Blogworld East 2011 Wrap-Up

There are two different worlds that I straddle – blogging/social and internet marketing.

Internet marketing conferences have little resemblance to the typical social media conference, and the two crowds don’t usually interact. Both crowds dabble in the other, but they have very different outlooks. While most bloggers aren’t making much money while they focus on things like Twitter and branding, internet marketers are usually making some money, but suck at blogging and think things like Twitter are a huge waste of time. While blogging conferences are REALLY active on Twitter, most IM conferences have barely any presence on Twitter at all.

So, I like to attend both kinds. I’m a firm believer that the power is in the middle… that a blogger who understands and applies the principles of internet marketing are the ones who get there.

When I attend an IM conference, there is barely a mention of Twitter. The level of activity on the hashtag (if they even have one) is REALLY low even though there can be several hundred people in the room. For example, in a couple weeks, I’ll be up in Connecticut for Ryan Lee’s Continuity Summit and I expect very little in the way of Twitter activity.

Then, there’s Blogworld…

For the blogger side of the conference circuit, Blogworld is and remains my favorite such conference. It is huge (and growing) and I just love watching it develop.

This year was different. Rather than a single conference in Vegas, this year it was broken up into an East and West edition. Blogworld East in New York City, and Blogworld West will be held in Los Angeles in early November.

This year was also different because I found myself in the position of track organizer. So, rather than doing the usual speaker thing, I instead was in charge of organizing all the speakers on the monetization track.

Also different this year…. my wife came with me. She has never come with me on a business trip before, so that was unique in and of itself. She even attended several sessions – and even asked questions! It was quite cool, really. Of course, our kids got sick while we were in New York, so that sucked. (They’re fine now)

We also had an opportunity to see the Spiderman Broadway show, courtesy of InfoLinks. GREAT show. It really is unbelievable to see something like Spiderman brought to the stage as a musical, but it works very well. Incredible production. I heard this was the most expensive Broadway production ever… and it shows.

Blogworld Feedback

Every Blogworld, I like to offer a few bullet points of feedback about the conference. Things I like and things that could be looked at for next time.

• I thought the networking opportunities were better this time around. In Vegas, the official parties were in dance clubs and it was very hard to talk with the music overpowering everything. In New York, the parties were in bars. Now, it was still loud, but not because of music. I didn’t attend every one, but given the crowd size, I think the way it was done in New York was great.
• Next time in New York, it’d be nice to TRY to schedule a conference center with an attached hotel (or at least closer). The Javitz Center isn’t near any Subway stops, so it was either a taxi or a 15 minute walk each way to get to the show. Now, let’s face it…. a lot of bloggers could use the exercise. But, still, we’re all spoiled by Mandalay Bay now. So….
• As a track leader this time around, I paid attention to crowd size in the speaker sessions. And, it really was all over the board and I don’t know why. Some speakers had a full house while others didn’t. Some of these speakers traveled a long way to speak, so I felt bad when the room only had 30 people in there. As I suggested privately, I think having a networking breakfast in the morning would be a good way to get people there in the morning (especially after late nights).
• It at least needs to be considered…. a city on the east coast other than NYC. I like NYC as much as the next person, but it is expensive. VERY expensive. My hotel was $300/night and that’s pretty much average for the area unless you get really creative with your accommodations. With a target audience of bloggers, that’s a lot to bite off. Especially when combined with the ticket price for the conference. I know NYC has a lot of cultural and media connections, so perhaps it is the best venue all things considered. But, it has to be said.
• Keynotes. I think the “talk show” format needs to go. There have been two of them now and I don’t think either one came off as was intended. I think the best keynotes are with a single dynamic speaker. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk for a whole hour. Or Chris Brogan for an hour. But, trying to have them mixed up with a bunch of others just didn’t work, in my opinion. There were some funny moments, but there were also many weird moments.
• Speakers. Awesome. I know the thought process I had with the monetization track, but in checking out the other tracks, I think we had a great speaker list this time. Especially considering it was all hastily arranged in less than 3 months. One idea I did have was perhaps a label on the experience level of the session. For example, beginner or advanced. Not sure how that would work out in practice, but might help the targeting a bit.
• Session titles. Some of the session titles were boring even though the session was quite good. I look at the session title as a blog headline… it has to be enticing, attract attention, and invite the next step (which is to attend). If the speakers themselves don’t do it, then us as track leaders need to rewrite the headlines. Personal note to myself for next time.

And Those Humbling Introductions

John Chow and Robb Sutton already posted the video, but it was pretty funny.

I moderated a panel with John Chow, Syed Balkhi and Zac Johnson. And, let’s just say, the intros they gave me to read were kinda funny. Here’s the vid…

Wrapping Up

So, big thanks to Rick, Dave, Deb… and the rest of the Blogworld team. This thing came off pretty well. 3 months to put it together, too. So, bravo!

For everybody else, expect things to open up very soon for speaker proposals for LA in November. Be on the lookout.