The opening night party, and all the parties, are free for Blogworld ticket holders.

But if you are not already attending, just buy a Blogworld exhibitor pass ($25 with coupon code SFVIP) to attend this opening night party, all other Blogworld parties, and get access to the Blogworld exhibitor floor. Register with coupon code at BlogWorldExpo.com.

BlogWorld NY Opening Night Party and Mixer

Join Us Wednesday Night at BlogWorld NY!

Sponsored by Ford Motor Company, Social Fresh, #CMMeetup and Social Media Club.

WHEN:
Wednesday, May 25th from 8:00pm-11:00pm

WHERE:
Hudson Terrace
621 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 315-9400

The genesis of this post series came from Schneider Mike’s take on SXSW in 2010. Many people complained about the content, but Mike thought they just needed to work a little harder to find the good stuff. He was right.

In the spirit of making everyone’s Blogworld NYC 2011 experience better, here is my suggestions for “the good stuff.”

PS. If you do not have your tickets yet, head over to Social Fresh for our Blogworld free ticket giveaway.

Jason Keath, CC Chapman, David Armano, and Jim Tobin on the "How To Hire A Social Media Company" panel at Blogworld 2010 Las Vegas

9 BlogWorld Sessions For Marketers

These 9 sessions should fill up your notebook. Also, most of these sessions are focused early in the day. So if you need to get in late afternoon meetings, an early happy hour, some nice networking or all three, this should work for you just fine.

Make sure to sign up and save your schedule on the Blogworld Sched site.

And fair warning, I am highly recommending and highlighting my two sessions at Blogworld. I mean, it is my list after all.

TUESDAY, May 24th

1. Building Your Content Bubble
9:00AM to 10:00AM | Room: 1A08

David Murray of Regroup

Building your content bubble. This will help you understand the value of becoming a resource, and not just a news bulletin of your own messaging. This exercise will also get you thinking about not only what kind of content you should be providing, but how that content will really connect with people.

Takeaways:

1. How to increase traction and readership to your content
2. How to effectively communicate with people through your content
3. How to build a solid content foundation that will continue to grow

2. A New Influence, Anyone Can Become A New Media Giant
10:15AM to 11:15AM | Room: 1A08

Jason Keath of Social Fresh

Influence – a tricky topic that is definitely not new to marketing. From celebrity endorsements to modern blogger outreach, finding people who can help sway the consumer choice is a key toolset in advertising and public relations. What is new is the once gradual, and now rapid, shift in power from the few to the many, from the corporation to the consumer, and from the old media giants to the new media moms.

Takeaways:

1. Why you are thinking about influence wrong: influencers matter in more ways than you think
2. 12 influencer types and how to find them
3. How to build long term relationships with influencers that produce business results

Agencies and consultants need to take note of this shift, as new media relations will be a major product for social media service providers moving forward.

3. So You Want to Hire a Community Manager….
11:30AM to 12:30PM | Room: 1A06

Daniel Brostek, Lauren Vargas, Jim Storer, and David Spinks

Finding the right person to build, nurture and grow your community can be a challenge. Depending on the type of community and your goals, the necessary skills can vary widely. This panel of community strategists and practitioners will share their experiences and uncover strategies for hiring the right community manager for your community.

WEDNESDAY, May 25th

4. The Social Habit
9:00am – 10:00am | Room: 1Ao6

Tom Webster of Edison Research

This session will present new, unreleased data for 2011 on America’s adoption of social networking sites and services, with a detailed look at Facebook and Twitter usage, mobile social behavior, and location-based apps and services.

1. Attendees will be the first to learn new data on social networking, location-based services and mobile behaviors from one of America’s most credible national research series.
2. Attendees will also learn how the changes in mainstream adoption and usage of social media are going to impact the future of content creation and distribution, and will be presented with a number of actionable recommendations.
3. Particular attention will be paid to mobile social usage, and attendees will leave with specific strategies to take advantage of mobile social behaviors from one of the leading analysts in consumer research.

5. Leads, Subscribers, and Sales: Bringing Action to Business Blogs
10:30AM to 11:30AM | Room: 1A08

Paula Berg of Linhart PR, Kipp Bodnar Hubspot, Josh Hallett Voce Connect, and Tom Martin of Converse Digital

Many businesses create blogs with little thought, planning, or thought to how their content will drive business results. Blogging is often much more difficult than using platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but can still produce big business wins with the right planning and resources. Join this expert business blogging panel to discuss how to get the best traffic to your business blog and how, once you have them on the blog, you can funnel that traffic to the right calls to action.

