Andy Sernovitz' Supergenius Word of Mouth Marketing Conference on December 16 in Chicago, to be exact.
Ho hum. A speaking gig. So what else is new, right?
Well, the reason why I'm going is.
At first, when Andy asked, I had to say no...too busy, too much to do, a TV network to launch, too close to Christmas, too cold in Chicago. Too many excuses.
But then, I took a look at the all-important "who else is coming."
And that's why I'm going.
Many times, jeez MOST times, I'll bolt a conference as soon as I'm off stage. This is not ego speaking, but reality. As I said before, too much to do, etc. What I try to do is balance is what I can learn sticking around vs. what I can accomplish by leaving. Leaving usually wins.
But given the task ahead of me--launching TXT-TV--Airborne Mobile's four-years-in-the-making, big hairy project of 2010--and seeing who else is speaking here, the day is a major-league learning opportunity. Case studies from mega-brands like Coke, Starbucks, Domino's and Maker's Mark bourbon. Numerous social networking experts. Live "Will It Blend" demos from Blendtec's George Wright. Timely, too, given the aforementioned network launch. (And any time I can hang with fellow speakers Mitch Joel and Saul Colt, and my Chicago-based buddy Jim Fannin, well...)
As oft-mentioned here and in my Pow! book, Sernovitz is the world-wide maestro of word-of-mouth. Since I changed my "vote" from no to yes, he's been peppering me and all the other speakers with ways for us to promote said conference via word-of-mouth methods like live interviews, special discounts (see photo below) and bribery, like the blatantly-promotional (and ostentatiously-colored) t-shirt he's getting yours truly and others to wear and blog about (see photo below again).
So consider me playing along in promoting the conference.
And consider yourself promoted to.
But frankly, you're secondary.
This time, for perhaps the first time, I'm doing it for me.
.