Wow! What a year it’s been! Of course, for us, it was the rebranding of THE PODCAST VOICE GUYS and the launch of NEW MECIA CREATIVE last summer that marked a turning point and new beginning.

Since then, we’ve been busier than ever with new clients, new projects and a marathon of trade shows and conferences. Then, as the year drew to a close, there was all of the unexpected coolness surrounding the twentieth anniversary of Joe Klein’s newly-annointed holiday classic Christmas In Malibu!

What a wild and crazy five months it’s been, to be sure……

To regain a little sanity, reset our mildly sautéed brains and prepare for the next onslaught of craziness that the new year will bring, we’re taking a break for the last week of December.

We’ll be diving right back into the new media madness at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, followed, of course, by the Consumer Electronics Show and Affiliate Summit West conference in Las Vegas. Joe will be flying solo at MacWorld, then meeting up with NMC associate Brett Bumeter in Vegas for the CES and Affiliate Summit.

 

We look forward to seeing friends old and new and meeting new colleagues over the next few weeks. We’ll be checking the blogs and following Twitter throughout all three events, so look for us at various sessions, meetups and after-hours parties!

Look for updates following the events and lots of breaking news about upcoming projects we have on the boards for 2009! This next year already has lots going on for us.

 

It would be remiss not to address the fact that this past year, and particularly the past few months, have been a challenge for a large percentage of us in the business community, as the economy has experienced a pretty significant downturn through the second half of 2008. New Media has not been spared the wrath of the deepening recession and these are difficult times for us all!

But let’s not let these financial potholes run us off the road to success! It’s more important than ever to keep a positive attitude and outlook, and especially to keep on innovating and moving the exciting and promising world of new media forward!

2009 is a new year, with young and exciting new leadership. Hopefully, together, we will put unbridled greed and competition aside, pull ourselves out of the current economic rut we find ourselves in and, with a little bit of luck, end up with a “new and improved” planet Earth, filled with exciting new opportunities and possibilities for us all to explore and exploit!

 

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING

PEACE AND PROSPERITY ALL!

 

By Joe Klein

 

So, okay, here it is. My final recap and thoughts about the 2008 PUBCON LAS VEGAS conference, including a few photos of the Pucon 2008 Networking event that took place on Friday, the “day after” the conference officially ended.

Overall, my take on the event is that it was very received and very well staged. It seems that, after a few years, Pubcon continues to be a relevant conference that serves its participants and attendees quite well. Let’s face it. SEO, web design optimization and affiliate marketing strategies continue to be very vital areas in the ever-expanding Web 2.0 environment. The thing that most impressed me was that, even given the dire and deteriorating economic climate, most of the attendees were relatively upbeat and in good spirits. Positive attitudes abounded throughout, and nearly everyone I encountered had high expectations of what lies ahead. Maybe the recent election factored in or the boundless youthful energy of those involved in the cutting edge New Media world. Whatever it was, this old dogg was uplifted and energized by all the optimism!

Another aspect Pubcon that I found most interesting was the cross-promotion between this and other new media related conferences. For what I believe is the first time, a competing conference actually had a booth at Pubcon, specifically the Blogworld and New Media Expo. It was fascinating to see Patti Hosking openly soliciting exhibitors and sponsors for next year’s Expo at this “competing” event. The team from the New Media Expo was very visible at Pubcon as well, with Tim and Emile Bourquin not only attending, but Tim was part of a panel of conference presenters as well. With the economy placing an ever-increasing strain on sponsors, exhibitors and attendees of trade shows and conferences, it was intriguing to see fellow event organizers attending a show to spur sponsorship and attendance for their own future events. Personally, in these difficult times, I found it promising to see an emerging spirit of symbiotic cooperation replacing a tradition of fierce competition. I chatted with Susan, Tim and Emile about the subject and was heartened to hear that they seemed to be open to the notion of alliance among the organizers of trade shows targeted to the new media community. I have never myself been a very competitive beast, so the idea of working together for the common good was most definitely welcomed by yours truly.

