Michael Arrington from TechCrunch Blows Off BlogWorld

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Edit: Michael Arrington is saying on his blog that he was never confirmed to speak in the first place. This may be true, but I will say that I spoke with the conference founders about this before I posted.

So, I leave the keynote session this morning anxiously awaiting my first session of the day: The Cult of Blogging presented by Leo LaPorte, Om Malik & Michael Arrington from TechCrunch. This is my big day. This session, and the next one on finding funding for your new media business, are the two sessions at BlogWorld that convinced me to come. Although since I spoke here I didn’t have to pay for a ticket, I would have just for these two sessions.

I’m sitting in the first session, and there are no speakers. Leo LaPorte has just given the keynote and was swamped with questions after it, I assume he is running a bit late. I’m right, he rushes into the room soon, and gets on stage and says,

“This was supposed to be a session with A-Listers talking about the cult of blogging. Om Malik has hurt his back and won’t be able to join me.”

“Michael Arrington forgot to come.”

Excuse me?! FORGOT to come?

How do you forget to come to the biggest blogging conference in the world in which you are supposed to speak in two very key sessions at the event?

You know, I don’t want to pass too much judgment on Mr. Arrington here, but I have to be honest with you.

I’m really fricking disappointed. I wanted to learn from you, Michael. I wanted to listen to you. I was excited to meet you. You run a blog I admire, and my readers look up to you, too.

And I’m disappointed.

Michael, please come next year. And please write it down this time.

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Comments

1. On November 9th, 2007 at 2:49 pm, Bud Bilanich said:

Wendy:

He forgot to come?!!?? That’s amazing. One of the things I stress with my coaching clients is the need for positive personal impact. Forgetting commitments is not the way to create positive personal impact.

I’m a first time reader of this blog. We met at the Blog World Expo today. I like what you’re doing here. I’ll be back often.

All the best,
Bud Bilanich
The Common Sense Guy
http://www.SuccessCommonSense.com

2. On November 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pm, Jay Thompson said:

Wow. That would be incredibly disappointing.

“Forgot to come” is “hard to believe”.

3. On November 9th, 2007 at 3:55 pm, Deb said:

Sorry, not buying the “forgot” story. And if I were running next year’s event Mr. Arrington would not be invited. He obviously thinks the world revolves around him.

4. On November 9th, 2007 at 4:16 pm, Laura said:

I’m sorry this happened to you (and the others). What a letdown!

5. On November 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm, Digidave said:

Arrington is a jerk - always has been. I for one don’t think he deserves any of the hype he has achieved. He has lots of personal contacts — that’s it.

From there everything snowballed and he got “scoops” although they were always just rumors that he reported too early (and often got wrong).

And finally — what you found: He isn’t a personable guy. His head has grown larger than his blog.

6. On November 9th, 2007 at 4:39 pm, Lisa said:

I’ve enjoyed reading the various articles about the expo but it’s such a shame that you were let down. “Forgot to come” is a sad sad story.

7. On November 9th, 2007 at 4:50 pm, Mike Huang said:

Someone might have been too drunk to attend..

-Mike

8. On November 9th, 2007 at 5:39 pm, Loretta said:

Forgot, yeah right. What a JERK! He didn’t forget, he just wanted to make a big scene or whatever. He could have at least pretended to be ill and not be so insulting to his peers intelligence.

9. On November 9th, 2007 at 5:42 pm, Lisa Marie Mary said:

Unbelievable! That is so wrong, so wrong. I hope that Leo LaPorte had the story wrong, because, that is just ridiculous!

10. On November 9th, 2007 at 6:16 pm, Helene said:

Thanks for the good chuckle on a Friday afternoon…although I am sorry to be laughing at your expense!

If he lives and Vegas and forgot…I can understand that happening - but if he lives elsewhere, which I suspect he does, OH BOY!

11. On November 9th, 2007 at 8:02 pm, Kelvin Kao said:

This post is also very disappointing to me. I was hoping that it was one of those anecdotes that has a twist to it.

I was expecting:
He forgot to come, but blah blah blah, so he’d be rushing here in this blah blah blah way. And before you know it, he would make a grand entrance in the most interesting way.

I guess I expected too much. =P

12. On November 10th, 2007 at 10:54 am, David Airey said:

How did your own talk go, Wendy? I hope it was the success I expect it to have been.

13. On November 10th, 2007 at 1:23 pm, Lizzie said:

I don’t buy that he forgot either. I have a horrendous memory and forget a lot of things, but if I’m constantly reminded of something it certainly doesn’t slip my mind. Neither do I buy that he didn’t agree to it in the first place.

Seems to me that Mr. Arrington doesn’t respect conference(s) very much and in turn doesn’t respect his blogging peers. I’ve read that this isn’t the first time he’s failed to appear. Because it seems he’s in the habit of not showing up, I think he just shouldn’t be invited anymore.

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