Mashable Summer Tour 2010 Chicago Review

Was Mashable's Summer Tour Worth it?

Yesterday, I decided to run the other direction with Digital Fewsure and post a first person blog article.  Typically, I try to stick to my guides or new technology roots, but after searching for reviews on prior Mashable Summer Tour stops I quickly realized there wasn't much to find.  This frustrated me... and puzzled me?  Why was there limited information?

Mashable is popular brand and topic in the world of blogging and social media, yet very little information was out there on there biggest events of the summer.  So instead of writing this typical review of the event A-Z, I would like to say what I, as a marketer, got out of the experience and decide whether or not it was worth it.

If you check my previous post, you will see what I was looking for from the Mashable event - Mashable Summer Tour 2010 - ROI.

My top 3 list for tonight's event:

1. Watch at least 1 company presentation that blows me away and sparks my interest to begin talking about the presenter or their product.

There were no event-wide presentations outside of the Mashable people presenting their staff and a few sponsors on stage.  There were however, a few mini promotional presentations from Intel, Gotelo, Watchitoo, and a few others.  Weber Shandwick was the primary sponsor of the event but wasn't promoting their services.  They were looking for social media savvy people to join their team.  The most interesting presentation came from Startup company Watchitoo, which streams live video in near real-time from anywhere, anytime.  After talking with a representative, Watchitoo's strategy is obvious...they are looking to attract business for means of video conferencing primarily with the consumer as the end user.  The technology is sorta cool but nothing too new.  Picture a video platform on a corporate site, streaming in near real time, happenings from a company event.  Along with the platform, there are options to chat and communicate around the video player.  Also, no download is required according to their business development leader.

However, I must say although one rep was very approachable, the team seemed to be looking for people to help their business, not caring much for those who couldn't.  This is understandable if you are at a large conference, but this was a very small get together and I was a little turned off by the way their team handled people who came to the booth that weren't potential customers.  I actually saw their business development leader get into a verbal argument with two attendees.  I saw that as unacceptable.  No matter how ridiculous some of these attendees may be, you shouldn't start an argument (unless constructive) with them.

Intel had a short speech on-stage and asked people to come over to the booth and see their tablet set to compete with the iPad.  When I went to the booth and checked out the video on the tablet, I was impressed with the usability of the tablet - proper layout.  But there was nothing about the tablet that screamed - "MARKET DIFFERENTIATOR"  So I asked the Intel rep what made it different than the iPad and he was puzzled?  Not good.... I expected him to spit out all these technical advantages, but he did none of that.  Instead his only statement was it will have a USB port (cool), and that the user experience is better.  The tablet is set to release in 2011, I would imagine by then, there will be many tablet out there, just like it...so it will be interesting to see how Intel does in the tablet market.

        2. Meet 1 interesting person that is involved and making a significant impact in the social             media realm

I think the most impressive person I met at the event was  Brad Mild.  I had known Brad previously, but never really got to sit down and pick his brain.  Brad is a Northwestern graduate student focused on data analytics and that was what grabbed my attention.  As far as making a significant impact, his attention is focused on the back-end.   Dealing with data and data technologies to better market to customers.  Conversation about the technological part of his learning was very informative for me and I expect this guy to make a big impact in the future of social media.

        3.  Come up with 1 positive ROI pitch for anyone that asks was it worth the $25?

The event was a great networking event for PR professionals.  For a marketer like myself, there wasn't a whole lot of interesting material here.  4 booths with cool technologies is great, but the booth presence was lacking...meaning none of them blew me away or showed me anything I haven't already seen.  Open-Bar is a great ROI pitch, $25 for a 2 hour open bar at the Hyatt Regency downtown is pretty good ROI.  So for your Mashable event crashers, PR people belong here.  There are a lot of people that work in that area, but marketers and tech savvy individuals should probably spend their time elsewhere.

That being said....THANK YOU MASHABLE for throwing an event in Chicago, I don't mean to write this to bash you in any way, look at it as a way to pick apart the good and the bad of the approach.

Ohh and shout out to the Ruder Finn PR team.  I met multiple people from Rudder Finn and they were all very friendly, personable, and open to talk about anything.  It was very nice to talk to people that were not only OUT FOR BUSINESS - that attitude will lead them to business in the future. 

Comments

[Casey Fictum]

I forgot to add what I would do to improve the event:

1

Have at least 1 big presentation that deals with what you deal with...technology and the internet. Instead of having the sponsors get on stage and talk about what they are doing at their booths, have at least 1 of them present a COOL NEW concept or technology with a short video presentation

2. Have Mashable get stories on attendees and have a short write up on the site about the people they met and the businesses they are associated with. This will give future attendees a better idea of who to expect at an open event like this