Somehow when I get home from a conference, I sit here in front of my computer and I try to think about how the hell I will distill the real-life experience into a blog post.
Quite honestly, I’ve never been able to do it - and I don’t think I ever will.
There is something simply unexplainable as to why the relationships we make online are made infinitely stronger when we take these relationships to the next level offline. I have some dang strong relationships with people I have never met. At the same time, I have stronger relationships now with people I talked with for 10 minutes than I do with some readers who have been hanging around here for months.
All of this only covers meeting people I consider my peers. This is where ‘Rawking’ SXSW kicks in - because not everyone at SXSW is someone I consider a peer. Honestly, I had more than one ten fangirl moments as I got to meet and connect with people I consider role models and leaders in our industry. I swooned over Heather Armstrong (she’s amazingly sweet and approachable), dined with Shel Israel, lunched with Brian Clark (recently named as one of the 50th most powerful blogs on the internet), and hooked up with Hugh MacLeod via Twitter as we were waiting in the Austin airport at 5:00am. Plus I got to hang out with friends like Tamar Weinberg, Shoemoney, ProBlogger, Liz Strauss, Sheila Scarborough, Rick Calvert, Aruni, Laura from Sk-rt and ‘Queen of Spain’ Erin Kotecki Vest (among so many others).
You may think I am name dropping at this point - and I am. But I’m not claiming to be anyone special by saying I got to hang out with these superstars - I’m saying it because if you were there you would have been able to do the exact same thing. And connecting with these people that are so incredibly intelligent, talented, influential and friendly quite honestly brings out the best in me as well.
You may have noticed by now that I haven’t even mentioned speaking on my Online Advertising for Newbies panel yet with Darren Rowse. Honestly, it was a fantastic session, and when SXSW releases the podcast I’ll make a permanent place for it around here - it was an excellent primer in moving your blog beyond AdSense and Amazon.
Photo by Tris Hussy - see the rest of his most excellent SXSW photo set.
And you’d think that speaking at SXSW was a highlight of the conference. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but the true highlight of the conference happened not in the sessions or in the keynotes, but in the hallways.
Our business - social media & blogging - is all about the conversation, business and personal. And I wish I could describe what it is like to move the conversation off of the internet and into a room with real people you can hug, laugh with, and connect with on an emotional level. The conversations we have online together are amazing - but if you aren’t going to conferences, you’re missing out on half of the experience of social media.
I guess it boils down to this :: “Social” comes before “Media” for a reason. And as much as we love to talk tech, it’s the people that make this industry amazing - the technology is just our platform. It was an honor to hang with everyone at SXSW this week - I hope I can pay forward the awesomeness that rubbed off on me.
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Gosh, how I would love to be able to go to one these. Why must money always be an issue! If I had an idea of what it actually costs, then I might could save up for one some day.
I can only imagine what could be learned at one these. I thrive on information;)
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So awesome to meet you Wendy. You are so right that face to face meetings bring relationships to the next level. I look forward to getting to know you even more and growing our businesses together.
It was fabulous just watching along in soem people’s blogs. I think actually being there would cause me to become incoherent. :d
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@Lori - I find that if I can speak at the event, they are quite affordable - all I have to pay is my travel expenses. It really is worth it to both try to get there AND to speak - consider it!
@Aruni - amen, my friend! Am thinking about it a lot lately, actually.
@Andrea - honestly, I got to a point on the third day that my mind was on info overload - couldn’t stuff more info in, and couldn’t find the right info to pull out because it was so crammed!
Oh Wendy, I would freeze up like an icecube! Also, I wouldn’t have clue what to speak about. I’m just a mom with 3 blogs earning money here and there;)
Lori’s last blog post..Unique in Their Own Way
Oh, Lori, you have to realize that I’m just a mom with 3 kids and 3 blogs earning money too.
Yeap! We are relational beings first and foremost. The Web engages our heads and (sometimes) our hearts, but never our bodies and physical energy.
Being a green blogger, I can’t help but make a green analogy. People can talk about global warming and stuff forever, but until they actually start physically doing things, and engaging with other people in their physical networks, will change really start. Got to take your kids on a walk, or a bike ride. Start gardening and getting in touch with nature. Rediscover the sensual pleasure of the smell of line-dried clothes . . . Alone, but even better as shared activities with your kids, your family. Green social networks, and green blogs can only go so far.
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LOL…good point Wendy!
Lori’s last blog post..Unique in Their Own Way
Even though you feel as though you can’t fully verbalize your experiences, I love reading them when you come home! I get excited by your excitement and feel pumped up and ready to go forward! And in going forward - I get closer and closer to going to a conference myself!
I’m hoping IZEAFest will be my first!
And you have an UBERLY quotable line in this post - I’m so quoting it tomorrow! Must sleep now, though.
Thanks for sharing with us!!
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oh my gosh i totally know the staring at the computer
“how do I explain this” feeling after attending these huge conferences - in recent years I have tried to find 10 things that rocked my world and it gets my stream of thoughts going, at least to where I can be coherant - you really hit the nail on the head for me though by simply saying it’s what occurs in the hallways — I think that’s totally true - i watched this conference SXSW from afar and thought what would this be like for me to be in this mix of folks… well in the mix with folks like you wendy, and found myself getting queezy. Similarily I have this talk in my head of what I could speak about to a bloggy group and then go back into that little ‘ol me place and think what could I possibly say that would make a difference to another blogger. And yet these uncomfortable places are what have us get to the next layer - don’t they ?? Hey — will I get to meet you at SobCono8?? I look very forward to the advertising for newbies piece
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