6. Game Mechanics And The Future of Loyalty
2:30pm - 3:30pm | Room: 1A06

Chris Mahl of SCVNGR, Schneider Mike of Allen & Gerritsen, Rajat Paharia of Bunchball, and Jason Keath of Social Fresh

Gamification has taken off over the last couple years as much more than a gameplay toolset and is increasingly being used in marketing campaigns and online communities. This panel will pull together agency and vendor thought leaders on the topic and will answer these questions and more:

1. How have game mechanics been used in marketing to date?
2. What are the top business results that game mechanics can help drive for a business?
3. Does a business need to invest heavily in a large community or new tech to use game mechanics?
4. What types of businesses can benefit the most from integrating game mechanics?
5. What are the most common mistakes by marketers trying to leverage game mechanics?

7. Why Facebook News Feed Optimization (NFO) Matters to Marketers
3:45PM to 4:45PM | Room: 1A06

Bryan Person of LiveWorld, Chad Wittman of Edgerank Checker, Helen Todd, Dennis Yu of Webtrends

Stats show that 96% of Facebook users “Like” a fan Page and then never return. Instead, fans rely on the News Feed to show them the most relevant and interesting updates from the friends and businesses they’re connected to. As a marketer on Facebook, that means you HAVE to grab your fans’ attention in the News Feed to stay relevant. We’ll explore how you do just that in our panel discussion.

THURSDAY, May 26th

8. Developing a Digital Crisis Communications Plan
9:00AM to 10:00AM | Room: 1A08

Justin Levy of Citrix

During this session, attendees will understand why developing a digital crisis communications plan is vital for their businesses, even if not on an international scale, and how social media measuring tools can be used as the centerpiece of
their planning.  Topics that will be discussed include:

1. Forming your Digital Crisis Communications Team – who should be included
2. Developing an Escalation and Contact Flowchart – determine who needs to be notified and when
3. Developing guidelines for what constitutes a crisis, sample responses and what should not be responded to
4. Building teams to support in local language(s)
5. Developing a monitoring schedule
6. What needs to be reported, when and how often
7. How a digital crisis communications plan integrates into an overall communications plan

9. The Brand Guide to Facebook’s New iframe Tabs
11:30AM to 12:30PM | Room: 1A06

Justin Kistner of Webtrends

The tabs on fan pages are an essential Facebook marketing tool. They are not only great for adding custom content for fans to discover, but they are ideal landing pages for Facebook ad campaigns. Now that Facebook has updated tabs to be iframes, it provides new opportunities and challenges for marketers.

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What sessions did I miss?

Add your sessions or sessions you think would be valuable for marketers in the comments.

Look forward to seeing you at the event. If you want more tips from me, run into me at Blogworld by following my Foursquare checkins or Twitter updates.

So to help those first timers, I asked Twitter what their advice would be for all those SXSW rookies out there. Some great and funny answers below.

What did they miss? What advice would you give to a SXSW rookie?

Schneider Mike was one of the few that got the opposite experience. How did he sort through the mess of such a large conference to have such a positive experience when everyone else didn’t? Simple, he had a plan.He thoughtfully reviewed the schedule, researched the sessions, and gave himself smart options for the whole event.

In an effort to make your 2010 Blogworld less of a guessing game, I am giving you 10 sessions that you should not miss. Now if you are a blogger or podcaster or tech geek, this list is not for you. This is meant for marketers attending on behalf of agencies and brands.

A few quick tips for Blogworld as a whole before I get into specific session reccomendations:

