Blogworld was a good time. You never know what to expect. For a first time conference I think they did pretty good. It was too bad a lot of the speakers were no shows but what are you going to do! I was there!
Its interesting because when I was originally approached to speak at this conference it was pitched in a way like “Come Join Michael Arrington and others at blog world expo!” or something like that. Well Michael was a no show and that was one of the first things I heard when I got there was how dissapointed many people were that he decided not to show up. Well Michael has posted his side of the story saying that he “never agreed to attend the expo in the first place” I have briefly met Mike in person and also fired some emails back and fourth. I also know MANY people in the Valley who have done a lot of stuff with him and I have never heard them every say he has flaked out. I think people really need to give him the benfit of the doubt on this. Here is the thing. Every conference makes it seem bigger then it is. I don’t blame blogworld for what they did and Arrington probably does not either. I think it probably just pisses him off that people think he flaked out on the expo.
and just to tell the whole story… After I was originally asked to speak at blogworld there was a LOT of communication difficulties and I actually canceled speaking. I was later contacted and agreed to do the session if there would be better communication. Every other speaker I talked to said they were disappointed with the lack of communication BUT were pleased with how the event turned out. I VERY MUCH concur with that statement.
Ok back to the conference. I gotta say for a $125 price tag on a conference I think it was absolutely incredible. I have been to MANY conferences that were 10x that price and had 1/10th the value.
Many people did a Day by Day assessment and I don’t think I could do a better job then what they did (links at the bottom).
So here is a entertaining story…. its Thursday morning… I have to speak at 10:15 (need to be there to check in by 9:45). I leave my hotel to or am about to when I really feel like I have to use the restroom… So… I am like damn i should just go here and not at the conference center (you never know about conference toilets). So I hit the can quick and start reading my email on my phone…. All of a sudden like these people come in… in large groups and they have really high pitched voices and im like hrmmm… Then it hits me. I am in the ladies room. GREAT THIS SH#T (no pun intended) ONLY HAPPENS TO ME.
So now time is ticking away… its 9:25… 9:28… women just keep coming in… I want to peak out but I cant because then like they will think I am a total pervert right? I mean I just can not win in this situation… its 9:30… I have 15 mins to catch a cab, go across town, get prepped to speak about “Smart ways to monetize your blog”. So I just sucked it up and booked out. Passing a bunch of women who as they saw me thought they were entering the wrong rest room… ya that sucked…
Anyway so I arrive get all checked in and head to the session I am about to give a presentation on. I find out 2 of the people who were scheduled to be on the panel are now not and 1 was added at the last minute. The session was kind of jacked up (from a speakers perspective) because we had met on the phone and planned out what everyone was going to cover and stuff. Now 2 people were no shows (I learned later Brian Clark called in sick, hope he is ok) and now there is a new person who like I have never met and know nothing about her.
After the panel many people came up and said they thought I showed “smart ways to monetize your blog” (the name of the session) but the other 2 people were just there selling there products. I explained that everything had changed and it was what it was. I think it was fine. Whenever you have companies that have products its very hard not to talk about them. I had this blog and could break down where revenue comes from and why but they actually have products to make money. So they were not necessarily talking about “smart ways to monetize your blog” but rather how their products can help you monetize there blog. The panel did get a little dicey because people asked me why I did not use Kontera’s (one of the other speakers was from Kontera) products during it. I was just honest and said I had not tried Kontera in text ads specifically but have tried others like it and did not like how they confused my users (thinking they were my links), had a lack of editorial control, and also slowed down my websites I tested them on.
Talking with exhibitors there seemed to be mixed feelings. Some said it was just incredible for them and they picked up TONS of business because of it. Others said it was a waste of money and they will not be doing it again. They had by far the most diversified expo hall I have ever seen. Everything from Southwest Airlines to Zaphos Shoes had booths.
The most surprising exhibitor to me was Technorati. They had people working there that knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about Technorati. All they did was lookup your website and write down your rank on a little “Hi, my Technorati rank is X” nametag. The 2nd day they did not even both to have a booth. I WAS STUNNED. Seriously… You would think that Blogworld was Technorati’s bread and butter to really connect with its people. Instead they had some b-squad male booth dudes who knew nothing about Technorati representing them… Its REALLY sad watching Technorati goto hell in a hand basket.
Here was something I could not pass up. This guy was giving away a drawing but nobody was paying attention. I think people missed the memo:
I did several interviews with companies (some interviewed me some I interviewed). I found a couple gems I will be talking about in the next few days. It was REALLY AWESOME meeting new people.
Here are others I have seen giving some great coverage:
John Chow has several posts:
John Chow blogger dinner, and his dinner with kontera here
Ms Danielle who totally rocks (sponsors buy space now she is about to blow up). She knows her PPC. She gave me some great ppc tips I will be following up with for sure.
Zac Johnson – Hey I DID eat there but there was no room with you guys so we ate in the other room!
