Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
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 sche
duled.
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
Interview number two was cool, too, but a little crazy. It was a live Stickam stream from TECHZULU. After spea
king for a bit about the company, the interview’s host AMANDA COOLONG and I were talking about my production background and the subject of jingles came up (I produced many jingles in the seventies with a musicain partner named John Lasalle.) I recalled a dumb little jingle for a Wham-O toy called the WATER WIENNIE we produced. The toy was stupid, too. You filled it with water and squirted your friends. Amanda was infatuated with the toy, and the interview took a strange turn. Techzulu CEO EFREN TOSCANO (who was tending to the live stream on his laptop) soon chimed in, remarking on how much he loved the toy as a kid! I was amazed that anyone even remembered this 35 year old novelty, but, at the same time, kind of amused to be gaining new renown as “The Guy who Produced the Water Wiennie Jingle!"
JOE AND AMANDA COOLONG
I grabbed some lunch and gave my friend Lenny Fuchs a ride to McCarren Airport for his flight home. I then returned to the Convention Center one last time for one more round of schmoozing at the Expo’s afternoon networking session. As the afternoon drew to a close, I was "talked out" and definitely ready to head for home. I was invited to a few "post expo" get-togethers Sunday night, but, I was beat, my "announcer pipes" were shot and I had plenty of work waiting for me upon my return. So, not wanting to risk falling asleep at the wheel on the desolate drive through the desert back to Laughlin at night, I opted to depart while there was still a couple hours of daylight remaining.
It was another very cool stint in Sin City for New Media Creative (the second in just two months). As productive as it was, it was still great to return to familiar surroundings and get back to work! But, alas, I have another trip, back to L.A. once again, in just a few more days.
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…..