BlogWorld New Media Expo: How Going Led To My First Live Video

Now while my business is primarily virtual, there are times when you just can’t beat an in-person business event, and going to this year’s BlogWorld/New Media Expo in Las Vegas was one of them.  I had been to the conference two years ago when it was just The New Media Expo and got a lot out of it—it got me to stop talking about launching What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know The Podcast, and be inspired to actually do it. 

Plus, it’s where I met the Microsoft employee who loved my podcast and got it recognized as a featured show (where it remained ongoing), and my book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know spotlighted on the Office Products Podcast Directory.  That love from Microsoft wouldn’t have happened any other way.

So I was optimistic about more magic happening when I attended this year’s conference, and I wasn’t disappointed.  It was also appropriate that this time instead of involving audio, the magic involved video. 

As many of my regular readers (which of course I hope you are) know, my core strengths when it comes to content creation are the written word, audio and interactive training, and while I’ve made a couple of slideshow videos, and some instructional videos, despite knowing how important a medium it is, it’s still something I’ve struggled with.

So the second day of the event, I decided to ditch the morning keynote since it was some political strategists discussing social media, and even though politics fascinates my Mom, it’s just not my thing.  I was working on my laptop using the conference’s free wifi outside a conference room, around one of the areas that had been dubbed “the water cooler of BlogWorld New Media Expo”—also known as the power strips put out in common areas by a sponsor.  Laptops and smartphones do need to be recharged, and so these became natural gathering places.

It wasn’t long before I struck up a conversation with one woman who had also decided to ditch the political strategist keynote, and then we were joined by another.  We were talking about what we each did, our thoughts on social media and new media and I started talking about my philosophies on content creation.  One of the women stopped me and said “ooh that’s good, wait a moment,” and then she whipped out her iPod Nano with video recorder and said “now say that again.”

At that point I realized she meant to put me on video—gulp, live. 

I laughed and said “thanks but I don’t go on camera for video.”  But she wasn’t taking no for an answer, and got up and came over to me with the iPod ready to go.  I kept protesting, but she was relentless—and as I watched my new friend proceed through the conference, I realized that she might have missed her calling as a journalist because she strong-armed even some of the conference’s heavy hitter speakers into letting her do a quick video interview with them.  So at least I was in good company.

I looked at the iPod poised and ready to roll, and thought that while I hadn’t slept that much the night before and my hair hadn’t cooperated that morning, I was wearing my What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know t-shirt, which would be good for branding, and she said I could plug my website.  On the other hand, this was live—me on camera, no practice, no fancy lighting, no make up artist and no editing—was it the way I wanted my first time on camera to happen?

Then I thought of how many people all around me at the conference were doing on-camera video fearlessly, so I gave in and repeated what I had said, added a bit more and even remembered to get WhatYouKnowIsWorthMoreBook.com and my free 3-chapter book excerpt in.

After it was done, my friend told me I was worrying for nothing, I did just great.  But for me the worrying had just begun—I wanted to see the video which she promised me later on in the day.

Later on during the afternoon keynote, I sat next to her again, and I watched out of the corner of my eye as she skillfully added a footer with my name, book title and website to the video and then watched horrified as I realized she was uploading it to YouTube and I hadn’t even seen it yet.  Wow, I was not ready for primetime, and competing against the cats who do clever things videos.

I’m probably harder on myself than anyone else, so I had been waiting to create the perfect video.  I would be perfect, the lighting would be perfect, it would set the video world on fire.  But months later, I still hadn’t made a video with myself on camera. 

Years ago when my husband and I were in the process of relocating to Southern California, and I was still in the Corporate World, I had to fly out ahead of the move for some interviews.  Now in California everyone drives, but I had grown up in my native NYC and was a subway and bus girl.  I got my license at age 26 and still rarely drove, and never on the highway.  So I was trying to figure out how I was going to get myself around to all these appointments, because I had very little highway experience and I had seen the 12 lanes across freeways of LA on TV.

My husband had basically told me that I was a good driver and I had to just get on the highway and do it.  I was terrified of this Marquis De Sade driving school method, but I wanted desperately to get around on my own in LA, so after leaving the airport in my rental car, I managed to get on the highway, just beating out a truck, and doing my best to keep up with the  flow of traffic which was about 15 miles per hour faster than the speed limit.  I remember getting to The Westin Bonaventure, with the biggest headache of my life from the pressure of driving white-knuckled on the freeway for the first time, and basically throwing the valet the keys to my car saying “take it, I’m shot.”

But after I checked in and reflected on the experience, I realized that if I hadn’t been pushed outside my comfort zone, I wouldn’t have tried to drive on the freeway and it might be really tough for me to live in California—the best experience of my life.

And just like then, while my very first live video was far from the perfection I was seeking, thanks to a chance meeting at a conference, I did finally step out of my comfort zone and attended what was to me the Marquis De Sade school of video.  And the end result was, I finally did one.  And once I did, suddenly it didn’t seem so far fetched that I could do this with some improvements, and I even attended sessions the next day on live video streaming—which I would never have considered before I did my live video and realized I did live to tell about it.  This time, the magic that happened at BlogWorld New Media Expo was actually getting over my fear of doing on-camera video, and very soon I’ll have stuff to put on YouTube—no more procrastinating.

Most importantly, it was a reminder of how important it is to be able to step outside of your comfort zone, and create content in all the forms that your audience wants to consume it—-not just the ones that you’re most comfortable creating.

I now invite you to learn everything you need to know, step-by-step, about original content infopreneuring and marketing.  Get a FREE 3-chapter excerpt from my 5-star Amazon rated book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know™ - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! and access to my 60-minute author interview teleseminar CLICK HERE

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Happy Infopreneuring!

--Melanie R. Jordan, The Expert At Making Money From What You Uniquely Know,  Author of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know™ - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! and Host of infopreneur podcast What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast Available 24/7 at: http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMorePodcast.com

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