This week, we celebrated the #SoloPR chat's fifth birthday! Longer than any other continuously running PR chat on Twitter, we've gathered an amazing group of professionals who play hard, work harder, and are always interested in helping and learning from each other (everyone is welcome – learn how to join us here!).

With our trademark “smarts and sass,” we marked the occasion with a look back and a look ahead, chatting about the following questions:

Q1: Where were you five years ago? Could you have imagined where you’d be now?

Q2: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve learned from the #solopr chat?

Q3: Why do you participate in the #solopr community? What does #solopr offer you can’t get anywhere else?

Q4: Have you collaborated on work with anyone you’ve met via #solopr?

Q5: Where would you like to be five years from now?

Q6: Estimate how many new friends/colleagues you now have as a result of #solopr

Scroll through a few of the top tweets, highlighted below (followed by a link to the full transcript):
10.8.14 Chat Highlights

We also had some fun giveaways as part of our celebration. Special thanks to community member @LisaGerber’s client @JackVincent, who donated several prizes! He's giving five copies of his book forthcoming book, A Sales is a Love Affair, to five randomly selected participants in this chat. The winners are: Alison Kenney, Lindsay Woods, Paula Johns, Daria Steigman and Joan Witte – congratulations (we'll be in touch)!

In addition, @JackVincent donated a special custom virtual sales training, and the winner of this valuable giveaway was randomly selected from those who answered to Q5 – congratulations Phyllis Weiss!

@JackVincent also donated a $20 Amazon gift card, which Jennifer Donovan won during the chat – a big thanks to him for his generosity, and we look forward to hearing more about A Sales is a Love Affair!

In other prize-related news, Karen Swim won a portable power bank charger, courtesy of  Solo PR PRO Premium member Joan Witte (thanks for your support, Joan!), and Solo PR is sending Kristie Aylett a special gift of thanks for being with us since the #SoloPR chat's very beginning.

Be sure to check out the transcript in PDF for the full discussion. Please note that the transcript is in reverse chronological order.

Thanks to everyone who has ever participated in the #SoloPR chat for making it a Wednesday staple for independent communications consultants – both newbies and veterans alike. Your contributions are what make this community work!

In case you missed it, the #solopr chat has moved to a twice monthly schedule. We meet the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 1-2 p.m. Eastern – a regular ritual for some of the savviest PR pros on Twitter. Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to participate. If you’re looking for immediate answers to your questions and real-time access to wisdom from veteran pros, join us as a Premium member of Solo PR Pro – our private Facebook group is available 24/7.