Check out Branding David for the index on the nextMEDIA posts for the event. I have written up many session highlights that could be very useful and informative for those interested in making money online.

Grabbing my sandwich lunch just before everyone else, I then started to charge up my laptop. I took out my iPod Touch, and found out that I had wireless Internet access available. It wasn’t a strong signal, nor was it fast, but it allowed me to check my e-mail and post some stories. Of course, this lead everyone to come over to where I was and start using the wireless.

Jenn Lowther was the one that stuck with me the longest and used my laptop as a way to charge up her quickly dying iPhone. She works as a social media strategist for invoke and was probably my best conversation thus far.

She also let me know that Northern Voice is definitely on again this year, as I had previous doubts about that conference. I am not yet sure how or if I will be able to attend Northern Voice, as it is held in beautiful British Columbia, which is on the other side of the country. They have done a refresh of the website, and it looks very nice, and so I can’t wait to see it launch, which Jenn said should be any hour or day now.

The other lunch time thing of note was something Jenn pointed out to me, the lack of organization for digital promotion of this event. nextMEDIA organizers should have had wireless Internet in the conference areas, and started by letting us all know we should be using Twitter under a certain event hash tag. When Jenn asked a few people, she got a surprising response: “what’s a hash tag?”

It is also interesting to see the divide between media companies and those that service media companies through social media promotion, advertising, and brand management.

Lunch wasn’t amazing, but it worked out rather well, and there is nothing wrong with a “free” lunch. It was a variety of sandwiches and wraps, but because they were pre-made, I couldn’t find one that would meet all of my normal “likes”. I had to take one that had mayonnaise, which I am not a fan of, but without any other choice, I just ate it and drank a Pepsi.

In the end, lunch felt a little rushed, but being that the conference was thirty minutes behind schedule, it made sense to me that they would try to get things back on track a little bit by curtailing the length of lunch.

I am looking forward to how the day progresses.

Originally posted on November 19, 2008 @ 2:52 pm