And Then There Was 2010 BlogWorldExpo: #bwe10

I’ve been going to BlogWorldExpo since it began. An event dedicated to all things blogging, online content and social media, it gathers bloggers who flock to SXSW in the Spring, mom and parenting bloggers who flock to BlogHer in August, and geek bloggers who flock to (or should I say are addicted to) social media and technology events every month.

The event, now at over 3,000 attendees, also attracts generalists, travel bloggers, marketing execs, blogging solution & tool vendors, and big brands trying to make an impact on the blogosphere on and offline.

A few highlights: I sampled saffron paella fresh off the Jenn-Air stage, met celebrity chef Manoushka Guerrier (Single Serving) of Food Network's Private Chefs of Beverly Hills, and sat next to interesting and engaging Erik Trinidad at a dinner who came up with a creative blog brand: Fancy Fast Food. His USP? He essentially takes fast food and makes it 'look' fabulous. Food had a bigger play this year at BlogWorld. Check out my summary post on We Blog the World, listing some of the topics and speakers.

One booth souped up dark chocolate espresso and gourmet coffee and Macallan Single Malt Whiskey was giving away samples, who btw, had two hired guns manning the booth, one of whom was not a whiskey drinker and a second who drank another brand. 

Held in the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay, several tracks take place simultaneously down 3 long hallways, while activity buzzes in the exhibit hall nearby. Adjoining the exhibit hall is what they refer to as a New Media Lounge, where podcasts and video interviews took place and bloggers connected for live posting, photo uploads and managing email overflow.

In from around the world were bloggers from Japan, Australia, New Zealand (Darren Rowse from ProBlogger), Scotland (Ewan Spence), Germany (Nicole Simon), Ireland (Irish Polyglot), Poland, Argentina and hundreds of others. Babette Pepaj from Bakespace co-organized the food track which also drew lifestyle and travel bloggers, including travel blogger Gary Arndt who I rarely get to see but thanks to this annual blogging event, we were able to catch up. Below, Dave Peck with the Meshin folks at the Jason Falls meet-up.

I ran into Technorati’s CEO Richard Jalichandra and a bunch of blogger pals from LA who cover everything from relationships, sex, boomers, aging and fitness to politics, entertainment, music and travel. TWIT’s Leo Laporte was conducting interviews as was Marsha Collier on the show floor for a few hours each day. Below, Renee Blodgett, Leo Laporte and Barbara Rozgonyi.

Panel discussions were broad, ranging from photography tips, SEO for blogs, digital crisis communications, money trail, podcasts, social media policies, Internet Radio, blogging platforms and travel videos to non-profits, politics, education, parenting, mobile vlogging, Social CRM, travel pornand creating a blog network.

Barry Moltz spoke on how to utilize the speaking game to leverage your brand and blog, how to capitalize on it by using speaking to the blog revenue pie. He emphasizes three things everyone 'must have down' - what's your bio, what's your brand and what's your promise? Video of the session to follow tomorrow. Below Joseph Morin who did a bang-up job with Social Rewards all week and Steve Hall.

Countless official and unofficial parties were held every night, after all….it is Las Vegas, so it’s a great opportunity for sponsors to tap into the no rules policy or at least limited rules, where drinks can be served into the wee hours of the morning, people can drink on the streets and leave restaurants with a glass of wine in their hands, and people’s inhibitions are fluid and loose at best.

Below a little glitz and glam at the Techset opening party.

Party hopping is part of the blogging conference culture and not unlike SXSW, I got the sense each and every night, that attendees were desperately looking for the next bash after each one ended. Social Rewards held Luxor suite receptions and scavenger-hunt like exercises were an integral part of participating. Thanks Luxor & Joseph Morin.

You were given clues and links to scour through and questions to answer and ultimately you were given information albeit vague, about where the party was held. It had a fun, gaming kind of flavor to it, which was perfect for any Las Vegas venue and brands like the Las Vegas Luxor, Sony, Ford (kudos to Scott Monty -- @scottmonty -- who won an award this week), PopChips and others were able to tap into the subsequent buzz that flowed from the events each night.

