1. The first conference that I have read about is the hypothetical conference described by people who did not go this year. Let’s set that aside as an echo of shows past.
2. The second conference I read about is from people who attended for free so they only attended the keynotes and the expo floor. I did this at the first expo in 2005 because i registered too late to attend the conference sessions. There are various good reasons why people attend the conference in this fashion.

   Leo Laporte and to a lesser extent the Orange County podcasters spend the show broadcasting live from the expo floor.

   Some people attend the expo only for cost reasons because even though the conference is inexpensive for a conference, it is still too expensive for some. I appreciate that Tim and Emil Bourquin have added the free session to the expo floor for new podcasters who may not be able to afford the conference.

   Some people only attend the expo because they have been podcasting for years now and have less to learn from the conference or at least perceive they do.

3. The third conference is the five tracks of the conference itself. This is the third year that I have attended the conference sessions. There were quite a few podcasters I ran into who were just getting started or who were just hoping to get started. The conference sessions target the practical aspects of podcasting and are well suited for someone who are still learning. I attend the conference because even though I have been podcasting for 3 years I love to learn and am constantly taking notes or mailing myself emails of new ideas I should try. I also like to support the Bourquin brothers and there effort which is one of the reasons I pay to attend.

My thoughts on the New Media Expo:

Las Vegas

I was one of the people who was afraid that it would be easier for a smaller conference like the NME to get lost in such a huge city like Las Vegas. We have friends in Las vegas who have a guest house where I could have stayed for free, but I specifically stayed in the conference hotel (the Hilton) because I knew it would take more effort to connect with people. Vegas is expensive, when you are buying a Rueben sandwich and a coke for $16 it feels a bit like the exchange rate in London.

Parties

The cost of doing business in Vegas seemed to be a big reason why there were no hospitality suites or big free parties. For people like me who were already connected this was a bit of a barrier for meeting new people but I would think it was a greater barrier for the first time attendee who might not know anyone else. They could not just stand in the lobby of the Hilton as I did on a few occasions to see who I would run into.

Brian Ibbot’s Coverville 500 was a wonderful exception. The music was great, the acoustics much better than last year’s concert and everyone I talked to seemed to be having a particularly wonderful time.

Expo Floor

I have heard it reported that the show floor was smaller this year. It wasn’t, but it was not really any larger either. I have heard it said that the show floor had less interesting vendors but I would say that over the years there has been an improvement in the quality of the vendors. Remember 2-3 years ago the expo floor had no microphone manufacturers and more than a few people just selling iPod cases. People like Rob Walsh of Wizzard Media did tell me they thought the foot traffic was down from last year. I only spent a couple of hours on the expo floor so i would not claim to be able to judge.

The biggest crowds were gathered by the live broadcasts which are always fun and I do wish I had more time to sit down and enjoy them. I would love it if the expo could stay open for another hour after the end of the conferences but i can understand if those who have been on their feet all day by that time might not agree.

The most useless booth in my opinion was Podcast Tuneup which had a great booth but could not explain to me in 5 minutes just what they were offering or at least could not make me care. Others who had been podcasting even longer then I have walked away with a similar impression.

Keynotes

I attended the first two keynotes by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and George Wright, VP of Marketing for Will It Blend, Blendtec. I thought both gave engaging and interesting talks.

I won’t say I agreed with everything Vaynerchuk presented (I personally heavily edit my shows) and yes his language was a bit coarser than I tend to employ (I know one person who walked out) but I appreciated that he knows what he wants (to own the New York Jets). My DNA and his are very different in our personalities but his talk gave me plenty of food for thought on what are my strengths and how I can leverage them.

Wright not only blended a cell phone and a rake but more amazingly described a marketing program that actually makes money and multiplied his companies sales by 7x. I find myself repeating his company’s story to others wondering how I can apply some of his lessons. Anyone got a blender?

