Well it has been almost one whole month since the New Media Expo, so I should probably get around to writing that post about it, right? I mean, I bought business cards and everything!
Going to Las Vegas for the NME was a crazy weird thing for me to do. I've only been blogging since about April, so it was a tad ... premature. But I rationalized it with "I'll learn so much!" Okay, I did actually learn a lot about social media, but more through relative proximity than anything else. Oh and did I mention I was the only person there who didn't bring their laptop. Doi! Noob alert, noob alert.
Since I didn't spend the $400 for the conference, I just roamed the main hall and eavesdropped on conversations mostly. I definitely felt out of place as I didn't know most of the movers and shakers, nor even recognize them. Chris Brogan who? Lots of people were doing slo-mo run and hugs across the room with each other. I also lacked a T-shirt with my logo on it. Fuck! Apparently business cards are SO old media.
Not to mention the fact that as an internet grrrl I was dressed all wrong in a sweater dress and wedge sandals. I was supposed to be wearing shorts and flip-flops with my logo t-shirt. I never got that phone call. See how out of the loop I am? I better go follow @ijustine so I don't make that mistake again.
Eventually I borrowed someone's pass (thanks @kspidel!) and sat in on a talk. The guy had clip art and Paint up on the projector, showing different ways to make logos for your website. A parrot and a clip art shack were involved. I lasted about 5 minutes. The nice man at the door gave me a handful of sound-effect CDs as I left so it wasn't all bad.
The weirdest part of the expo was how mismatched the talks versus vendors were. I heard that the talks were very basic for most of the people attending, and the vendors were all pitching very advanced/high end stuff, for the most part. Giant mixing board thingies the size of VW Bugs, microphones Mariah Carey would use, etc. Also, where were the scads of nerdy gadgets? Some vendor could have had a field day: all these geeks with money in their pockets. Do you know how much cab fare to Best Buy costs, from the Strip?!
I know I go on and on about Seesmic and video conferencing (and on) but meeting my Seesmic cronies was the highlight of my trip.
I find the ever-increasing transparency of the internet fascinating. I continue to proselytize that video media is an amazing advancement. After seeing someone talk and drink coffee on video, you really do feel more at ease around them. The only downside? When you've watched someone's videos but they haven't ever seen yours and you scare the crap out of them with your creepy over-familiarity (sorry @MissSomething!).
Oh yeah, and I got to meet VinVin. No really, the VinVin. I don't know why I'm smiling like I still have braces. Shock and awe maybe?
Luckily I had my flip with me to record all the expo-y goodness. God I love my flip, best $140 bucks I ever spent.
So I got home and realized I'd only shot about 5 minutes of footage, mostly at Coverville and a tiny bit on the floor of the expo. So if it looks like all we're doing in the ensuing video is drinking, goofing off, and sitting around, that is my excuse. It's "social" media, we had to be social, right? At least I managed to capture all the important stuff. The poster fight that's already been shown from every angle, @documentally and @VinVin being silly, @langley's suit. You know, the biggies!
An Expo-sion! of New Media (the recap) from mayjah on Vimeo.
PS: I also put the video up on Youtube, but I like Vimeo's embeddable player better. Not to mention the fact that you can actually (gasp) upload a thumbnail of your choice! If you'd rather watch it on Youtube, it's here: An Expo-sion! of New Media.
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