It was a scene that seems fitting in a town like Austin, a gathering to celebrate someone’s latest creative offering. In this case we gathered, ate and drank to celebrate the release of Jill Griffin‘s latest book, Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer, out this month from Jossey-Bass.

Jill, resplendent in her red suit, greeted her 70 + guests with the unbridled enthusiasm befitting the nationally recognized customer loyalty guru she is. But as she shook hands and hugged well wishers, it occurred to me that this was more than just a party – it was an event that brought together the best of many worlds – old friends, local business figures and social media mavens. Among the boldfaced names: Bloggers and customer loyalty pros Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell (Jackie live tweeted from the event); Bard Press publisher Ray Bard; Jill’s Jossey-Bass editor Leslie Stephen; Bob Gutermuth, founder of The Dialog Group (who also lent his lovely offices space for the bash); Bob Lander, President and CEO of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau; well-known technology attorney Mark Murdock; Juan Portillo, President of Tramex Travel; Powered, Inc. CMO Aaron Strout, and Glenn West who heads up fundraising for the University of Texas’ Department of Computer Science.

It takes a village to launch a book; and Jill’s very loyal tribe turned out to kick things off the right way!