Guest Blog: My Show Me the Blog ’10 Experience

Written by: Nick Gilham, A Branded You

Danyelle asked me to write a guest blog post describing my experience at last year’s Show Me the Blog conference. I met her about a year ago at a Social Media Club – St. Louis event and was instantly drawn to her enthusiasm and persistent attitude. When she told me that she was organizing a conference, I knew it would be successful and wanted to be there to support her efforts.

What I didn’t know when I bought my ticket is all of the information I would learn and the great people I would meet over the course of the day. The assembled speakers and panelists were an amazingly diverse group of people representing industry professionals and hobbyists (and all levels in between) and gathered from all over the country. This wasn’t a St. Louis conference, it was a conference that drew attendees and speakers from throughout the midwest and south.

I can’t believe the number of new professional contacts and friendships I developed that day. Having attended countless networking events and presentations over the past few years, I consider myself an avid networker, but there is no other single event where I developed this many and this quality of relationships. Here are a few of the people I met or got to know better during Show Me the Blog 2010:

Marijean Jaggers is an expert online networker. During her presentation, she shared her expertise about how to choose which social networks to join and how to use them effectively. While I consider myself an advanced LinkedIn user and will be speaking on the subject during this year’s Show Me the Blog conference, I picked up some great tips from Marijean that I put to immediate use.

Chris Reimer, Robert Littal, and Vernon Ross spoke openly and honestly during a panel discussion about their motivations for starting their businesses. It was refreshing to hear these three guys speak so frankly about their individual backgrounds and their passions. All three proved that it is never too late to follow your dreams.

Melissa Gilliam shared her experiences as being a marketer for the YMCA. She talked about how to speak with a consistent, corporate voice and how to start conversations online that lead to enrollment in summer camps and other YMCA programs.

I am excited to be attending Show Me the Blog this year and even more excited to be presenting.

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