Amy Talks About how her blog got hacked while at Blogworld (HELLO OPEN WIFI = BAD)
Sleepy Blogger has some great photos
Brian Solis talks has good pics and covers sessions
Bold words makes some great points of the positives and negatives of BlogWorld
Geek News Central Blogworld wrapup
The Official MyBlogLog post – BTW Really nice to meet you ladies in person. <3
Andy Beals thoughts – Who I got to say hi to for like 10 mins =(
Denise Wakeman talks a lot about the Pajama party and sessions
Mashable did not show but had a good post about Blogworld and specifically on why pay per post is not evil
Looks like you had a little too much fun Shoemoney!
Your part of the panel was definitely one of the stronger ones I saw at BlogWorld. I appreciated your insight and direct approach to the subject. I also agree with comments about the feeling of being sold to by the other panel members, unintentional or not.
Hey Shoe,
That bathroom story is classic! Too bad about the Benihanna and them not having enough room for us when you showed, it was a good night. Glad you got to stop by anyway and was great to meet up with you again! Thanks for the name drop during your awesome presentation/session too!
-Zac
Vik – over 100 pictures never even made it to the photo gallery…………
But I do have a entertaining video I will be posting in the next few days.
How many people show up to this event, in total? In every video/picture the place seems like a ghost town. With that said, the way bloggers whom attended describe it, it really did seem like a great experience. Thanks for the clip, Jeremy.
Sad that guy with no audience….
it was supposed to be a give away… an you let me know what it was about?
Haha, that’s really sad. I feel bad for the guy.
The conference looks pretty awesome and unfortunately I missed out. I’m planning on going next time.
Jeremy,
I bet if you entered the drawing, you would win 🙂 I’m sure everyone was walking around the booths and not the stage.
It also sucks that Technorati displayed themselves so horribly. Now we know who works in those cubicles at work and who handles our ranking.
-Mike
Shoemoney, I have learned a couple things from this blog, but that’s the problem. Most of you popular bloggers have a tendency to stray away from making helpful posts that actually teach others things. I know you get busy and everything, but really, I don’t care where you went and when or how you got there. I want to read something helpful that might help me make more money or give me ideas that I haven’t had yet. What I’m trying to say is make more great posts like the one explaining how you made money with adwords.
The bathroom story is great. I had the same thing happen to me skiing. I told the girls that were coming in that they were in the wrong place, then they said no you are in the wrong place, ended up we looked at the door again and I was in the wrong place.
The story about Michael Arrington is pretty interesting. I guess he verbally agreed to go then forgot he agreed. The organizers should have followed up. Maybe they will do it right next time.
Do you think the ladies will take you for one of the ladies. You know, like Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta.
“Everything from Southwest Airlines to Zappos Shoes had booths.” lol
thank you for the mention! man that bathroom story is pretty hilarious. i can just imagine u planning your escape!
and again, YOU rock!!
Poor dude in the vid
Great wrap up. Sounds like it would have been fun.
Classic story Shoe. I guess a man in the Ladies is seen as a problem by women. On the flip side I used the Mens room at Google and ended up in a too long discussion in there with a guy who had never heard a girl pee…aka never had a girlfriend.
Was way cool meeting you. Sat in on your session at Aff Summit West, was the only session I attended. I also don’t know what the heck was up with Technorati. I was stunned.
sounds like it was a good conference, wish I could have made it
@SM, I agree on Technorati. I told the guy I was very disappointed in the company and he just looked at me with his faux hawk. That CEO needs to show something, and quick. What a shame.
how did you get in the ladies bathroom? i mean when you go in .. you should notice lol.. they didnt have urinals.. and we do. but that is funny though
Dude, you’re right on the money about Technorati. I was disappointed. They were nice guys, but I felt like I knew more about their company than they did.
We had a small booth for YieldBuild.com and we did meet a few good companies. I sat in on the smart ways to monetize your blog. Jeremy kicked it off and did a good job. The crowd was a little tough since it was a lot of first time bloggers. Or people just thinking about making money. I respect Jeremy as a marketer, but for an everyman type guy, he misses on helping people with text ads imo.
The next two were incredibly disappointing. Both were infomercials. No value unless you have never heard of in-text advertising.
Thanks Paul- Just for the record we had all agreed to cover various topics. Affiliate and direct sales were mine so that is what I covered.
good times shoe . . . guess we shouldn’t put up all the pictures of the expo week, huh?
i guess BWE people also use you as a pitch to pull other bloggers in before you agree to go.
i see that there are alot of people wearing Shoemoney tshirts there.
Sounds like a great first showing, lots went right and lots will be improved upon next year I hope. A question, was technology covered at all, as in code improvement ideas and such? With so many people representing so many different ‘products’ it seems like someone would think “hey, merging this with that and doing it differently like this would rock!”
Nice writeup Jeremy
At least the woman in the last row of the seating was sort of paying attention to the guy on stage. So it wasn’t a complete loss for him.
We’ll catch-up some more at Pubcon. BTW, my wife was at your session and loved your presentation.
Thanks for posting this roundup, very helpful.
Shoe, Sorry we didn’t run into each other at BWE. I chatted with the CEO of T’rati and was very impressed. I am, however, disappointed that they couldn’t bother to stay for the whole conference.
Glad you liked the pics on Robyn’s blog … :D.