• Find an oasis, a place to relax, regroup, and meetup with your team, peers, or roommates. Sponsors can be good about creating some of these sanctuaries, but I would say steer clear of making the blackjack table your meeting spot. We all know you are not as good at 21 as those kids from MIT. Let’s make sure you have the cash to get home ok?
• Party away, but do not miss out on the mornings. There will be tons of parties, yes. But 8am networking is usually better than 3am networking. Let’s be honest, after about 3 drinks in, you really are not getting a great ROI for your personal brand.
• Travel light. If you must bring a laptop with you to sessions, pre-plan a drop off for it. And for your swag bag. Your room if you are in the hotel, a friend’s room, or the hotel check. And consider just not picking up a swag bag. Nobody likes to lug 30 pounds of fliers with them all day.
• Get a grip on your phone charging. Wifi, cell signal, and battery life are usually always in short supply. Turn off 3g, GPS, clean up background apps, and bring your own wifi hotspot to minimize smartphone addiction withdraws.
• Do not plan meals or parties. Just let them happen with the people you want to spend time with most. But by all means, RSVP to everything.
• Travel Tips: Fly Jetblue there from the east coast, Southwest from the west. Use Foursquare and Twitter to find someone to share a cab with from the airport. And buy a monorail pass if you are planning on heading down the strip at all. Keep in mind that the conference hotel, Mandalay Bay is not on the Monorail though, so this might not be for you.
• Use the Fast Social app to keep up with groups of friends, what sessions are hot, and what parties are happening.

Now let’s jump in to the schedule suggestions. These 8 sessions should fill up your notebook. None of my suggestions are past 3pm. So if you need to get in some quality pool time, happy hour, networking or all three, this should work for you just fine.

And fair warning, I am highly recommending and highlighting the two panels I am moderating at Blogworld. I mean, it is my list after all.

THURSDAY, October 14th

9:30am | Opening Keynote: Stand Up, Stand Out, Stand Together
Room: Islander G

Scott Stratten – Unmarketing

Scott is a blogger, speaker, and funny. He brings marketing messages to the masses with passion and humor. This session covers the ideas that blogging with passion and emotion, not frequency is what makes a blog great and the ability to take a stand on topics is what separates you from the rest. If you can take these lessons to your brand or clients, you are well ahead of 90 percent of the companies out there blogging today.

11:00am | Social Media and the C-Suite: Selling the Board
Room: Islander H/1

Zena Weist – H&R Block, Christopher Baccus – AT&T, Jaime Punishill – Thomson Reuters, Jason Keath – Social Fresh

Even the most savvy digital marketing companies are still learning how to get the most from social media.  Before companies in any industry can get too far, they need executive sponsorship.  C-level executives need to be convinced to make the investment.  This panel brings together hands on experience in consumer services, financial services and the retail industry to talk about their experience on what wins in the board room.  What’s the best way to get buy-in?  What are some pitfalls to avoid?  Our panel of industry experts will share their experiences and best advice.

1:30pm - 2:30pm | Building Community On Your Blog
Room: Islander E/5

Darren Rowse – Problogger.net

Darren is one of the top independent bloggers in the world. He pulls in 7 figures from blogging each year on multiple sites and makes a living off of teaching others how to do the same. Darren has his own track at Blogworld this year, and while all of his sessions will be quality I am sure, his building community session is the one most relevant to marketers. Stop by and see what you can glean for your clients or brand.

FRIDAY, October 15th

11:00am | Exhibition Floor Opens
Room: Trade Show Floor

Stop by the Exhibition floor first thing in the morning to browse what companies are there that you might be interested in. Do not worry about meeting everyone or getting collateral from all the tables. Get acquainted with the layout and mentally log the 3 companies you definitely want to connect with before leaving the conference.

11:00am - 12:00pm | Social Media & SEO: Boost Engagement & Revenue through Blog Content
Room: Islander I/3

Lee Odden – Top Rank Blog

Most marketers do not know nearly enough about SEO and how it should support branding, advertising, or community efforts. Take some time to stop by and listen to Lee, one of the top voices in the industry, and improve your SEO knowledge. You don’t have to be an SEO expert. Knowing some of the basics will go a long way.

1:30pm - 2:30pm | Mom Bloggers: Blog for Money, Not Swag!
Room: Mariners A/12

Kelby Carr – Type A Mom, Amy Lupold Bair – Resourceful Mom, Katja Presnal – Skimbaco, Kimberly Blaine – TheGoToMom.TV, Lucretia Pruitt – TheSocialJoint.com

If you are investing in influencers and blogger outreach, this session will be good insight into the blogger perspective. Should your brand or agency be compensating bloggers better? Or should you look at them only as press? Some of the top female bloggers out there give advice to other bloggers about how to work with brands more successfully.

