Tag Archives: Postiecon

Conferences, Contest, Travel

Packing 10 Essential Items for IZEAFest

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20 days from today I’m going to be boarding a SouthWest Airlines Flight with my active toddler daughter, Eva and my wife, Allison. We’ll be heading down to visit with Allison’s parents and have a vacation with them before we drive on up to Orlando for IZEAFest 2009. So now is the time for us to really think about what to pack… for IZEAFest!

Back in April I wrote a blog post entitled 10 Essential Items for IZEAFest 2009. Since then I’ve decided to change them up a bit. I’ll be giving many of these items to MommaDJane (@MommaDJane), Buck “Daddy” (@BuckDaddy) and Melinda (@LkWhtMomFound) because they won my Ultimate IZEAFest Prize Packs.

10. XShot – I love this device. It is a camera extender that allows you to extend the camera away from you 37″ and get a great shot of you with the people around you. I make use of this device all the time and I have some to give away at IZEAFest. And I am so happy that XShot (@xshot) is a sponsor for IZEAFest as well. I had the XShot 1st and have given it to over 24 great bloggers so far. Ted Murphy received one from me and it is no coincidence that this great device has made its way all over IZEA and even to IZEAFest. Without it how could I have gotten this great shot with Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It and all around awesome guy. Oh and he does a little wine related podcast too.

BenSpark and Gary Vay-ner-chuk!

9. BluFrog Energy Drink – I no longer have any BluFrog. I want more. There will be some at IZEAFest. So I luckily don’t have to pack any. The weight limit for the suitcases might be a bit tough. So I bet that MommaDJane is probably going to want to pack a second suitcase to haul back her free case that she won courtesy of Martha Decker (@MarDeck)!

What I can bring with me on the plane however is the Energy Drink EBOOST (@EBOOST). I have 100 packets to give away at IZEAFest and luckily they were shipped down to the in-laws because 100 packets would also take up a bunch of room but 2 or 3 can easily be taken with you anywhere.

8. ZINK Paper – I like doing things differently. One thing I really enjoy is giving a very personal touch to the people that I meet. At conferences I have brought with me a a Polaroid Pogo, my Canon SD800is and my XShot to take pictures with people. Then I print the image out, remove the back of the ZINK paper and stick it to my business card. That way the person has both my business card and a photo of themselves with me. It impressed a few people at Affiliate Summit East. By doing this it really made the interaction so personal and gave me at least a minute or two to talk with each person while the image printed. This is how I use ZINK Paper.

7. Business Cards POKENS – Right before Affiliate Summit East I created 1000 business cards, last minute, rush order. Sure they are great when paired with my PoGo and ZINK paper however they are pretty much useless now for anything but that because I now have a Poken. What is a Poken? It is a digital business card that allows you to slap “High 4” with other Poken owners. You instantly connect and pass your business cards to each other. Put the USB portion of the Poken (stealthily hidden within the body of the Poken) into your computer and you can pull up the cards of all the people that you just met. You have instant connections to their profiles on many social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linked In (You must still friend each person in the regular manner of each platform).

I got so excited about Pokens that I bought a case of them and gave some away but I may have a few to give out at IZEAFest. You can certainly try to win one at the Karaoke contest sponsored by Me and PokenGirl (@PokenGirl). at ICEBAR on Friday Night. And if you are down in the Boynton Beach Area meet us at Bru’s Room for Wings and Pings night.

Poken with The Real Tim Jones

6. Portable Hard Drive – A small portable hard drive is a perfect thing to have with you because you can take a ton of photos and a ton of video and never have to worry about running out of space. I have a SimpleTech 320GB hard drive that weighs so little and is so small.

You don’t want to run out of space when you get that great video interview with Missy Ward or Chris Brogan.

I wasn’t able to get one of these for the winner of the Ultimate IZEAFest PRize PAck Contest but I did get a cool device called the CinemaCube. I got some help from one of my “I’m Not A Famous Blogger” crew members, Jennifer Leet (@jentifa. Jennifer is the queen of contests and she connected with one of her sponsors, BriteView, (@BriteView to get a Cinema Cube to add to the Ultimate IZEAFest Prize Pack.

5. Swag – #5 had been power but I ditched that for the very cool swag that I will be bringing with me. I can’t quite reveal what I’m bringing. I want it to be a surprise. I can tell you that what I chose to put my new logo on is something that people will use every day, multiple times. Althought I will make sure that I pack my Targus power adapter. With it I can power up my computer and peripherals in the car, at the wall socket and even on the plane.

