Conferences

Despite knowing well and good that I was going to be in way over my head, I nevertheless ventured uptown to check out day 2 of Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference with the hopes of rubbing shoulders with the Twitterati and learning more about this blog-killing tool.

Surrounded by a couple hundred Twitter influencers/ addicts, many of whom seemed to be better known by their @ screen name than their real one, I managed to catch a few panel discussions that covered the tool's increasing impact on branding, publishing, citizen journalism and even love. Sitting in a small theater housed on the bottom floor of the vast New World Stages space, I immediately couldn't help but feel inadequate having been sans laptops while a hundred other fingers clacked away throughout the event.

Regardless, I dusted off the good ol' notebook and pen while glancing at random screens around me, many of which were open to TweetDeck. Having just created a Twitter account only weeks ago, I obviously knew I had some catching up to do. Luckily, I got what I think was a crash course from stars within the Twitter community, including Norg Media CEO Bronwen Clune, who applied the f-word and chaos theory to her speech on Twitter and what she dubbed the "control media." In fact, most participants for better or for worse made it a point to unleash a "fuck" as if we were living in the Lenny Bruce era while they tried to avoid the annoying music that signified they were out of time.

Though I was entertained but still none the wiser, I sat through a slightly intriguing, White House-themed convo between NBC photojournalist Jim Long, Air America's Ana Marie Cox, Salon.com's Mike Madden and HuffPo's "Eat the Press" editor Jason Linkins.

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Later this month I'm heading to Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference — that is, as long as our press creds are approved. The event, which is from June 16-17 here in New York, will bring together some of the top 140 tweeters; people your agencies will want to learn from as the tool becomes a bigger part of the communication process.

Though I'm technically there to cover the event I'm hoping to learn more about what makes the characters so good at what they do. Two of our favorite twitterati, @peggyolsen and @bettydraper will be there, so naturally I'm interested to speak with their ghostwriters (if you can call them that).

One thing we noticed about the event — most of the characters are not representing anyone other than themselves. What I mean is there aren't any brand twitterers represented, which I think is sort of interesting because I would have expected the voices behind major brands (like @Boingo, @Dell) to be represented. On the contrary 140CC will focus more on the personal aspect of Twitter.

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More: "Is Twitter More Social Media or Search?"

Today I'm reporting from the Times Center here at the new New York Times building in midtown west. Why? Medisbistro Circus, of course (come meet me, I look like a newsy). I'll be taking your tips as usual, so send them to agencyspy at mediabistro dot com or hit up the anonymous tips box.

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Tomorrow is AgencySpy parent Mediabistro's 2nd annual shin-dig for media types, aptly named Mediabistro Circus. Last year was a good time, and it was also during my first week as an editor here. Wow, what a year it's been.

Among the speakers, TAXI's Doug Jaeger, Thrillist co-founder Ben Lerer, Valeria Maltoni, co-author of "The Age of Conversation," and a bunch of others.

We'll be there keepin' it real. The event starts tomorrow June 2 and runs through Wendesday the 3rd. See you there!

For more info, click here. It's going to be held at The Times Center, 242 West 41st Street, New York, NY 10018.

More: "Run Away And Join The Circus With Us"

More than likely, you won't be going to Cannes this year, so why not make a play for Omaha?

This year on May 7th and May 8th, think about heading out to Omaha for the BIG Omaha Conference, which has a mission to "not only think, but act on what is possible here in the heart of the Midwest." Isn't everything possible in the Midwest? No matter. The speakers list includes: Gary Vaynerchuk, wine expert; Jason Fried, President and Founder of 36Signals; Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of Wordpress; Adriana Gascoigne, director of corporate communications for Hi5, et al.

Get in on the action for $199. Register here.

More: Can Planners Be The New Creatives?

You may not have noticed, but everyone and their mother is trying to capture some of that ad money coming out of the upfront season, which is just beginning. Upfronts are an incredibly important time of year for TV newtorks and cablers mostly. But AdAge, MediaWeek and MediaPost have done their part to leech onto the events — by hosting upfront-related conference. They're hoping that while TV and ad folks are in town, they'll pony up some cash to learn, as Parker put it, "shit they should already know."

Here's the run-down. Including a funny comment about the AdAge event we found on Twitter. Apparently, the thing is a bit white-washed (see image). The speaker list is fairly diverse, though.

