Welcome to Extreme Networking

No one doubts the value of networking and the radio show demonstrated how to take this concept to new heights. Earlier this week we did a remote at the 1308 Cantina in Houston, which brought over 100 guests to this exciting event.

Doing events such as this is fairly common. People standing around the media personality and doing a little meeting and greeting. For the price of some of the finest Mexican food in town, it is a great event in and of itself. This was so much more than that.

Andy Valadez of Marketing Dynamics and I have been working extensively on the importance of the convergence of media in building a business. That is why the Houston business Media Group includes a radio show (The Houston Business Show, M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650), an ezine (the Houston Business Review), television (Movers and Shakers on Phonoscope), and other media. We brought many of these elements to El Tiempo.

So the large crowd came for great food and exchange cards, but instead received so much more. Many did short interviews on the radio show where they gave their message to thousands online and on the radio. We are talking about twenty such guests. Others still were interviewed via video and will be promoted in my ezine and on the radio (like I did of the interview with Jessica Colon of Young Republicans and Fox News). Others are being promoted at the What's New Page at Houston Business Show What's New Page and the Houston Business Review. Many will put the audio and video on their website, creating a level of credibility that is hard to come by and long term exposure that is simply hard to come by. I don't know what you call this approach to business development, but I call it Extreme Networking.

The feedback about the event was overwhelmingly positive. People enjoyed great food and fun. More importantly, many of them were able to redefine networking by getting their message out directly to thousands and over a much longer of period of time. We are excited about making a difference in the way people network.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Houston Business Show Develops Television Programming

Forgive me for blowing our own horn, but we are excited to announce the creation of our new "Movers and Shakers" segment on the Houston Manufactuers TV Show, produced by Phonoscope.

In addition to being seen on television in thousands of offices throughout downtown Houston, this program is also seen by thousands more online. In fact, I recently visited with the show's host, Robbie Adair, who said they received thousands of unique visitors to the show's page in the last few days alone. The numbers are comparable to the audience of many popular radio shows in town.

The future of TV is online, in my opinion. In fact, I like to call YouTube one of the first TV networks designed for the 21st century. The web, in the words of Fox's Rupert Murdoch, allows people to get what they want when they want it. Also, the Internet's increasing speed and computer screen quality make it better than the TV in many respects. If websites are going to remain relevant, they are going to need quality video content, which was a goal we had for the Houston Business Media Group in 2007 and was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with these fine partners.

We expect our video programming to expand in the weeks to come as we strive to offer more programming. We consider this a valuable tool to convey information to our growing audience.