Whoah, Gregory Feinstein has his hands full at the Mashable bash. So did everyone else btw.

Client CarWoo!, an inexpensive, private and efficient way to buy a new car online, threw a women’s blogger event, to celebrate their launch at Digital Dealer, a car event which started a few days earlier at the Mirage. Below Heather Meeker and Marsha Collier arrive from the massive black hummer limo.

The hummer limo picked up the girls at the Mandalay Bay for a little off-site food, champagne, wine, make-up from the team at FRESH and poker tips from Shore Slocum. Below, inside the limo, 25 or more of us were packed in with champagne bottles and glasses. Oh yeah and note the fabulous pair of red boots. Below, Renee Blodgett, Beth Kanter.

Below, the FRESH team 'refresh' attendees.

Below Pepsi's Social Media guru Bonin Bough at the Mashable party

The Bellagio’s Yellowtail Restaurant hosted a tasting for some of the food, wine and travel bloggers, so I couldn’t resist.

Award-winning chef Akira Back put together a myriad of dishes that included Jidori chicken with potato puree and garlic cream, Scottish Salmon with yuzu lemon, duck prosciutto with pickles and micro beets, seared Hokkaido Scallops with cherry tomatoes and mustard potato puree, Alaskan King Crab with rock shrimp, spicy-citrus aioli, grilled walu with shiitake mushrooms & pearl onions and braised kobe beef short ribs.

A more in-depth review of the tasting can be found here, including a handful of fabulous food photos I took on-site. Thanks Lightgroup -- @lightgroup and @bakespace. 

PopChips also drew in some of the foodies at a nearby after bash, where they promoted a Twitter quiz to get the word out about their brand.

Keynotes this year included Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Jim Louderback, Susan Bratton and Dermot McCormack, Karen Hughes, Reid Wilson and Dick Glover. The last panel of the event was a cross between a talk-show format and a Q&A. Moderated by Rob Barnett, Adam Carolla, Penn Jillette from Penn & Teller, Mark Malkoff, Cali Lewis and Jeffrey Hayzlett discussed what works and doesn't with new media.

They were all bluntly entertaining about new media, old media, and where online is heading. Penn said of Twitter on-stage that it is one of the most intimate vehicles we have today to communicate, connect and engage.

He overtly compared it to the countless impersonal and often fake physical exchanges we have with people at cocktail parties and other events. Intimacy at its best he feels and goes on to explain how he uses Twitter.  He says that he tweets all of his own stuff and rarely retweets other people’s thoughts, one of the reasons he thinks he has a popular and widespread following (@pennjillette has over 1.6 million followers at last check). 

I would bet it also has a little to do with the fact that he is a national if not international entertainer celebrity, not to mention has a very sarcastic and in-your-face, bold personality. It’s so surprise that America eats him up, since yanks are typically drawn to the eclectic, the brash, the tough and the bold in my experience. Check out this video from the floor and this blog post that captures nearly all of the panel discussion in a three part video -- subsequent videos can be found in a separate blog post and on YouTube. 

Thanks for the encouragement & your conviction Andrea Metcalf - @andreametcalf. (Taken at the Palms).

Tech Karaoke closed the event on Saturday night at the Palms Hotel. It was held in a large threatre with cinema-like chairs perched on an angle and the stage was roughly 4.5 feet from the ground, giving those brave enough to sing in from of their blogging peers, plenty of space and height to really feel their 3-5 minutes of fame.

Chris Noble did a little Elvis, Amanda Coolong did a little PINK and the iSocket guys did a little exercise – impressive push-ups and all. Looking forward to next year. Kudos to Rick and his team!

Below, the tech karaoke audience get a 'little' excited and take in the energy from on-stage.

On the stage, participants play full out. For example, who knew that the iSocket guys were so talented (and so strong?)

Lewis Howes, Renee Blodgett and Larry Benet in the Southwest Airlines booth on the show floor.

