I’m presenting to the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) conference today. These people all put on conferences for a living, a multi-billion dollar industry (note: I also put on conferences), and work with an events solutions company. What they’ll want to know is how all these social media tools can improve attendance, drive collaboration, extend the value of events, without taking away any potential revenue. They’ll want a very safe path, tried and true, with a step by step understanding of what will add to the bottom line and how to avoid things that will detract.

After years of attending and running events, I can tell you that it’s all still very much a lab environment. That said, here’s what I know.

Social Media Buzzes Up Potential Attendance

Hooking Twitter to your registration system such that it tweets out a message like “I just registered for PodCamp Boston on Jun 14th. Are you coming? http://bit.ly/regpcbos” is a powerful way to get more attendance. Also distributing discount codes and early birds via that method is equally effective.

Jeff Pulver did a lot of his promotion and ticket sales via Twitter for his 140 Conference, but then again, that’s an event about Twitter and real-time social media tools of its kind. Would it work as well for a less technology-based show?

It’s hard to say. The demographics of people joining Facebook, for instance, are promising. 650,000 new people join a day, mostly within the age range of 31-55, a little more than half are women. If your show is less technology-focused, there’s still a potential that you could find attendees via Facebook, as people use the tool in many ways in their off time.

But don’t be too optimistic. I’ve yet to find reports or case studies of Facebook having as successful a conversion for attendance. If you build a fan page, it’s just another place to have to push eyeballs and hope for conversion. To the plus, there are more people visiting Facebook than your website. To the minus, they’re not as well targeted. There’s potential there, but it requires a lot of effort. And Facebook ads have shown mixed results.

What’s required is a kind of social media sherpa, who can find you the audience you seek, who can reach to them on the platforms where they are already congregating, and who can help promote in tasteful ways that fit the sensitivities of the networks where your audiences are found.

Social Media Extends Communities

There are a number of community platform tools in all price ranges that might appeal to conference organizers. Some are custom-built to tie into registration systems. Others are separate-but-robust and allow your attendees to build a profile, make meetings at the event, share media, and a whole host of other potential uses. The upside is that this gives organizers a new way to provide sponsors and exhibitors a new place to make relationships. It’s another potential property to advertise on.

To the downside, these communities are rarely heavily used. I’ve been made to sign up for them in the past (and “made to” is the key takeaway for you), and the return on effort wasn’t exactly there. They can appear to be ghost towns, which might drag down the experience of the attendees and send false signals to all involved. Some are costly and require a lot of customization before putting them into practice.

Here’s the thing about communities, bottom line: if you’re going to build one, realize that you need a community manager capable of making content, capable of keeping the “cocktail party environment” going on the site, and capable of understanding potential business introductions of value that would give all involved some yield for being there.

Video and Audio Materials Drive Awareness

Creating video for a YouTube or other video channel of your best presentations is a great way to build awareness of the event, and a way to give your sales team something to talk about when calling up prospects. It’s also a great way to help prospective attendees realize what they could see at the event. Consider the difference between a printed brochure with a bunch of heads on it versus a series of video posts that show highlights or the entire presentation of past presenters.

There are lots of great ways to use video and audio materials to drum up business. Rick Calvert and Jim Turner did this expertly for Blog World Expo, including creating many anticipatory audio podcast experiences. The double benefit of how Rick and Jim did it was that they got their influential speakers to do these pre-show activities and then those were promoted to some extent, thus driving even more potential sign-up.

Here’s where most show organizers worry that they’re giving away the show, and that they can make money on after-show DVD sales. If you’re making a killing on that business, then don’t listen to me. However, I’ve rarely seen many people tell me with a straight face that their after-show DVD sales are a huge stream of revenue, or that the prospect of trading that stream for more paying attendees wasn’t a worthwhile trade-off.

Remember: this video and audio material makes for good sales lead conversational material, not just attendee awareness.

And just sticking the video on YouTube doesn’t mean you’ll have someone knocking down the door. We can talk about all the various elements that need to go into it, including calls to action and the like, but that’ll be another time.

Nothing Is a Slam Dunk, But It All Can Work

After years of experimentation with the various shows I produce or collaborate on, there are lots of ways that social media tools can add to the experience, and there are lots of ways that it can go horribly wrong. The positives are that shows extended by social media get talked about more, get more coverage, get more exposure, and have better potential to grow using non-traditional marketing methods. The negatives are that bad news travels fast.