On Friday, the final official event of Pubcon took place at a great German restaurant called the HofbrauHaus Las Vegas. This was especially cool for me, as I was staying at the Hard Rock Hotel, located just across the street from the place on Paradise Road. Although I have never attended an industry event there, I’ve eaten there once or twice before, and the food and atmosphere are really great. It has excellent authentic German grub, incredible beer (several varieties actually flown in direct from Deutschland in actual wooden barrels) and a totally authentic atmosphere. (Only in Vegas!) If you are into German cuisine, I highly recommend this eatery when visiting Vegas.

 

 

The Pubcon networking party on Friday afternoon was a cool bash to be sure. Several hundred die-hard Pubcon attendees showed up to network and schmooze. Dozens of rolling suitcases lined up against the wall near the entrance indicated that many made this party their last stop before heading home, while I am sure that many others, like myself would be staying in town to enjoy some of the sinful delights of a weekend in Vegas. The free beer flowed like water, served in full liter mugs! There were huge bowls of soft pretzels and several cute frauleines continuously circulating with the beer mugs plus trays loaded with Wiener Schnitzel, Knockwurst and many other varieties of German finger foods.

 

  

 

The positive vibes and camaraderie of the conference carried on and the volume level of happy voices in the cavernous banquet room where the event was held (actually the whole rear half of this huge restaurant) steadily increased to a near-deafening drone as the beer continued to flow through the afternoon. It’s an understatement to say that a good time was had by all, as the Pubcon revelers networked and reminisced their way into the weekend.

 

  

 

I chatted with a few folks I had met over the previous couple of days. With my vision a bit blurred after a couple of huge mugs of great German beer and the loud cacophony of conversation beginning to get a little tiresome, it was time to wander back across the street to the hotel for my own final night in Vegas. With my “New Media” duties finally behind me and a nice little buzz already in place, I was looking forward to an evening of relaxation and a bit of card playing, to be preceded by a wonderful dinner at the famed AJ’s Steak House at the Hard Rock. This great eatery will be closing forever by the end of the year, so it was only fitting to invite my good friend, local Las Vegas television news anchorman, fellow voice-over artist and blogger DAVE COURVOISIER, to join me for one last incredible steak and a couple hours of great gabbing about all things media, new and mainstream!

 

JOE AND DAVE COURVOISIER AT AJ’S STEAKHOUSE

 

After dinner, Dave had to get back to the TV station for his 11:00 PM newscast. I then retreated to the bustling Hard Rock casino, brimming, as usual, with gorgeous young women, and dutifully proceeded to “pay for” the cool “comp” room that had been offered up to me by the hotel. Before retiring for the evening, I dug out my camera and shot this photo of the awesome view of the Vegas strip from my room on the top floor.

 

 

Saturday morning, I woke up to a mild hangover, shot a few more photos of the Hard Rock Pool (sadly “closed for the season”) and the huge expansion construction project going on at the property. Finally, it was time to head for home, having received yet another healthy dose of “Vegas 2.0!” I had to ask myself, “Am i just getting too old for all of this??”  NAH!!!

 

 

 

 

By Joe Klein

Just returned from four more days in Sin City, where I attended the 2008 PUBCON conference. Wow. This is my fifth visit to Vegas this year!

I admit that I did feel a bit out of place at this event, as SEO, web design, affiliate marketing and the like are not my areas of expertise or really my thing. (I concentrate on concept, copy, production and voice and  leave these more geeky tasks to our associate BRETT BUMETER, who is far more knowledgeable and experienced in these areas.)

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, I didn’t arrive until day two of the event (Wednesday) and missed a couple of sessions and parties that I would have liked to have attended on the first day of the conference (including what I heard was a very cool TWEETUP party Tuesday night hosted by ZAPPOS.COM at the new Wasted Space Club at the Hard Rock Hotel). Darn! I stayed at the Hard Rock and it would have been quite convenient to have made this scene and not having to worry about making my way back to my hotel.