There was definitely a little Las Vegas energy and color at the Mashable bash. And, Liquid didn't close until 5 am. (there's a reason shows are more interesting outside the Bay Area)

Girls will be girls.

Leaving the Klout party to go hang out with Jason for a bit.

We all danced on stage (well sort of) at the Mashable bash which was still roaring when I left at nearly 2 am.

Inside the Venetian Hotel along the strip.

Sugar Jones and Marla Schulman

@Zaneology wore these incredible nylons that were sure to make a statement and then some not to mention being incredibly appropriate for a blogging conference.

CarWoo's CEO Tommy McClung at the end of a very long night.

Kris Krug, Deb Shultz

 

@Dadarocks

Thanks for shooting the girls Calvin (@mayhemstudios) and for organizing Babette (@bakespace). Taken at the Bellagio on a gorgeous night.

More Mashable fun. Ben Parr was missed (@benparr).

Mashable's Brett Petersel and TechZulu's Efran Toscano

@drnatalie rocks!

Sugar Jones, Ask Dave (Taylor), Oliver Starr, Renee Blodgett, Roseann Higgins

Chris Noble (@cfnoble) graced us with Elvis. (really good Elvis - who knew he could belt out a tune like he can?)

More late night tech-karaoke at the Palms.

 

 

Go Sheila Dowd. It was indeed a lot of work but a helluva lot of fun too! :-)

Because Ken Yeung (@thekenyeung) shoots as much as I do and then some. And he's really good. Smile.

At the Techset bash, David Spark, Renee Blodgett @magicsaucemedia, Pat Jenkins of Uptake and Michael Tchong of @ubercool.

Digg's Emily Crume on left.

The iSocket guys:

  

The PopChips Event.

Photos Galore of BlogWorld's Mashable Bash & Tech-Karaoke: #bwe10

The Mashable late night bash at BlogWorldExpo in Las Vegas this past weekend.

Steve Hall:

 

For more photos from the Mashable bash, check out the We Blog the World Flickr stream. Below are some shots from the late-night tech-karaoke party at the Palms. For more shots of the Tech-Karaoke, go to the same stream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MC Hammer & Dancers HOT on Stage

Imagine you're into rap, hip hop and dance. Imagine you're into creativity, fabulous footwork and high energy. Imagine being able to move, jam and jive among a group who live and breathe this? I recently had an opportunity -- together with a few dozen others from the Silicon Valley technology community -- to jam with MC Hammer and his rivoting dancers on stage. (and I mean rivoting on top of being beautiful and perfectly sculpted!)

MC Hammer took the stage at the Google-sponsored Techcrunch Disrupt after party this past week in San Francisco. The shindig was partly to celebrate the AOL acquisition of Techcrunch (congrats to Mike, Heather & TC team) and partly, just to have fun and perhaps prove that techies know how to jam and more importantly like to. As a lover of dance and dancer myself, there is no better joy than to be what I refer to as "in-zone" -- on or off-stage.

When the music and energy takes over, nothing else exists except you and the music.....you and the beat. I was so caught up in the beat at one point that I didn't even realize MC Hammer was rapping and dancing right next to me until I saw video clips of it later.

MC Hammer hasn't lost his edge and both his female and male dancers are so impressive, so engaging and so passionate about their art, that you can't help but tap, move, clap and shout. You'll see what I mean by taking a look at the random shots of MC and group in action I took from front-row center below:

 

Ubergizmo's Digital Summer: August 25: #DS2010

I'm a fan of Ubergizmo's content and their annual Digital Summer event, now in its second year. Last year, they drew hundreds of people to their August event in San Francisco, where movers-and-shakers in the area of technology, fashion, design and media converged.

Digital Summer's mission is to bring together technology exhibitors and art exhibitors (photographers, artists, fashion designers, designers, music artists) in a unique setting and it works, a refreshing blend in a city largely known for tech only -- all the time.

