Just got back from San Diego and the annual conference of the outdoor leadership known as the Rendezvous. I was asked to speak on new media and so I built a session called Inside the Chatterbox. New media lawyer Andrea Anderson of Holland and Hart was my partner in the presentation. David Sweeney and Brad Werntz of Pemba Serves also were part of the program; David as an analyst and Brad presenting PembaServes’s new media strategy. Pemba is a rep group. Mike Wallenfels, president of Mountain Hardwear, also added valuable comments to our Hardwear section of the seminar.

Special shout-out to Darren Bush of Rutabaga, who introduced our event to the audience. He and the Pemba boys built a video to introduce me. Very funny and creative…it got the event off to a great start.

The audience was attentive and asked great questions throughout. Used Channel Signal as the monitoring and measuring tool for all of the case studies. The audience was impressed with the power and clarity of Channel Signal. We couldn’t have done the presentation without it.

I thank everyone; the sponsors, the Outdoor Industry Association, my partners and the audience for the seminar and the event. A real testimony to the men and women who work in this industry. We do not cut and run when it gets tough. We keep working at the problems. Good for us.

I also attended a gathering of new media folks in the outdoor industry before the Rendezvous. Informal, it was a great session where thinkers outside of the typical Outdoor Box expressed themselves about how new media could drive the industry forward. This group wants more of the passion to come back to the core group. They also admit that we need to reach out to more communities and groups to introduce them to the outdoors…but in a very organic way. Just like we were all introduced to it.

How? That is the question. New media is a central part of the answer. However, we do need to wrap it into our core personality and deliver. This is a problem that every vertical market faces. We are very fortunate to have smart passionate people who care more about the industry and the outdoor experience then the money.

That’s enough for now. I have so many thoughts in my head from these two events that I’m gonna walk away for a day or two. My sub-conscious will help to work through the terrific challenges coming up.