Midwest Unconference – Great Free Event For Internet Marketers

Posted on: August 2nd, 2008 by Jeremy Schoemaker

midwest unfonference

My favorite events I have ever attended are just regular get together that you never hear about. Just networking with regular people learning about what they are doing and offering advice from my experiences if its asked for.

Often even at the biggest events I am RARELY seen at the actually conference but rather prefer to spend my time meeting up with shoemoney.com readers for drinks or just hanging in the bar talking to people.

Anyway I just signed up to attend this Midwest Conference called the “Midwest UnConference”. The Midwest UnConference is a FREE event being held in Chicago, Illinois, on October 17-18, 2008.

I will see you there!

Post written by Jeremy Schoemaker

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

More about Jeremy at http://www.shoemoney.com!

Have You Read:

64 Comments. What Say You?

  1. TEKFIRM
    August 2, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Shoe do you go to conferences in Canada ?

  2. Wesley
    August 2, 2008 at 8:27 am

    Free huh, that’s interesting. Never heard of it. How many conferences do you attend per year?

  3. meethere
    August 2, 2008 at 8:28 am

    looks good.
    Hope I could be there :!

  4. Lawrence
    August 2, 2008 at 8:39 am

    conferences are good – and anything else that’ll get you away from the computer.

    Spending too much time in front of the computer will make you go coo coo crazy.

  5. Bryn Youngblut
    August 2, 2008 at 8:51 am

    I need to try and find some meet ups close to where I live (Toronto) if anyone knows of any let me know.

  6. ShoeMoney
    August 2, 2008 at 8:54 am

    Mostly I fish in Canada ;) .

    I have been to 2 SES’s in Toronto. Had a blast.

  7. ShoeMoney
    August 2, 2008 at 8:55 am

    Normally I do 2-3 traveling events per month but with having a new baby this year I took a 5 month hiatus. I am ready to get back at it again.

  8. ShoeMoney
    August 2, 2008 at 8:56 am

    Check meetup.com and if there is not one already you should form one. I have tried to form meetups here in Nebraska and only like 1-2 people show up =( Some areas are just not very savy to internet marketing.

  9. TEKFIRM
    August 2, 2008 at 8:59 am

    let us know if you’re planning to come again ;) , by the way never fish in Montreal the fishes are full of worms !

  10. River Girl
    August 2, 2008 at 9:22 am

    Sounds like a plan. So how is Joslyn doing?

  11. Start Blogging
    August 2, 2008 at 9:24 am

    Won’t be able to attend, it’s not that close to where I live. That’s awesome that it’s free though. Surely beats the $400 tickets.

  12. ajaz
    August 2, 2008 at 9:44 am

    I agree you have to be careful how much time you spend in front of the computer. I have a time set so I remember to take breaks. Ten minutes away from the computer helps me refocus and has increased my productivity a lot.

  13. ajaz
    August 2, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Thanks for the resource. I found several groups within a short drive. Looks like I’m going to be busier very soon.

  14. ajaz
    August 2, 2008 at 9:48 am

    Tekfirm, you crack me up!

  15. ShoeMoney
    August 2, 2008 at 9:50 am

    she is doing totally awesome thanks for asking.

  16. ShoeMoney
    August 2, 2008 at 9:50 am

    hmm 400? Most conferences are thousands.

  17. ajaz
    August 2, 2008 at 9:52 am

    Sounds like an interesting un-event ;-) . I hope this type of event spreads to other parts of the country. It’s pretty far from where I live.

  18. TEKFIRM
    August 2, 2008 at 10:37 am

    Fishing is one of my favorites hobbies , but i dont know why all fishes in montreal are full of worms ! i searched and the gov. says its normal just fries them for more than 10 mn on 60 degree and it will be ok to eat them !

    here is the official canadian gov. site : http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/csl/inf/inf043_e.html

  19. Chris Abernethy
    August 2, 2008 at 10:40 am

    Yeah, sounds really cool, I’d love to see something like that in the NYC area.

  20. Brent
    August 2, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Awesome! I just signed up..looking forward to it.

  21. Tim Linden
    August 2, 2008 at 10:49 am

    I’m going to my first conference in 2 weeks (in DC). Whenever I hear of someone going to one they tend to go to many of them, so I hope the wife enjoys a weekend with the kids all by herself =P

  22. Wcnktm
    August 2, 2008 at 10:57 am

    I wish, i were in US…

  23. OnlineGodfahter
    August 2, 2008 at 11:23 am

    have a nice time :)

  24. KingMyron
    August 2, 2008 at 11:49 am

    These events always seem to come up when my J-O-B turns for the worst.

  25. Patrick
    August 2, 2008 at 11:59 am

    Awesome, I may try to go to that one.

  26. Webmaster
    August 2, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    Wish I could go there.. Sadly its way too far from my place.. :)

  27. Ultimate Blogging Experiment
    August 2, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    I am actually going to this one. I love these free events and now working with the kind of people that are like you is awesome. Sometimes it is easy to feel so alone when you’re just behind the computer screen. So to get out an actually talk to these people face-to-face is awesome.