4. Digital Camera – The one thing that I really wanted to provide the winner of the Ultimate IZEAFest prize pack. A Digital Camera is essential for blogging conferences. Photos make the event so much better. So many cool things happen at blogger conferences and you are going to make so many great friends. So what better accessory to go with the XShot than a digital camera to capture everything. I did however get a sponsor with a brand new product to help enhance your existing camera. The device is a called a Flipbac (@flipbac) which is an angled viewfinder and LCD screen protector for digital cameras.

On a Train (Yacht) Bound for Nowhere

3. Netbook – Portability and battery life are the two biggest concerns when at a blog conference, you don’t want to be weighed down with a ton of stuff and you don’t want to lose power when you have that great tweet to post.

I really wanted the winner to receive a netbook and I was so fortunate to hook up with the generous help of Dina Riccobono (@MLDina) and MarketLeverage (@MarketLeverage) who provided me with the major prizes of an Asus Eee PC 1000HA netbook.

2. Flip Mino HD – HD is where it is at. And the Flip is a perfect device to have with you at a blog conference, it is small, it fits in your pocket and powers up so quickly. I have one and Allison has one. I’ve used it for a ton of things and it fits great on the XShot. I even won another one at Affiliate Summit East. But it can no way compare to the coolness that is the the Flip Mino HD that MommaDJane is going to get. It is a custom made co-branded one with two of the best logos around. Check it out!

Co-Branded Flip Mino HD MarketLeverage and BenSpark.com

1 – A Sense of Fun, An Open Mind and a Great Attitude – IZEAFest 2009 is going to be the most fun, informative and exciting events you have ever been to or will attend this year. This will only be topped by IZEAFest 2010. However this cannot be the best time ever with out the essential items from #1 on this list, everything else is cool stuff to have but the number one essential is truly… essential. You are going to have the rare intimate opportunity to spend time with some of the best minds in blogging today. Approach the conference with a great attitude, a sense of fun and an open mind and you will have the time of your life.

So is that the definitive list? No, there are many other great things to bring, why don’t you let me know what some of them are in the comments.

I figure that by now most people have gotten their ticket to IZEAFest 2009 but if you haven’t go and click the IZEAFest logo on the top left sidebar. I’ve been talking about IZEAFest 2009 since IZEAFest 2008 and many people have clicked the link. Yet no one has made their purchase with me. So if you would like to help me help defray the cost of #5 on this list (I went way over budget on the swag I bought) please buy your ticket to IZEAFest through me. You can even use the promo code “Sponsoredtweets” for 50% off the ticket price. That is even a better deal than the early bird prices.

Blogging, Conferences, Technology

10 Essential Items for IZEAFest 2009

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This October I am attending IZEAFest 2009. I’ve been to many blogger conventions over the years (Blog World Expo, PostieCon, and IZEAFest) and I’ve come up with a list of essential items that you must have to go to one of these blogger conferences.

Did you know that you can Enter to win many of the prizes on this page. Enter BenSpark’s Ultimate IZEAFest 2009 Prize Pack Contest.

10. XShot – This simple gadget for your digital camera is the perfect accessory to have with you at a blog conference. I had the xshot 1st and gave it to some great bloggers. Ted Murphy has taken the use of this gadget to the next level though.

With an XShot you can make sure that you are in the photos with everyone. Being seen at blog conferences is very important. And being able to share photos of yourself with cool people like John Chow is fun.

XShot with John Chow

9. BluFrog Energy Drink – I’ve been drinking this stuff for the past month. I won a case from Martha Decker and also received one for Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs from Jeremy Kendall. BluFrog Energy Drink is pretty amazing stuff.

I’ve done my own trials with it and I can tell you it keeps you awake and alert during meetings and on those boring days. Of course IZEAFest will be anything but boring. But the nights will be long so you are gonna need a healthy pick me up.

Swag Table #3

8. Digital Camera – So many cool things happen at blogger conferences and you are going to make so many great friends. So what better accessory to go with the XShot than a digital camera to capture everything. My camera of choice for a quick shoot is the Canon Powershot Digital Elph. I have a Canon SD800is and there are many newer ones out now.

Canon cameras are fantastic. There is even a group that has hacked the camera to run some great scripts. I use one all the time called the Ultra Intervalometer. This allows me to set the camera to take pictures at a specific interval. I’ve used this in a few creative ways. Like attaching it to the shopping cart to take Eva to the store.

7. ZINK Paper – ZINK paper is some pretty fun stuff because you can use it in interesting ways. I use this product with a Polaroid Pogo, my Canon SD800is and my XShot to take pictures with people. Then I print the image out, remove the back of the ZINK paper and stick it to my business card. That way the person has both my business card and a photo of themselves with me. It makes the interaction so personal and gives you at least a minute or two to talk with that person while the image prints and you put it on the business card. I did this at Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs and will be doing it again at Blogs, Brews and Belly Laughs II. This is how I use ZINK Paper.

