What exactly is the New Media Summit? When I signed up for the event, I knew the basic details: A two-day event organized by Matt McGarry in Austin for anyone making their living in “new media,” which could include anything from newsletters to podcasts to YouTube.
I also had the endorsement from my friend Sonia Thompson, who had attended the virtual version of this conference last year and participated in Matt’s course and recommended both.
I didn’t know a whole lot about most of the speakers or what the attendees would be like, but figured that it would be a fun event to try out and potentially a way to connect with people whose businesses revolve around writing in some way.
Now that I’ve attended the event, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the key lessons that stood out to me. Rather than going into too many specifics on tactics—which the speakers would be all too happy to share with you from all of their respective new media channels—I wanted to share a few of the larger themes and takeaways that stood out to me.
1. Define your purpose
It’s easy to get distracted by all the new tech and things you could be doing. There are countless ways to generate topic ideas and a growing number of platforms to distribute them on. But before you go too far down any rabbit hole, it’s helpful to ask yourself a simple question, like, “Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of my business?”
The most compelling speakers (to me) were the ones who had a clearly articulated purpose and vision, like Isaac Saul of Tangle, who talked about “doing hard things with people you love.”
Matt invited speakers who shared a broad range of perspectives, which I appreciated.
But I started to notice a pattern. Whenever a speaker placed too much emphasis on chasing monetary goals or financial milestones, it didn’t resonate as much with me as the speakers who were able to define why they do what they do.
I’m taking this as encouragement to reflect on my own business. I often phrase my purpose as “helping people and companies tell their stories in clear, compelling, and creative ways,” but perhaps I can continue to refine this and remind myself of it more regularly!
2. Understand your audience
While my first takeaway is asking the guiding question of why, the second is similar but focused more on the who.
Some speakers left people out almost entirely and only used words like views, impressions, subscriptions, etc.
I get the fact that yes, this is a business conference and people need to set goals and metrics to measure how their business is performing, but some of them seemed to lose sight of the fact that their customers are people.
One talk I really appreciated was Chenell Basilio of Growth in Reverse, whose concept of insanely valuable or IV content relies on a deep understanding of your customer. She explained that everything starts with knowing who your customer is and how you can best serve them. And then it’s much easier to turn them into diehard fans, subscribers, and customers.
Another variation on this was Isaac Saul’s description of the “thank you” tier for his newsletter. He explained that it’s a higher price point than other tiers, but the only real “benefit” is that it’s a way for subscribers to show their gratitude for his team’s work and allow them to invest more in the company. And it works! The reason that people are willing to pay more is not because Isaac has tricked them into opting in—it’s because they genuinely value what he’s doing and they’re actively choosing to pay more for something they value.
3. IRL > URL
First, I need to give a shout-out to Rae Lambert of DINNR, who was wearing a hat with this expression on it. I think it perfectly sums up a theme from the event that came up in a few different ways.
It’s a funny contradiction that with all the new media and technology we have at our disposal, we can still get so much more out of in-person interactions and experiences. After all, that’s why I chose to attend this event live in Austin rather than simply signing up for the virtual version.
This point came across to me in a few different ways:
- Sam Parr mentioned that his business Hampton (which revolves around communities) has had much more success since they shifted to an in-person model.
- Tom Orbach, one of the conference attendees who runs the Marketing Ideas newsletter, shared in the community channel that the Hilton’s broken elevators (and the captive audience of people waiting in line for the few functioning ones) was his best performing channel. “I just stand there → talk about my newsletter → let the building do the work,” he wrote.
- One of my favorite moments and conversations was during the happy hour when Sarah Peck approached our little group and we had a brief but really open conversation about what it’s like to be a woman in primarily male spaces, how to share your personal experiences without feeling like it’s TMI or inappropriate, and much more!
- After lunch on Friday, I went for a walk to get some fresh air and clear my head. I ended up wandering into the TOMO store a few blocks from the hotel where I found all kinds of adorable Japanese stationery (one of my weaknesses!), cool magazines, and an AMAZING horchata matcha latte (another one of my weaknesses, apparently!). I’d never heard about the store or come across it on Instagram or somewhere online. I just did one of my favorite things, which is to wander around a new city, keep my eyes open to the world around me, and investigate things that catch my interest.
It sounds simple, but these IRL experiences are a lot harder to come by if you don’t intentionally seek them out.
4. Try to embrace curiosity over fear
This last one is more of a note to myself, although I did find that it came up in a few of the things speakers said.
Ryan Deiss mentioned that those of us at the conference are weirdos because we like doing things like subscribing to newsletters, signing up for courses, and reading books. I think it was Codie Sanchez who referred to us as “nerds” (hopefully in a loving way).
I like to think both speakers were using those terms in subtly affectionate rather than insulting ways. And I’m using them as a reminder that being curious is a good thing, because it can lead you to all sorts of unexpected places (like making a living in something called “new media,” for example!).
Recently, I find myself feeling a lot of fear and anxiety over AI. Am I doing enough with it? Am I behind everyone else? What will my work look like when many of the skills I’ve crafted over my career can be easily outsourced to AI?
But operating out of fear feels terrible and unproductive. So I’m going to try to embrace my inner weirdo and nerd and let that guide me through this next era. We’ll see how it goes!
I’d love to hear from you. If you attended New Media Summit, what are you taking away from it? If not, which of these lessons or observations resonate with you?