Chris Brogan? 

He was just the keynote speaker yesterday at the New Media Atlanta event here in Atlanta.  Honestly, I knew from the bio that Matt Fagioli sent out (excitedly) that Chris co-wrote Trust Agents... but I hadn't heard of the book, and I didn't know he was "significant". 

So shoot me...

I volunteered to help out with the conference... Matt knows I am a sucker for helping out like that... and after helping with registration, I got to spend a little time doing other things.  One of the other things was hanging out in the "Rockstar" Lounge... the VIP area for the conference.  Officially, I was acting as a concierge...  and a bouncer.  Unofficially, I was hanging out with Patty Keller, Lori Bee and a few other real estate folks. 

Between chatting with friends like Jeff Turner, Reggie and Nicole Nicolay (nik_nik) and others, I had the chance to just hang out with Chris Brogan.  He was avidly following BackNoise, watching as the other speakers were getting (mostly) dissed by attendees.  Some of the comments were pure snarkiness, others were more thought out.  It was like a train wreck...  Chris, and many others, couldn't stop watching. 

He's a really down to earth, normal (reasonably) guy.  But he is a little different... 

When he got up on stage, instead of talking with a powerpoint, he tossed up BackNoise on the big screen.  He addressed the snarkiness.  (even talked about crop dusting).  He used the crowd...  Excellently. 

Talk about transparency... 

But what was really impressive was what he had to say.  Go buy a book.  (No, that wasn't what he said, that is what I am saying...)  If you want to learn about what he was saying, buy his book.  Also, read his blog AND subscribe to his newsletter. 

Almost everyone here knows of Seth Godin.  And he is among the "must reads" for learning to market.  But... he isn't the only one...

images by Jennifer Carter