What I Like/Didn’t Like About BlogWorld

So much good stuff coming out of BlogWorld 2008 that it’s difficult for me to categorize everything into tidy little posts!  So, here goes another Top Ten list – this time, on the top ten things that I like and didn’t like about BlogWorld 2008 (in no particular order).

Things I liked:

  1. The Speakers – it was great to see many of the social media heavy hitters out here in Vegas, talking and engaging with everyone.  I got an opportunity to meet and learn from people like Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jason Falls, Coach Deb, and more.
  2. Networking – I met soooo many more great people that I’m now following/being followed by, I’ve added more blogs to my RSS feeds, and have opened up tons of future resources.
  3. The Wynn in Las Vegas – Wow! Great hotel…a little overwhelming, but hey, it’s Vegas!
  4. The subject matter – Wasn’t too novice, wasn’t too advanced.  I got more out of this conference than most “social media” conferences that I’ve been too – they’re typically too 101-ish.
  5. Live Twitter feeds – Having the ability to interact with the speakers and the rest of the audience members in real-time during the sessions has changed the way I look at these conferences.
  6. New Tools – At my job, I’m one of the more technically-advanced people there. I use dozens of Firefox extensions, am on Twitter, use open source software where possible, etc.  Here, I’m not even close – the number of new tools that I’ve learned about has been overwhelming.  Still trying them all – will do a future post on the ones that I’ve found most helpful.
  7. Informality – Loved that most people/speakers wore jeans, football jerseys, etc.  Made them seem more real.
  8. #bwe08 tag – the speakers/moderators consistently and constantly pushed this tag so that it will be easy to aggregate all of the BlogWorld content during and after the conference across the Web – pictures, tweets, blogs, everything.
  9. Diversity – I was thrilled to see people with so many different backgrounds.  Young people who are CEOs, older, more traditional corporate leaders, kids just out of college, people just trying to learn about social media, social media experts – there were tons of people all there for different reasons.
  10. So many ideas that I want to get started on! – I’ve been inspired to do/try so many things coming out of this conference – I can’t wait until I get back and can start doing some of them.

Things I didn’t like:

  1. Shoddy Internet access – BlogWorld wireless Internet was very slow, if you could even log on.  Unacceptable, especially for a conference like this.
  2. Lack of power – very few places to actually plug in and charge up cell phones/laptops.
  3. Food – Not enough food/drink easily available.  Was at least expecting free basic refreshments (coffee, etc.)
  4. Conference Sessions on Sunday – Steelers > BlogWorld.  Missed last session on Sunday because I had to find a TV for the game (even though they lost).
  5. Temperature – Very hot outside/very cold inside. I saw women wearing shorts and sweating outside, but wearing hoodies inside.
  6. Red-Eye Flights – there weren’t a whole of flight choices for me to choose from – either leave really early and miss most of Sunday, leave really late and take a red-eye, or leave in the middle and have three connections.  Not fun…
  7. Crowds – I think that at times, people underestimated the ability of 2,000 social media specialists to mobilize.  Parties were PACKED, and some were even impossible to get into.
  8. Not enough time – I wish I had been able to clone myself – there were so many times where I wish I had been able to clone myself so that I could attend them all!
  9. No Enterprise 2.0 sessions – A majority of my clients are more interested in how to use social media/blogs inside the firewall.  There was very little of the content focused on this topic – most of it was focused on using social media externally.
  10. So many ideas that I want to get started on! – I’ve been inspired to do/try so many things coming out of this conference – I don’t know if I’ll ever have the time to actually do them!
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About sradick

I'm an SVP, Senior Director at BCW in Pittsburgh. Find out more about me here (https://steveradick.com/about/).

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11 Responses to “What I Like/Didn’t Like About BlogWorld”

  1. Amanda Says:

    Steve, thanks for the top 10! Easy to read and comprehend. Blogworld sounds like a great idea for others to attend next year from the firm. I also just clicked on the Wynn link you provided. Gorgeous! Sounds like a wonderful weekend all around. All your senses were fed, right?!

  2. Amanda Says:

    Steve, thanks for the top 10! Easy to read and comprehend. Blogworld sounds like a great idea for others to attend next year from the firm. I also just clicked on the Wynn link you provided. Gorgeous! Sounds like a wonderful weekend all around. All your senses were fed, right?!

  3. sradick Says:

    @Amanda – Vegas was great! That is, until I took the redeye back and then got stuck at JFK due to the evacuation this morning! http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jfkevac

  4. sradick Says:

    @Amanda – Vegas was great! That is, until I took the redeye back and then got stuck at JFK due to the evacuation this morning! http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jfkevac

  5. Jon-Erik Says:

    Glad to see you fixed the glitches. Your first few entries still have an error message, but your last two about the conference are working fine and I’m now able to leave comments. Look for many of them in the future about how I’m tailoring my Masters degree around Web 2.0 and how you still refuse to ever consider me for a job in the future.

  6. Jon-Erik Says:

    Glad to see you fixed the glitches. Your first few entries still have an error message, but your last two about the conference are working fine and I’m now able to leave comments. Look for many of them in the future about how I’m tailoring my Masters degree around Web 2.0 and how you still refuse to ever consider me for a job in the future.

  7. Jacque Says:

    You seriously put free food and the Steelers above the lack of Enterprise 2.0 sessions? I think we’re going to have to work on your priorities!

  8. Jacque Says:

    You seriously put free food and the Steelers above the lack of Enterprise 2.0 sessions? I think we’re going to have to work on your priorities!

  9. sradick Says:

    @Jacque – Haha…I guess I should re-think the order of these. I actually wasn’t really keeping track of the order of my list!

  10. sradick Says:

    @Jacque – Haha…I guess I should re-think the order of these. I actually wasn’t really keeping track of the order of my list!

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