Conference Sessions

A number of the speakers were doing return engagements but my overall impression was that the material being offered at the sessions was better than in years past. I did not miss the panel sessions which there had been in previous years. I often found myself listening to someone I have heard before like Tim Street, Tom Merritt or Don MacAllister but as the show went on I started ignoring some talks that I knew would be good to listen to people I have never heard of. I was trying to decide between a session with Rob Walsh, Shel Holtz or Paul Colligan only to have Melanie Van Orden run by excited about a session I had dismissed with Andrew Lock of Help My Business Sucks!. Andrew, who is new to podcasting, described an approach for putting together a video podcast that again was thought provoking.

One of my favorite sessions was Tom Webster from Edison Research who went through some of their research on podcast listeners/viewers.

Podcast listeners/viewers:

• Are significantly more educated than the general public
• Spend more money than the general public
• Are much more likely to buy online than the general public
• listen to 7.5 hours of audio a week vs 6 for the general public
• Are less likely watch TV, listen to radio, play video games, click on banners

Podcasters

It was again a blast to hang out with other podcasters. I did not get to spend as much time with as many podcasters as i would have liked because of that whole pesky sleep thing. I was unable to attend Paul Colligan’s profitable podcasting meetup for the first time because of a conflict with the worship service hosted by Steve Webb. I still have not had a chance to meet Leo Laporte or Amber Mac which makes me sad. I missed all of those who have been there in previous years who did not make it but I also enjoyed encouraging new podcasters.

My Favorite Moments

Chris Marquart, Alex Lindsay and I were talking when someone came up and pointed at me and said “you were my first audio podcaster” and then at Chris and said “and you were my first video one”. He is now looking at creating a podcast about Philadelphia.

I talked to some podcasters who had never recorded a show last year but who now have done 200 episodes. I am afraid that some of the people who left with the impression that podcasting may be fading did not see Tom Webster’s statistics or get a chance to look in the eyes of some of the new members of the podcast community.

Thanks

My thanks again to Tim and Emil Bourquin. I know Tim has written that he is so frustrated with the conference business that he may quit. Whatever is ahead for the podcast brothers I appreciate the effort that has gone into each of the 4 conferences now called the New Media Expo.

Some of my thoughts…

Best Change

I admit I was a little skeptical about the change in format for the keynote presentations to an interview format, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I thought all 3 keynotes were interesting and entertaining. The best line from the keynotes was the Ask A Ninja guys explaining where they are with advertising support for the 3.7 million downloads they get per show. “We have the same standard of living except without the debt. Now I pay for my Raman with cash”.

Best Unappreciated Change

I enjoyed all 5 artists who were scheduled to play at the show and walked away with CDs from both Matthew Ebel and Whitney Steele. I was disappointed for how many people skipped the concert.

Best Idea for Listeners

Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting gave his listeners a password to say so that he knew they listened to the show. “Podcasting will change the world”.

Best Listener Story

Thanks to Paul (didn’t catch the podcast) who let me know he used the Amateur Traveler podcast to plan his trip to Vietnam and then pulled out his iPhone and showed me video of his trip.

Most Seen Gadget

Good grief, am I the only person who does not own an iPhone? Although it was fun to watch Shooby dealing with bricking his phone and trying to fix it with some help from Adam Christianson (MacCast), Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User), and Don McAllister (Screencasts Online).

Podcaster Who Stands Out In A Crowd

Trucker Tom said that people seem to walk up to him and know who he is with checking out his badge. I wonder why?

Podcasters Most Likely to be Heard on Amateur Traveler

I need to get Alex Lindsay on the show to talk about Zimbabwe. Alex says he would move there if he could get his wife to buy into the idea. I also need to get John Miler from The Rest of Everest to come on the show and talk about his trips to Everest and vicinity. Also expect to hear Paolo from Italy from the Inside talking about his native land.

Youngest Podcaster

The youngest podcaster I saw at the show was Hudson Klass (son of Dan Klass of The Bitterest Pill) as he and his dad premiered their new show Animal Rescue Forest Friends before the (wonderful) live show of Doctor Floyd. The guys from Technorama closed the show with an entertaining live game show.

