All Gnomedex, All the Time: Part One

• Aug 25th, 2009
• Posted by Ron
• Posted in Seattle Events, Social Media, Social Media Events, Social Media Technology, Spring Creek Group

You know you’ve got something going when porn bots on Twitter start using your hashtag to hock their fleshy wares. That’s exactly what happened as #gnomedex, the end-all of Northwest-based tech/geek conferences took place here in Seattle over the weekend.

The Northwest-based nod was simply that, as attendees came from all over the map to Chris Pirillo’s 9^th Gnomedex conference – many of them being first-time attendees (where did all the vets go?).  The following is a quick rundown of the presentations that caught our interest:

Warren Etheredge – Art of the Interview

Founder of The Warren Report, Warren Etheredge kicked off the conference with a look at how he attacks his interviews – completely unscripted. His talk focused more on journalists and bloggers, but he had a few moments that made me lean forward; the first being when he went on a rant about James Lipton and the second being these:

On pulling in readers…

1. Get their attention
2. Earn their trust
3. Gain their respect

His thoughts, while not groundbreaking, are a good plan of attack for any type of blogging, whether it’s on a corporate blog, your little neighborhood e-zine, or a widely read online publication.

Chris Brogan/Julien Smith – Attention Wars and the Rise of the Trust Agent

I’m not going to spoil the book for anyone, except to say that if you’ve been reading, well, pretty much everyone’s blogs who have been talking about social media and word of mouth marketing, you’ve heard these ideas (although they may have been packaged differently).

Essentially, Brogan and Smith broke their talk down into five areas that pretty much speak for themselves (my explanations follow each area):

1. Make Your Own Game – Essentially, stand out. Get noticed.
2. One of Us – Online communities, while easily-accessed, are known to shun those who are different. Don’t be left out of the valuable conversations about your brand.
3. Archimedes Effect – Leverage your previous success and position for the future.
4. Agent Zero – Be the starter. Be the connector. Be that guy who knows that guy who everyone wants to know.
5. Human Artist – Etiquette isn’t dead. Just because the Web might not have the same etiquette as the real world, doesn’t mean a code doesn’t exist. Learn it, live it, love it.
6. Build Armies – Two people screaming can perk up some ears, but 2,000 people talking about you and your brand is much more valuable.

That’s it for now, but more to come.  Stay tuned for skepticism online, personal manufacturing, cancer gone social, the nerdiest knitting you’ve ever seen, and how the guy who came up with #FollowFriday ended up as one of the most hated people on Twitter.