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The New Media Expo vs The Edinburgh Fringe (No Contest Really)

Posted on September 3, 2008
Filed Under Podcasting |

Rather graciously, David Peck wonders where all the cool kids were at last month’s New Media Expo in Las Vegas - for some strange reason he includes me in that list.

The simple answer, as anyone here should realise, is that the Edinburgh Fringe took priority (more on the Fringe shortly). It’s one of the major events that I cover each year and allows me to reach out to a huge range of people, many of whom aren’t in our little bubble. The second that I saw the dates last year, I knew that I wasn’t going to be at Vegas. And to be honest, my thoughts at the time were mixed. I knew I would miss a lot of friends, but I was worried the community spirit at Ontario that was fostered by being in the middle of nowhere could well be diluted by Las Vegas. And the value I was getting from the New Media Expo was starting to be lower than the cost of the trip… even without the date change I would have been thinking if the gains would outweigh the cost.

On balance I think that even without the Fringe, I would have skipped the New Media Expo this year, to watch what would come out of Las Vegas. For me, I didn’t see a lot of enthusiasm on Twitter or the blogs, and I’m not sure why. I’ll be following Tim Bourquin’s decision on what to do in 2009 with interest, but as with everything, there comes a time to shut down and move on. Personally for me that’s happened with the New Media Expo in it’s current form - perhaps the same is true for Tim?