BeenVerified’s back from The BlogWorld Expo in Vegas…Baby!

November 13, 2007 – 12:10 am by Ross

So we had a day or two to really let The BlogWorld Expo sink in and I must say for an inaugural event, I think it was run rather smoothly. Josh and I were able to attend a number of great seminars with some really diverse keynote speakers from every end of the digital spectrum. The topics seemed to be endless, ranging from an open panel Q&A about raising venture capital all the way to a lecture discussing Web10.0; a glimpse of society and the Internet a hundred years into the future. However, the conference wasn’t without its controversies. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch was supposed to be a keynote speaker, but was unable to attend. While I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to see such a prominent tech icon speak in person; I think the blogosphere is giving him a lot more grief then he actually deserves. You can read what both sides are asserting on Michael’s personal blog CrunchNotes.

The convention floor was a lot smaller then I had expected with only about fifty or so exhibitors. There were a wide range of companies and everyone was very friendly and eager to pitch any passersby. I can’t even tell you how many innovative ways there are to monetize and increase readership on your blog. The industry has really come a long way in such a short amount of time. The foot traffic seemed relatively light and while that made for an easier conversation with potential partners, I would have definitely been disgruntled if we had paid to exhibit. I know from reading a number of exhibitors’ blogs they weren’t particularly happy with the attendance either. In my opinion, BlogWorld would have probably been better if they allowed the general public into the convention for free and then just charged the people who wanted to attend the seminars and the other extra curricular activities. I think it would have made for a larger audience and probably the ideal demographic for most of the exhibitors.

We did manage to meet some incredible people at several really ground-breaking companies. I just wanted to give a shout out to a select few; specifically Angela at Voxant Inc., the good people at BlogDirectory.com , and Scott Allen author of The Virtual Handshake Blog. We also were finally able to demo our fellow NYC Tech brethren’s web app; BricaBox, (we didn’t get a chance to at Sun Microsystems Startup Camp) and had a meaningful chat with their CTO; Klye Bragger. It seems like they are really onto something great and we wish them the best of luck! However, I am rather discouraged that we didn’t get a chance to introduce ourselves to Allen Stern from Center Networks. We have been a fan of his blog for quite some time and thought we might be able bump into him while in Vegas. I guess we will just have to wait for another time and place.

Finally, I want to say that the keynote finale given by Mark Cuban was not only articulate, but truly inspirational. With over a billion dollars, he has nothing to prove and could easily be static and complacent. Mark was the exact opposite and I would like to apologize to him for any preconceived notions I might have had (probably media driven) prior to hearing him speak. He stood up there in front of 1,500 people (give or take) without a single piece of paper or note card and completely captured and engaged the audience. I couldn’t believe how knowledgeable he was on so many multifarious topics and if they let him, he would of gone on answering questions for hours. It was a great way to end the convention which wound up proving to be well worth the price of admission.