Getting social at BlogWorld - Day 1

First thing is first...WHY did I forget the camera? Was it because I left my place this morning at 4:30 a.m. to catch the first flight out to Vegas? Maybe so....Maybe that's also why I forgot to stock up on b.cards....DUMMMMMBBBB! That's ok, I should have enough to last me tomorrow night's Blogworld party.

If you don't know what that is, it's a party where a whole bunch of computer nerds that love to write and be heard go and consume a bunch of free alcohol at really cool places in Vegas (well...this year anyway). If you can't tell, I'm looking forward to it.

Now...back to our regularly scheduled programming...The Social Media Business Summit (Day 1)


Getting at the Las Vegas Convention Center at 7:30 a.m. is not my idea of fun and there was really not much fun involved, but the day was more eventful than I expected.

I started my day at the Keynote (which was awfully early for a conference). The first 5 minutes was full of apologies and thank you's for making it out so early on the day before the expo. The rest of it was really the speaker's recount of how she got started in social media and how it opened doors for her.

I really feel like social media should be able to do that for anyone who puts time and effort into it like most relationships. Something that started out as an annoying fad, has now been translated to an essential business and communication tool.

What I realized yesterday is that we are at a pinnacle of technology that may never be seen before. This generation is the one that was able to see the turning point of simple technology into advanced technologies. Our children will never have to look up anything in books if we don't make them. That said, I think that traditional learning is still very important.

Make time to learn and use new technologies but introduce your kids to the essential tools of learning (like how to write in cursive for example), how to look things up in the library, playing an instrument (like the piano or violin), reading novels, writing letters. Now that technology has 'simplified' everything, we have become simple and forgotten about the sophisticated and romantic cultural traits of years past.

I guess that's another topic. Recap for Day 1's poignant new media sessions......

Things I could care less for:
Disorganized badge distribution this morning
Me hauling around my suitcase all day
Not enough power outlets
Getting yelled at for networking at the luncheon (bad planning on their part)
The guy who was snoring in the back of the Internet Marketing panel

Major +'s:
Informative panels
Great discussions
Knowledgeable speakers
Super friendly social media people that like to network and learn

Follow me on Twitter to hear what's going on at the show @Ronjini