I’m getting ready to fly up to Vancouver for the 2008 Internet Marketing Conference (IMC).  Last year, the conference was held in Stockholm, Sweden.  It was the first conference about internet marketing that I attended and it was a spectacular experience.

My workshop was entitled “Monetizing Trust; Bringing Your Audience from Rapport to Revenue” and it was well received by the audience.  This year, I’ll be chairing two sessions, both about Social Media.  The first is a panel discussion with Warren Sukernek, Jacqueline Voci and Julie Wisdom.  The second is workshop devoted to Social Media and the opportunities to integrate multiple platforms to communicate more effectively with your audience.

It’s an exciting time for me.  I just finished my book: Make Yourself Useful, Marketing in the 21st Century.  And my website now has over 350 pages on content on it.  Together, they offer a good synopsis of my expertise along with the credibility to share it with others.  IMC 2008 will be my first opportunity to offer my book to the public.

The interesting thing will be to hear the thoughts of other experts in the same field.  Social Media has grown to include so many different platforms (including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Utterz, Flickr, Digg, StumbleUpon, Wikipedia, Meetup, all the various forums, BlogCatalog and blogs in general) that everybody has a slightly different angle on the opportunities available.  The panel discussion will undoubtedly raise some fascinating possibilities.

When I was in Sweden for IMC 2007, I went out for dinner with 13 other speakers.  Between the 14 of us, we came from 11 different countries.  I doubt the participants will be as diverse this time around but I’m really looking forward to meeting the other speakers and all the attendees.  Conferences like these are incredibly valuable in a networking sense and can quickly add to your business in ways you’d never imagine beforehand.

To top it off, Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the weather in September is hard to beat.  I would encourage anyone interested in Internet Marketing to attend this conference.  Not only will you meet true experts in the field but you’ll also be introduced to a growing niche of modern marketing that’s far broader than most people realize.

I am the organizer of the Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy (a Meetup group) and tonight is our July “content meeting”.  We have one primary meeting each month and it takes place on the first Monday of the month, starting at 7:00 in the evening.  We meet at the New York Life offices located in Emeryville.

As of this morning, we have 596 members and it’s growing all the time.  These people all find our group on the Meetup platform.  I have never done any real marketing for the group.  People ask me why my group is so successful and I usually respond with three primary factors: content, structure and communication.  We have one of the most active meetups in the area and our members keep coming back because they get good information in a predictable format.

Last November, the Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy got sponsored by American Express.  They selected the 50 largest entrepreneur clubs across the country and put a program together to support them while building awareness for their OPEN program.  I never solicited their sponsorship.  They found me.  This is just another example of the power of Meetup.

Our members are all entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs or established business owners.  We have a great group of people and I truly enjoy the role I play.  It’s been a great experience and has allowed me to meet a ton of people I would’ve never come across in my regular business life.  Today, I have people I can call for almost anything I might need in my business, all from my Meetup group.

When I became the organizer, I was hoping the group would be a source of business for me.  I wanted to use it to promote myself and find new clients.  As it turns out, I have yet to make any money from the group but the benefits are far greater than I ever expected.  The underlying objective behind the group is to allow members to share and benefit from each other’s expertise.  We facilitate that very well and I have learned incredible things from their presentations and contributions.

Meetup is a fantastic platform for creating and building clubs.  With valuable content, a little structure and good regular communication, you can build a successful Meetup group and gain exposure for yourself while meeting tons of new people.  Further, the experience will help you build confidence and improve your leadership skills.  Planning, coordinating, holding effective meetings – all valuable skills for your career.

What’s your passion?  What are you interested in?  What are you good at?  Think about these questions and then consider starting a Meetup group around that topic.  You’ll probably be surprised how many people find your group and if you deliver value to your audience, you’ll see that group grow and grow.  And as Meetup becomes better known, your audience will grow even more.

Last July, my Meetup had about 170 members.  Today, it has almost 600.  I’d bet the Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy will have over 2000 members by this time 2009 and I can’t wait.  I want to hold bigger events with more content and more attendees, and I have no doubt it will grow into that naturally.  In the meantime, I have to finalize my agenda for this evening and invite you all to come by and visit.