To bring together ingenious minds in the mobile media industry, from start-up to investor, Strategy Institute presents the Mobile Media Investor Conference, supported by numerous industry experts in the emerging mobile media arena. The event will be held December 9 & 10, 2008, at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco.

“The goal of the event is to bring forth the realities and economics of mobile media, educate the investment community, and to create a forum for emerging growth mobile media companies to connect with other key players in the mobile ecosystem,” stated Vijay S. Chattha, Chief Talker of VSC Consulting, and Chairperson of Strategy Institute’s Mobile Media Conference.

Among the many industry leading presentations during the two-day event are:

Eric Ver Ploeg, Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners moderates the panel discussion on “Monetizing the Third Screen” with key panelists including:

Cheryl Dalrymple, CFO, AdMob;
Zaw Thet, CEO, 4INFO;
Scott Dunlap, CEO, NearByNow;
Jason Gruber, VP of US Mobile Strategic Development, AOL

Rhonda Wickham, Editor-in-Chief, Wireless Week moderates a panel discussion on “Scenarios and Predictions” in the Mobile Channel with leading content providers:

Jeffery Litvack, Global Director, New Media Markets, Associate Press;
Louis Gump, VP, Mobile, The Weather Channel Interactive;
John Smelzer, SVP & GM of Mobile, Fox Interactive Media

Leading Venture firms discuss “Deals Being Funded, Where Money is Flowing, and Industry Trends” with:

Sharon Wienbar, Managing Director, Scale Venture Partners;
Ben Choi, Senior Associate & Kaufman Fellow, Storm Ventures

Blake Warner, Managing Director, Software, Media & Telecom Investment Banking, Thomas Weisel Partners moderates the CEO and Founders’ Roundtable Discussion on “Raising Money” featuring:

Dorrian Porter, Founder & CEO, Mozes;
Brian Cowley, President & CEO, Ad Infuse;
Zohar Levkovitz, CEO, Amobee Media System

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Strategy Institute works to provide decision-makers with strategic business information and executive education to enhance their business judgment. With focus on emerging markets, technologies, and applications within various segments, Strategy Institute offers annual conferences that provide practical solutions to business challenges.

My journey to this blogger-filled event started when I tweeted that I was wishing to go to BlogWorld but wasn’t sure it was in the cards for this year. One of my Twitter friends @Ribeezie suggested that I enter the contest by Derek Semmler and try to win a free pass. I entered and I won!

One thing I’ve found about going to conferences is that I am the happiest with my results when I am clear going into the event what I want to accomplish. So, with that in mind, here are my goals at BlogWorld (in no particular order – except the first one):

1. Meet Derek Semmler and buy him a beer. It’s the least I could do since he got me a pass to the whole enchilada.
2. Chat with Dave Taylor about his @FilmBuzz project.
3. Connect with at least 15 business and/or marketing related bloggers who would let me give away a copy or two of my book to their readers and have me stop by on my virtual book tour.
4. Meet with Wendy Piersall (the SparkPlug CEO herself) about teaching a class on mobile marketing at SparkPlugU.
5. Talk with the folks from Tagga about their cool mobile marketing platform.
6. Meet with any other mobile marketing people who are there.
7. Meet a ton of my Twitter and blogging friends in person. There are way too many of you to even start to list them here. You know who you are!
8. Get 25 new ideas for ways to improve my blog and my marketing.
9. Get 50 new subscribers to receive my Mobile Marketing Text Brief. If you want to jump on board just text the word KIMDUSHINSKI (no spaces and it doesn’t have to be in all caps) to 95495.
10. Have FUN!

Now, I’ve really got to get packing. Hopefully my cool postcards for The Mobile Marketing Handbook will arrive tomorrow as scheduled.

At the BlogWorld Trade Show these new media producers will find all the latest tools and technology to blog smarter and use new media better. Of course, networking face-to-face with social network friends is sure to be at the heart of the event for everyone.

I just hope that the biggest new media of all – mobile – is not missed in the presentation line up. After all, over 3 billion people (roughly half the world’s population) use mobile phones. Not just use them, we embed these devices into our daily lives like no other mass media in history.

