A lineup of over 170 business and new media leaders spoke at 2014’s New Media Expo (NMX), the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference and media event for content creators. Every year, thousands of bloggers, podcasters, and content creators attend this annual conference – apparently it is THE event if you are in any of these fields. This conference includes an amazing collection of the finest talent and minds, with invaluable lessons that you will not find all under one roof anywhere else.

 

…AAANNNND….I missed it.

 

Maybe you did too. So I reached out to some attendees of this year event to find out some of the great lessons they learned.

What kind of lessons you ask? Were they lessons like: “Pat Flynn looks a lot less Irish than his name would lead you to believe?”

Actually their lessons were much more profound. Check out this awesome collection of amazing talent, and what they had to say about New Media Expo 2014.

Lessons Learned from New Media Expo 2014 

Shey Harms

Host of the Slender Safari Podcast & Blog – http://www.slendersafari.com/

“A common theme I heard over and over is “just be you.” No Matter how many other sites out there like yours, if you are yourself then there are no competitors.

 

Cynthia Sanchez

Host of the Oh So Pinteresting! Podcast & Blog – http://www.ohsopinteresting.com/

“From Lee Odden: He reminded me how important empathy is. All you do online should be for your readers/listeners/viewers.”

 

Ellory Wells

Host of Empowering the 80 Percent Podcast & Blog – http://www.empoweringthe80percent.com/

“The Meetups are as equally important as the conference itself. Get to know the other attendees.”

“Be involved. Ask questions during the sessions. Have a goal for what you want to learn and who you’d like to meet and connect with.”

“Have a plan for which session you want to attend, but be flexible enough to take opportunities when they appear. I got to interview Erik Fisher for my Podcast live because I was in the right place at the right time and was flexible in my schedule.”

 

Debbie Miller

Founder – Social Hospitality – http://www.socialhospitality.com

“One major takeaway from NMX would be to be open to attending sessions on topics you think you know. Even though I consider myself social media savvy, I still learned a lot and gained some valuable insight by attending social-media based sessions.”

 

Ryan Rhoten

The Career Bootstrapper – http://www.ryanrhoten.com/

“There is no such thing as an overnight success. It usually comes after a series of failing forward but always comes after action.”

“Action always happens faster when you surround yourself with a network of likeminded people.”

“Jared Easley is the master at building and serving a network of likeminded individuals. Don’t give up when you hit an obstacle.”

“Lean on your network. Your “overnight success” might just be on the other side of the obstacle.”

 

Donald C. Kelly

Host of the Sales Evangelist Podcast – http://thesalesevangelist.com/

“You must take action and focus on niches if you are doing a podcast.”

 

Erik Fisher

Host of the Beyond the To-Do List Podcast – http://beyondthetodolist.com/

“Being human on social media is more important than just churning out links.”

 

Melissa Hawks

Co-curator on http://hawksandrock.com/

“I think you can learn things from the sessions but the meetups are where it happens. Connections are made. People pour into you.”

 

Joe Cassandra

Co-Host of the Entrepreneur Showdown Podcast – http://www.entrepreneurshowdown.com/

“Work on Your Elevator Pitch This was something that hit me in the middle of the conference (more towards the end i.e. it was toooo late).  You’ll be asked a zillion times  about the project or business you’re working on.  You need to catch people’s interest fast or else their eyes glaze over in about 5 seconds, or they get distracted and start looking around.”

“The Big Names Aren’t Always the Biggest: There are many “buzz names” at each conference, those people that usually have packed sessions, people Tweeting that their only wish is to meet these people. Here’s the thing, those people are usually more popular due to marketing themselves and their brand, but that doesn’t mean they’re the most successful.  You’ll find multiple business owners, those who have sold their startups, have been featured on major news outlets and more that you’ll never have heard of.  Maybe they chose the path of being “unknown” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable connections.”

Read more great tips from Joe on his post here: 5 Networking Tips Learned from New Media Expo 

 

Adam Silver

The Kitchen Sink WP Blog – http://kitchensinkwp.com/

“We (creatives, entrepreneurs) aren’t alone. It’s hard for me to imagine that someone wouldn’t want to control their own destiny, and call the shots, but not everyone wants that risk nor the responsibility.”

“It’s also the year that I need to be accountable for my many, many, many ideas.  I need to focus this year. That said, I am taking Chris Brogan’s recent question via twitter asking 3 words for this year.  Mine are: Prolific, Mindset and Family.”

“Finally, I plan on starting/joining a mastermind with a group of people for that accountability.  Pro athletes have coaches, and I need one – or a group of them – as well!”

 

Jared Easley

Host of the Starve The Doubts podcast – http://www.starvethedoubts.com/

“The meetups! Awesome opportunity to connect with other attendees.”

 

Ryan Gray, M.D.

Host of The Medical School HQ Podcast – http://medicalschoolhq.net

“2014 was my first NMX, so I didn’t know what to expect going in. If you missed it, you would have missed the opportunity to be around like minded individuals doing amazing things in many different areas of expertise. I think that was the big take home for me.”

“The sessions were good, but being able to talk to people about their businesses, their success and their failures was so much more rewarding that I would have ever expected. If you would have attended, you would have learned that as soon as you start talking to these other brilliant people, your creativity floodgates are stuck wide open!”

 

I hope to be there next year, but in the meantime check out these lessons – and also reach out to connect with some of these amazing and talented individuals!

Did you attend NMX this year? If so, what lesson did you take away? Please share it in the comments below – also consider sharing this post with anyone else who did not attend (or did attend and has a great lesson to share!)