All in all, the recommendation is to work with someone who understands and can build the strategy around the tools, instead of just throwing a bunch of tools together that you read about in various places. There are no shortcuts to building social media into events, but the yield from taking an intelligent approach is very much worth it.

I’m always happy to talk with you about how events can be extended. Drop me a line on my contact form and I’ll get back soon.

How Have You Seen It Done, Good or Bad?

What are the ways you’ve seen companies attempt to use social media in events, and what do you like or dislike about it?

Some thoughts.

Be clear about the offer – I try hard to bring the best speakers for the specific content I’m trying to share with my audience. In my event, I’m looking to educate marketers, PR types, and companies representing brands on the theme of “From Strategy Into Action.”

Be open about the request – I try not to bury people in marketing for the event. I send out email marketing about once every two weeks (unless I have a technical accident). Beyond that, I’ll send a tweet every few days (currently around every 3rd day), and that’s about it. I try not to bury folks in advertising for it, but I’m very clear about my ask.

Be empowering – My goal with building events is to put the right people together in a room. I select my exhibitors and sponsors because I believe their tools are the right tools for some of the folks coming to the event. That’s on purpose. Bringing a guy like Chris Kieff from Ripple6 in contact with the kind of people who need what his company sells is exactly why we bother to do a face to face event. But just as much, it’s great to introduce someone who comes as an attendee to Tim O’Reilly or Charlene Li or any of the speakers we have coming. It’s important that we empower people to connect.

Extend the conversation – We’re looking at this right now. I’m selecting the right social platform to wrap around the event so that we can have conversations in and around the event, and not just at the event. The challenge is that no one really wants to join yet another social platform. They’re short term environments and don’t really live beyond the event walls very often. So, I’m looking for other ways to extend the conversation. Hash tags on each session as well as the event might help. Encouraging more flickr and Flip video usage will help. What else, do you think?

Empower Others to Reach Out – One thing I’ve yet to do for this event, but will ask soon, is I ask speakers to make sure to reach out to their constituent bases and invite people who might want to hear them speak. I also encourage exhibitors and sponsors to reach out to prospects. If it’s going to benefit someone to be at an event, I try to connect it all up. By giving speakers a few ways to reach out, I hope to bring the people who might want to gather a way to do so.

Outside of the Event – Sometimes, people can’t make an event for one reason or another. I think it’s always good to build something up outside the event. Some would argue that this might dig into the value of the event itself. Maybe. But I think more of the business networking happens during the event, in between the sessions, than at dinners and tweetups. Sometimes, it’s just nice to blend the location into the experience, and nice to connect with people who can’t make the event for whatever reason. Most events I attend these days have a non-related event like a Tweetup around them. I think it’s prudent.

What Else?

What else do you think face to face events need to have to be of value? What do you want from the events you pay to attend? Are you going to any conferences this year? What makes you choose which events to attend?

Photo credit, daveybot

Announcements Rock

You know what’s awesome? The opportunity to work with great people. I love that I spend my days with guys like Justin Levy and Colin Browning figuring out how to educate and equip business communicators with the latest and best stuff we’re learning. Further more, I’m so thrilled that I get to work with the pirates on events, as well as with David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin. So what’s more awesome than that?

Taking on More

We’re thrilled to report that New Marketing Labs has acquired the Inbound Marketing Summit event from our friends at Hubspot. Going forward, we will rename our events to be the Inbound Marketing Summit. The name New Marketing Summit will be sunk, and a burial at sea will be had. (Apologies to those who commissioned tattoos after last year’s event, because you felt it was so awesome. I have a carnation design that hides it well!)

What’s In It for You?

So, who goes to these types of events, anyway? Marketing and PR and advertising types are the typical attendee, though we seem to get more and more C-level and president types, too. People come to learn how to get more business using the online tools like social media, email marketing, video, social networks, and things like that. We get both agency types as well as people from companies like Kodak, Dow Jones, Wiley Publishers, and all kinds of companies you know, who also need to know about the tools and strategies, just like you.

If you’re going to come, it’s a pretty damned good show. Ask someone like Richard Reeve or Susan Kang Nam or I’m not sure… some more folks, if you want to ask around.

Our mission, should you want to know it, in 2009 is: strategy into action. That means we’re going to bring you into the event with your questions, your marketing challenges, your interests, and give you the entire spectrum of information. Instead of just talking about how cool blogs and things are, we’ll go right deep to the “actionable steps” level. We’ve got great speakers, great authors, great practitioners, and we want to share everything they know with you.

