Best of BlogWorld LA 2011

BlogWorld was awesome. Here’s the best of the best:

Best Lines

Amber Naslund:

• There are these big changes going on in how people interact, and we’re in charge. Are your parents scared? They should be.
• Our top fear isn’t failure, it’s being blamed.
• … they’d stone me to death. And not in the good way.

Mari Smith: I’m a raging extrovert. I often don’t know what I’m thinking until after I say it.

Debba Haupert : If you haven’t failed in Social Media, you haven’t tried Social Media. Start conversations, see what gets people to talk.

Darren Rowse:

• When people come up to me to mention a blog post that they remember, it’s never a post about shutter speed. It’s always a story that I told.
• Sometimes you can inspire people first and then inform them. I posted a slide show of inspirational pictures, and then a link to a tutorial about techniques. People clicked those links like crazy.

Peter Shankman:

• I have not only ADHD but also ADOS. ADOS is Attention Deficit [gets distracted and points to imaginary object] Oh, Shiny.
• To let you know how good I am at Iron Man the really top people are sponsored by great health-oriented brands. I’m sponsored by candy companies.
• Ed Meese said MTV is killing America because it’s cutting their attention span to 3 minutes. Today I’d kill for an audience with a 3 minute attention span. Average attention span today is 2.6 to 3 seconds. Roughly 140 characters.

Guy Kawasaki:

• I only have 2 modes on social. Off or on. If I have something to share, I put it out to 275,000 of my closest friends. [Back in 1999 Guy liked our product, GuruNet, and said he’d send out an e-mail to his “5,000 closest friends.” We laughed about him having such a large following. The number 275,000 today surprises us a lot less than 5,000 did 12 years. And that, in a nutshell, is the Social Media revolution.]
• I’m amazed that people are so skeptical about Google +. Especially the tech media, who are always saying things like “Sergey hasn’t posted a message in 36 minutes. They must have given up on Google +.”

Best Introductions:

• “Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan, two people who need no introduction.” Then she walked away. [Sadly the introducer also received no introduction so I don’t have her name. If you have it, please let me know.]
• “Without further ado I’d like to introduce Mari Smith. Woo hoo!” [Mari Smith, introducing herself]

Best Anecdotes:

• Peter Shankman: I had 40 straight flights where I sat next to people who weighed 400 pounds or never showered. Then I sat next to Miss Texas. It was obviously her turn to have a shitty flight.
• Chris Brogan: When I was a teenager I saw Guy [Kawasaki] when he was evangelizing for the Mac. I told my dad “that’s what I want to do when I grow up.” Dad said “that’s the dumbest job idea I ever heard.”

Best Personal Touch:

• Lisa Barone: I think of myself as a corporate blog voice-giver. That’s my passion, giving corporate blogs a voice. As you probably know by now, I stutter. The fact that I stutter probably means that I understand the power of voice more than anyone else. I know what it’s like not to have one, I know what it’s like to have it taken away, I know what it’s like to have something to say and no way to say it, and I know what it’s like to get your voice back.
• Peter Shankman: Ends keynote by saying that if you’re doing it right, doing great work and living a great life are one and the same. And make sure to remember to live your life. Then shows a picture of himself proposing and announces his engagement.

Best Stats:

Best Running Gag:

Peter Shankman often stopping to translate for the under-30 crowd:

• Radio – that’s like Pandora before the internet
• Books – that’s like a Kindle that doesn’t use batteries
• Rolodex – that’s like Outlook but with cards