I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in San Francisco, where I have been decompressing over the last few days with my wife, following a whirlwind week in Las Vegas for New Media Expo, where I spoke on the subject of teaming up with virtual assistants to outsource the bulk of entrepreneurial content marketing tasks – it was a blast!
This was my third time to attend the conference (formerly known as BlogWorld) and my second time to speak.
I thought it would be a good idea to put together this quick post to point out a few highlights, report on my session, and to give a few mentions to those that I got to hang out with, as well as learn from myself.
My Presentation
As I mentioned, I spoke at the event. The full title of my session was 45 Things New Media Content Creators Can Outsourcing to Virtual Assistants to Grow Their Business – a bit of a mouthful, but the descriptive nature of the title seemed to work as I presented in front of a packed crowd in the same room as the Podcast Awards were held in.
The Q&A session rocked and the opportunity to meet so many readers of this blog and listeners of my podcast after the presentation was the real highlight for me – thank you for coming, everyone.
I also gave one lucky attendee the opportunity to win a full service sign-up for Virtual Staff Finder, so that (at any time this year) when they are ready to hire their full-time virtual assistant, they can do so for FREE. The lucky winner was Jason Bellomy from Lazy Bastard Life – congrats again, Jason!
There is video footage of my presentation. I’m looking forward to checking it out properly when I get back home (I fly tonight) and hope to at least post a clip compilation sometime soon. I am also seriously considering re-recording it as a downloadable webcast, too – would you be interested in this free 45-min resource? Please let me know in the comment section.
Both during and following my session, a shed-load of tweets went out in relation to my presentation and the takeaways from attendees. I was simply blown away with the sheer amount of them – I seriously lost count and tried my best to reply to everyone, thanking them for coming – if you tweeted me, and I missed getting back to you – there were THAT many!
Here’s are a few of ‘em:
Favorable Mentions
Before landing with Vegas I was in LA for a couple of days on a few business meetings, including a dinner and chit-chat with online entrepreneur, Lewis Howes (listen to my podcast with with Lewis on LinkedIn).
Whilst at the conference, among others I got to spend a lot of time with the following people, all of which bring their own line of ‘awesome’ to the business world – be sure to check ‘em all out and say ‘Hi!’ from me!
- Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income (Listent o my podcast chat with Pat!)
- Ralph Quintero – The Great Business Project
- Jaime Tardy – Eventual Millionaire
- Rich Brooks – The Marketing Agents
- Amy Porterfield – Amy Porterfield Dot Com (Listen to my podcast chat with Amy!)
- John Lee Dumas – Entrepreneur on Fire
- Leslie Samuel – Become a Blogger
- Caleb Wojcik – Pocket Changed
- Srini Rao – Blogcast FM
- Gary Arndt – Everything Everywhere
- Farnoosh Brock – Prolific Living
Biggest Takeaways from the Event
Over the course of any 3-day event there is always a lot going on. New Media Expo was no exception.
Although I attended lots of sessions myself, had many memorable conversations, as well as the pleasure of being at a number of great dinners and receptions, there were a few very important points that I took away from the event that I wanted to mention here, to close this quick write up – and they are as follows:
- Video is gonna be huge this year. Seriously huge.
- Podcasting is only just really getting started – so, get started with podcasting!
- The absence of business cards at this type of event is ridiculous.
- SEO is fundamentally dead – content is more ‘king’ today, than ever before.
- Networking with like-minded people will never grow old…
Did you attend New Media Expo in Vegas? If so, what was your biggest takeaway? If you didn’t come along, what were you doing this past week to grow your business? I’d love to know!
A serial entrepreneur, virtual staffing expert, blogger, podcaster and author, Chris helps other entrepreneurs catapult their businesses into the 21st century utilizing what he calls the 'New Business' style of marketing. 
Chris is a serial entrepreneur, virtual staffing expert, blogger, podcaster and author who helps other entrepreneurs catapult their businesses into the 21st century utilizing what he calls the 'New Business' style of marketing.
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Chris, it was great meeting you at the event and you forgot me on your list of awesome people!
I mean, I did sort of have you spit some of your beer on me by accident! 
It was great meeting you man, your presentation was awesome and I look forward to getting my VA setup with you!