[…] (had to declare feed bankruptcy on a few categories), but Robyn Tippins suggested I check out what Shoemoney had to say and I checked out Allan Stern of Center Networks as well. Bottom line: Feedback on […]
Re: pants down. That’s alright. You’ll live 🙂 . Happened to me first day in college. I come from a girls high school and when I went to college I was thinking I was in high school the all the big bathrooms are for girls. I went in in the men’s bathroom!
Wnts up with JC…he wears the $hoemoney shirt and acts ummmm……
video is dead?!
Big lists of links. I’ll have to check them out later. I took a shower in teh women’s shower room at a campsite outside of Grand Canyon once. I spent half an hour taking a shower. I came back later to the same room adn noticed the label on teh door stating it was a women’s bath area. I got lucky no one came in.
Dude I wouldn’t sweat the ladies room thing here in Vegas. Happens all the time, especially the drunker that people get. Some of the restrooms in the clubs here are almost co-ed (Rum Jungle has an open ceiling and frosted windows for walls in their restroom).
Thanks for the links. It’s interesting to read everyone’s take on it. Seems the general consensus is that it was a valuable show. Hope next years gets organized better and I won’t be so quick to discount it this time around.
Thanks for all the great info.
Definitely can’t wait to see the video.
Hi Jeremy – Was nice to meet you briefly. As Andy said, I did enjoy your session…great stuff! I’m off to subscribe to your feed now.
i’m so glag shoemoney attended and did all the work by sharing to us. thxs.
[…] World Expo ‘97 wrapped up this week. You may have read about Shoemoney getting caught in the ladies room with his pants down during the event (it’s a good recap, work safe). You may have also read John Chows […]
hmmm, you failed to mention if you cleaned your hands or not. nasteeeeeeee!
[…] ShoeMoney posted a great wrapup of BlogWorld and included links to many of the other recaps that I thought about including. Plus, I had to […]
Wow, that is amazingly horrible. What’s happening to Technorati? Shouldn’t the founder be there for the very first blog show?!?
I agree, an awesome event and well worth the price. Well ok. I didn’t pay to get in because I had a press pass but if I did pay I’d say it was worth it.
I really wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your session on smart ways to monetize. I appreciated the heat map suggestion, that’s not something I would have thought of. Anyway, good session and I learned a lot. Thank you!
Deb
I was at your session and had the same reaction as others that gave you feedback. Your part was great and the others were sales pitches. Being a speaker at the event as well (blog design panel), I was told more than once that NO SALES talk was allowed. Our panel also had a no show despite many attempts to connect with the guy. He was not picked by me to be on the panel so I was happy that the people I did invite were there.
Overall for a first time event and for the price, it was worth going to, especially for the networking with fellow bloggers and vendors.
Love the restroom story. I got about 1/2 way in the women’s restroom in the airport in Vegas or Portland (I forget which) a couple months ago and there were women everywhere, so I was able to notice and turn around quickly. I don’t know what I would do if I were in your shoes there. Love all the pics you’ve posted from the event, though. I will be there next year.
hah you know about every event seriously less then 25% of the pictures make it to the photo gallery =P
[…] been super slammed and had to really hustle to get a presentation together. I watched a panel on making money with your blog and was totally dissappointed with two of the presenters. They just did […]
[…] to make money online (new update coming) and even recently I talked about how I got stuck in the womens room rest room before I had to speak at blogworld. I guess my point is you need to show your readers that you are […]
funny, no one there to see this guy talk…must of sucked.
Dude I had the exact same thing happen to me in a ladies room, but sat there for like 30 minutes….
[…] Danielle John Chow Zac Johnson Gary Lee Darin Carter Jeremy (Shoemoney) Nate Whitehill (and the guys from UBD) Vinay and Anthony Prija (from Blogging the […]
Thanks for this post and all the links. Denise is right about speakers pumping their own products and although I wasn’t at your session I think you are being very kind about what apparently happened. It totally beats me how any speaker could not have got the message from Dave Taylor (repeated, in block caps aka shouting) that there was to be no selling from the rostrum. Just chutzpah or don’t they read their email? But it was indeed an outstanding event.
Shame on Technorati – you’d really think they’d know better.
[…] next? Maybe Michael Arrington after publishing a guest column that recommended astroturfing. Or his no-show at BlogWorld. Keep it up, Mr. Arrington. I can only tell you that sooner or later folks will vote with their […]
[…] Shomoney: BlogWorld Wrap Up […]
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[…] were reaching out to people outside my normal audience. For example conference wise attending the Blog World Expo was awesome. I got to meet so many regular everyday bloggers many of whom are working 9-5 day jobs. […]
[…] working with (Wendy Piersall), and A-listers that I have chatted with but don’t know well (Shoemoney, Zac Johnson, and John […]
[…] BlogWorld Wrapup, Michael Arrington No Show, & Getting Caught With … […]
[…] Technoratti Rank: I get the following error We could not load your blog. Please check the URL and make sure you can load your blog in your browser.  No wonder Shoemoney says they are less and less relevant. […]
Such a funny story. Thanks for sharing.