Once I did arrive, I had plenty of time to attend a few sessions of interest and comb through the relatively small exhibit floor on days two and three. I ran into several old friends and colleagues and made some interesting new contacts that could prove to be profitable in the months to come. Our friends at TECHZULU were streaming video live, as they were during the Blogworld and New Media Expo a couple months back.

Thursday’s conference session on podcasting was a must for me and I found it to be somewhat interesting and informative, particularly for those attending who are not very experienced in the genre or its mechanics. My friend, and founder of the NEW MEDIA EXPO, TIM BOURQUIN was one of the speakers, as was GLENN GAUDET from PODCAST.COM

 

   
      JOE WITH TIM AND EMILE BOURQUIN                         GLENN GAUDET AND JOE

 

This being a relatively small conference, there weren’t countless parties to make (at least that I knew of). But I did enjoy a few nice after-hours events that were going on during the week. There was a very cool meetup Wednesday night for Pubcon attendees at the high roller’s lounge at the Mirage Hotel. It was hosted by the folks from the PURPOSEINC 2008 SEO POKER TOURNAMENT (which took place the following night at The Venetian). I had a chance to meet the host, Dr. David Klein (no relation) who is a very cool guy and a big time MMA (mixed martial arts) fan. He’s also a huge fan of ultimate fighting superstar RANDY COUTURE and was super excited to be in town for the big UFC 91 event on Saturday just after Pubcon where Couture (“The Natural”) was to fight wrestler BROCK LESNAR in what was billed as one of the biggest fights in UFC history. This great party was filled with lots of happy people (who got happier as the liquor flowed into the wee hours), cool vibes, and great conversation. For whatever reason (probably being a bit out of sync on my first day in Vegas and tired from several busy days before arriving) I forgot to bring my camera to this schmoozfest (and my cell phone takes pretty awful pictures), so I didn’t get any photos of my own to post. However, there is a great set of pictures from the party here.

On Thursday night was the mega SEARCHBASH LAS VEGAS party at the trendy Rain Nightclub inside The Palms Hotel. This bash, organized by WEBMASTERRADIO.FM was blogged as the hottest ticket of the week and, as conference parties go, this one was definitely first rate. With about what I estimated to be nearly a thousand guests, the event was as well-staged as it was attended. A troop of performers from PAUL OAKENFOLD’S PERFECTO LAS VEGAS (who now regularly appear at the club on Saturday nights) were on hand to provide hours of cutting edge sensual entertainment that really made this party one to remember. Here are some pix I shot of the wild, wild night!

 

   

 

 

 

  

 

Huge kudos to Daron and Brandy (and their terrific lineup of sponsors) for the best bash of the conference and one of the best after-hours events of any geek conference I’ve attended in quite some time!

 

DARON BABIN OF WEBMASTERRADIO.FM AND JOE

 

Okay, I’ll agree that this post was not particularly detailed or all that comprehensive in covering all the geekiness that is Pubcon. Again, my apologies but, as I said, all this SEO and web design stuff just isn’t this “old skool dog’s” primary area of expertise. But at least I brought you some of the fun stuff, no?  Worry not. If you crave for more, there’s tons o’coverage and hundreds of Pubcon photos out there. The folks at TopRank did a great job of covering the conference on their ONLINE MARKETING BLOG which includes a really great collection of photos. Search Engine Land really stepped up to the plate with a day by day posting of links to just about everything else out there about the event. There are dozens of links to coverage of each day of Pubcon on their posts for DAY ONE, DAY TWO and DAY THREE. Also WEBPRONEWS offered up extensive video coverage of all three days of the event. So, hopefully, I’m off the hook for not going into any more detail here!

 

And even our own coverage of Pubcon is not quite over. I’ll return with a few photos of the big Pubcon Networking party on Friday (the day after the conference ended) and some final recaps and thoughts in my next post to follow. Same time, same website….

