RSS Feed Made Real

Wow. Talk about weird. To interact on a daily basis with a cadre of smart people, via their blogs, is cool by itself. But it’s a real mindmelt when you meet most of them, for the first time, in person, on the same day.

Susan Getgood noted, “If someone dropped a bomb on the Venetian today, you could say ‘g’bye’ to the PR blogosphere.”

I haven’t had a chance to meet everyone yet, but it’s been cool just seeing them walk the halls. I’ve had the chance to chitchat for the first time with Kami Huyse, K.D. Paine, Phil Gomes, Tom Foremski, Joseph Thornley, etc. (Always good to see Chris Heuer, too, who as always looks like the busiest guy in the room.)

I was lucky enough to grab lunch with Mike Manuel, David Parmet, Brian Oberkirch, Jen McClure, Shel Israel, Debbie Weil and JD Lasica, among others. I didn’t even get to talk to ‘em all at the table but it was surreal just sittin’ there.

It was like someone snapped their fingers and transformed my RSS feed into a lunch meeting.

There’s a Flikr group if you want to see a bunch of these deep thinkers in the surreal environment of Las Vegas.

Apparently the NewComm Forum is growing by leaps and bounds: I heard that attendence was close to 500 today, up from less than 200 last time around. A good showing for a good show.

UPDATE: Following a lively panel discussion on the Social Media Press Release, I had a round of drinks with Adam Zand of Topaz, Tom Foremski, Brian Solis, and a PRNewswire rep. This was followed by a late-night dinner with Shel Israel, Kami Watson Huyse, David Parmet (and his lovely wife), Joseph Thornley, Michael Sommermeyer and Josh Hallett. Call it name-dropping, call it linklove; either way, the Social Media movement is full of fun, interesting, enthusiastic people.

Last note… although this was my first NewComm Forum, many of the veteran attendees noted that the crowds were more “corporate” than ever. This doesn’t mean that the suits want to mess things up; everyone I talked to from the corporate side seemed genuinely eager to learn; to be more open and candid.

Posted on: March 8, 2007 at 4:25 pm By Todd Defren

Adam Zand says:

March 12, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Todd,
I’ve been dropping notes on recap blogs by Kami, Giovanni, Chip Griffin, but I saved a real good one for last – after this I’m off comments for a bit as I’ve got to get a semblance of client work done this week ;-] …

It was a blast seeing you, Brian Solis, BusWire’s Laura Sturaitis and the affable, approachable, accomplished Tom Foremski at the press release panel, but even better spending down time with you and the crowd at Tao.

Hey wait: how could you forget the delightful Cathy Summers joining us at Tao for drinks and apps on Thursday night/Friday morning?!

If you can talk your way out of this glaring omission, you are my new PR god named Todd!

I look forward to seeing lots of the PR Squared lurkers/posters and New Comm Forum alumni in Boston this December for SNCR Research or in the meantime on the blogs!
Cheers, Adam

P.S. While George Vazquez of PR Newswire was another great guest at our Tao table (even though I questioned the wire services $upport of $ocial media $ervices), I can’t tell you the name of my friend from Thrivent Financial as I might pitch him for new biz ;-0

Todd Defren says:

March 12, 2007 at 9:16 am

Max – Do “corporate PR folks really know how to handle” Social/Viral media? No, not yet, not so much – which is the point of the Conference, eh? To get them thinking.

Amanda – If you were at the show, why not say hello?

Mike & Ike & John – you were missed.

Nathan – I’ll check out your blog!

Steve Krizman says:

March 11, 2007 at 11:55 pm

Max: As one of the corporate PR guys who helped swell attendance at this conference, let me answer your question. No, we don’t really know how to handle viral media. But most of us there are ready to start figuring it out. We were curious when we came to Vegas, and I for one leave energized.