by Ryan Thompson, Dalton Social Media Strategist

There are numerous Social Media Conferences that are going on all around the country. As a matter of fact, I just Googled “Social media conference” and I received 951,000 results. Wow. With so many conferences to attend, why do I feel like I received the most out of this one?

No sponsors
One of the things we all look forward to at conference is free swag. However, this also unfortunately builds up a thin layer of apprehension. Are these products really useful to me, or am I solely being marketed to? Paid speakers are not very likely to speak ill of the sponsor of a conference. AMIN doesn’t have any sponsors, so no marketing and no distrust.

Speakers don’t get paid
Or at least if they do, I didn’t. Seriously though, speakers at the AMIN conference speak due to their commitment and responsibility to AMIN, and are chosen because of their experience in the field. Did I have to speak? No. Did I want to? Yes.

No fear of competition
Within AMIN, we have all agreed NOT to seek out each other’s business. We can let down our guard, and genuinely share. I was able to speak with minds at Biggs Gilmore, who has worked on the Pop Tarts campaign, and whom has partnered with us to work on the American Heart Association, without there being fear on either end, of us attempting to abduct the other’s clients. Which leads me to the next reason as to why this conference was such a great experience.

Free exchange of failures
You can’t have success without failure. I don’t think too many would disagree with that. However, it’s not human nature to tout our failures, especially in business.  But in this type of environment, where there is no fear from competition, everyone feels comfortable enough to share mis-steps and failures. And from those seeds of knowledge bloom the greatest successes.

Michael Munz?
I didn’t title this, “5 Reasons I learned more about social media at the AMIN Social Media Conference than any other social media conference”. Art, culture, and life experiences are important, too. But seriously, thank you, Michael, for showing us around Park City. You didn’t have to do it, but I’m glad you did. And in a certain roundabout way, you exemplified one of the core pillars of Social Media. He listened to the fatigue and weariness of his fellow travelers, delivered an experience that was not expected, and has made an advocate out of me. Hmmm…..maybe I should have worked that into our talk on Community Management?