at ‘The Barge’ in Dublin – the drinks will be sponsored by Parity Group PLC thanks to Adrian. We’ll be meeting up from 8.15pm.

Shel’s most recent book ‘Twitterville, How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods’ includes  stories from more than 100 business people who are using Twitter in their business so it is a unique opportunity to connect with him and of course meet up with other Twitter friends.

Twtvite.com is very simple to use and people can register their attendance and interest in the event. You can also incorporate your own hash tag for the event (ours is #sheltweetup), it includes a map and you can quickly add it to your calendar. The one problem I found is that it did not hyperlink the full URL for the location of the event. It also makes it easy to share the details of your event through Facebook, Twitter, email and other social platforms. And it’s free!

Another tool you could use to promote your Tweetup is Tweetvite which provides similar functionality. However it also allows you to customise your event page and you can even add your own design, images and video.

So if you are thinking of organising and in person meetup of your Twitter community of followers and friends why not try out Twtvite or Tweetvite.  Networking online is great, but sometimes there is no beating a get together in-person.

Have you used other services to help you plan your own Tweetup? what do you recommend?

And remember if you are in Dublin and would like to join us for the Dublin Twitterville Tweetup you can register online at our Twtvite page.