Because of this 365/24/7 link to our mobile devices and how easily they integrate with other new media, mobile is arguably the most powerful participation and creation device for new media. Whatever you are doing in the new media space is impacted by mobile and you need to be aware how to integrate what you’re doing with mobile.

If I were given the chance to speak at BlogWorld I would cover:

• How bloggers, podcasters and videobloggers can effectively reach their audience via mobile
• The tools available for integrating mobile with new media
• How to work with these tools in a cost effective way

My talk would be fun, interactive and power-packed with usable ideas.

When I speak at other conferences like The System Seminar and in my own workshops I am always asked how to get started in mobile. My handout would contain a list of resources that audience members could use to launch into mobile quickly and easily. Without being promotional at all, but so that the audience would know I knew what I was talking about, I would list my upcoming book The Mobile Marketing Handbook as one of the resources.

And, if I were living in the alternate universe where I am a biker-chick, I would drive to Vegas on my Harley so I could cruise up and down the strip with Derek Semmler.

If you haven’t already, you might consider signing up for Ken’s Pre-System Seminar Interview Series. He interviews each of the faculty members in the weeks leading up to The System and shares these power-packed interviews for free to anyone who wants to listen. Honestly, these audio sessions before the System give away more valuable information than many other internet marketing seminars give in their whole seminar.

If you have any questions about The System, please contact me directly. I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have. If you’re going to The System, let me know so we can meet for a drink while we’re there.

Sign up for the Pre-System Seminar Interview Series here.

He writes about the cutting edge of mobile with a wonderfully witty sense of humor. I mean, who can resist a column entitled Wap-A-Matic, about Quattro Wireless’s new self-serve WAP site maker GetMobile.com. Or the one called Learning to Swim With Doddering Old Fools where he admits he finds “the childish enthusiasm surrounding mobile invigorating and addictive”. I often find that references to his teenage daughter and her daughterly disdain of him often drive home the point of his column. He’s a good read all the time.

So, if you are going to be at OMMA, look for me. I’d love to meet you. Whether you’re going or not, sign up to get Steve’s column sent to you every week. I predict you’ll love it as much as I do.

While it was widely acknowledged amongst speakers that the arrival of the iPhone had changed the face of the mobile industry it was not agreed upon whether this was because of a true technological breakthrough or smart marketing of mobile technology.

At one point a gentlemen who was extolling the virtues of his beloved device commented that (Please forgive any technological errors I make when I write this. Remember I am marketing type, not a techie) the iPhone is the best because it was the only mobile device that uses Ajax.

The panelists were almost jumping out of their seats to say that was untrue – Jon von Tetschner of Opera stated that his browser incorporates Ajax technology and has for years. Craig Cumberland of Nokia was just as quick to point out that Nokia has an Ajax-supported browser. Then Sanjiv Parikh from Microsoft mentioned that in the early iPhone ads The New York Times is the website used to demonstrate the sheer coolness of using an iPhone but that it is Microsoft technology that powers the NYT site.

At that point it became crystal clear to me that the true super power behind the iPhone changing the face of the industry is Apple’s MARKETING department. Maybe Nokia’s phones and other phones using the Opera browser really are as totally impressive as the iPhone, but Apple showed it to the world in a widely seen ad first. Apple brought the concept of mobile browsing into the mainstream by doing great commercials that clearly demonstrate what is possible.

As for the technology behind all of this, I will leave that up to the true technologically inclined folks to debate; but if you ask me, those guys and gals over in marketing at Apple deserve a hearty round of applause. In my opinion, they have out-marketed everyone else in the industry.

What do you think about the iPhone? It’s impact on the industry? The marketing genius of Apple?

NOTE:
I currently own a handful of shares of Apple stock.

