Mack and I are now home from our 4 day trip to the Portable Media Expo. It has been really rewarding and we've made a lot of good contacts. Here are some of my random thoughts regarding the trip in no particular order:
- Ontario, CA is definitely too hot for my comfort. It was sunny and scorching for all four days that we were there.
- Sponsoring the notepads was definitely a good idea! We brought home about 50 extra notepads meaning over 900 of them were handed out.
- According to one, our booth had the least information about our service second to another company. Fortunately, it wasn't entirely a bad thing. On one hand, people just glazed over our booth and didn't stop by. On the other hand, our logo on the notepads and the lack of information on our booth made people visit our booth to satisfy their curiosity.
- I would like to see more podcasting services categories for the Portable Media Expo awards. They do have a "Best Services for Audio and Video Podcasters" award but it's too general. From advertising, subscription, directory to hosting services, there are just so many different services available that it makes sense to flesh out the category a little more.
- We're starting to see more and more coverage of Podcast Spot. In particular, David Holmes gave a good overview of our service and even demonstrates how our automatically generated OPML outlines can be used to view the all the podcasts in our system.
- If it's any sign that podcasting is growing, next year's expo will be three days instead of two. No word on whether it's an extra day for the conference or expo or both.
- I seem to have caught Mack's cold but luckily it's not as bad as his.
- iMorphosis, one of the exhibitors I met will be sending me a beta of their podcast management device that allows any portable media device to be connected, charged and synced up to their podcast subscription without the use of a computer. I really look forward to trying it out, especially when I get a Zune.
- Either it was a coincidence or Delta Airlines has a habit of overbooking flights. Our flight home was also overbooked and were looking for volunteers to catch a later flight. We were more eager to get home quickly.
So there you have it, another year and another expo! Thanks goes to Tim Bourquin and their team for putting together yet another great expo. See you next year!
ppme podcasting expo podcasts podcast spot iMorphosis