 

 

 

New Media Creative’s JOE KLEIN is off to Las Vegas, baby—once again—this time to attend PUBCOM, the search and internet marketing conference organized by WEBMASTER WORLD. This event covers the areas search engine marketing, optimization, advertising, as well as website publishing, production and overall management.

Joe will be attending to meet and network with friends, colleagues and associates, old and new while checking out the latest trends, technologies, methodologies, products and services related to these highly relevant areas. Of course, checking Twitter all along the way.

Meeting new players in new media is what it’s all about, and a meeting of new media minds is always cool and welcome.

Hope to see you there! Photos and recaps to follow…..

 

By Joe Klein

It was Sunday morning, the last day of Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas. I was feeling a bit of the pain that Sin City can inflict. After just a few hours of sleep, I grabbed a few cups of coffee and dragged myself back to the Las Vegas Convention Center, where I had a couple of morning meetings and interviews scheduled.

The meetings went well. Afterwards,  I moved on to the first scheduled interview with BLOGTALK RADIO.  It was a pretty cool interview. SHAUN DAILY and I talked for over twenty minutes about new media audio and video production and the services now being offered by New Media Creative. You can listen to it on the Blogtalk Radio page for the interview  here. The Blogtalk Radio player below will also stream the full interview.

 

                              
                                                    JOE AND SHAUN DAILY

                                                      

By Joe Klein

On Saturday, the first official day of the Blogworld Expo, Brett and I arrived at the Las Vegas Convention Center bright and early. First order of business was attending the morning State Of The Blogosphere and Opening Keynote addresses delivered by RICHARD JALICHANDRA, CHRIS ALDIN and ANIL DASH. Then it was time for the New Media Creative guys to spend a few hours of working the exhibit floor and connecting with the throngs of new media shakers and mavens who were attending and exhibiting at the conference. Here are a few photos…..

      
JOE, RICK CALVERT AND BRETT      ROGER SIMON AND JOE

      
 ROBERT SCOBLE AND JOE          JOE AND ROXANNE DARLING

    
JOE, NICOLE SIMON & EWAN SPENCE  EFREN TOSCANO AND JOE

     
  JOE AND JALALI HARTMAN        JOE AND THE CART-AWAY GUYS

 

While on the exhibit floor, we spent some "quality time" at the BLOGGER AND PODCASTER MAGAZINE booth with publisher/Larstan CEO LARRY GENKIN and  the company’s EVO of advertising and development, LENNY FUCHS, who have become good friends and business associates with over the past year. With Brett nowhere to be found at the time, the "three stooges" (Larry, Joe  and Lenny)  took advantage of a temporary break in all the action at the booth to pose for a "new media family portrait."

 

                      
                         LARRY GENKIN, JOE AND LENNY FUCHS

 

We had previously arranged for Brett to set up a demonstration of the newly released DRAGON NATURALLY SPEAKING 10 software at the company’s booth for a blog marketing campaign Brett is conducting for the product. The traffic at the booth was brisk, so the demonstration went well. Brett held three drawings throughout the day for a free full license of the product.

 

       
    BRETT AND ROB MACNEALY             BRETT AND EWAN SPENCE

 

My "mainstream media" news anchorman friend Dave Courvoisier had told me that he wanted to check out the blogging and new media scene. He got full press credentials and dropped by the Expo early in the afternoon Saturday. We conducted our own sweep of the exhibits on the floor and  then attended the conference session about Twitter’’s role in journalism, conducted by Robert Scoble, Doc Searls and Laura Fitton. Dave found the panel discussion and interaction from the audience to be very interesting, as did I. After the session, we made our way back to the exhibit floor for another hour of networking and checking out the exhibit booths. Both of us were Inspired enough by it all that we decided to conduct an impromptu discussion about new media in the Blogger and Podcaster magazine booth. Wouldn’t you know it, the Larstan camera crew just happened to be on hand to record our chat.