Hold off on registering for a few days. I’ve got a special announcement there, too. Seriously. Don’t do it for like… another day or two.

Speakers for the April 27th-29th Inbound Marketing Summit (so far)

The first Inbound Marketing Summit event last year in Boston featured speakers like David Meerman Scott, me, my PodCamp co-founder, Christopher S. Penn, and mister Seth Godin, to name just a few. It was a kickass event. (That’s a technical term). Want to see who’s confirmed so far for San Francisco in April?

Here’s who’s up (so far) in April 2009:

• Tim O’Reilly
• Loic LeMeur (Seesmic and LeWeb)
• Tim Street (French Maid TV)
• Tim Marklein (Weber Shandwick)
• Jessica Berlin (Cirque Du Soleil)
• Microsoft (name to be announced)
• Harley Davidson (name to be announced)
• Bryan Elliott (SoCal Action Network)
• Patrick Chanezon (Google)
• Jason Falls
• Brian Solis
• David Meerman Scott
• Paul Gillin
• Me
• and plenty more.

And that’s just so far…

I’ve begged some other great people to come and speak as well. We’re closing in on that soon-ish.

Cool Sponsors

There’s no party without the sponsors, so I’m always excited that we get to work with friends who also happen to run businesses we care about and support. You should know something about this: I am very picky about who collaborates with us on the event. All of these sponsors offer some product or service that I personally feel is useful to this space. They’ll be coming to our events and you can ask them every hard question you want. Kick the tires. Bug them. Challenge them to serve your needs. That’s why they head out to the events.

Sponsors for our San Francisco event in April (so far) are:

• HubSpot
• Blue Sky Factory
• BrickFish
• Cision
• Powered
• PR Newswire
• Sitecore
• HiveLive
• R2integrated
• Radian6
• Socialcast
• SocialText
• Visible Technologies
• And you? (Ping Colin Browning)

(If I missed you, please just tell me, and I’ll fix it.)

Just One More Thing

In case that’s not enough of an event for you (because hey, we’ve merged two together), let’s add this bit of news: Jen McClure from The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) is hosting her 5th Annual New Comm Forum as part of a larger offering with us. I went to this show last year up in the Sonoma Valley, and it was a blast! Jen’s audience really matches with what we’re doing, and so we think we’ve got a nice mix with bringing everyone together in the same place.

Speakers at Jen’s event so far include Shashi Bellamkonda, me, Adrian Chan, Vanessa DiMauro, Laura Fitton, Susan Getgood, Paul Gillin, Shel Holtz, Shel Israel, Alan Kelly, JD Lasica, Geoff Livingston, Jen McClure, Gaurav Mishra, Katie Paine, Brian Solis, Todd Van Hoosear, Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu, and many others.

Okay, Another One More Thing

Do you think that open source software relates to this space? I do. How can companies innovate fast enough to be competitive? Where will tomorrow’s great services come from?

Bill Washburn has an extensive experience with open source software, and with the OPenID Foundation. We’re pleased to present a new event, OpenBox, that will take place on Tuesday the 28th of April at the same venue, alongside our other events. I’ll talk about that more later, but I wanted to give you the heads up that we’ve got something for your CEOs and CTOs to do while the CMOs hang out with us at the Inbound Marketing Summit.

So there.

We’re growing. We acquired the Inbound Marketing Summit because we want to get all you bright people in the same room at the same time. We are likely going to find other events that match our interests and build relationships with them, as well. We’ll have another announcement about that exact thing coming up very shortly.

Any questions? Thoughts? Am I going to see you in San Francisco, or will you be coming to Dallas or Boston, or our soon-to-be-named next event?

Photo credit, Hubspot

These are questions that we all have opinions about. People and companies have been vilified for their choices. The righteous burn their effigies on the front lawn of any blog that mixes free content with advertising. The very notion that commerce and information exchange be permitted to mix seems incongruous. Never mind the fact that media works that way. Never mind the fact that CHURCH works that way. There has to be a strong distance between the exchanges, or else it seems evil. You’re charging your community, etc.

I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time. Partly because it’s my job to understand how to mix information and money-making. The other part of it is because I like to help people figure out how to do business in the Internet age. I experiment, share the results, and experiment some more.

I also run conferences, both professionally, and for passion. Between media making, conferences, and the other ways that I work in the information-for-money business, I’ve got some ideas, and I’m going to share my perspective. I predict this post will be one of the more polarizing of my last several months. You’ll either get it and agree, or you’ll tell me why the world must all function on what’s free. I can argue both sides of the coin.

