As I settle into my airplane seat to type a retrospective of the faces I came to know this past weekend at Netroots Nation, these same faces distract me now -- 12 inches in front of my face. The TV in the headset in front of me was just flashing Lawrence O’Donell on Ketih Olberman, who two days ago stood next to me in an impromptu, close-up magic show at an after party. Now the Rachel Maddow Show is on, featuring Xeni Jardin – just two days ago we were getting massages, side by side at an expo booth. Name dropping? Star stuck? No. Quite the opposite.

I moved to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, where I spent my energies networking, hustling, rubbing elbows and partying way past bedtime on school nights – for business. Once I came to know what was really going on in the world, I left the business to jump into the world of using direct action to influence eco/enviro/energy.

In the "No on Prop 16" campaign, my energies were spent on using social media to inspire voters from all around California to get out and vote. But this time, the game meant I never even had to roll out of bed; I just grabbed my laptop and typed until I passed out. While we won, by slaying PG&E, the transition from fast talker to futon warmer was a sharp turn.

I went to Netroots Nation thinking I’d meet only über-online activists who work toward social and political change full time, coming out of their windowless, pizza-box-carpeted dungeons, their transparent-white skin turned cherry red by the Vegas sun. But instead of finding a league of hermits, I found myself immediately entrenched into a world much like the one I knew and shamefully loved – Hollywood.

Netroots Nation is a community of heavy hitters that make a serious impact on the decisions made in this country. Swarming were a web of organizers, unions and think tanks, politicians, staffers and policymakers, all networking, hustling, rubbing elbows and partying way past bedtime on school nights – for business. But, there was one key difference between Hollywood and Netroots Nation.

When a cherry-red blogger, a talk show host, a frazzled staffer, a smiley politician, a heady iPhone app developer and an eager intern all gathered for a drink, they weren’t doing it just to get ahead, get rich, get famous or get laid. I had a genuine sense we were all there to get good work done. We all seemed to feel much of the gravity of the nation’s issues, and the game of this world was to build relationships and understandings that will get us to a better place. Even the politicians.

If you’re working from home and thinking you have no impact, get some great work done and get it known at next year’s Netroots Nation. You may be revitalized to see people on all levels of media, government, labor and the blogosphere are working together to make true progress. As for me, I’m ecstatic to know I can now get out of bed, get back into the sun, and start staying out way past bedtime again – for business.

Ben Zolno is a Bay Area activist and online organizer who attended his first Netroots Nation last week.