 

At the end of the day, Brett and I met with Larry and Lenny for drinks and some business chatting, followed by dinner at the Hilton.  A quick stop at the official Blogworld Party at the  hotel followed (but, for once, I didn’t bring the camera to this bash). Not surprisingly, I ran  into several more old friends. But, after a very long day, the networking blues started setting in.  It was definitely time to disengage from business, relax and play some cards! Lenny and I journeyed into the Hilton Hotel’s casino. After a few hours of battling the blackjack dealers with and, finally, winning a bit of cash, it was time to call it a night (or early morning as was now the case). Brett, meanwhile, was on his way to the airport to catch the redeye home to Charlotte. Exhausted, I headed back to his hotel for a few hours of shuteye.

 

The final day of the Expo was yet to come. Check out our next post, Same website, same blog…..

 

By Joe Klein

The last weekend of summer was another wild one for NEW MEDIA CREATIVE team members JOE KLEIN and BRETT BUMETER at the second annual BLOGWORLD AND NEW MEDIA EXPO in Las Vegas.  We  spent  the weekend  working, networking, schmoozing,  partying and, of course, a bit of very late night gambling! I drove the 90 miles north from Lauighlin, Nevada and Brett flew the 2500 miles west from Charlotte, North Carolina. We both arrived in Vegas about the same time Friday afternoon. After checking  in to our hotels, settling in, checking email and Twitter, we grabbed some dinner. Then it was off to the first hot party of the Expo, the TECHSET bash at Mirage’s Bare Pool. Hosted by TechSet founders STEPHANIE AGRESTA and BRIAN SOLIS, this was definitely the scene to make Friday night, and the very long walk from the Mirage parking garage to the bare pool was well worth it. We hung out and partied with dozens of old and new friends.

 

    

   

 

 

After a couple hours of schmoozing and a little boozing with scores of fellow new media movers and groovers,  I left Brett to party on and was off and running to meet up with my friend, DAVE COURVOISER, who is the nighttime news anchor on the Las Vegas CBS station, KLAS-TV. Dave had invited me to stop by the station’s new high-def studio and watch the late night newscast. Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a couple of posterity photos on the news set!

 

    

 

After the newscast, Dave and I chatted for a while, and then I was off again for a bit of late night Vegas clubbing and a small bit of  sleep. Not much work got done today, but definitely a fun and memorable first evening, for me at least. Hey, maybe a future in mainstream television news awaits this old dogg!

 

All about the exploits of New Media Creative at the next two days of the Expo to follow. Stay tuned……

 

 

New Media Creative guys JOE KLEIN and BRETT BUMETER are making their way to Las Vegas, baby, to attend the second annual BLOGWORLD EXPO.  We’re excited to be back at Blogworld again and we’re really looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. We’ll be circulating around the event from Friday afternoon through Sunday and we’d love to see you! We’ll be checking TWITTER regularly for what’s up, what’s happening and who’s where, Also, we’ll be hanging out with our good friends from BLOGGER AND PODCASTER MAGAZINE during the conference, so stop by their booth and there’s a good chance you may see us there at times on Saturday and Sunday.

 

                                            

 

By Joe Klein

Freshly baked from the VOICE 2008 conference, we ventured from sunny Southern California to a sun-baked Las Vegas last week for more mid-summer mayhem, also known as the New Media Expo.

The New Media Creative crew hit Sin City on Wednesday night and, after hooking up with a couple cohorts from the Web 2.0 world (Rock and Roll Geek MICHAEL BUTLER and Madpod Maven JA DONNELLY), the party resumed! Appropriately, we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, which is just a couple miles from the Las Vegas Convention Center and far cooler than the Las Vegas Hilton in so many ways! Our first night in town we had the pleasure of attending the Joan Jett and The Blackhearts concert poolside at the Southpointe Hotel. Thanks to Joan’s manager KENNY LAGUNA for allowing us to watch the show from right next to the stage.There was definitely a shortage of parties compared to the previous expos held in Ontario, but we did manage to find a couple of them going on in suites at the Las Vegas Hilton.  Of course, there were on-going schmoozfests in a few of the hotel’s bars.

