After 3 days in the Las Vegas desert with blazing sun and heat (which is an understatement), The New Media Expo kicked off in fine style at the Las Vegas Convention Center. While there we got to network with a great crew of fine New Media Professionals. Chance meetings with Steve Frey about how podpress is the glove to the Wordpress hand was great and exactly what I think a conference of new Media types should be about. The free exchange of ideas and good will towards other techies.

While I was there I got to learn about TubeMogul and there presentation at their booth was really nice. In recent months and working with client video, the need for adequate coverage of any social media campaign to several sites (Vimeo, Myspace, facebook, et al.) is really time consuming but totally necessary. Facebook fans want to see a video on the native platform. And don’t mess with the crew at Vimeo - their users want their content in beautiful streaming HD and I can’t blame them. Call me a snob if you will or a social media purest but when I’m surfing a site and I see a low quality YouTube video embedded on the page I get a little sad. There are so many more options on YouTube now and specifically with video on the web. From Viddler to Meta Cafe they are all fighting for a piece of the pie and as a result we win.

The most amazing part of the conference was the way that we could track each other. Due to the recent popularity of Twitter and with the geo positioning through apps like Twinkle on the iPhone I knew what the expo was talking about even before I hit the floor and it was easy to meet up with others for personal interaction on a common topic, meet ups, or where the party was at.

Other chance meetings included Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Also starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion) and a Scoble sighting. I forgot my camera on both counts. It was also great to meet Tim Borquin face to face. We’ve exchanged emails over the past few years and it was nice to finally get a sense of who he is. I hope he’s on vacation right now because I’m sure he had some sleepless nights coordinating it all.

To Sum up - The New Media Expo was a good time and 3 days in Vegas is long enough for me, especially when it’s August.