In fact, both worlds rarely mix and each has a lot to gain by doing so. Promoting promising artists, designers, photographers and emerging technologies is the underlying motivation of producing Digital Summer. Additionally, Digital Summer aims to promote women and their access to technology, both as users and as professionals. Rock on and kudos to producer Eliane Fiolet and her team.

This year, the event will be held on August 25th, 2010. Among the unique features of this one-of-a-kind event is a live runway fashion show showcasing designers Colleen Quen Couture, Jan Warnock, Harputs OWN and Sofie Olgaard. Manika Jewelry will provide the jewelry and attendees will also have a chance to enjoy a professional photo-shoot.

Attendees can register here and for the social media addicts among us, the Twitter hash is #DS2010, so tweet up a storm - it's an event worth tweeting about.

The program will include sponsors like Intel, who will showcase the future of fashion display and Verizon Wireless where you'll get an opportunity to try out their latest 3G smartphones. You can get a hands-on demo of the Droid X by Motorola and the Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot.

Other cool things and a call-to-action, or should I say, "eco-action" -- attendees are encouraged to bring their old phones for recycling through the Verizon Wireless HopeLine Program, where the contributed phones will be refurbished or recycled in an environmentally friendly way. With the funds raised from the sale of the refurbished phones, Verizon Wireless supports non-profit organizations providing vital services to domestic violence survivors.

We Blog the World is a proud media sponsor of this exciting event that promises to surprise and entertain.

TechCrunch Social Currency Meets August Capital Summer Bash

TechCrunch's Social Currency one-day event merged into an evening on August Capital's deck on Sandhill Road in Menlo Park. The event brought out the movers-and-shakers of the Valley innovating the nuts and bolts of social, Web 2.0, Enterprise in the cloud, social payments, aggregation, mobile, geo-loco and more.

Dave Marcus, CEO of Zong

TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld

Yelp's Jeremy Stoppelman

Yelp and Google Discussion

Eventbrite's Kevin Hartz

Mike Arrington

Arrington interviews Playdom's CEO John Pleasants

Ron Martinez, Brett Bullington at TechCrunch August Capital after party

Shervin Pishevar on Social Gaming Panel

Echo's Chris Saad

John Pleasants

Jennifer Aaker, Hopelab

Wandia Chiuri, Renee Blodgett

SFNewTech Big Summer Social

On Friday night, SF New Tech's (Endless) Summer Social was held in the beautiful gardens of Stonebrook Court in Los Altos Hills, CA.   

David Lucatch demos Itibiti

Brian Zisk on right

Di-Ann Eisnor, Waze, Renee Blodgett, Magic Sauce Media

Myles Weissleder draws a name for a tablet Itibiti gives away

On left, Stephanie Block

July 25, 2010 in Events, San Francisco, Social Gigs & Parties, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 16, 2010

NetShelter Gathers a Great Crowd

NetShelter Technology Media, had a networking bash at San Francisco's ROE on Howard Street last night. NetShelter pioneered the concept of the vertical media network and has passed CNET to become the #1 tech news web property online. They now reach 18 percent of the total U.S. online audience, have 37 million U.S. unique visitors and 108 million monthly unique visitors globally, according to comScore.

Pat Houston, Dana Oshiro

July 16, 2010 in America The Free, On Blogging, On Journalism, San Francisco, Social Gigs & Parties, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 24, 2010

First Round Capital Draws the Best Again and Again

First Round Capital pulled off yet another top notch party last night at La Mar on The Embarcadero in San Francisco. Their events always draw the best in the industry not just because their team has connections in nearly every technology segment on both the east and west coasts, but because of their attitude and culture.

Their events are inclusive - after all, where else do you see a VC firm throw a high profile networking event and find a number of their competitors on the guest list? Sure, some of them may be firms they co-invest with, but that's not the point. They find some of the smartest and most innovative minds in the industry, and they're really really good at it. For this culture to thrive, it makes sense to continuously surround yourself with other like-minds so magic can happen again and again and again.