6. Portable Hard Drive – A small portable hard drive is a perfect thing to have with you because you can take a ton of photos and a ton of video and never have to worry about running out of space. I have a Simple Tech 320GB hard drive that weighs so little and is so small.

You don’t want to run out of space when you get that great video interview with Missy Ward or Chris Pirillo.

5. Power – We’re all looking for a little power but in this case I’m talking about power for your gadgets. I’ve had an iGo for years and after 7 years it gave up the ghost, that was seven hard travel years. I was able to power three laptops, seven cell phones, and various other gadgets. When the iGo died I got a Targus that did the exact same thing, in fact I was able to use my iGo peripheral charger with the Targus. With these products you can power up in the car, at the wall socket and even on the plane.

4. Flip Mino HD – HD is where it is at. And the Flip is a perfect device to have with you at a blog conference, it is small, it fits in your pocket and powers up so quickly. I was watching the cake plow at IZEAFest last year and John Chow was able to scoop the video of Ted Murphy being slammed into the cake. I had a different video camera and it wasn’t fast enough to catch that moment. If you want to catch a moment you have to be ready all the time. And even if you capture a moment you want to make sure you get that moment posted quickly. The Flip Mino HD has all the software you need to edit and upload your movies.

3. Business Cards – Two years ago I made 250 free cards with VistaPrint. They were good but sort of random. I had printed out 100 of my photo-a-day photos and stuck them to the cards. Creative but didn’t get my message across. This past year I made Moo cards with two designs one with my hands everywhere and the other of a rubber ducky that looks like me. These cards made a visual impact on everyone who got them. This year I plan to do something similar but to incorporate the PoGo, ZINK Paper and XShot into the mix.

2. Netbook – Portability and battery life are the two biggest concerns when at a blog conference, you don’t want to be weighed down with a ton of stuff and you don’t want to lose power when you have that great tweet to post.

Allison owns a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 she is able to do so much more now online because she is portable. She’s even applied for a job with Ravelry, I hope she gets it.

1 – A Ticket to IZEAFest 2009 – This is pretty much the most important thing that you need for IZEAFest, you need a ticket. You can buy one at $229.00 which not only includes an incredible lineup of speakers including 2 full days of amazing speakers and events plus a blogger takeover day at SeaWorld!


So is that the definitive list? No, there are many other great tings to bring, why don’t you let me know what some of them are in the comments.

And look here for a contest where I will give away some IZEAFest tickets. Heck I’d love to give away this complete list to some lucky bloggers, but I need some sponsors to help me out. Contact me through the contact form and let me know if you are interested in being a sponsor. I already have sponsors for the PoGo and ZINK Paper, XShot, IZEAFest Ticket and Flip Mino HD.

Today’s assignment for Day 2 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge is to write a list post. I’d been toying with the idea of this list for a while and the assignment gave me the push I needed.

Photography

Photrade: Sell your photos easily…

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I had a conference call with Krista from Photrade today. We met at Blog World Expo and then caught up again at Tao for the Postiecon Party. Krista was very interested in my blog and the photography that I do and she sent me an invite to use Photrade. Right now Photrade is in beta and it is invite only. I will have a few invites for interested parties.

Photrade is pretty easy to navigate. I was able to sign up, edit my profile, add and avatar and then edit my preferences. Pretty standard stuff. I did all this while Krista was on the phone with me. I talked out loud and she took notes. She wanted me to work on the site as if no one was on the phone. That was cool. I was able to do that and then we talked about a section of the site after I had completed any tasks on that particular section.

While going through the site I did find a few things that were buggy, but hey they are in beta and that was the purpose of the con call. I think that it is great that Krista would take the time to go through the site with me to gather my impressions of the site. that speaks to a company that wants to have a good end product.

Okay so what can you do with Photrade?

Well, after you’ve entered information and created a profile and set your preferences you can upload your photos. There are two options for photo uploading, one is to do an individual photo at a time or use the Java multi-uploader. I’m going to stick with the single upload for now as I want to hand select my best work to see on Photrade. I also want to name each photo, enter tags and descriptions. There are a few improvements that I would like to see with the uploader. For one thing you can’t change the title in this location or rotate the image. If you want the image to appear a specific way you must do the editing either on camera or in Photoshop prior to it being uploaded.

Once the image is uploaded you can add tags, and a description as well as a title (must be done on the photo page). You can also set the prices to sell the photo in various ways. You can sell 4X6 8X10 up to 20X30. You can take the suggested price that Photrade sets as your price or you an increase the markup of your photo by adding an amount to the margin. So for example if a product is $4.00 and you put the margin at $2.00 then you would sell the product at $6.00. And you get to keep 90% of the sale of each image.