We dropped in on a few of the Expo’s breakout sessions and cruised around the exhibit floor a few times during the run of the show. Around noon on Thursday, LEO LAPORTE interviewed me and fellow New Media Voice Guy BILL FORTUNE on TWIT Live. On Friday,  SUNNY GAULT of L.A. New Media interviewed us on a live feed from the Ustream booth on the show floor.

We attended the Coverville 500 concert, at the Bally’s Event Center Friday night, which was the Expo’s primary entertainment event. It was quite the cool newmediapalooza,  albeit a pretty long show at nearly five hours. It featured very talented and well-known artists from the online world, including JONATHON COULTON and RICHARD CHEESE. Kudos to BRIAN IBBOTT for a very ambitious and well-staged show and heartfelt thanks for tickets to the show!

On the business side, we reconnected with many old friends, associates and colleagues and made several new contacts as well. Glad to report that some good possibilities for productive strategic alliances presented. All in all a pretty good time was had by all. Still, it’s great to be back at home base after 10 days of mid-summer road madness! Next we’ll be at the BLOGWORLD AND NEW MEDIA EXPO, also in Vegas on September 20 and 21. Hope to see you there! Now, here’s some photo highlights of the New Media Expo…….

 

 
          BILL, JOE AND LEO LAPORTE STREAMING VIDEO LIVE

 
         SUNNY GAULT, JOE AND BILL STREAMING VIDEO LIVE

     
  JOE, TIM BORQUIN AND BILL            CC CHAPMAN AND JOE

      
     BRIAN IBBOTT AND JOE              JASON VAN ORDEN AND JOE

     
    PAUL COLLIGAN AND JOE                     JOE AND ROB WALCH

     
  JOE, ANJI BEE AND RYAN LUM           JOE AND GEOFF SMITH

    
JOE AND KAREN BLANCHETTE              BILL, JOE AND JADONNELLY

 
MICHAEL BUTLER GETS COZY WITH THE NEW MEDIA CREATIVE CREW

     
   COVERVILLE 500 CONCERT           JOAN JETT AT THE SOUTHPOINTE

By Joe Klein

The first event we attended "officially" as New Media Creative was the VOICE 2008 conference in Los Angeles over last weekend. The seminar was at the Century Plaza Hotel, and really was a fantastic event, attended by 500 voice-over professionals and serious "wanna-bees."  On Sunday, I conducted a breakout session entitled "Old Skool Meets New Media," which was well received by the attendees. New Media Creative Guys BILL FORTUNE and BRETT BUMETER flew in for the event. Brett shot video of my presentation and we’ll be posting a few excerpts soon. My good friend Marvin Caesar, presdient of APHEX SYSTEMS LTD. exhibited at the event, displaying his totally kick-ass microphone preamp and voice processor, the APHEX 230 MASTER VOICE CHANNEL. The voice-over people really loved this killer box, which is becoming the "must have" accessory for voice recording.  Over a dozen of the units were sold at the event. We all spent the weekend working hard, hanging out, eating and networking. Next, it’s on the the New Media Expo in Las Vegas and much more of the same!  Here’s a few pix from VOICE 2008……

 

 

  
          JOE DURING THE  VOICE 2008 BREAKOUT SESSION

  
THE NEW MEDIA CREW AT THE VOICE 2008 CELEBRITY BANQUET

  
                      MARVIN CAESAR, JOE AND BILL

  
                    JOE AND RADIO LEGEND DICK ORKIN

  
     FOX AND NBC PROMO VOICE JOE CIPRIANO AND JOE

  
  NBC COMEDY PROMO VOICE TOWNSEND COLEMAN AND JOE

 
 SHOW PRODUCER JAMES ALBURGER AND JOE WITH PRESENTER AWARD