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?

Tune into @jakrose at 4pm EST today for a chance to win one of four free tickets to the New Media Atlanta conference this Friday, 9/25/09. Chris Brogan is one of the speakers and it should be some great networking.

• Starts at 4pm EST
• 4 Atlanta Trivia Questions
• Follow @jakrose for questions and answers
• 1 Winner per question, randomly selected form the first 5 correct answers

I have been to 4 conferences this year, Blogher being number 5, where I decided to actually attend the event the week before it was held. Meaning no conference registration, hotel, or flight was booked.

Seems like poor planning, but for the most part these events were not must attends for me. The most recent was the Enterprise 2.0 event in Boston. I went because there were dozens of people that I have met at other conferences that I just wanted to see.

I Invest In People

If you know me, you know I love to travel and I don’t go to conferences for the content. I go purely to see the people. Occasionally I wander into a session or keynote when I have to, but it is reluctantly.

Do not get me wrong, there is plenty of great content out there, though I would argue at most events it is pretty hit and miss. And I am sure I am missing out on some of it. But I much smaller intimate conversations with the smart people and people that I call friends at these events. I go to connect with them, to learn from them, to challenge and be challenged by them.

This connecting and challenging happens less for me when I sit and listen to an unorganized panel or a speaker talk about how to improve my blog.

Events Get Louder As They Get Closer

So considering my focus on people, I rarely see a conference announced and KNOW right away that I want to be there. What typically happens is I hear a little bit about it from one person, and then another, and so on. As events get closer, these little teasers get more frequent and louder.

And while I love meeting new people, the more friends I know will be at an event, the more likely I am to attend. It seems this usually builds to a crescendo the week before the conference. I eventually see too many cool cats are going, and I have to give in and share in the fun.

So if you see me at a conference, please say hello, and let’s skip a session or two and talk shop.

I have seen the demand for social media education skyrocket these last couple months and really want to add an event that brings exciting and quality content to the social media marketing discussion.

Social Fresh is about 2 things, bringing tangible business examples of social media marketing success and discussing the future of the technology that drives social media.

If you are in the Southeast and want to learn from some amazing Social Media Thought leaders, you should definitely try to make it.

Who Will Be There?

We already have some amazing speakers, sponsors, and attendees signed up from companies like IBM, Facebook, Myspace, Rubbermaid, Best Buy, the Humane Society, Crocs, and more. Tickets have been on sale for just over a week and we have already sold 20% of what is available. With a couple months to go, I am very happy to see such great response.

Here are a few of the speakers. Get more info on them and their expertise on the website.

How Much Is It?

Prices are $195 for May, $235 in June and will go up again in July and August. If you are interested in attending, just watch the Social Fresh main site for updates about discounts that we are partnering with different people on. Keep in mind though, the ticket cost will rise each month. For the next couple of days a $45 discount is still available on our Early Bird registration.

More on Social Fresh

The Charlotte event is the first Social Fresh event, but we have already received interest in bringing it to a few other cities and are looking into some other spin off possibilities. No big announcements yet, but if you are interested in partnering with Social Fresh or want to bring an event like this to your city, shoot me an email (jason at jasonkeath dot com) or @jakrose me on Twitter.

Wayne Sutton and Jeff Cohen put together a great set of interviews of some of characters who attended the 400 person event. I love events like these for this very reason, the people. It was no SXSW, but it was a great who’s who of Social Media in the southeast – a fast growing crowd.

Check out Wayne’s interview of me below and the rest of them over at TalkSocialNews. Not sure how my hair got so out of control. Rest assured, a haircut has taken care of that mop sense then.

Some of my favorite people from the event

@WayneSutton - Hardest working man in Social Media
@dgtlpapercuts - Photo man, co-founder of SocialMediaB2B.com
@Tessa - Atlanta liaison for the NC folks that traveled in, big thanks
@AndSheSpeaks - best Twitter handle at the event
@DaveDelaney - the inside scoop on all the latest Griffin iPhone tech
@Regator - blog aggregation central, cohost of the night
@AshevilleAllie - Do-gooder, recent NC resident
@Corvida - Blogger extraordinaire, style hooligan
@dejon97 - fellow idea guy and entrepreneur
@adambloom - Helped launch original WebMD