1. MediaPost:

Cost: Standard Price; Members $595.00; Non Members $695.00; On-site Registration Price: $795.00

Description: "MediaPost's 2009 Outfront conference is the premier event focusing on television's most important event. This conference places the 09 upfront buying market in context with the overall media mix, allowing media buyers and planners to enter the traditional TV and digital video upfront with their eyes wide open."

2. AdAge:

Cost: $295 per person or $2,450 for a table of 10.

Description: The original Upfront event. Still the most relevant. Miss it at your peril. You need answers to the tough questions in order to make the right decisions and perform your job most effectively...and you will get them at the Upfront Summit.

3. Mediaweek:

Cost: Pre-Registration through January 31, 2009: $299; Early Bird Registration February 1-February 28, 2009: $399; Regular Registration Beginning March 1: $449; Onsite Registration: $499

Description: With the upfront selling season fast approaching, the Mediaweek Upfront is a must-attend event for agency media buyers and planners, chief marketing officers and brand marketers, TV executives and sales reps, as well as any analysts covering the media segments.

We're planning on going to this year's PSFK Conference. Taking a look at this year's agenda made us curious about previous events. Scrolling through the long list of interesting videos from the past, we stumbled upon the one above - "Can Planners Be The New Creatives"? Hmmm... The panel tackles a few questions: Can ideas come from anywhere? Are planners too possessive of information to be a true creative? Are creatives to egotistical to take outside advice and play nice? Are creative and planner just the wrong terms for the jobs at hand? I'm going with this last one. The job titles don't fit the functions.

Ah, who doesn't love a question that messes with our ideas of how we slot people into roles within the agency model?

More: Square Pegs: Innovating Advertising Agency Hiring Practices In A Recession

Now that everything is wrapped up from our stellar trip to Las Vegas and the Globalshop Expo, we've put it all together for you in an easy-to-navigate post. Read on for links to our coverage.

— Top US Retail Brands of 2009 link

— Brand Differentiation: Do Your Brands Hold Up? link

— InterbrandDesignForum CEOs Explain How Business-centric Branding Works link

— Liveblogging Globalshop: InterbrandDesignForum Pres. Bruce Dybvad Talks Shop link

— The Globalshop Liveblog link

— Liveblogging the Most Valuable Retail Brands Session link

Want more info on how the top retail brands are selected? Want to be in the know for the upcoming selection of the top global retail brands? Click here.

On Thursday, April 2 we'll be heading to Battery Park for PSFK Conference New York — an all day event that "celebrates the most creative ideas and inspirational organizations emerging from the city." We're just there to watch and learn, since we're not the creative type, but if you're planning to attend let us know.

Click here for more info and to see who'll be speaking.

More: "InterbrandDesignForum CEOs Explain How Business-centric Branding Works"

For those of us who were not lucky enough to be down in Austin for the 2009 SXSW Interactive Conference, David Bryant, head of digital at StrawberryFrog in NYC and a 2009 One Show Judge, has kindly filled us in on what we missed. Without further ado...

"Austin, Texas is under siege this week. Already a remote outpost of liberalism in a desert of guntotin' buttfuckery, Austin was groaning under the weight of the SXSW interactive, film and music conference this weekend.

FAIL
Food was the first thing to run out. Over the weekend Stubbs ran out of ribs and chilli. Imagine. I had to have the pulled pork. Which tasted exactly like a pig does when put in a blender. Then we ran out of internet at my hotel. Then bizarrely AT&T ran out of cellphone signals.

Given 50% of the iPhone owning population must have been in Austin over the weekend, it's fairly unforgivable. It was pretty much the topic on conversation for the first few days, even if that conversation was restricted to the non-telephonic variety. And a bit of a corporate disaster for AT&T which made the blogs and then the mainstream almost immediately.

SWSX is the perfect storm of music, film and interactive. Despite much talk of convergence in these areas, there's not much evidence of it. The music industry attendees are easy to spot - they're all over 50 and wear leather. The film people are all over 30 and wear specs. The interactive people are all over 18 and wear each other down.

THE SNARK
Seriously. The level of general snarkiness in the interactive conference has to be experienced. Curiously, my journalist friends tell me it's just not that way with the music and film conferences. Perhaps the music and film conferences are more about selling your film or artists. The Interactive lot definitely seems to have more of the 'go on - impress me' about them.

I blame social media. There. I've said it. It's the scourge of real time commentary. The Interactive conference is effectively two conferences - the real life one where people talk. And the meta-conference where people are...

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