EMC World 2009 - Recap & Thank you

I'm delayed in getting this post up... Last week was an absolute whirlwind. I returned home and slept for about three days straight, and have since been paying the price for a week out of the office.

This was my first EMC World event. To say I was blown away would be the understatement of the year. What a great show! Despite a tough economy and tougher travel budgets, about 7k passionate folks showed up and made it one heck of an event. The energy and the passion from this crowd was simply amazing.

I also got a behind the scenes look at what makes these events happen. A HUGE shout out to the EMC Events Team for puling this off year after year... They're a small but passionate group, and it's a pleasure to have gotten the chance to work along side them.

And of course, the Bloggers Lounge. This was a bit of an experiment for us, and it far exceeded my wildest expectations.

I got a chance to meet so many wonderful people - many of whom I've only known online until now. It's funny, I spent a couple years of my life learning how to fly. During this period, I realized that pilots are a cool and interesting breed of people. Generally positive, intelligent and very engaging.

There was a very similar vibe to the crowd hanging around in the lounge. All around good people with incredible passion for what they do. The conversations that took place there during the week were amazingly provocative and insightful. How often do you get to sit down with so many like-minded folks and talk about how to shape the world we live in.

Simply priceless.

Even better - The Lounge gave off a cool vibe and people wanted to be a part of it. Of course, we were only letting in bloggers (or micro-bloggers). So when non-2.0 types expressed interest, we took advantage.

I must have explained the importance of the Social Web 500 times last week to folks who were curious. To see the twinkle in their eye, followed by a 'WOW, how do I get started?' was as rewarding as anything I could have hoped for. We signed up well over 100 new Tweeps - each of who continues to thank us for turning them on to the medium.

Most importantly, we talked about WHY this is important to us as a company. It's not about Twitter, per se - it's not about blogging either. It's about engaging one another via the social web and establishing deeper relationships while embracing a model of true co-innovation.

I'm as passionate as anyone about this stuff - and will take every chance I can get to help spread that passion. EMC World offered ample opportunity.

I need to thank good friends @Stu and @DaveGraham for helping me staff the lounge during the event. It wasn't on their list of formal responsibilities, but I couldn't have turned them away if I wanted to. Their contributions made the Lounge an even cooler place to be... Thanks boys!

Of course there was the event Twitter activity. Kudos to EMC pals @Kellylavin, @Danschawbel and @Jamiepappas for helping make this a success. We used CoTweet to co-manage the activity, and it worked wonderfully. We were able to connect and communicate with attendees in real-time - Understanding what was working, what wasn't - and reacting instantaneously.

Suffice it to say Twitter is now a permanent part of our arsenal when conducting such events. In hindsight, I can't imagine doing the conference without it.

Lastly, I need to thank ZDNet for understanding our vision and sponsoring the lounge. It was a whopping success! I managed to spend some time with Jason Hiner, Editor in Chief for TechRepublic (part of the ZDNet network). Check out the interview as Jason shares his POV on the event and SM in the B2B space.

So much more to share... Look for another post or two in the coming days. There were a lot of day three recaps that I missed and I also have a couple more video interviews that need to be posted.

I now turn my attention to figuring out how to make the Bloggers Lounge at EMC World 2010 in Boston even cooler!

Thanks to all who were a part of this - employees and attendees alike... Too many to name. But you're all rock stars in my book. 

Comments

[Pie]

Len, once again, thank you for all of your hard work putting the Lounge together. It was great.

I think next year we are either going to need more room or restrict it to active tweeters. You are a victim of your own success there.

The Lounge was the highlight of my every day.

-Pie

[Len Devanna]

Thanks for the comment, Pie.

We had an ulterior motive as well - to gather business intelligence around influential bloggers via our exclusive espresso bar.

You're a double espresso man. We've yet to figure out how to exploit it, but we will ;)

It was a pleasure getting to know you better. Thanks for being part of it.

[Charley Soares]

hello friends, for me this blog has many aspects to emphasize, as the variety of points of view, I really think it's great this blog.

[Len Devanna]

Charley - thanks so much for dropping by and the kind words. It's sincerely appreciated.