The Triangle

In the fall of 2006, I quit my day job and joined the circus. Jeff Pulver, legendary VoIP pioneer and long-time producer of the VON conference series hired me. In the waning months of 2007, I parted ways and joined Stephen Saber’s CrossTech Media. During this same time frame, I also worked with Christopher S. Penn and Whitney Hoffman on PodCamps.

In events, there’s a triangle. I learned this mostly from Jeff. If you can, the best of all worlds goes like this:

* Attract the brilliant people and make them the community.
* Charge the businesses who support this community for the event.
* Make it worth it for those businesses, so that they want to keep supporting the event.

So, if you want your “friends” to come to a conference, make the event such that it will help them do their job better. Then, don’t ask your friends for money. Ask their employers for money (ticket cost). Then, ask exhibitors and sponsors who want the friends as customers for money. Then, you have enough money to run a conference, and make a living trying to build information.

For the content, focus super hard on the people/friends. Don’t look to what the sponsors/exhibitors think the story is. They know more about the today than they do the tomorrow. Unless you make friends with tomorrow-focused companies (my favorite plan).

That’s kind of traditional conferences in a nutshell. It’s WAY not easy. But that’s the rough premise.

Unconferences, like PodCamp and BarCamp and the like, do it differently. The premise is like this: we can all get together for a minimal cost and run something that’s useful, without making it a business unto itself. We can subsist, and everyone will leave better educated.

With PodCamps, we’ve built and built on the experience, such that the ones we run in Boston cost more than a typical *.Camp, but the payload is (hopefully) much more focused. We’ve asked for more money from the community, but we’ve turned that back around into a quality event. We find sponsors who want access to our community, and then we try to matchmake that relationship a little, so that everyone understand’s each other’s potential value. BUT we do it without a lot of heavy-handedness at PodCamps. It’s more organic. That’s the whole unconference thing.

YOU can start an unconference. You don’t need anyone’s permission.

So there are two models.

Content on Websites

The web has crushed a lot of former money makers. Look at newspapers. Look at magazines. We are VERY used to getting our content for free. We love it free. And we are finding more and more ways to get top shelf, quality content for free. It’s a great and wonderful thing. How many of us would pay a few bucks for a blog? Not very many. (Well wait, aren’t Kindle users doing just that?)

So there are all kinds of people churning out quality content, and the basic premise is that they’ll get their money elsewhere. I sure do. Lots of people do. But let’s go deeper for a second.

You learn actionable things from ProBlogger, from CopyBlogger, from Seth Godin, from me, and from others. All that content is free. It’s out there for you to learn from, profit from, build business with, and hopefully succeed. Heck, if we’re not helping you succeed, then why are we doing this daily?

Often discounted in these conversations are blogs about making money online. Those fall into another whole category of the web. And yet, some of those folks, like Ted Murphy are out there just trying to come up with new ways to build better relationships between people who have something to sell and people who want to facilitate that sale. There’s a whole culture out there figuring this stuff out, and I’m getting to know more and more of them. As I do, my mindset on how blogs interact with advertising and marketing has changed a great deal.

My Current Thinking Boiled Down

• Making money isn’t evil. HOW you make money can be. Keeping the whole picture in place helps. (For instance, in my case, I sell certain services and information – like the New Marketing Summit, but then I give others away free/cheap – my blog and PodCamp).
• Disclosure is key. If you’re going to sell something on your site, disclose that you’ve got a relationship with that company/product. ( I show my disclosures on my About page).
• Maintain the triangle. I don’t want YOU to pay for my content. I want people who need my help professionally to pay for my distilled thinking.
• Keep context. My site is about educating you. If it becomes about products to market, that’s a context swap. If I decide to build a site about selling you things, I’ll make that another URL, and you can opt to visit or not.
• Someone has to pay for the picnic. There are some really great bloggers out there who are blogging a bit less lately. I won’t name them. They have jobs that require them to focus down hard on revenues right now. I try my hardest to have the things I’m paid for (like conferences) keep me out here on the blanket giving away delicious snacks. But someone always has to pay for the picnic.

Your Take

It’s your turn to weigh in. Why should everything be free? Why are ads evil? Where do you think this money should be made? If you were running the business, [chrisbrogan.com], or Scobleizer.com , or Annhandley.com , or whoever, what would you do differently? How would YOU make your money?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Photo credit, Timothy Lloyd

Image by Frank Gruber via Flickr

It’s here. Share that thing liberally. Great calendar.