SATURDAY, October 16th

11:00am - 12:00pm | How To Hire A Social Media Company
Room: Islander I/3

David Armano – Edelman, Jim Tobin – Ignite Social Media, CC Chapman – Campfire, Jason Keath – Social Fresh

Social media as an industry is growing more complex each day. There are few experts in the field and very little tested experience to go around. And yet, every company is investing more time and money in this space. We pulled together 3 industry leaders who have worked with many mid-sized and top level brands and worked for some of the top agencies and vendors in the space. We will discuss what companies should be looking for, planning for, and helping create when it comes to partners in their social media.

11:00am - 12:00pm | Ethics and Social Media Marketing
Room: Islander H/1

Patrick O’Keefe – iFroggy Network, Jeremy Wright – BNOTIONS.ca, Brandon Eley – Kelsey Advertising, Jay Baer – ConvinceAndConvert.com

One of the biggest things to consider with any new form of marketing is how it reflects back onto your company. The lack of clear rules, regulations, best practices, and clear experiences leaders leaves a huge gap for unethical vendors to play in. Is your company laying the right ground work for ethical behavior in social media? Are you partnering with companies that do the same? A very important topic with some stand out panelists.

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So those are my tips. If you have tips of your own, I dare you to leave them in the comments. Seriously, add your sessions or sessions you think would be valuable for marketers in the comments.

If you want more tips from me, run into me at Blogworld by following my personal session schedule, my Foursquare checkins, or Twitter updates.

Jason Falls delivers a little Gary Vaynerchuk impersonation at Social Fresh Nashville, a social media conference for marketers.

A good portion of Social Fresh spoke to what social media can really do for business, including Jason’s talk on “Moving the Needle, Social Media for the Bottom Line”.

In the quick video above, taken at the Social Fresh photo opp zone, Jason recaps why the social media purists (dirty hippies and treehuggers) do not get that if social media is not making you money, it is just a hobby.

I absolutely crave face to face time with people. I see offline relationships as the heart of marketing.

This is why I keep going to conferences despite the face that most conferences suck. I am in the heart of this world now since creating my own social media conference series, Social Fresh. Here are just a few of the things that encouraged me to find my own solution.

The Four Horsemen of the Conference Apocalypse

Too much hyperbole there?

1. No Networking – Many conferences just cram as much content in as possible and lose track of encouraging conversations. Provide physical space that encourages connecting. Provide time in the day that allows connecting. Create reason for people to connect.
2. Bad Speakers – Where to begin… Unreadable slides, reading from slides verbatim, simply boring, no examples, no case studies, and please, I do not need your life story as an intro. Cut to the meat.
3. Too Big – Don’t get me wrong, I love SXSW and Blogworld, and Web 2.0 for the shear scale of what they do. And they fill a need. But at some point, finding good content, relevant connections, and just navigating these events successfully takes too much effort.
4. Too Serious – Yes we are there to learn. No, I don’t need an all day happy hour. But, please lighten up a bit. Throw some spice into the recipe. People like getting away from their desks. Make the day a little more than just instruction. Make it an experience.

Complaints that don’t bother me so much

1. No Wifi – I get it, we all want to tweet about an event. It is worth complaining about, but let’s face it, there are plenty of venues and cities that just have crappy cell and wifi capabilities. Wifi does not make an event. And I can attend a great event with no wifi and get just as much out of it.
2. Bad Food – Again, I am not there for the food.
3. Too Expensive – It is business. Charge what you want. I either think it is worth it or I don’t. Conferences can be expensive endeavors. This value equation is completely different for each person.

Over the last year I have shifted from spending most of my professional time on social media consulting to spending most of my time working on Social Fresh. It is much more rewarding. But it is also not for everyone.

Social Fresh is simple. It is specifically for marketers that want to see the full potential of social media. We bring big brands and smart people in the social media space to a city near you. Big event content, small event networking and discussion.

In response to Patrick O’Keefe‘s ManagingCommunities.com post on his BlogWorld Expo Panel “Social Media: The Bad and the Ugly”. My ugly social media is simply the knee jerk attack responses that I seem to see more and more of each day.

I try not to be negative at all online outside of customer service complaints. But especially when a more constructive response or the offering of a solution would be a better response.

I hope more people will decide to stay positive when reacting to individuals and companies that are making a strong effort to enter the social media space.

Patrick’s Blogworld Expo panel will include Patrick, Wayne Sutton, Amber Naslund, and Robert Scoble.

