Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
I could do a long, detailed recap of Gnomedex, or I could just point to Randy Stewart's great comic version. Good stuff.
One of the folks I've been running into quite at conferences is Kris Smith. Of course it's hard to miss Kris, he has a unique look :-)
If you look at the photos below you can see there is a difference. One is casual-conference-goer-Kris, the other is serious business-man-out-on-the-town-Kris. But which one is the real Kris Smith?
Kris is a podcaster by nature so of course he was doing quite a bit of podcasting from Gnomedex. He talked to a number of folks including me. To listen to the podcast you can click here. We talk about conference photography, development and a number of other fun topics.
Speaking at Gnomedex Guy Kawasaki said: Good companies are about making meaning, not making money.
A few hours ago Chris Pirillo kicked off the 7th edition of Gnomedex in Seattle, WA. The wifi and EVDO is very slow so photos will be sparse today. Look for a massive upload tonight.
I'm sitting at Orlando airport (MCO) using their free wifi (go Orlando!). It's been a hectic past few weeks and I'm almost at the end of my marathon travel run. I'm at Gnomedex till Sunday and then I make a quick trip to Phoenix at the end of next week.
After that I'm home for a while, thankfully. I need some time to slow down and catch up. Then it's time to start ramping up for BlogOrlando.
Plus there are some work changes coming up....more on that later.
This is a tough call, because it depends on what you do for a living. The three best *paid* events I went to last year were:
- New Communications Forum
- Gnomedex
- BlogHer
I make the distinction of paid events since there is a bit more of an investment in going to a paid event rather than a local un-conference-type event.
For the past few months I have told anybody I work with in PR that they need to go to New Communications Forum this year. The event is being held March 7-9 in Las Vegas at the Venetian.
All the sessions are great and feature some of the most well-known folks in the PR/social media movement (including some guy named Josh). Like any conference though, the best interaction is during the breaks and dinners...with such a great line-up of folks on hand it's hard not to get something out of it.
The only downside? Deciding between some really great sessions that end up being scheduled opposite of each other.