Now, if you ask me for my FAVORITE social media conferences, that’s another thing entirely. I’ll tell you that one later.

The mere thought of walking up to a total stranger and saying hello, picking up the phone to cold call a potential client, or standing in front of a large group of people is enough to cause me to have significant heart palpitations, cold sweats, and shortness of breath. Even as I write this, I’m feeling the butterflies well up inside.

Sound familiar? If you’re shy like me, I bet it does.

I believe I was born shy. Since I can remember, I’ve been more inclined to back away from the spotlight and avoid being the centre of attention. As a little kid, I spent a lot of time peering warily out from behind my Mom. In school, I was mortified every time the teacher called on me. Even as a young adult, I could barely pick up the phone to order pizza delivery without panic setting in.

Yet, these days, I’ll regularly walk up to people I’ve never met, pick up the phone a half dozen times a day and call strangers, and stand on a stage and talk to a large crowd, with hardly a second thought.

Shyness can be very debilitating, resulting in missed opportunities, and even depression in extreme cases. I’ve learned over time that although this personality trait of mine will probably never go away, shyness can be managed to the point where it doesn’t have to be an issue. Here’s how I do it:

Accept Your Shyness- Like it or not, shyness is a part of your personality. It’s ingrained in your psyche. Instead of worrying about it, accept it as a fundamental part of you. Stop identifying with your shyness – in other words, stop using phrases like “I can’t do this because I’m too shy”. Once you have completely accepted this part of yourself, you can move beyond it.

Put Yourself Out There- I’m not saying you need to jump on a stage in front of 500 people or start shaking every hand in the room at your next conference. But regularly putting yourself out there, in situations that demand decidedly un-shy behaviour is key to overcoming shyness. This takes practice, so start small. It could be something as simple approaching someone in line at the coffee shop, and asking them for their thoughts on the dark roast they just ordered. Put yourself out there, in small ways at first, and you will begin to get used to it. Then you can build up to the bigger stuff.

Hang Around with Un-Shy People- Funny thing about shy people – they tend to attract extroverts. Ironically, nearly all of my friends are total extroverts. Hanging around with outgoing people is actually very good if you are shy. You can learn from the guy who always has a crowd of people around him (not mentioning any names Chris Brogan!). Observe what Mr. or Ms. Popular does to engage people, and keep them interested. Observe how much they are enjoying giving that speech. And see if you can’t pick up a few of their techniques and use them yourself.

Be a Conversation Starter - Not sure how to kick off a conversation with someone you’ve just met? Ask questions. Not sure what to ask? Next time you set out to a conference, or meet up, or the coffee shop, prepare a list of questions and commit them to memory (nobody wants to talk to the guy carrying around a list of questions). People love to talk about themselves. So if you aren’t sure what to say, start asking questions. Not only will you learn a lot, you’ll be at ease because the conversation will just flow.

Suck It Up- In the end, if you really, really want to achieve something badly enough, then at some point along the way you will be forced to suck it up and just go for it. This means pushing aside all of those voices in your head that tell you that you’ll look stupid, humiliate yourself, or say the wrong thing. The only way you can overcome these voices is to simply ignore them, and go for it. I guarantee that doing un-shy things never turns out as badly as what you make up in your head.

These are just a few techniques I’ve used over the years to cope with my shyness. What about you? How do you deal with your shyness?

Susan Murphy is partner/producer at Jester Creative. She blogs at SuzeMuse, and hangs out somewhere up north.

Photo credit, orangeacid

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This is every bit as much business as it is nicety. You can be kind because it’s the right thing to do, but if you’re a business person of any flavor, think about all that I’m going to share with you. Because it matters. And those people who are getting by WITHOUT being human in person aren’t going to last all that long in the longer run.

Here are some ways to think about it.

Lead by Being Inclusive

If you see me at a conference, I’ll be the guy with my hand out, shaking with someone and trying to lead them into my little circle of friends, to see if there’s someone you’ll find something in common with amongst the group I’ve gathered together. Why? Because not only do I want to welcome everyone in, but because by adding your brains and fresh eyes to the circle I’ve gathered, it means that there might be even deeper connections that YOU can take and do something with later. I never meet someone that I don’t almost immediately think about someone else they should get to know.

Yes, it’s because I’m a natural connector (Julien and I call this “Connector X” in our six main traits of Trust Agents writing), but it’s also because it’s a great way to get everyone talking at an event. Further, it’s social proof that you’re someone who cares about others. It means that somewhere in your head, you think, “Hey, Chris welcomed me in and I immediately felt like I could approach him.”

