My Weekend at “Blogs with Balls” in NYC

Easily the oddest column title I’ve ever written, but whatever. Hang in there. Here are some various odds and ends from my speaking engagement at “Blogs with Balls” this past weekend.

About my panel, “Leveraging Social Media”

My panel was up second. Truth be told, it didn’t go as planned…which is why I’m spilling my guts via the web.  First and foremost, let’s concentrate on blatant excuses and my utter disregard to accept responsibility.  Ready?  Good. Our panel intended to demonstrate aspects of social media by running a live Twitter feed on the overhead televisions, where people at home or in the audience could interact with our panel and ask questions. The lack of internet connectivity in the basement of Stout ruined that plan.

Nevertheless, we had a good course of action planned. However, 10 minutes before we were headed on stage, we were told that ESPN would be filming our panel for an “Outside the Lines” story they were developing around Twitter. I think all four of our panel members sub-consciencely abandoned our plan and talked heavily around Twitter. Damn ESPN. They got us. I’m not convinced anything will appear on “Outside the Lines” and this was one elaborate sting operation to throw an early panel off its game. I kid.

We talked way too much Twitter. There, I said it. All of us know that. I definitely believe there were some valuable global themes about Twitter that we broached (i.e. making it more than a “me” moment so your opinion carries more weight when it’s time to Tweet that thought-provoking column on your site). Ideally, these general themes would have spilled over into more complementary tools and applications that have helped us all create and maintain independent, online brands. Alas, it didn’t, really.

The Silver Lining…

One post-conference gripe was that our panel largely misgauged our audience and we talked too high level, instead of getting into the technical weeds. This was one panel that a lot of people were anticipating because it was one of the few panels that presented the possibility to talk specifically about the “hows”… instead of the “whys.” The silver lining of this misstep is that the informal nature of the conference allowed many of you to approach myself and Dan Levy (OnTheDLPodcast) about various technical issues in and around podcasting. Hit me up at [e-mail] for additional thoughts—whether they’re technical or you have a “Saved by the Bell” trivia question.  Really; I love the geek talk.

All four of our panel members have tremendously different backgrounds and digital footprints. Ultimately, the goal of our panel was to spark discussion between each other and the audience via a Q&A to show some commonality between what we all do on a daily basis.

There’s Still Time for Redemption, Right?

There were some effective themes that I believe came out of our panel. Here are a few that directly involved me, because I don’t want to misquote any of my peers’ thoughts and opinions.

—There exists a separation of concern between underlying personalities and what an audience reads on their screen. Ultimately, content will rule in our world; not certifications, degrees, age or sex appeal. If something is consistently good, you’ll stick around. If it’s not, your readers have millions (literally) of supplements. If you find content entertaining and informative, it will rule over personalities.

—While I presented the aforementioned argument, the other panelists made fantastic arguments that current tools such as Twitter and Flickr have made it possible to provide insights into the underlying personalities, which can serve as an effective complement to content.

—Current services such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr provide the publisher and consumer with immediate gratification. They are “now” tools. While they are extremely useful to grow/maintain a brand, there are two “past” and “future” tools that I believe provide substantial insight into growing your online community.

• Google Analytics: tracks website statistics. If you’re not using Google Analytics (or something like it), you’re probably consistently wondering or asking yourself, “How do I know what my readers want?” Google Analytics will tell you, if you spend time looking at it. I look at it everyday when I wake up. What users typing into search engines like Google and Yahoo! to get to JoeSportsFan.com, what pages are being hit the most…and more importantly, which pages people are leaving the most. This knowledge is extremely valuable to learn more about your readership.
• Google Reader: an RSS feed aggregator. While Google Analytics tells you things about readers who are already at your site, Google Reader will help you identify what other people/websites are talking about. Extremely valuable. I rarely actually “go” to some of my favorite websites and blogs. They’re all in my Google Reader. I can scroll through and read everything much more efficiently than going to each website. And setting up search feeds will notify you when other people are talking about similar things as you.
• Twitter Trends: similar to RSS Search Feeds, this will help you identify what/how people are talking about topics that pertain to you and your readership.

Moderation of “Make It Your Day Job”

Fortunately, the aforementioned exchange wasn’t my lone stamp on the day’s activities.  I was asked to moderate a diverse group of guys, including Spencer Hall, Matt Cerrone, Jason McIntrye, Greg Wyshynski and John Ness.  What a group.  I moderated it similarly to how we conduct our weekly podcast roundtable; quick-fire questions that elicit short responses.  It seemed to be a breath of fresh air for the room, who was beginning to get sluggish from the endless supply of Guinness.

Make no mistake about it, this group would’ve been amazing without my interactions and I believe they showed the entire room why they get paid full-time for this.  They’re funny, spontaneous, creative and witty—in person, in addition to written word.

Conclusion

If nothing else came out of the day, I knew it would be pleasing to meet some of the personalities that we’ve been reading, emailing and exchanging ideas with over the past 4 years.  That certainly held true and I look forward to the next event.

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