Las Vegas :: Thinking Home Business | Practical Tips For People Who Work From Home

With the merger late last year of BlogWorld Expo and New Media Expo, BlogWorld Expo this coming October 15-17 in Las Vegas promises to be bigger and better than ever.

The BlogWorld conference proper is again being held over two days, 16-17, preceded as in the past two years by an Executive and Entrepreneur Day, October 15. The Expo runs over the two days of the main conference, October 16-17.

On his Mediasphere program today on BlogTalkRadio, host Jim Turner announced that a new program is being launched on BlogTalkRadio, this coming Friday as I understand, to focus on BlogWorld Expo 09.

Twitter Session, standing room only: BlogWorld Expo 08. Picture by Dave Cynkin via Flickr – Creative Commons.

Having participated for two years in a row now in BlogWorld and New Media Expo, I can attest that the event provides a singular opportunity for bloggers, podcasters and others in the industry to get together, compare notes, learn, catch up with new developments, network – and party. Yes, there are great parties!

Nor are the expo and conference just for practitioners and enthusiasts from the industry. One of the aspects I enjoyed last year and the year before was meeting people who were basically new to blogging and other forms of social media and had come to learn. I’m sure that will be repeated this year.

I’m hoping too that there will be a bigger international contingent than previously.

Some of the content on the web site still refers to 2008. For example, if you want to submit a proposal to present a session at the conference, be aware that the bulk of the information on the page, including deadlines, belongs to 2008: however, it is a good guide to what is expected. The page carries a promise that indicates it was intended to have been updated in January.

Although it is apparently too early to register for the event, there is provision to register to be kept informed – except that today that page would not work for me: hopefully it will be fixed soon. I hope when they fix it they will solve the problem of having only US States to list in the required field for State.

If you are thinking of exhibiting, a look at the expo hall layout suggests that several spots have already been reserved. However, it looks to me as if there are still some very good spots still available. There is also information on rates, what is provided and so on.

There is a Facebook page for the event with the usual “Attending”, “Maybe” and “Not Attending” options.

Having participated for the past two years, I have to say that if I could only go to one event this year, BlogWorld Expo would be it.

I’ll update this information as things take shape.

It’s just a week now since BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2008 (Twitter hashtag #bwe08) was in full swing at the Las Vegas Convention Center (and after hours at various parties and other gatherings around town).

With, as I understand, over 2,000 participants and a dizzying array of topics and speakers for the conference, not to mention the very lively expo, it was by the general consensus I picked up,a great success.

And I have picked up a whole lot of ideas and tips about blogging and new media generally which I plan to share here in the weeks ahead.

But right now, reflecting on how valuable and enjoyable the event was for me and for everyone I spoke to, and how the attendees seemed to come for the most part from the USA and Canada, I’m starting to think this event is the best-kept secret the US and Canadian bloggers, podcasters and their ilk have right now in the conferencing (and partying!) department.

I have to say that last year, for the first BlogWorld Expo, I was not really surprised to find that I was one of only about four Australian participants, one of whom lives in the USA so had not done the 14 hour flight to get there. The others were my partner Suzie Cheel of the Abundance Highway blog and Melbourne-based webpreneur Simon Chen who has forgotten more than most people have learned about Web 2.0. I met one Frenchman, the inimitable Francois Planque of b2evolution and Alex Huot, Webmaster at the International Olympic Committee. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall others from countries outside the USA and Canada, although no doubt there were some.

But when I heard this year that the numbers had gone from last year’s 1,200 or so to over 2,000, I thought there would be more people from Europe, Asia, Australasia, Latin America…

Not really. There was Nicole Simon of cruel to be kind from Germany, Francois Planque again from France and b5media co-owners and formidable bloggers Shai Coggins and Darren Rowse from Australia. There was also the delightfully enthusiastic Scott Lockhart from Australia but currently in Atlanta GA where he has a startup Web 2.0 venture, regator (of which more in a later post) – decidedly Aussie but only crossed the country, not the Pacific.

There was one woman from Brazil asking questions – whether she had come from Brazil for the event or lives in the US I don’t know.

All in all, slim pickin’s on the international front.

I suspect that once the word starts to filter out to the rest of the world there will be a lot more people around the world looking to make their way to Glitter City for the 2009 event. But I for one do not want to just hope about that.

So one of my goals for the time between now and the next event in the series is to see the lid lifted well and truly off that secret and to do what I can to promote a much bigger international participation in 2009. Given my own business interests in China and South East Asia, I’m particularly keen to see the China blogosphere represented and participation by other bloggers from the greater Asia region.

A related goal is to see substantial growth in international membership of the International Blogging and New Media Association (IBNMA), which had a stronger presence this year at Blogworld.

Incidentally, I met some fascinating and thoughtful people who run their businesses from a home base and I intend to be posting about some of them here in the weeks ahead.

If you have ideas or questions about how to encourage more international representation on the speaker schedule or in expo and how to encourage attendance from various countries, please share them in the comments here. You might want to know, for instance, how to submit a proposal for a panel presentation, or even practical issues about getting a decent but economical hotel room with free wifi near the Convention Center (we got an unbelievably good deal – not ritzy, but good), or where to get a healthy meal for a decent price.

Happy to share what we have learnt now in two trips to Vegas.