THAT’s what you’re looking for, right? You want people to feel that they can approach you in case there’s an opportunity for either side. It means that you care enough about people to invite them into the game. Should you ALWAYS do this? No, there are some exceptions where something is private, but at a conference? Find ways to be inclusive. You can steal private time later.

Make YOUR Introduction Brief, Then Ask Questions

Here’s where you can pick up ground really fast, and where we tend to fall down easiest. Say who you are, and give a firm handshake (or a hug), and make eye contact. Yes, this is SO hard if you’re shy, but if you practice, it gets easier (or it doesn’t – dispute me in the comments, and/or offer your strategies). And then, just say who you are and what you do (or what you’re passionate about, or what you seek the most at the event). Follow this almost immediately with a question that gives the spotlight to the other person (or AN other person in the circle). “How are you finding the conferece?” or “What do you do with the other hours in your day?”

Your questions are where it gets a bit tricky. If you can, come up with a few that are different than “what do you do?” Having a unique question often leads to a unique conversation. Imagine the responses to these:

• Did you ever win an award for something?
• Where’s a fun place you’ve visited before?
• How do you hope attending this event (or this meeting, or whatever) change your life?
• What’s your irrational fear? Mine is of sharks. (It helps to give them yours first before they have to answer.)
• If I gave you two million dollars, how would you spend your hours a few months from now?

In all cases, the answers might tell you something about the person. They certainly say a lot about you who’ve offered them up. And, most importantly, they give the other person a chance to talk about themselves.

What naturally happens next is that they want to know more about you. If they don’t, you’ve just learned the other person’s level of self-absorption, at least at that given moment. I sometimes get a bit overwhelmed with meeting lots of new people in a row, and sometimes at those times, I don’t do so well with this one. (We can only try.)

To Avoid: Patting Your Own Back

Even in third party form, “Wired Magazine says I might well be the next William Gibson,” it still sounds like you’re a toolbag calling yourself awesome. Don’t do it. Can I be simpler?

It’s a fine line between making sure someone knows what you’re capable of doing versus hearing your impressive credentials. How do you tell them that your blog is in the top 15 of the Cthulu Society of Charles Dexter Ward without sounding like a braggart? The best way is with a third party present. If you can’t find a way to do that, try your hardest to keep your credentials brief and simple.

Say something more like, “I’m really passionate about H.P. Lovecraft and that’s where I’ve made most of my friends online. People in that community can vouch for me.” It’s like the 3rd party credential above, but doesn’t deliver the payload of bragging.

How Third Parties Help

Another way to make this go a lot smoother is to have a social “wingman” present. Not exactly in that slimy way that guys use to try to pick up girls in bars, but similar in how it gets done. If you meet someone in a social setting with a friend there, that friend can often pay the kinds of compliments or offer the kind of advice that you can’t say about yourself directly. I LOVE talking about other people at social events to a new person.

“This is Jason Falls. Not only is he the social media side brand guy behind Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and all these other cool brands, but he’s really breaking the mold in how to build relationships using online tools.” That lets the other person know that Jason rocks, that I endorse him, and that there are a few hooks for next steps in the conversation.

You can do this in situations where you don’t much know the newcomer in a different way.

“This is Michael, and we’ve really only just met. What I like most about him so far is that he’s quick to laugh, knows a lot about music, and seems genuinely curious about our space and how to make the best connections.” Notice that I haven’t exactly endorsed him, but I also haven’t damned him. It should give the subtle hint that I’m not really decided on him, but he doesn’t seem like an axe murderer.

A Point of Etiquette

There’s actually a proper way to introduce people in more formal settings. You’re welcome to correct me if I get this wrong, because it’s one of those “stalactite/stalagmite” things in my head.

When you introduce two people, it’s customary to introduce the lesser-known or junior person to the senior person. If I introduce my wife to the President of the United States of America, I’d say, “Honey, I want you to meet Mr. Barack Obama.” (Or that other guy with Sarah Palin.)

As a twist to this, in social settings where we’re all peers, I tend to like to introduce the newer person to the person I’ve known the longest. So, if I introduce someone to Liz Strauss, I’d say, “Dave, you’ve gotta meet my good friend, Liz Strauss. She’s a great community builder, and someone who cares about helping bloggers build businesses. When I have questions about community, Liz is who I ask.”

