A total success according to me, because I learned a LOT. I’ve been to many conferences over the years, and to be honest they’re mostly meh… keynotes full of hot air and pontificating while the “networking you’ll do!” being sold as the best part. Not the Art of Marketing.

Gary Vaynerchuk was great of course; you already know how I feel about him.

Above that’s Jeffrey Hayzlett CMO of Kodak.  Get this… 15 years ago Kodak sold $15 billion in film, last year they sold $200 million… woah, I know. He was great because he brought old school business sensibilities to the online world, and with relish at that.

By far though, my favourite was the Avinash Kaushik’s analytics talk, because FINALLY I heard someone of authority say what I’ve been saying for years… [paraphrased]

… it’s not the amount of hits and visitors you receive, it’s the level of                    engagement that matters.

I’ve been saying this since 1999, because let’s be real – if you want hits, oh I’ll get them for you…. by doing a shady deal and buying thousands of views for pennies. But how will that help you or I? It won’t; all it will do is screw up our analytics.

The rule-of-thumb online is: for every 1 comment there are 20 visitors who were there but didn’t say anything.

And so wit: these are the stats for my video, Let’s have a Staring Contest shortly after I posted it and before I put the link out anywhere…. so these are pure numbers here:

21 views, 5 comments, 2 likes…. that’s approximately 25% which is 20% higher than the average 5%.

Not bad not bad. Quality over quantity.

And now this will be a post I send to potential sponsors and advertisers.

Thanks again for inviting me, Art Of Marketing!