Blogworld Expo 2010 is in fabulous Sin City for an action-packed social media weekend. This morning, I grabbed the laptop and my iPhone and headed over to check it out. Once I arrived at Mandalay Bay, I was amazed at how smooth everything went from parking to obtaining my Blogworld credentials. It was truly a well-oiled machine.
With lanyard around my neck, I took a quick tour of the exhibition floor where each and every aisle was packed with people. As I slowly navigated my way around, conversations washed over me. Some people were excitedly discussing a new product while others were excitedly trying to pitch interest in their product. (I'll apologize now to the nice young gentlemen who tried unsuccessfully to get me to take a cheesy photo in promotion of Southwest Airlines.)
Since this expo is about all things social media, it was nice to find that Blogworld was offering complimentary WiFi. Now, if only everyone wasn't trying to use it! I gave it a whirl, but the loading time combined with failed commands had me quickly switching back to my own AT&T service. Too bad, that didn't work that swell, either.
From the convention floor, I hopped into my first session "The Brand of You: How to Build a Profitable Social Media-based Business" by Mari Smith. Already 30 minutes into a 60 minutes presentation, Ms. Smith had developed a comfortable rapport with the audience. While some of the information she imparted was very 101 (making sure to feed your Twitter into Facebook), she did provide some food-for-thought by advising attendees to put their photo on their business card ("you are a visual brand"), create their own products ("what are you so good at that people will 'look over your shoulder' to see?") and set consulting fees ("raise rates to what you are slightly uncomfortable with").
After consulting my program, I headed over to "Travel Blogging as a Second Career" next. I sat through this session from start-to-finish, although tempted (very tempted) to get up and leave several times. A panel session presented by five bloggers, it was immediately evident that at least two of them should have been in the audience with me. The information imparted was so common sense-oriented that I slipped away my pen and paper a few minutes into the session. I will say that panelist David Porter is one to watch, though.
With that, my day at Blogworld Expo is done, but I'll be back again tomorrow and so will my reports.
Don't forget you can catch the keynote addresses live on the web. Go to Blogworld.com to view. The next one is set for 5:30 p.m. PST and will focus on "The Future of Internet Video."
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