How This All Adds Up

if you think making connections at events isn’t a part of your business, I’m a bit worried for you. Here’s a secret I only share during speeches (but I think we can keep it between us, right?): businesses are made up of people. There, I said it.

The impression people get of you has to do with many factors, but of those, the ones you can handle the most are the ones you might consider working on for upcoming events and social opportunities. All the work you do online doesn’t add up to much if you can’t leave a good and lasting first impression in person.

So what do you think? Did I miss anything? Would you have other ideas to offer? How do you work at the avoiding the “me game?”

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• Be Sexier in Person

I found some posts from myself and others that will help you prepare for conferences. But before I go into that, I wanted to share a little about how I came by some of this advice. Not only do I attend many conferences in a year, I’ve been working in the space for over 2 years already, myself.

My Background in Events

I’ve worked with some truly legendary conference people. Jeff Pulver knew the magic formula for a powerful community event that worked on several levels. I learned tons from him and Jason Chudnofsky while running the Video on the Net event.

I also work with Christopher S. Penn and the astounding Whitney Hoffman on the PodCamp events that we co-founded. We learn something new from every camp, even when we’re not organizing them. (By “we,” I mostly mean Chris and Whit.)

My current business partners, Stephen Saber, Nick Saber, and the rest of the folks at CrossTech Media have given me even more perspective, different models, and a whole new view on how things are evolving. Things like “big is out; small and meaningful is in.” We have an amazing show with David Meerman Scott, Paul Gillin and some incredible speakers and exhibitors at the New Marketing Summit this October, and I’m really proud of that event.

Observations About Attendees at Events

This year, at the amazing SNCR event in the Sonoma Valley, David Alston from Radian6 pointed something out. There were two conference experiences happening in the same room. Even though the event organizers made every effort to have attendees feel connected and included, half the room (maybe less) were active on Twitter, and having an entirely larger conversation, while the other half wasn’t even aware of all the activity.

It seems to me that most events now almost need to anticipate having a hash tag (something like #nms for New Marketing Summit), and an active Twitter back channel.

Another observation: the people who prepare to attend an event come away with a much different experience than those who just show up. This becomes very important, because it turns out that you, as a prospective attendee at an event, might find a completely different end result, with only a little bit of consideration and just a hair of pre-planning.

On the eve of going out to MANY events over the next 40 days or so, I wanted to compile some of the best advice I’ve received or written about with regards to how YOU can get more out of conferences.

Advice for People Attending Conferences

Things I do BEFORE a VON Conference – Jeff Pulver.

Getting More out of Your Speaking Opportunities – Jeff Pulver

Preparing for PodCamp DC with the Jeff Pulver Method – Christopher S. Penn

Be Sexier in Person – Me.

10 Ways to Make Your Next Conference Better – Me.

Using Social Media to Meet People – Me. ( Picture look familiar?)

What’s Your Advice?

What would you add to the list? How else can we prepare? What is your pre-event and post-event ritual?

The New Media Expo Story

I read James Lewin’s coverage of the event, where he asks if tech trade shows still matter. Short answer: yes, but I’ll get back to that.

Tim Bourquin posted his frustrations about the business at large here. Gutsy move, actually, and I had a lot of thoughts about the post that I want to talk about, but maybe not here. (Note: remember, I also work for a media and events company.

Dave Peck voiced his dissatisfaction here. Part of the complaints in the comments were about the shift to Las Vegas (from Ontario, California). Vegas is tricky for events.

My Take

I think Tim and Emile Bourquin (and team) have put on a great show over the years. I enjoy their event. It’s worth paying for. I think they’ve done lots to bring together the tenuous “industry” that circles podcasting and media making. I would’ve been there this year, but a last-minute conflict pulled me out of the game. Otherwise, I was proud that I was asked to take the stage at an event I loved in 2006 when I first attended it. I hope Tim continues making a show, but if not, I understand his perspective.

For those who try comparing NME to PodCamp (note: I’m co-founder of PodCamp), it’s not the same thing. Tim’s show is worth the price of admission. He goes to a great expense to put it on. PodCamps are different, and we offset the costs by doing volunteer labor. One isn’t better than the other. They’re different. More about PodCamps later in the post.

But now, think about podcasting. Where is THAT going? If you can guess that one correctly, get back to us all. It’s been a crazy ride so far.

Blog World Expo

Rick Calvert and team are putting on Blog World Expo in a few weeks, and I will be in attendance. This event covers blogging heavily, but also has a new media track. It debuted last year in Las Vegas, and appears there this year, too. This means there were two events about social media (let’s not quibble over terms) within a month of each other. I planned on attending both. Why? Different crowds. Tim’s event has a history and brings lots of the podcasting world’s brightest. Rick’s event brought diverse people like religious, military, sports, and political bloggers, and I liked that.

