May 18, 2014
Our guest today is the CEO and Co-founder of New Media Expo, so quite frankly I could have called him the Godfather of Podcasting and blogging.
So I better be good on this episode, no pressure there then!
Although an obvious entrepreneur in heart it wasnt always the case.
He has been involved in the trade show industry since 1996
serving as sales manager and director of sales for three of
Tradeshow Week’s top 200 events.But his interest in blogging and
online content really hit home during the explosion of the
political blogosphere around the 2000 election season.Seeing
content come online day after day, minute by minute, feeding
comment and discussion worldwide, he knew that the future was all
around us and it was time to get going himself.However every guest
on “Join Up Dots” have found their path in life after a period of
transition, and quite often it will be a lot longer coming than
they probably would have considered was necessary looking back, and
it seems to be the case here too.As even though he saw the
positives, and excitement that new media could offer in 2000, he
was finally inspired to launch his own blog in October of 2005.And
it was a great success, even though he claims it was “unexpected
success” and with his political blog gaining more and more ground
online, he began searching for the blogging tradeshow to link it
with.
Amazingly he realized no such event existed, so he and his business
partner Dave launched BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Las Vegas in
November of 2007, and it went onto attract 1,600 attendees straight
away.He had found his path and had started joining up those dots.So
how did he do it?How did he manage to create something that was
literally an overnight success?
And more importantly, why did it take him so long to get started on
the path to success that he was so obviously made for?
Well lets find out as I introduce to you, the one and only Rick
Calvert.