I also agree that networking with like minded people was one of the best parts of the show. Putting faces to twitter handles was helpful.
See you soon hopefully at WDS.
Haha. My bad, Greg!
Yep. Sorry about that again. Blame Dr. Jeff – he was the one that made me laugh!!!
Pleasure hanging out with you, man.
C
No worries. It’s just an easy way to remember who I am now!
Great to see you again and welcome to the Two Continent Club!
Love it, Gary.
Lets make it three, soon…
C
Hi chris !
Your takeaways are very interesting. We see that will happen before it happens .
I would be very interested to see your presentation , that’s for sure .
Have a nice day .
Okay, my man – it’s coming.
Promise. Stay tuned.
C
It was great meeting you, Chris! Thanks for coming and sharing your VA knowledge.
I’m glad you exist, too
Likewise, Amber.
Thoroughly enjoyed our chats! Until next time…
C
Loved your presentation, Chris. Not only are you an awesome speaker, you totally convinced me that I need a VA sooner than later. And I’ll definitely be using Virtual Staff Finder to find one!
See you at WDS!
Absolutely… WDS all the way!
Glad you enjoyed the session and that you’re motivated to inject VA’s into your business growth.
Let me know if you need help, okay!?
It was lovely meeting you in Vegas.
C
Chris –
First, I’m privileged to be mentioned on your website — thanks for that! I seem to be getting a few new followers every time you share a link to this post
Those 45+ tips could be EASILY sold for some good money, so they would definitely make an amazing freebie. I think it’s great that they not only cover “what should you outsource, to who, and how long should it take”, but also a step by step guideline to “what should you do to promote your content and get more eyes on your brand”. It’s a killer offer, both for free AND as a part of an online course (Udemy?).
Regarding your takeaways – I’m so glad to hear more people state that SEO’s dead. I’ve heard numerous people say during the conference that “creating good content is part of SEO” and I wanted to shout “NO! Creating awesome content is the only reason for your brand to exist, and SEO is not the reason to do it!”. It’s alarming that people are still considering good content as a chore and not as part of their core business.
Networking and being in the same room with like-minded people is still the best benefit that these conferences have to offer (besides your impersonation of Turkish from Snatch!), that cannot be over emphasized.
And the business cards…Right?! What was that about?! I almost felt bad for giving mine out during the first day, I thought there was a “no business cards here” secret code or something. Then I went to Pat’s dinner and forgot about it!
When’s your next gig?
Btw, I disagree with both of y’all. I would say that sleazy SEO is dead. If SEO were completely dead, Google wouldn’t have sent one of my blogs over 30K Visits last month
Ok, bye bye!
‘Nuff said.
Hahaha.
Hi Meron
Was a pleasure meeting and getting to know you in Vegas, buddy.
I appreciate your support more than you know, really. And thanks agin for the lovely gift, all the way from Israel, too!
I’m going to be putting the ’45 Things’ clips and session audio together soon – and it’ll be free. My next speaking gig is in Australia next month (two events, actually) – then I’m taking solid time off for a very special project which I’ll be announcing soon – here on the blog.
The last 6-months of the year will see me on stage quite a bit though.
Thanks again for the kind words, bud.
C
PS. Happy to help in the Twitter department, too!
Can i just echo what Meron said with a big fat ditto and also encourage you to get on Udemy. Thanks again for treating us to dinner at your meet-up and I am so bummed I never met your wife. She was always missing in action but alas, my loss. May we meet next time. You were wonderful in person as you have been in virtual form, Chris. Stay wonderful and all the best in 2013!
Hi Farnoosh
It’s happening – I am in talks with them already and hope to have something together and launched with Udemy soon!
I know, right – believe me, she WAS there! In fact, she was out the entire last night with us, and I kept on waiting to spot you somewhere, alas, it didn’t happen.
Next time for sure… WDS?
Thanks so much for the kind words – and right backatcha!
C
I had a lot of fun with you, Chris. Thanks for participating and being such a great friend and supporter. Our conference is a success because of people like you.
Thanks, Deb.
It’s easy to support and want to participate in an event that is so well put together and executed.
Until next year…. and ‘stage 3′ (inside joke, sorry, everyone!).
