Thinking About Quitting the Trade Show Business

@Colin Devroe – Yes, i do believe this is the podcast event, but could have been more direct by asking, where were the rest of the podcasters, the podcast hosting and support companies, the podcast networks, the advertisers for podcasts, etc. Really the discussions were awesome and those of there did some great business. Why the heck were the others AWOL? Is it time to name names and ask more directly?

@Robyn Levin – Your perspective as a communications/event planning professional and first timer is really valuable IMO. Thank you.

@Tom Webster – we use Textile formating and when you surround text with a hyphen, it automatically makes the strikeout. I edited your comment to fix that. Have you submitted your keynote session yet??

@Mike McAllen – I am looking forward to your podcast. I hope you shake up the industry! It is sooo last century and the obstacles to doing business are incredible.

@David van Sunder – It was great meeting you and thank you for leaving your comments. I know the Podcast Brothers had been encouraged to get out of Ontario in favor of a more robust venue to attract the bbig sponsors. It did not really turn out that way, so maybe there is a happy medium? Naturally, I would propose our world-class convention center here in Hawaii. http://www.hawaiiconvention.com

I also agree that it is sorely lacking in the area of advertising. Advertisers need to come to an event like NME and learn about the medium and make personal connections with the community. The reason they don’t is that the medium is still so new. With time, I think that will change.

Advertising & marketing firms should be approached and asked to participate in some way if they weren’t approached this time. That way we can all enter into a dialog and find a way to help each other.

Like others said before me, Vegas is a tough venue because the podcasters get lost in a huge city that makes connecting more challenging than if the event was held in a quieter location. There are advantages to Vegas though in availability of venues for parties, abundant rooms and adequate space for the event as it grows, which I expect it will.

I’ll leave the planning for the experts, but this event needs to go on and continue to evolve as the space does and that definitely means reaching out to the advertisers that will allow the content providers to create more quality content. It’s too much to expect that content providers should provide content for free ass I heard some people voice.

That would result in the space being dominated by the old media as they provide their content in just one more form with hardly any effort. That’s already happening and we need to establish our value to advertisers before they overlook our ability to more closely connect with our audiences.

I’m looking forward to going to NME next year and if it is in another location with more advertisers present, I’m sure I’ll get even more out of it than I already did this year.

I know after the NME this year I had a clear direction where I am taking podcasting for our production company and newest podcast http://www.meetingspodcast.com. We already have interest from sponsors and advertisers for our podcast and it is already generating interest for work from our niche. I also met so many new folks and reconnected with others at the NME that I feel am part of the podcast community.

I wish the best for the Podcast Brothers. They have done a great job and I hope it is making them wildly rich. Rox, you make good points for increasing the value for all involved and I am sure Tim and Emil are watching. The economy has hit all conferences and budgets pretty hard and the Podcast Bros might need to keep evolving and adapting the conference to keep it engaging and valuable. I hope to continue to come to the Podcast Expo, New Media Expo or what ever the Podcast Brothers call it next year.

See you at Blogworld.
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I hope the NME continues on in order to provide resources, networking and access to important vendors for those podcasters hoping to monetize their content. Podcamps are great, but not for commercial aspects (nor should they be) so the industry would be poorer without a dedicated outlet for the money side of things.

Having said that, it sure would be great if all of the vendors and commercial content providers/aggregators would show up and support the Expo. But that’s deficit thinking – I made some great contacts, reconnected with some great people and came away with lots of great thoughts and ideas for both my business—and for yours. Vegas I could take or leave – I get there enough for conferences and client work. One thing that was nice about Ontario was the feeling that, for just a couple of days at least, podcasters owned the place. You had to work a little harder at the LV Hilton to make connections, but the opportunities were there.

Thanks for your thoughts—see you next month in Vegas (again)!

Those stats should open more eyes and help attract the media buyers.
Great content & connections for me. I’ve produced & promoted seminars & I know the work that goes into this, so “Well Done” but let’s find another location.

But, I think if you wanted to.. you could energize the community around podcasting (regardless of the list they fall on) and get more people there next time.

Typing this out feels so old school!