- Image by adrants via Flickr
I just got back from Blogworld Expo 2009 in Las Vegas, NV and wanted to jot down some general notes from my experience in a quick post here. It was an eye opening experience to say the least, and I mean that in the positivest of ways… I took copious notes and plan to put them out for public consumption either here or on the new look Crumple it Up or both over the next few weeks.
Then I plan to start being awesome!
All kidding aside, I know that I personally got a lot out of going and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity. Here are some quick and dirty take aways:
The People
I went to #bwe09 on a mission to meet as many people, in a finite period of time, as humanly possible. I wouldn’t give myself an A in this department, as there were some key people I wanted to meet that just didn’t work out. But what I love about the internets is the serendipity involved with randomly uncovering a post or a funny video on-line. That serendipity took place for me in Vegas over the past five days with regards to the people I was able to meet:
name dropping I didn’t plan to meet and hang out with Steve Rubel from Edelman or Sachin Agarwal from Posterous… it just kind of happened. And it was really cool.
friends There was a big Louisville contingent at Blogworld, and I was pumped to hang with these people outside of work. I’ve really enjoyed my friendship with Jason Falls and Rob May and loved that we were able to hang out in Vegas. Chris Bergman and I were wingmen for most of the adventure and I really like that dude a lot. He’s not technically from Louisville, but is an honorary Louisvillain in my book. And last but not least, I shared some good times with my Louisiville agency connection consisting of David Finch, Kat French and Brendan Jackson.
new friends I discovered Kevin Palmer on this trip, thanks to Rob May, and think that he is really funny guy. (Full Disclosure: Pointless Banter threw a private tweet-up that I attended one night where I received an undisclosed number of free beers, but that’s not why I think he’s cool) And there were an awful lot of huggers in attendance that I appreciated. Ellen Rowan Ryan Hupfer Jeremy Tanner and I seriously need to start some kind of national movement around hugging. I had no idea that other people were into it. That was refreshing.
The Sessions
I got a lot out of the sessions, personally. It’s like a switch flipped in my head and some of the thoughts that I had been thinking, regarding social media, were validated. This is powerful, because I think that we all go through it. There is ideation and then self doubt. When somebody can get in front of a crowd and say this is what I did and here were the results, it really resonates with me and clears the doubt around my ideas.
I now have a blueprint sketched out in my head for the future of the on-line presences that I am associated with, and it’s a good feeling. I have the confidence to get things done that I want to get done.
I will be putting some documentation together around these ideas over the next few days, and am pumped about that. I’ll also be typing up the notes I took as blog posts, so stay tuned.
Good Times
All in all, it was a tremendous experience and I’m seriously looking forward to putting my new knowledge to work, while building on the relationships I was able to forge this trip. If you ever get a chance to go to BlogWorld Expo, I highly recommend it.
