From its humble beginnings as the Podcast Expo to its recent co-location with the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, the New Media Expo has been a cornerstone event for podcasters. NMX’s place as the premier podcast-centric event has been challenged in recent years by Podcast Movement and its offshoot regional conferences. New Media Expo 2015 took place in April and since the conference ended, there’s been very little noise coming from the NMX camp. Many in the podcasting community were beginning to wonder what was going on.
More questions than answers were created with an e-mail sent last week by New Media Expo coordinator Rick Calvert. The message was sent to those who are holders of the NMX virtual ticket:
As a VIP ticket holder you are entitled to a Virtual Ticket as part of your VIP package. Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances, the Virtual Ticket is very late this year and I feel terrible about it. I also feel awful about not effectively communicating why the Virtual Ticket is late and when it will be available for use. I’m very sorry for making you wait and not keeping you informed.
The delay in your Virtual Ticket took place for three reasons. The first reason is our website was hacked. The second is that we are short staffed. We are making changes within our team and it has left us short handed for a bit. Lastly and most importantly while all this was going on, I had several family emergencies come up in my personal life. I was overwhelmed and honestly just checked out. My staff will tell you they couldn’t reach me either. You may have noticed I have not been online in social channels or anywhere else.
It may sound strange coming from someone who has been hyper engaged online for a decade now but I am a very private person in my personal life. I didn’t want to discuss the nature of my family circumstances or cause unnecessary worry. I realize now, that I should have allowed my team to be more transparent.
I am not making excuses to hide anything or to gloss over the poor communication you experienced in asking about the virtual ticket. I am only letting you know the reasons why it has taken so long to fix this for you. As NMX and the NMX community has never experienced anything like this in the past, we hope you understand. I hope you can forgive me. I promise you that as of now I will be available to answer any and all of your questions going forward.
Again, I apologize for the delay and frustration you experienced in getting answers and I’m grateful for the opportunity to make it up to you.
No updates have been posted since this message was sent. Best wishes to Rick Calvert and his family. Hopefully, things will settle down soon and we’ll hear some good news from the New Media Expo team.