Social Media History Trivia

• October 9th, 1pm EST
• Follow @jakrose for questions
• Random draw from the first 5 correct answers wins a ticket for each question
• 4 Questions

4 Free Tickets to Social Media Business Forum (October 23rd – Durham, NC)

Overall, I was impressed by how savvy many of the attendees were. It was a great mix of interactive pros from E-retail to NASCAR to Fortune 500.

David Wells not only caught the whole thing on video, but took out some of our key points (with Timestamps, wow). Oh, and he has an audio download. Check out the video below and go read David’s blog post for the extended content. The lighting was pretty poor, so excuse the shadowy table from which we speak.

“The panel explores how to determine if social networking is right for your business, which social media is right for your business, what to outsource and what to keep in-house, and how to know when your social media strategy is working.

Put on by the Charlotte Interactive Marketing Association“

The Ugly Was Brought!

On Friday I was very excited to attend New Media Atlanta. Thursday evening I was fortunate to go to the speaker dinner and meet several of the presenters, the co-founders, and those who worked behind the scenes. The one thing that each player had in common is that they were all pumped about being part of the very first New Media Atlanta! I was excited too!

At the start of New Media Atlanta, after the opening comments by conference founders Matt Fagioli and Brad Nix, Jeff Turner took the stage for his presentation on Social Media Is Here To Stay. It was 10 a.m., the conference was just kicking off, and Jeff brought attention to the conversations that were going on through BackNoise. BackNoise claims …

“BackNoise lets you create conversations on the fly, in meetings, watching TV, during class, on the train, anywhere and anytime. Talk about what you want, when you want, where you want, and how you want.”

BackNoise is a channel that allows people to express themselves, anonymously or known, in a real-time online conversation. What started out on BackNoise that day as speaker feedback and comments that people were tired or thirsty, quickly spiraled downhill to what I believe, people who brought out their “ugly.”

Photo via @BeeRealty

There are certain people in this world that have the disco balls to say pretty much about anything. Chris Brogan was the main speaker at New Media Atlanta and embraced BackNoise by presenting with the backchannel behind him. There were some interesting comments such as his fly was down and that the more he cursed, the more an anonymous BackNoise user wanted to kiss him. Funny, right? Brogan has the disco balls though. Everyone in conference attendance was waiting for the moment that he took the stage. They know him, or have heard of him, and respect his reputation.

What about a speaker that isn’t as well known and adored? Does this mean that it’s okay to send a BackNoise comment that encourages the audience to cough two times if you don’t like their presentation? What about stretch if you don’t like the next one? Believe it or not, that’s what happened!

I’m sorry, but to attend a conference and revert back to middle-school mentality is pathetic. If I knew who started these behaviors on BackNoise that day, I would call you out publicly, but alas, you were anonymous. I have no problem with people suggesting that the content presented was weak, or that you’re bored or tired but at some point, grow the heck up!

If you are bored, say why. If you were a speaker and getting bashed, wouldn’t you want to know why?

I don’t think trying to get people to cough is going to help someone learn where and how they can improve. I also don’t think that by creating fear for future speakers is going to make any speaker become better at it!

We encourage people in the online space to be real and transparent, pay-it-forward, not to be a social media douche bag, etc. Why do these understood rules of common decency fly out the window when you don’t actually have to be accountable for your words and actions? They shouldn’t.

When users on the backchannel complained about it being too dark, the lights were turned on. When comments suggested that we needed a break, a break was given.

It is very clear that New Media Atlanta was paying attention to what attendees were saying and constructive criticism was able to bring about positive change. I like that. This also means that speakers were able to see what was said about them. Comments that attacked speakers on a personal level more so than the content that they were delivering, well, I tend to like that less.

Backchannels Are Here To Stay

There is no doubt in my mind that people will continue to use backchannels. After attending New Media Atlanta, it is only my hope that people will choose to use them in a more constructive way. We all like to laugh and feel part of a group, which is what platforms such as BackNoise allows, but where do you draw the line?

I admit that I looked at the backchannel conversations that took place at the conference. I admit that some comments made me laugh. There is something extremely intriguing about watching a stream of thoughts from people that don’t have to identify themselves for speaking what a lot of us might be thinking … but crossing the line of professionalism to middle-school bully is something that can be avoided.

Think about your words. Thumper said, “If you can’t say something nice … don’t say nothing at all.” Backchannels give us the room to dismiss that message and also the accountability of our words. Would you participate on a backchannel? If so, where would you draw the line?