I think it is safe to say that most of us in attendance were surprised that there weren’t more people there. I’m not sure if this is a reflection of it being the first year of the event, a year full of lots of other events or just that our industry is so new – the mobile web in particular. But don’t put this down as a conference to skip just because so many folks did this year, I’m betting that next year it will be packed. As it should be.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MOBILE WEB AMERICAS

The Speakers from Big Name Companies
It was so great to be hearing from giant companies like Google, PayPal, Nokia, and Microsoft right alongside of some of the big names in mobile like Bango, JumpTap, Opera, and so many more that I can’t even begin to name them all. The high caliber speakers were clearly one of the best aspects of Mobile Web Americas. I will be posting about several of the panels and speeches in the upcoming weeks. Keep your eyes out for articles about mPoria and Bytemobile, both of whom I sat down with for interviews.

Most Memorable Personalities
You know how at every conference there are one or two people who just seem to light up the conference? Well, this one was no different. I’m sure that no one in attendance would dispute that Peter Shankman, from The Geek Factory, was the most robust personality in the room. His humor and high energy really added a lot to the conference. I especially liked his admonishment to “get busy networking on Facebook – NOW.” His poker chip business card was also a big hit.

Annie Turner of GoMo News was undoubtedly another of the most memorable folks. She moderated a couple of the panels and did such a great job asking terrific questions. It is obvious she is a journalist at heart. I loved knowing she was live blogging as we sat there. Hopefully I will stay in good touch with Annie as I felt I met a kindred spirit.

Best Speech that was Unexpectedly So
That last time slot of the official Day One of the conference (but really the second full day since I attended the Mobile Web 101 pre-conference workshop) was allotted to Gary Kibel, an attorney from Davis & Gilbert LLP. After a long day of absorbing as much as I possibly could I thought that it might be a struggle to listen to an attorney talk about the legal aspects of mobile marketing. Thankfully, I was wrong. Gary was a terrific speaker, shared a TON of helpful, specific information and captivated us. Several of us were commenting in the networking hour that he was terrific.

Personal Highlights
There was one person I was very much looking forward to meeting. Almost from the moment I stepped foot into the mobile industry I kept coming across Ajit Jaokar. First as the author of Mobile Web 2.0, then as a blogger at Open Gardens Blog and then finally in ForumOxford. It was quite a pleasure to meet Ajit in person. He was an excellent chairperson of Mobile Web Americas and gave a fascinating presentation about widgets. (I’ll be so happy when I really understand widgets!)

And then there was Ben McFarlin from blinkcorp. He made my day by recognizing me from this blog. Then we had the most interesting conversation about his text business, which I think is a terrific idea. He’s a true entrepreneur.

The Big Miss
I was also looking forward to meeting Cameron Moll, the author of the wildly successful Mobile Web Design. We’ve exchanged a couple emails and I have his book. Because I was attending the other breakout session and then I had to leave that night I missed meeting him in person. I’m sure this won’t be my last chance.

A Couple Shout-Outs
I just have to say thanks to Matt Womer (W3C) and Dr. Rotan Hanrahan (MobileAware) for being so welcoming that first morning. To Ghatim Kabbara (Safira Solutions) who said I should come to Barcelona when my book is done. It was fun to meet Brendan Moran and Kate Moore (Circuit City) since I love circuitcity.com. It was fun to meet part of the team behind that awesome site. It was also fun to meet Antonio Vince Staybl (itsmy.com) who has a very fun mobile internet community going. And to Brennan Hayden (WDA WirelessDeveloper Agency) who was (get this) the first person to send a text message. He’s the “Come here Watson” guy of text messaging and a darned nice guy who Kate and I had dinner with in Downtown Disney.

Mobile Web Americas Bottom Line
See you there next year.

There are going to be so many great people there. It will be like walking through the pages of Who’s Who in Mobile Marketing. I’m especially looking forward to meeting in person so many of the people I have come to know via email, forum posts and reading their blogs. In particular, Ajit Jaokar, Cameron Moll, Dan Wright and Kristine Szarkowitz of mPoria, and David Hill of MobiSiteGalore.

And you. Are you going to Mobile Web Americas? If you are and you are reading this, then I would love to meet you too. Please comment or email me and we can get together there.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE: