BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2011 bills itself as the “First and only industry-wide conference, tradeshow, and media event for all new media”. This year’s event was held in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center. I decided to attend to meet up with bloggers, network with them, and see how we could add more value to our blog for our readers and customers. Below is part 1 of 3 of my trip.

Blog World Expo 2011 Day 1 – My Detour into Books

I arrived in New York City for the Blog World Expo 2011 on Tuesday morning and decided to scout out the Javits Center early. The event lasted for 3-days, but with only a 2-day session pass, I was unable to attend the first day’s classes. So on the first day, I simply wandered around and got a feel for the place, before heading over to the Book Expo America show that was going on in the same building.

Let me just get this out of the way…Holy smokes, The Book Expo has an awful lot of books! Now, some of you may be saying “Thank you, Mr. Obvious” or even possibly “Well, duhhhhh!” if you’re old like me, and I wouldn’t blame you. What else would the Book Expo have but a lot of books? But, until you walk the floor of this thing, with the many publishers all showing every genre of book imaginable, you really don’t know what a lot of books looks like.

Authors are there signing their latest works. All kinds of books are given away for free (People smarter than me literally bring suitcases to carry all of the free books they receive). Publishing companies show off their wares. If you’re a book lover like me, this was all really cool. Not only was it interesting on its own to look over books on every subject imaginable, it was also great because it gave me a ton of blog post and product ideas for the future. If I had had more time, I could have wandered around for a very long time.

One thing that I did find kind of odd is that some companies got pretty touchy with yours truly wandering around taking pictures (something about trade secrets or something??). Forgive me, but isn’t this an Expo? Isn’t Blog World right next door with a bunch of bloggers who are probably into taking pictures? Doesn’t the fact that you’re putting your products on display right next to your competition that also has their products on display kind of eliminate any secrets? Oh well, if any company finds this blog and has an issue with any of my pictures, please let me know.

Here are some interesting things that I saw (some related to party supplies and some not):

(Author’s note: These pictures are pretty much awful. In fact, I handed these off via Skype to Tracy our head of content creation, and I could actually hear her cringing over the phone as she received them. I am not very technical. I just switched from an iPhone to a Droid. At one point, I was somehow taking black and white photos for some reason. I don’t know why.)

Llama Llama and Olivia the Pig

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Brainy Baby. Hey, we carry some of their stuff!

Judy Moody and Stink

This guy had a problem with me taking pictures

and asked me what I was up to.

American Girl party supplies?

Not yet, but I think it would be a good idea.

Justin Bieber haunts me everywhere.

We actually carry Justin Bieber standups.

This guy had a line of people waiting for his autograph. I probably should know who he is.

(Editor’s note – The author is Tom Angleberger, signing copies of his new book, Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset.)

Oh, and Darth Vader is there for some reason.

Puss in Boots, movie and party supplies coming out soon.

Holy Smokes! Look at the line for the Harlequin authors!

If you couldn’t tell, I really liked walking around the Book Expo America and just taking it all in. As a person with little to do with the book business world, it was really interesting. Next year, if I make it back to BlogWorld, I’ll be sure to set aside a little more time for this conference.

After the Book Expo, I finished the day with a wonderful meal at The Capital Grille with family and friends. If you’re ever there I encourage you to try the lobster macaroni and cheese (It was so good, I wanted to mention it here).

Next: Blog World Expo 2011 Day 2 – Class Sessions Begin