Most Like a Revival Meeting

I first met Paul Colligan at the first year of the expo when the meetup for monitizing podcasting was just the two of us. I don’t know if I had been to one of his presentations before this year but he can stir up a crowd.

Best Presentation You Didn’t Hear

I almost did not go to the presentation by Tom Merritt from Buzz Out Loud about growing a enthusiastic community both because I am in the community he was describing and because my day job is creating social networks for fortune 100 companies. But Tom is both humorous and knowledgeable and I walked away with ideas about things I want to change in my own community. Since the presentation was so late in the day, most people had already left. I would check this one out when the conference audio comes out.

Best Presentation You May Never Hear

While you will be able to get the audio for Tom’s presentation I hold out less hope that you will find the audio for Tee Morris’s presentation about upgrading your podcast rig. He got so frustrated with the feedback from the lapel mic that he ripped it off and continued without a microphone. We may not see Tee on the program next year.

Fan Boy Moments

It is fun at the show to meet other podcasters whether their shows are very successful or obscure and there is a general sense at a conference like this that we are all podcasters and so somehow there is a fraternity among us.

On the other hand even though I did not immediately break out the camera and try to get a picture it does not mean that I did not think of it when I met Kent from Ask A Ninja or Tom, Molly and Jason from Buzz Out Loud.

Most Surreal Moment

The parties this year were probably more my speed than last year. There was less (no) body painting of naked women and more standing around with a beer (diet coke) talking with other podcasters. But just before the hotel security broke up the Libsyn party on Saturday night I was talking with Alex Lindsay about the economy of Zimbabwe while someone tied up a woman behind him.

Tool with the Best Buzz

Tube Mogal was the tool that most people seem to mention when asked what they had seen that was interesting. It allows you to upload a video a a number of video sites and track the stats all in one location. It is free.

Most Used Tool

This expo was coordinated via Twitter. Most of the people I follow on Tiwtter are podcasters so from Thursday (Podcamp SoCal) on you could track the arrivals, activities and departures of many podcasters via Twitter. When the Libsyn party broke up for instance, where to go next was coordinated on Twitter.

When Shelly from Shelly’s podcast arrived I had not seen her walk into the room but I saw her twittering. Minon from Grammar Girl twittered “is anyone else here yet?” and I twittered back “I am in the row in front of you”. She did not know. We had to date only met on Twitter.

Most Moving Moment

Thanks to Steve Webb from the Lifespring family of podcasts for organizing a worship service at the expo and to Jimmie Bratcher (who also played at the concert Saturday night) who simply shared his story in a matter of fact manner but left me in tears.

So Glad I Finally Met You

I am sure I can’t think of everyone who should be in this category but the two events which stood out were finally meeting Adam Curry (I have been with Podshow now for over a year). He called me earlier in the year but happened to call during my daughter’s graduation. It was interesting sitting down with the Podshow team to talk about how things are going with them.

It was also great fun to meet Molly, Tom and Jason from Buzz Out Loud. They did not recognize my name and show but “Chris the podcaster” they did know since they had just played a bit that I had sent into the show. It was great fun to be able to introduce Tom and Jason to other podcasters like Brian and Tina Ibbott from Coverville (Tom and his wife are big fans). We had a chance to sit down after the show and talk sports, trivia, business. I do like talking to smart funny people.

Most Embarrassing Moment (3rd place)

It is hard enough for someone like me who is bad with names to remember the names of the people I really know so I always end up doing something like this year where I called Steve Garfield (podcaster) “Steve Garvey” (ex-baseball player).

Most Embarrassing Moment (2nd place)

Speaking of bad with names, I walked up to Evo Terra and told him how much I enjoy High Orbit (actually by Matthew Ebel). The blank look on his face should have been a clue. And no, I was only drinking Diet Coke.

Most Embarrassing Moment (1st place)

As if that was not bad enough, I then had to explain to Matthew Ebel after his part of the concert on Saturday night that I was going to have to tell him how much I like Podiobooks.com (actually by Evo Terra) just to be fair. That’s right Matthew just keep smiling and signing the CD that the crazy man bought.