C
Hey Chris!
It was awesome hanging with you man! Your presentation was amazing. I took away some great tips that I was able to put into place right away and are sure to make me even more money. Thank you for that and for including me in your list. Looking forward to seeing you in the Philippines later on this year.
Here’s to our success in 2013!
Ralph
Hi Buddy!
So glad that you enjoyed the pressie – next year, YOU need to be speaking, man!
Hanging with you was easily one of the highlights of the event for me. Thanks for the scotch, too
Chat soon.
C
It was great connecting with you at NMX live and in person bro. We had fun, and we shall do it again.
Indeed, we will, my man. Indeed we will.
Stay cool.
C
Hey Chris –
It was great meeting you in person and hanging out with you. Like the others above, I will try not to take personal offense at the obvious unintentional omission of me on your list of awesome people… also, I wish I knew you were in San Francisco! I live right outside the city and at the least could have given you a ton of recommendations for your time here.
Working with VSF at some point during the first half of 2013 is high my on “to do” list. Looking forward to working with you.
Hehe. Yep – I knew I would leave a few people off… plus was trying to zone in on those I spent the most time with. As always with these events there’s NEVER enough time to hang with everyone as much as you’d like to.
It was, however, a huge pleasure to have met you, John. Thank you for your support at my session, too.
Looking forward to the rest of the year!
C
Chris,
Looking at this comment board I feel like we are all back at PF Changs in Planet Hollywood. What an INCREDIBLE group of people at NMX. Truly friends for life. I am excited to see where 2013 takes us all!
Totally agree, John.
That dinner in PF’s was hilarious, too… Or, maybe that was the bourbon working it’s magic….?!!!
C
Hey Chris,
I’m interested in the free 45 minute resource.
I was unable to make it to the NMX.
Thank you.
Cheers,
Rick
No problems, Rick.
I’m going to be splicing it all together later on this week!
Thank you once again for traveling so far to be with us this year Chris. Thank you for giving what everyone says was a great talk! It is going to be the first one I watch on the virtual ticket site. I need a VA so badly!
Thank you for hosting lunches and dinners and just adding value to the event everywhere you went. We sincerely appreciate all the time and effort you put in to the show.
Thank you for always having a smile and making people laugh (and for the accent). I hope to see you again next year if not sooner at WDS.
Meron,
Thank you for coming all the way from Israel! I hope you found other sessions that were at least half as good as Chris’. If not we may have to ask Chris to give two talks next year just to make sure the experience is twice as good for you 8).
Thanks for the comment, Rick.
It’s all my pleasure to support such a well organized event. One, I might add, that has gotten better year, by year.
The accent comes naturally…
It’s funny you mention two sessions – I’ve always wanted to be part of a panel, along with doing a solo presentation. Perhaps next year? YES – that was a huge hint!
Cheers again, bud.
C
Thanks for the shout-out. It was great to finally meet in person. I see even bigger things coming up for you in 2013.
Oh, and “thank you for existing”.
Caleb
Thanks for the comment and yes – was a real pleasure meeting and hanging out with you, too. The ‘card’ game was hilarious
Appreciate the ind words – right backatcha!
C
Chris enjoyed finally getting a chance to talk with you. You probably don’t remember but that first day when I saw you and said hi, you had a confused look on your face like “who is this guy?” Haha but when I said my name it rang a bell. No worries just caught you off guard probably!
Enjoyed your presentation. After talking with Ralph about his experience with your VAs and listening to your presentation, my goal is to hire one to help me! And of course I’ll know where to go look.
Hey Benny
Yeah – because you don’t look anything like you do in your pictures!!!
It was great meeting you , man. Three years of chatting online and it finally happened, huh!??
We’ll be happy to help you find your VA when you’re good to go. Stay tuned.
C
Was great man. We’ll have to chat more next time at WDS!
Hey Chris,
How good was the podcast awards after party?
We missed you on the roof top – dancing did happen.
Great presentation of yours – I was pretty amazed at how many parts of my business can get done by a general VA.
Quinn
Thanks, Quinn – glad you enjoyed the pressie.
Rooftop Dancing?! Man, I didn’t get THAT memo!!!
Next time, for sure.
C