You Should Have Been in the Audience

I, audience.

Yesterday marked the first Audience conference, organized by Loren Feldman of 1938 Media, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

This was a unique event where the focus was on the audience, and there were groundrules out of respect for the speakers and fellow audience members – no Twitter, no open laptops, no photos, no live streaming, etc.

For the longest time, we refused to have WiFi in session rooms at Affiliate Summit. I think it’s rude to speakers and attendees that want to pay attention.

But we finally assimilated. Let’s hope Loren doesn’t.

The crowd got together for cocktails the evening before, so I did snap a picture or two there.

At most conferences, I preoccupy myself with taking pictures to post to Flickr and Facebook. This time, I was just listening, enjoying, and learning.

I’ve seen many of the speakers who were at Audience in other venues, such as Brian Clark, Rae Hoffman, and Jeremy Schoemaker, but they were different and better here. It was intimate, candid, engaging, and fascinating to hear their stories.

Many others I was seeing for the first time that were equally top shelf, such as David Binkowski, Dan Farber, Joe Jaffe, Andrew Keen, and Rachel Marsden.

I am hesitant to say I had a favorite, because I was bowled over by so many of them, but if pressed, it would be Jason Calacanis. He related a story I’ve heard many times about his start, but from other people. It was immensely more enjoyable to hear him tell it.

After each speaker, I’d have some sort of thing I’d think it would be great to chat about with them, and then they would be followed by another interesting character, and again I’d be absorbed in the latest speaker.

A really cool thing was that these speakers were the stars when they were on the theatre stage, but afterwards they mixed back into the audience. None of the pretentions of “big” speakers I’ve seen in the past who slipped out the back to avoid mixing with the commoners.

But I’ve got to say the star of the show was Loren Feldman with his multiple roles as Emcee, interviewer, host, etc. Maybe Loren kept it locked down from the outside, so the big secret wouldn’t get out – that he’s an incredibly warm, generous, kind guy.

Don’t miss the next chance to be in the Audience.