  28. Balkhis
    August 2, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    OO cool just signed up. Will be a nice weekend

  29. Michael John Grove
    August 2, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Sometimes it really sucks that I don’t live in the States. I think I would become the biggest ‘Jet Setter’ there is getting to all the meet ups.

  30. upp
    August 2, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    Finally something in the MidWest!

  31. ajaz
    August 2, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Well that was a little bit more than I cared to know!

  32. Is Link Building with Directories Dead?
    August 2, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    Ahhh, Shoe I wish I could have a drink with you, but Chicago is too far, when are you coming to LA?

  33. zerohero
    August 2, 2008 at 5:17 pm

    Hahaha… you know what is funny about that is that you’re one of the “gurus” in the field, and the people in the area have no idea what kind of opportunity they have at their fingertips even hanging out and just bullsh*tting. I suppose thats the funny thing of life, everyone think’s the big bucks and “easy money” are somewhere else not in their own back yard.

  34. zerohero
    August 2, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Very cool! I love chi-town! I love ‘Free’ even more! haha.. will definitely be making the drive out!

  35. Nick Throlson
    August 2, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    ya not to much in the midwest always either east coast or west lol !

  36. Luke
    August 2, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    Cool idea but too far for me to travel.

  37. Hustle Strategy
    August 2, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    easily thousands… travel and hotel alone is ussually well over that.

  38. Geiger
    August 2, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Is this worthwhile for somebody from Buffalo, NY to attend. …or is “Midwest” just part of the name?

  39. jeflin
    August 2, 2008 at 9:48 pm

    Have a nice time there. And keep us updated of any new or interesting events for us to learn about.

    http://jeflin.net

  40. Zak Show
    August 2, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    Very interesting, I’ll see what i can do to get a VISA!

  41. Zak Show
    August 2, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    If it worth it make an effort to attend it!

  42. Winning Startups
    August 2, 2008 at 10:37 pm

    Kinda far for me, be sure to show some video highlights on your blog, that would be interesting.

  43. Tim Evans
    August 2, 2008 at 10:51 pm

    See you there … I’m 30 minutes away ;-)

  44. Melvin
    August 2, 2008 at 11:49 pm

    it being free makes it more intresting…

  45. Melvin
    August 2, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    we wish we were in us so we could easily attend this confrences

  46. Agent Magenta
    August 3, 2008 at 12:49 am

    Informal gatherings always seem to be far more relaxed – I know which I prefer. Free events like this are great, I wish we had something like it in the UK.

  47. Agent Magenta
    August 3, 2008 at 12:52 am

    I wont be eating fish for while now after reading that :(

  48. Agent Magenta
    August 3, 2008 at 12:56 am

    When I used to be a software dev I always found that going outside and getting some fresh air would always help clear your head. If i ever got stuck on a tricky piece of code, getting away from the PC for a bit would always help me to solve the problem.

  49. Agent Magenta
    August 3, 2008 at 12:58 am

    Same here – I would love to travel the world going to stuff like this :)

  50. InfiniteMac
    August 3, 2008 at 4:16 am

    I wish fun and exciting conversations to everyone!

  51. Dick
    August 3, 2008 at 6:07 am

    Yes. A small child is a big stop light. -)

  52. Dick
    August 3, 2008 at 6:20 am

    And I can not be at this conference. I will be far away. -(((

  53. Jason Bartholme
    August 3, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    I’m in. It’s just a hour or so east for me. It will be fun to meet up with like-minded people like I did at SES a few years ago.

  54. Taylor Cimala
    August 3, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    $5 cab ride, most definitely in for this one!

  55. Eric Odom
    August 3, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Shoe, thanks for posting this. Very much appreciated.

    We currently have just under 50 registered for Midwest Unconference. We have a room with capacity for about 120, so we’re already almost 50% booked.

    This should be a great gathering of marketing minds and I look forward to seeing you in Chicago. :-)

    -Eric Odom
    Midwest Unconference

  56. TEKFIRM
    August 3, 2008 at 10:37 pm

    hehe sorry both Ajaz and Agent :)

    couldnt stop my self from saying that … but .. hey i’m glad i said that , i won a shoemoney t-shirt from it lol

    Thanks Shoe !

  57. Geiger
    August 4, 2008 at 7:25 am

    It’s kind of a good idea to make things like this free. You should make your money off of exhibitors and such.

  58. Erica DeWolf
    August 4, 2008 at 7:19 pm

    Sounds great- I love when events are free!! It’s awesome that you’re attending- I wish I could, as well, but I’ll be well into my MBA classes by then…thanks for sharing the event with us, though!

  59. Blue SEO
    August 5, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    Yeah, you can’t really go wrong with a free event. That would never happen in California… it would be nice if some A-list marketer put together a huge free conference, because you know they are going to cash in on it anyway…. but then it would just be a huge pitch-fest.

  60. Haltingpoint
    August 7, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Holy crap, this is like 3 blocks from where I work (next to the Nordstrom building) and its free! I’m there. Looking forward to the chance to finally meet ya Shoe.

  61. Jeff Finch
    August 12, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    I would go if it was on the west coast… Darn

Leave a Reply