For those of you who have been following our Twitter stream, you may have heard of an event in Los Angeles called “140 Characters” or #140conf. It was a packed event at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, with more than 1000 tweeps from around the world.

In case you missed the tweet-stream, here’s a round-up of our Top 5 panels:

@wmmarc, William Marc Salsberry, delivered an effective, emotionally-charged presentation on the value of twitter for those going through difficult times in his panel titled, “Passion+Cancer=The Perfect Wingman.” Many tears and hugs were shared in the Kodak Theater.

(photo by CuriousJosh.com)

Mommy-blogger @JessicaGottlieb brought “the real” to #140conf with her panel on monetizing tweets, a controversial topic in the Twitterverse. Gottlieb also gave practical advice for those wishing to build their brand via Twitter. She said, “If you’re helpful…pretty much anybody will help build your brand.”

@Drew, Drew Olanoff, introduced the crowd to a new (forgotten) use for the cellphone…using it to make actual phone calls with meaning to loved ones. “Nobody knows how to use the ‘phone’ features,” said @DrewPhone] is “real-time.”"Nobody knows how to use the 'phone' features. Phone is "real-time."@Drew is fighting cancer and has turned his battle into a Twitter charity with the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. Everytime a tweep uses the hashtag, $1 is donated to charity.

@Hardlynormal, Mark Horvath, reminded us that thousands of men, women, and children across the country sleep on streets instead of homes, lacking the basic necessities of life. He introduced us to @padschicago, Ann Marie, a homeless woman who uses Twitter that he met while on his recent cross-country trip to make the invisible, visible.

(photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@alexiatsotsis, @laweekly, aka Erin Broadley, and @seanpercival, took the stage to say that us tweeps are the rockstars. Percival said, “I want to tell these people how to give good tweet.” Broadley gave kudos to citizen journalists throughout LA for helping LA Weekly the stories it reports.

#140conf was an excellent event for tweeps to connect. Look for our upcoming article on what worked and what didn’t at the conference.

Finally we leave you with an Interview with the man himself @JeffPulver