Photrade has unlimited uploading so send in your large images, they make for great posters. I encourage you to explore the site and request and invite. I should be getting a few and if you would like one let me know. Drop me a comment. Below is an example of one of the things you can do with your images. You can embed them in blog posts through HTML or you can e-mail them. they can show the Photrade ad or not and you can also choose if the copyright will be on the image also. I talked to Krista about customizing the copyright so it said the user instead of Photrade. That is an enhancement coming. In fact there are many enhancements coming and each time they meet with people about the site they get more and better feedback and make improvements.

Here are some features of Photrade.

…Getting PAID for your Pictures:

1. 1. Get Paid for Every View of Your Photos
2. 2. Get Paid for Every Click on Your Photos
3. 3. Get Paid when Anyone Links to Your Photos
4. 4. Name Your Price for Your Prints (don’t worry we do the printing/shipping)
5. 5. Name Your Price for Companies who want to Use your Photos

More Features:

* • No Limit Uploads – No limits and always for Free.
* • Easy Multi-Photo Uploader – Quick and easy to put up entire folders at a time.
* • Customizable Pages – Customize your pages and express yourself.
* • Photo Privacy – Control who sees your photos and who can buy them.
* • Simple Sharing – Email photos to friends/family or post them on your blog or MySpace.
* • Tag, Comment & Rate photos – Get feedback on your work, share thoughts with others.
* • PhoTages – A collage of your photos to post on your MySpace, Blog, etc.

You can see my gallery on Photrade. BenSpark’s home page

Contest

I won a Moblie! And a Bessie!

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Photo-A-Day #945c 11/09/07

Imagine my Surprise today when I won the Moblie Award from the guys at Utterz. It included a Bessie stuffed animal and $250.00. That is going to come in handy when I get home to get a nice anniversary gift for Allison. Our two year anniversary is on Monday.

I am going to write up a fantastic blog post about this amazing service. It truly is one of the best out there.

Photo-A-Day

Photo-A-Day #944 11/08/07

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Trying to keep up this blog while in Vegas is tough. For one thing there is no Internet access at the hotel and I usually blog at night. I could do my photo-A-Day photo earlier but I never know if I am going to get a better one by the end of the day.

Today was pretty awesome. I met many people that I had only talked to online or whose blogs I have been reading. Hanging out with Kevin and Ian and Marcus and Gary was really fun too. This photo is of Sim from Utterz. Utterz is the site that I have been using to Mobile Blog while here in Vegas. That was worked out really well and Utterz is based out of Maynard MA. That is practically in my backyard when I am at work. They are only 7 weeks old and already taking the Internet by storm because of the way they integrate seamlessly with existing platforms like Twitter and WordPress and Blogger.

Last night I walked and walked and walked. See I am trying to save some money so I bought a ticket for the Deuce. That is the double decker bus here in Vegas. It is $5.00 to ride unlimited for a 24hr period. So I can ride till 7:00 on Friday night. The problem is that everything here is enormous. I thought the Hard Rock Hotel was so much closer than it actually was. And my feet ended up paying for it. But eventually I got to the Pajama party and I met a bunch of people. The experience was great.

On my way out of the casino I bestowed some luck on the IZEA Guys. They were play roulette and when I showed up their number hit. That is a 35 to 1 payout. So they were happy to see me. And if you think Ted Murphy is excited in everyday life watch him hit 35 to 1 on a decent bet. It was awesome! To rich for my blood but fun to watch. Friday looks like it wil be a great time too. Also I took a few more photos on the strip.

Photo-A-Day #944g 11/08/07 Photo-A-Day #944e 11/08/07 Photo-A-Day #944f 11/08/07
Photo-A-Day #944d 11/08/07 Photo-A-Day #944c 11/08/07 Photo-A-Day #944b 11/08/07
Photo-A-Day

Photo-A-Day #943 11/07/07

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Today I flew from Providence to Las Vegas. I am in Vegas for 4 days for Blog World Expo and PostieCon. The flights were both on time and it was smooth sailing. I read up on my new camcorder the Canon ZR850. I am all ready to start making videos at Blog World Expo. Kevin from FuelMyBlog has set me up to start talking with many people in the blogging community. Were going to do a sort of 3 questions with BenSpark sort of thing. Three quick questions and then post up the video on FuelMyBlog. We discussed this tonight when I met Kevin, Ian, Marcus and Gary for the first time. They are over at the Stratosphere and I am at Circus, Circus, but I bet you could figure that out from the Photo-A-Day. I am looking forward to the day tomorrow and it will be nice to meet a bunch of bloggers, especially the folks who read this blog.