What did you like the most about BizJam?

What a great event! This is my first Bizjam and I had a fantastic experience. I networked, met some new people, learned some new tricks and heard some funny stories. I am exhausted and motivated, but overall very inspired by the biznik community. Thanks to everyone who took part and made it happen.

Lisa Johnson.

Visit my blog to read a little about her talk. I was inspired to blog live from the event.

Hsuan-Hua

Lisa definitely rocked the house. And, I got to meet a lot of amazing people in-person, and have some really in-depth conversations- as well as further deepen other relationships.

The social media focus was really helpful as well. I've got a lot of the pieces in place: Twitter account, blog, and I blog for the HuffPost, plus I have a couple of hundred back articles, and a new one every Wednesday.

And yet, it's still sinking in about how to use social media. I'm really getting it now, and I'm inspired on how to step forward with it.

Hi Hsuan-Hua

Big questions! :) Well, I'm not 100% clear, but what's been dropping in over the last several months, and solidified more at BizJam is that our very successful email marketing speaks to an entirely different market of people (well, nearly entirely different) than the social media crowd. And, so requires an entirely different strategy/plan/spaciousness.

They just don't play together that well.

So, giving social media the time and space it needs is a big part of the strategy.

As far as stepping forward, the three big things I took away were to:

• rock the product
• more collaboration
• video

Does that help?

Oh don't worry... if anything, I need to implement less. :)

"rock the product"- in general means to highlight the product, and bring it out in a really visible way, which we haven't done in the social media world. And by product, I mean these:

Unveiling the Heart of Your Business

Creating Heart-Centered Websites

Article Writing Course (homestudy product coming soon)

The Business Oasis

We have dozens, hundreds of raving fans for these products, and we aren't making that visible enough.

By-the-by- we've used www.lulu.com for several years, and they've been extremely reliable for us. They've recently taken an unfortunate trend towards too much packaging when they ship, which we hate for environmental reasons, and yet we're still using them, because I haven't found an alternative I like as much.

Hsuan-Hua, Check my blog often or subscribe to the RSS feed. I'm staying active with relevant content regarding marketing strategy, marketing communications, and related topics.

Thanks for visiting! Joe

The after-party was absolutely fantastic! Dan and Lara really know how to throw a shindig.

Bizjam was outstanding!! The people, the vibe, everyone was so "On". I did not get to go to any actual sessions because I was VERY network-y but the group of people, all in one place, all eager to share and learn. Terrific!

I am already planning on next year!!

BizJam was fabulous. The opportunity to network (meet, connect, and establish the basis for followup) with a large group of receptive people was great.

I liked the way the Pathable name badges motivated me to look at the people I sat next to or passed in the hall, instead of doing the I don't see you glance that is often the case.

As a volunteer room monitor with Bridget Gailey, I attended many workshops. I thought the speakers were informative, interesting and responsive to audience questions and comments.

Lisa Johnson's keynote speech woke me up Friday morning, and made me happy about it. She is excellent.

I especially enjoyed Leif Hansen's and Karrie Kohlhaas' workshops. I liked that participants were an active part of Leif's workshop. Since it was right after lunch, his workshop design facilitated group interaction and minimized napping.

Karrie's was the last workshop on Friday. The quality of the pricing information Karrie shared made me want to hang onto her brilliance as she sped her way through the key points she wanted us to get. It was a Wow.

These were some of the highlights for me.

I hope to meet many more Biznikers at next year's BizJam. It's a great way to spend one or two days updating your skills while meeting and collaborating with other business owners.

It really didn't suck.

For me, it prompted me to take a critical look at how I market Lone Eagle Digital Imaging. As a result, I'll be taking some concrete actions to improve things.

I was surprised at the emotional highs & lows I felt. It was great to meet lots of enthusiastic, bright, caring, & capable people. I wish I had the bandwidth to connect on a deeper level with the folks I did meet. But what about all the folks I didn't meet? Whew. I intend to sponsor the next Bizjam too.

Rick
www.LoneEagleDigital.com

I've been so busy following up with the amazing connections I made at BizJam I haven't had time to comment on this post!

The people were the biggest draw by far. Not everything in the sessions was new to me but sometimes I was motivated to think about old issues in new ways.

Like Joe, I am continuing to talk about BizJam in my blog because readers have specifically asked us for more on the conference.

The best part for me, by far, was the networking.

My favorite part of BizJam was that more than 200 people showed up! There were moments while we were organizing the conference where we had our doubts (you know those moments, when you're working on your business and wondering whether anyone cares or will buy what you're selling). So reading this thread is deeply gratifying. Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

I liked the informal, light and breezy vibe. The lounge was cozy and conducive to starting up conversations. I learned a heck of a lot, especially about social media. Thanks to the information and inspiration I got, I've hit the ground running to get my blog up. Thanks Dan, Lara, all the presenters and volunteers for doing a bang-up job!

Thanks for all the comments everyone. For those of us who had to be out of town (on business, not even vacation..) I was bummed and am looking to get "tid-bits" of takeaways on who to get to know, and what to check out.

If there is another place on the Biznik site that has more - video, session details, etc - I'd love to see that.

I loved this year's BizJam as well. And thank you for the affirmation about my session Judith --it was a risky but apparently good choice to go with the high level of interactivity. I was overwhelmed with how many people shared how much they liked the opportunity to work with others, contribute to the learnings, have some fun, and process what they learned before.

I personally also loved extra details like the Office Nomads Cafe, the beautiful schedule boards, the detailed programs, badges, ...everything.

Great job Biznik!