1 Good Reason – Social Marketing

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I’ve been a critic of conferences and trade shows because they are often more about selling than they are about informing and educating.  One of the best conferences that I’ve ever attended was last year’s 140 Conference in New York.  And I’ll be attending this year’s New York 140 Conference in a different role.

I am very pleased to announce that Jeff Pulver has asked me to assist him in finding sponsors for the 140 Conference in New York April 20 & 21.  The 140 Conference last year was an unqualified success and one of the most sought after tickets in the social media scene in New York.  This year Jeff has vowed to create an even better event with more people and better speakers.  And it will be streamed live on the web for everyone who can’t make it to the live event.

You can’t charge people to sit in the audience and charge people to sit on the stage at the same time and make them all happy.

One of the reasons that I believe the 140 Conference is so exceptional is that Jeff has a belief that you can’t charge people to sit in the audience and then charge people to sit on the stage at the same time.  That is the way that most conferences are run today.  The people in the audience pay to attend and most of the speakers are sponsors who have paid for the privilege to speak to the audience.  This results in speakers who are often not very inspired, or particularly knowledgeable about the subject.  And they are often there to sell the audience their products or services so the speeches are a little bit about the subject, and a lot about sales.  This type of compromise leads to poor conferences where everyone is looking for the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) and coming up empty.

But at the 140 Conference things are different because the speakers are people with something interesting to say, and not just a few of them, but every one of them.  For this reason the conference is uniquely exciting and engaging. But don’t just take my word for it read a few of these posts by other bloggers. Therefore I am proud that Jeff has asked me to be a part of making this event a success.

If your company or someone you know is interested in becoming a sponsor for the April 140 Conference in New York, please contact me Chris@140conf.com or via this blog post.

Give me 1 good reason why I won’t be seeing you at the next 140 Conference?

Posted via email from ckieff’s posterous