The gathering included entrepreneurs like Mitch Kapor and early investors like Ron Conway and Jeff Clavier, as well as respected VCs like David Hornik and David Stern. Blogger Ben Parr was there as were partnership guys from MSN and HBO. Then there were product innovators from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple and start-ups across countless sectors including social games, online video, social media, enterprise CRM, analytics, mobile and geo-location based services. Hats off to the First Round Capital team for an incredible bash!

Chris Fralic, Loic Le Meur, Flurry's Simon Khalaf

Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Kent Lindstrom

Jason Calacanis, Howard Morgan

Thomas Payne, Thor Muller

Andrew Lee, Jam Legend

Ian Eure, Simple Geo and Michael Wyszomierski, Google

Barney Pell, Simeon Simeonov

Chris Poole of Canvas and Matt Weeks

Ed Zsehau, Antonio (@antoniusego) and Mark Goines

Debbie Landa, Ben Parr

KG Charles, Renee Blodgett

Google's Benjamin Kott

Peter Farago, Kamal Shah

Other industry peeps who showed up included: @joshk @hlmorgan @chrisfralic @robhayes (hosts) @bambi100 @davidhornik @davemcclure @tjsassani @ryanshea12 @mh @mager @sacca @jason @benparr @hirshberg @edzsehau @markgoines @antoniusego @sfly @mattweeks @fanfeedr @tyahma @fotobabble @edanuff @roizen @danielgruneberg @abrams @tommypjr @kentlind @hirshberg @andrewdlee @ronconway @jeff @clevergirl @laughingsquid @jalichandra @voicestar @mkapor @barneyp @jacobyryan @tolles @lindastone and over a hundred others.

June 24, 2010 in America The Free, Events, On Technology, Social Gigs & Parties, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

June 09, 2010

Or Matias Plays a Mean Piano

I had the pleasure of chatting with and listening to Or Matias on piano at this year's Israel Conference. Listen to his story and his music.

June 9, 2010 in Events, Israel, Music, Social Gigs & Parties, Videos | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 05, 2010

The Faces of D8: All Things Digital

This year, the annual D: All Things Digital Conference, now in its 8th year, was alive and kicking. Last week, D8 attracted some of the most powerful and interesting people in the technology and media industries. Below is a sample of some of the faces and energies I came across in my path at this year's event, which was held at a new venue this year - Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, California.

A very passionate James Cameron (Canadian Film Director) says Avatar was the most powerful film and cites childhood, "I always liked nature and describes his connection to it. The creation of Avatar is a result of that connection. Note: I preferred his hair a tad longer.

Google's David Krane and Yossi Vardi

Klaus Schauser, Michael Miller

Ev Williams, Jen Limm

Natasha Benningfield sings on opening night

Jill Sobule, Renee Blodgett

Claudia Cineceros from Cisco, Quentin Hardy from Forbes

Qualcomm's CEO Paul Jacobs

John Donahoe of eBay

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg sweats up a storm

John Doerr

Katie Boehret, Walt Mossberg

Lonely Planet's Matt Goldberg

Shireen Piramoon, NBC's Ramona Schindelheim, Annie Pong, Renee Blodgett (far right)

Walt Mossberg on D8 stage

Dan Gillmor, Larry Magid

Energy Post Cameron Talk

Chris Alden of Wordpress, DemandMedia's Richard Rosenblatt

The Thomson Reuters Party

Rob Hayes, Nat Goldhaber

John Battelle

Ellen Levy from LinkedIn, Alex Daniels from HBO

Pana.ma's David Hayden demos to Answers.com's Bob Rosenschein

Vinod Khosla

Steve Case

Dick Hillenbrand, Shervin Pishevar

Watching a magician at work

Steve Jobs

Asa Mathat, IDG's Bob Carrigan

Rob Glaser

Roger McNamee before his demo

Murdoch kicks things off

Jim Louderback, Bernee Strom

Larry and Patti Magid, Rick Smolan

Barrons' Eric Savitz

Brett Wayn

More James Cameron

More Steve Jobs

June 5, 2010 in Conference Highlights, Events, On Technology, PR & Marketing, Social Gigs & Parties, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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