The Tuesday after… #nmatl, For Social Media People, Not By Social Media People

Written on September 29, 2009 by socialmediabirmingham in Uncategorized

Wow! What a weekend of Social Media goodness. I honestly wish I could have done more (not that 2 conferences isn’t enough), but alas, I’m only one person. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

New Media Atlanta – For Social Media People, Not By Social Media People

Friday morning at about the butt-crack of dawn, I jumped into the car with @briancauble, @andreafwalker, and @joshgrenon for a little road trip goodness. As the anointed driver of the group (voted most awake and most caffeinated), I navigated us (via GPS) to GaTech for New Media Atlanta.

First think I must say about #nmatl is that it was well organized. But from the time that I walked into the lecture hall it was being held in, I knew it wasn’t going to go well. It immediately reminded me of a quote that I had recently hear from one of those big named social media folks…

The difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing.

Now, having been to #soso in August, (not nearly as well organized as #nmatl) I realized that while the people who ran #nmatl may use Social Media, but I seriously doubt that they are Social Media people.

#soso focused on interaction, not just lecture. Granted we grouped together to hear @ajkeen and @mideastyouth, but most of the conference were tag-team sessions that promoted more discussion than lecture. One great example was where @jasonfalls and @RichardAtDell discussed creating a Social Media strategy and asked the audience the question while guiding the conversation. Kudos to those guys for a great session and the organizers of #soso for using that format.

Now I realize that most of the people in attendance were marketers (a live pole was done via text) and that marketers are used to the “bullhorn”. But, social media is about interaction, discussion, networking, etc. And I quite frankly feel that I didn’t get that kind of value from #nmatl. The biggest takeaway from the conference is that I won’t be back next year if they don’t change the format.

With the exception of Brogan. Hearing Brogan was worth the price of admission. Just wish I had known that a week ago, and I would have planned to go listen to him in Nashville.

Now, don’t think I’m spiteful. I think that #nmatl is a great idea and would benefit from some tweaking of the format. I’m hopeful that the organizers will listen to the feedback (hopefully they are hearing the same feedback that I have been) and change the format of the conference. Atlanta has a great deal of marketers, PR people, companies, conference space, etc. Essentially, all the ingredient to make #nmatl nationally recognized as the place to be for Social Media Pros.

I think a lot of people will be interested to see what happens next year.

http://techdrawl.com Celia Dyer

Atlantans are complaining about the New Media Atlanta conference, too: http://bit.ly/DSkgb
http://upgradenow.wordpress.com Emily

You’re right about the format. There were so many smart people in the audience that would have loved a more interactive format. We would have all benefited. By trying to make social media people conform to a one-way conversation and ask questions only at the end, they forced the use of BackNoise which they decided to listen to and then complain about it later. I saw snarking that these were real estate people and maybe this kind of format works in that industry.

I want there to be great conferences in Atlanta which is why I went. Like you say, we have have the ingredients. I’d add that there some nice events held by local professional groups– AIMA, CHI*A, etc. We just need a real social media expert to bring the groups together and come up with a program that has good blend of esoteric and broadly appealing topics. And run it well.
http://inspirageek.com Josh

Great post! I think #soso was so much more valuable that #nmatl. All the speakers at #soso engaged with their audience so well. Sad to see that all except @chrisbrogan fail to do that at #nmatl.
http://newmediaatlanta.com Brad Nix

thanks for the feedback. we are certainly listening, working hard to filter the noise and find the signal. glad to read that “Hearing Brogan was worth the price of admission.” and really appreciate the format suggestions. we need all the help we can get to raise the bar next event and put Atlanta on the national stage. my hope is that negative becomes constructive and detractors become volunteers, partners, or advisers.
http://www.newmediaatlanta.com Matt Fagioli

Definitely listening. One of our awesome speakers at nmatl (Jeff Turner) talked about “stepping back and looking for the pattern” in the collective noise. That’s what we’re doing right now. Please keep the info coming.

One spot above where I think you may have gone a bit wrong is…

…”I seriously doubt that they are Social Media people”.

So, who gets to decide if “we’re social media people”? What is that anyway?
Did I miss a certification class or something? I think we’re all just people – who are now connected more actively by social media. Everyone.

It seems to me (at least I hope) that all us social media people are inclusive-not divisive; friendly and understand-not critical and negative, right? So can’t we all be social media people together? all trying to figure out what’s next together? figuring out how to nail the next conference together?

If we’re seeking to build a community event where all have a voice and all groups are coming together in Atlanta (and that’s our intent with nmatl) then there will be no room for who’s in and who’s out. It’s just an event where we’re ALL in – having a great event together.

Certainly welcome any and all wisdom on how to create community like that.
socialmediabirmingham

Thanks for the comment, Matt.

I wasn’t trying to decide who was a “social media person” or not. That was not the intent of the comment. It was more to the fact that the format didn’t really give the feeling that those putting on the conference (Brad and yourself) understood that social media was more about conversation breeding information. I would go to say that Social South tainted my view of #nmatl quite a bit. However, I can clearly see now that both of you understand and are looking to improve by the pure fact that I’ve see your comments in the community. I look forward to the future of #nmatl and would love to be a part of the feedback process for the planning on #nmatl2. Please keep me informed.
–DW