BACK FROM BLOGWORLD

I've just returned from the BlogWorld and New Media Expo (#bwe09) in Las Vegas. It was a huge conference--about 5,000 attendees, I gather. I've never attended an event before where at least 70% of the audience was typing away on their laptops during the sessions and in the halls at break time. Electrical outlets with room for one more charger were harder to find than sober guys at a bowling convention. These were definitely some plugged-in people.

BlogWorld organizers created a number of different content tracks targeted to specific users. Since much of the conference was designed for bloggers, there was a track for military bloggers, one for real estate blogs, a track on blog monetization (making money from your blog), and a "mommy" blogger track. Who knew that mommy bloggers were such a widely recognized force that there is now an "ethical code of practice" for them? Apparently some companies provide free products and other considerations to high-profile mommy bloggers in order to win favorable comments, hence the risk of ethical conflicts.

There was a separate track for social media, and that's where I spent most of my time. I wanted to learn more about how businesses and organizations are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasting and other online communications tools.

I was a little surprised at the informality of the sessions. Out of the seven or eight sessions that I attended, only one included a formal presentation (with Powerpoint slides) on the topic. The others consisted of panels with three or four people each, mostly answering questions from the audience. Answering questions is a good thing, but I found myself wishing that these sessions had included at least a short initial presentation from each of the panel experts. Audience questions don't always hit the topics the speakers know best.

The informality became a bigger problem during the first day's luncheon. The "luncheon keynote" speaker was Scott Monty from Ford Motor Co. Monty has been one of the driving forces behind Ford's blogging and social media efforts. I would have enjoyed hearing him speak about the successes and failures associated with those initiatives.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to hear Scott Monty--or to see him, for that matter. Instead of having the guy stand up at a podium where he could be seen, they had him sitting down on the platform to be "interviewed" by a moderator. Neither person could be seen. To make matters worse, the sound system was so poor that neither speaker could be heard either.

In addition, they began the program at the start of the luncheon service. So instead of focusing on the speakers, the audience was busy getting served, passing the rolls and butter, asking for beverages, and trying to figure out whether their coffee cups were to the right or left of their plates. It was virtually impossible to give the speaker our undivided attention.

Periodically, the poor moderator demanded silence, but it was impossible. Midway through the presentation, someone had the brains to turn up the mikes so she and Scott Monty could be heard, but by then it was too late. Half of the audience had finished lunch and left, while the other half stayed out of courtesy, most checking their e-mail on cell phones or browsing the latest on Twitter.

In a way, this was reflective of the tone of the entire conference. Informality is great, and generally I'm in favor of less structure rather than more. However, informality at the expense of content is counterproductive. The Web 2.0 generation is mostly kids under 35 (these days, everyone under 50 is a kid to me), and I love their creative energy and confident command of the new technologies. But maybe just a little more structure in the interests of effective content delivery would be beneficial.

On the other hand, maybe this just isn't the right conference for people like me. As my sister says, "You need a journal that has lines on the page, I need one without lines. That's the difference between us."

If this conference had had a few more lines on the page, I would have enjoyed it more. And I bet many more people would have heard what Scott Monty had to say.