Those are two events about social media, within a month of each other, in the same state.

And again, what’s the state of blogging? People are slipping off to twitter and tumble and seesmic. Some blogs are more and more like mainstream outfits now. Others are falling apart into lifestreams. Is there a blogging industry? Not sure.

Other events

Let’s add to that Gnomedex (I fly out later today), South by Southwest, Podcasters Across Borders, SOBCon, and several other social media events of varying prices.

Add on top of that the several dozen PodCamp events, lots of various social media events, meetups, tweetups, Mashable-ups, TechCrunch50, and we haven’t even spilled over into the bigger events like all of Tim O’Reilly’s stuff. And now, we have the crux of the issue.

As Goes the Social Media, So Goes the Events

Why aren’t we catching on that blogs are atomizing into blogs/twitter/friendfeed/seesmic/google reader comments/ etc, and thus, the events are going to start to feel that way, too? It’s like we need a FriendFeed for events at this point, to sum up all the experiences we’re having, and those we have to skip.

Want to see just how diffuse this is becoming? Look at Robert Scoble’s watchlist on Upcoming.org. And that’s not all of them. You need to get into Somewhat Frank’s Calendar, and a few other choice places to see all the social media events.

There are almost more events than there are bloggers and podcasters, and that’s in the US alone.

What Comes Next

If I knew this, I’d be a billionaire. But I can say this: the event space shifts and turns all the time. There used to be Comdex, a super-event will gazillions of people. That atomized and now several other events took its place. E3 used to be the gamer’s event of the year. Things rise, things fall. They swell up, they dissipate.

As a consumer of events (I go to dozens a year), I’m putting my personal value in attending into three camps:

1. Who will I meet there from the industry itself?
2. Who will I meet there are prospective clients who have also come to attend the event?
3. Where are my friends going?

Note that I didn’t say I wanted to see where the vendors and new technology are. Why? Because you’ll tell me that. (You= Paisano, Engadget, Louis Gray, Robert Scoble, Center Networks, etc).

Note that I didn’t say where all the great speakers will be. I love meeting great speakers, but I try do do that in the hallways between speeches.

Note that I don’t care which show is the biggest ,best, only, and all the other terms marketers want to use.

As a PRODUCER of events, I have certain goals and put my value in the following:

• How can I deliver the most value for a reasonable cost?
• How can I make the event last before, during, and after with online community?
• How can I empower others to make their own experiences?
• How can I deliver the most education?

To me, as things spread out, diffuse, and move differently between larger and smaller crowd sizes, I will focus on adjusting my expectations, making the ideas around the events more flexible, and trying to deliver as much to the community as I can around the constraints as they come up. I’m working, as always, from a passion for what comes next, and the goal of helping others learn and then execute.

And I know this, too: Tim, Rick, everyone else mentioned above, and everyone creating events is either thinking the same way, or they’re bound for some rough waters.

I’ve got my own event coming up with partners David Meerman Scott and Paul Gillin in October. This one is more geared towards helping marketers and PR professionals understand what all the other events listed above live and breathe on a daily basis. It’s a bit different in that way. And yet, I’m mindful of everything I’ve covered in this post.

Just the same, there’s a lot to learn, and many connections to be made, and many new people coming into the social media space every day. We’ll find ways to get everyone together face to face.

Just be mindful of everything going on around the actual ticket you bought, and the sessions you liked or didn’t like. You’re part of it with us. And that’s the good news.

– [chrisbrogan.com]

Photo credit, respres

MarketingProfs Business to Business Forum 08 June 9th-10th in Boston. I’m speaking on the 9th at 1:45PM on lead generation.

Enterprise 2.0 Conference June 9th-12th in Boston. I’m speaking on the 11th at 8AM on social media in the enterprise, and on the 12th at 10:45AM on microblogging, both times with great people.

ITEC Indianapolis June 17th-18th in Indiana. I’m keynoting on the 17th, and I think I have a panel to moderate. There might also be a social media breakfast.

Podcasters Across Borders June 20-22nd (the weekend). I’m speaking at some point but don’t remember the details because mostly, I’m going to be a general member of the community. This will be my first time at PAB.

And then, I’ve got no conferences until PodCamp Boston3 in July, and I like it that way. : )

Will we meet up? I hope so.