NMX Blogworld 2013-Las Vegas

NMX/Blogworld 2013 was this week in Las Vegas and I attended for the first time. It was held in the huge Rio Hotel and I think there were over 1,200 attendees. I’ve had this conference on my radar for a few years and this year I was able to attend thanks to Microsoft and me being a SkyDrive Insider.

This week, I’ll take you through some of the sessions I attended, the presenters and the focus.

Top Reasons Bloggers Should Launch a Podcast

This was on my list because Dustin Hartzler from Your Website Engineer Podcast was on the panel along with Peder Aadahl, @PederAadahl, P.J. Jonas, @goatmilkstuff and Jenn Swanson, @JennSwanson2.They had a top 10 reason list for people starting a podcast. The most interesting of those to me were:

• Attract a new type of follower-they said their blog vs. podcast audiences were very different because some like consuming audio and some like reading
• As people hear your voice over time, it builds trust and a loyal connection
• Podcasting isn’t as hard as it seems-just get something recorded and work on improving your skills over time

Each morning started off with a keynote address – I was most impressed with Amy Jo Martin @AmyJoMartin from Digital Royalty. I didn’t get any photos of her, but here’s a snapshot of the book recently published that all attendees got. I started reading mine on the plane ride home. I’ve been holding myself back from using Twitter because I think can be too revealing. But one thing she said during her talk that she tells her clients is ‘you control what you put out there’. So true.

Improving your YouTube Channel

This was another panel and had a guy from YouTube, an actor and the moderator. Unfortunately, I don’t see their names in my guide. Takeaways from here:

• YouTube is focused on the 35 and under crowd (disappointing news here)
• Check out the YouTube.com/playbook for some great instructions
• Find complementary channels to yours and promote each other’s stuff for more visibility

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another keynote was from Guy Kawasaki – this seemed pretty off the cuff although the interviewer had questions.

 Leo Laporte from Twit.tv was there – he’s got a mega podcast network and 10,000 s.f. studio in Petaluma. I got to shake his hand and say hello. He did an afternoon keynote on new media vs. old media and his thoughts on the same. Most of these comments I’ve heard on his radio show, but there were a few things I hadn’t heard.

I’d been looking forward to seeing the Internet Business Mastery podcasters, Jason Van Orden and Jeremy Frandsen. I’ve been listening to them for a number of years. Their session was on five actionable steps you can take right now to make money. It was nice to see them in person, but was a bit disappointed that their content was not new. My opinion is that if a speaker is coming to NMX, they should be presenting something fresh and new, especially since quite a few of the audience were already listeners of theirs.

Jay Baer – Youtility – Why Smart Companies Focus on Helping, Not Selling

Jay  (@JayBaer) is a Social Media strategist and speaker. You can watch some of his keynotes over here. You can also get the slides from this talk on http://jaybaer.com/nmx. (not up on 1-11-13). He said ‘Content is fire, social media is gasoline’. Provide your audience with what they want and give them the content they need to make a decision. Most people (60%) decide to buy a product or service just by visiting a website-many people don’t want to talk to someone, they want to do the research on line. So make sure you get your information online.

I tweeted out that this session was the most beneficial to me and to my delight and surprise, he thanked me! Below is the tweet.

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast Awards

A bonus was being able to attend the Podcast Awards where Leo Laporte was the presenter. I was mainly interested in the Technology awards, but it was interesting and now I have some new podcasts I want to check out.

Fun Stuff

I got to travel to NMX with Kristen Wright (@KristenWright_). Kristen is Marketing & Communications Director over at iThemes and it was great having someone to travel and hang with at NMX. We saw a little of the city together and had a great time.

Then I got to meet Todd Klindt (@ToddKlindt). I’d been listening to his Todd Klindt’s Sharepoint Netcast for awhile now and I noticed he was at NMX by a tweet he sent out looking for NMX registration. We got to meet and got to spend a little time with him and he was just as nice as I thought he’d be (don’t tell him I said that).  He was there to focus on improving his weekly podcast, and of course, networking. We got to discuss SkyDrive and some of the recent changes and what could be improved.

There was an exhibition area filled with up and coming content, web and marketing booths. Front and center was Automattic’s WordPress booth. I stopped there to talk about API keys and get my picture taken.

All in all, NMX was an experience I’m glad I had. As with any conference, you get out of it what you put in and you have to make the effort to meet the folks you want to meet, they’re certainly not going to come to you (unless you’re well known). Twitter was great for that and a tool I’m starting to use more and more.