Comments on: Should Oprah Be Allowed To Speak At BlogWorld?

By: Taylor Marek

Taylor Marek — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:30:05 +0000

Should Oprah be allowed to speak at Blogworld? Honestly, and in my opinion, if you want publicity, fine. But do be warned that her audience is “green” and the majority have no idea what she says and follow her doggedly. When she even briefly mentioned the Kindle, it went from having a supply to “sold out for months” status on Amazon.
But if you want to have a solid audience that is connected, then no. I expect more of BlogWorld then just throwing out celebrities to “speak” about new media. I expect to see and hear from experts in the field with a proven track record to be speaking (keynote, track, panel, etc). When I attended the New Media Expo (before the buyout) last year, I got the feeling of being special. Of being part of a select group of people with well-known speakers to flavor the expo in just a way that added to the “specialness” of the group. I felt as though I was part of an elite group, with the best people hand-picked out of that group to speak. Ask anyone who attended the New Media Expo last year, they will agree with me that they felt they were part of an elite group of people, and therefore valued. Just my thoughts, but do hear me on this.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:51:39 +0000

zchamu, I wasn’t Oprah specific actually but an off the cuff remark about her getting on Twitter and maybe we should ask her to come out. I really like all the names you suggest and would invite any of them to come out to Vegas and let us know their thoughts.

By: Wade Kwon

Wade Kwon — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:30:53 +0000

The more the Social Media elite protest, the more I laugh. Get over yourselves.

By: zchamu

zchamu — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:28:38 +0000

If you wanted to get a celebrity speaker, there are far better options to choose than Oprah. I truly believe she doesn’t “get” new media or social media at all. She follows 10 celebrities who only follow other celebrities. She doesn’t understand the power; she’s only jumping on the bandwagon. Whereas there are lots of celebs out there who are using twitter and blogs and other forms of new media regularly, and they’re realizing that they can use these tools to not only connect to real people but to control their own messaging instead of letting the gossip rags control it all. It’s a completely different perspective than Joe Average Blogger and it’s incredibly valuable. So instead of jumping on the Oprah bandwagon when I truly feel she would have nothing of value to say, why not invite John Cleese? Stephen Fry? Brent Spiner? John Mayer? Demi Moore? Whether they are my favourite celebrities or not, the fact is they are using social media to change the way they deal with the public and *that* is the fascinating part.

By: Ken Camp

Ken Camp — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:05:19 +0000

I have to jump back in with a comment, and to partially recant something. After lots of conversation with both Rick and Jim, I can’t say Oprah would/will keep me from attending. Sheryl and I both hope to be there. We hope to speak. BW is the biggest event for a practitioner in this space, and it’s important to us.

That said, if Oprah or someone I don’t see as relevant to my interests does keynote, and I don’t feel they’re going to give me value I can put to use, I’ll probably be looking for like-minded folks to meet with and share knowledge over coffee during the keynote. I don’t want to miss the whole conference just because of any one speaker,

But I’m also rethinking Oprah and the like as keynotes. None of us dispute the “butts in seats” factor, and if that brings more of the people I can forge new alliances with or gain work projects from, that’s a good thing. In Rick’s reply to Sheryl he did confirm his thinking of BW as the convergence point between old and new media. Nobody I know will dispute Oprah’s rock star status in old media.

I had been thinking of the roots. BlogWorld & New MediaExpo leads me to think blogging and microblogging, podcasting and video. All new, not old. But Rick’s point about the convergence of old and new media rings true. And while we do both audio and video ‘casting, I wouldn’t mind some power tips on post-production, editing and the like from an old media genius.

So while I still say Oprah doesn’t tickle my fancy much, BW is still the place to be and if we can make it there in any way, shape or form, we’ll be there.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:25:30 +0000

I think the other semantic problem we are having as well Beth is that somehow Keynote=Expert. Keynote to me meant a headliner or someone that is more than a panelist or specific genre educator. Sure, it does mean an expert and leader within the industry and I can see how people thought that I meant Oprah would make an expert because they drew inference of keynote and expert being synonymous. I was using keynote to mean a superstar speaker, be that a Mack Collier or a Beth Harte, social media experts, to Oprah Winfrey, Media Rockstar. I would consider Barack Obama to be a keynoter, Steve Jobs, John Elway or anyone we wanted to showcase as a person you should not miss at an event. Limiting us to only specific niche experts makes it tough to put on much of anything. You are always welcome to provide your input here or anywhere Beth and this is a classic example of what will happen with or without the company participating. I also want to put out there that Blog World and New Media Expo is not a “social media conference” any more than it is just an entertainment conference or podcasting or side bar widget conference. We have our sights set much bigger and all of those things fall under our umbrella.

By: The “Oprah-ization” of Twitter (HINT: This is a Good Thing) « The Engaged Consumer

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:24:00 +0000

[...] Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo thinks that Oprah would be a great keynote speaker at Blog World Expo 2009 [...]

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:37:04 +0000

I am more than okay with being “called to the carpet” here. And, I am pretty sure that my ego hasn’t been hurt. The point to my tweet (the one up above) was that I can’t ‘buy’ my way into being a social media expert or keynote because I don’t have that kind of fame or celebrity status…I am just a marketer.

I could care less that celebs are on Twitter because I am not a part of that community. And I can’t comment because their community makes the rules for their engagement, not me. But, as part of the BlogWorld community (I’d like to attend this year), I wanted to have a say and Rick/Jim indulged me…that’s social media at play!

Did you or Jim ever say that Oprah was a social media expert? No. But throwing her out as a potential keynote infers that you are. And I agree with Mack, after being on Jim’s show about experts…I was a bit perplexed. Which is why I asked in my blog post if celebs should be held to the same standards as companies. Because, Oprah is a business owner.

But what I am really wondering now is if Oprah and her team are monitoring all these posts and comments… Hmmmm. And if they will ever come and comment. Now that would prove to me that they are truly engaged in “listening” and social media.

By: Did Ashton Kutcher Exploit The Children Of Africa? | Blog World Expo Blog

Did Ashton Kutcher Exploit The Children Of Africa? | Blog World Expo Blog — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:57:39 +0000

[...] searching for other blog posts about the recent hubub over the hypothetical possibility of Oprah Keynoting BlogWorld this year, I came across another post that stunned me and brought a whole new perspective to [...]

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:47:12 +0000

I’m disappointed that Oprah is now the center of the discussion in any way. Most bloggers work very hard on their blogs, and study for hours figuring out the “how to’s” of technology. She uses her celebrity to tell people how to think and I don’t want her in my life. IF I did, I could watch her show. But this is one woman who likes to think for herself.