Blog Business Summit today. It was my first business socializing in six months since I started writing the book and I was fortunate to pick such a winner.
I used a BIC pen this morning to unshackle myself from my desk, where my publisher had staked me until I finished the sometimes tedious author revisions (ARs) and snuck up to San Francisco where I enjoyed remarkable shmoozing and speakers at the
Evelyn Rodriquez, was eloquent as the lead-off speaker extending the Cluetrain metaphor of markets as conversations by visually sketching the sights and feel of ancient marketplaces in Greece and Mexico as well as Santa Fe, likening blogs today as the new marketplaces. Click on her name to enjoy the full text. PubSub's Bob Wyman nailed a Kryptonite point that I've been struggling to articulate during my ARs and kept missing. He said, " You can’t really criticize them for not listening to the blogosphere at the time the incident occurred. Kryptonite got blindsided and by not knowing what to do, they showed others who would come after them what to do." He's earned the dubious distinction of being quoted in our Chapter called, "Doing it Wrong."
My friend Buzz Bruggeman, was at the top of his presentation game in presenting his case study which explained how Activewords has leveraged the blogosphere to thrive after having spent about $600 on marketing in three years. Up to 70 percent of the company's downloads are connected to blogging in some way, and my partner Scoble was just awesome in multiple performances. He shared the dais with Textura Design's DL Byron an event co-producer and the guy behind ClipNSeal. I interviewed DL for the book by phone and email, but we had not met previously and I loved having the chance to chat with him. We discovered we were both raised middle class and shared an early love for libraries.
Blogging has clearly changed the way people interact. What happened with DL and me was happening all over the place. People who never met were treating each other like old friends. It made the experience one of the best networking experiences I've seen at a conference in a very long time.
Blogging itself has changed. Last year, I saw a great number of geeks, pounding the chest of the beast talking about how great it's going to be. This year , at least at this conference, the audience was filled with serious mid-level representatives of a wide variety companies struggling with how to use blogging effectively to the interests of their businesses.
Technorati Link: BBS05, blogbusinesssummit
