VT Business Conference Report

It may be a Monday, but I feel as if I am in the midst of Vermont Conference Week. Friday wrapped up the start with the Women Business Owner's Network (WBON) Conference at the Hilton in Burlington. As outlined in the below post, the New World of PR was the overall topic and the speakers were great! I was especially impressed with the Seven Days speech by Pamela Polston and Paula Routly. And, no, I am not just saying that because I am a PR person. I was inspired by their tenacity and boldness (which as the owners/publishers/editors of Seven Days I am fully aware, but was inspired to hear it live) and was also completely amused by the way they told the story. And when it comes down to it folks - traditional PR, new age PR, tech PR - it's all about how you tell the story. Be real and make it relevant. Pamela and Paula did this for the large group of women business owners who gathered for this well run conference.

I think my workshops went well and enjoyed helping business owners try to figure out all this new media slop so it's actually a bit tasty. I will say the Hilton needs to get with the program and stop trying to be so obvious about trying to make a buck and offer wireless to all as a part of their conference package. Is it really worth annoying several presenters so you can charge ten bucks per wireless session? Couldn't you just include wireless for all at a conference with a password in the fee structure? Are you really that ignorant to customer feedback? Maybe you need to Twitter.

So moving on now that it's the middle of Vermont Conference Week - this Wednesday and Thursday is the long anticipated Vermont Business EXPO brought to us by the new media savvy Vermont Business Magazine and my new favorite networking vehicle - the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Every day I learn more reasons as to why Vermont businesses should be a member and do believe my Vermont public relations business will be joining in the near future. And speaking of savvy, check out the EXPO's You Tube feature!



If you haven't made plans to attend this year's EXPO, you should seriously re-consider your marketing goals and make sure there is a measurable reason why you are not attending. (Even if you don't have a booth, you can still attend - otherwise why would there be booths?)

Hope to see lots of folks there - I will be there for the day Wednesday!